Each Sunday we reach deep into the DailyServing Archives to unearth an old feature that we think needs to see the light of day again. This week we found a video interview with L.A. artist Robbie Conal. If you have a favorite feature that you think should be published again, simply email us at info@dailyserving.com and include DS Archive in the subject line.
Los Angeles-based artist Robbie Conal has made a name for himself over the past several decades for his poignantly irreverent and ultra-humorous political posters featuring unforgettable one-liner jokes. The artist wittingly simplifies issues that surround political figures and delivers the work to a mass audience by creating reproductions of his painting, pasting the posters in cities throughout the country. His clever insight can be seen over countless paintings such as a rendering of Dick Cheney with bunny ears bearing the simple phrase ‘Enronergizer Bunny’ over a hot pink ground.
In his current series of work, the artist has begun to move away from his well-known political poster portraits and has been investigating other, equally clever, connections between popular culture and politics.
The artist recently exhibited a new painting in the retrospective exhibition Beautiful/Decay: A to Z, which opened at the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles last weekend. In addition, Conal recently teamed up with By Osmosis TV and Beautiful/Decay magazine to produce a short interview video that features the artist at work in his studio.
The exhibition series is designed to bring new creative talent to the Chicago area by artist who rarely exhibit in that region. Curator Ryan Travis Christian works diligently, as he has noted, “to increase the circulation of contemporary artwork”, not only in Chicago, but also as a correspondent for Fecalface.com and through his daily artist selection through Facebook and Beautiful/Decay.com. The young artist and curator has organized recent exhibition including West, Wester, Westest at FFDG, San Francisco, SPORTS at Synchronicity, Los Angeles, and Control C, Control V at EbersMoore Gallery in Chicago.
Send Me Through is the title of a new exhibition of paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Ryan Schneider. The body of work is presented as the third solo exhibition for the artist at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art in New York City. Send Me Through continues the artist’s exploration into notions of the self, human experience and pursuit of a fundamental truth in life. Existential in nature, these paintings employ a faux-naive style to unearth an ambiguous and understated notion of the self, where physical human presence may or may not be found.
Formally, Schneider utilizes bold colors, flattened space and dense patterning to compose his works. The mainly large-scale paintings also embody and quiet and distant emotion that is created by placing the viewer slightly outside the realm of the subject as if allowed to observe from the sidelines or quietly from a corner of the room.
In a mystical world of hobo clowns, pet possums and rabid monkeys, Allison Schulnik’s surreal environments playfully explore human psychology through saturated color and rich texture. The artist consistently produces mesmerizing work which combine the forms of painting, sculpture and animation, creating a body of work that speaks to a multiplicity of mediums through each manifestation. This week, DailyServing’s founder Seth Curcio spoke with the artist about her diverse artistic practice including her recent animation, Forest, which was created as the newest music video for the Brooklyn based indie rock band Grizzly Bear, and her latest exhibition Home for Hobo at Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles. And stay tuned! Each Monday, DailyServing.com will bring you one step closer to a new international artist through our new weekly interview series, letting you in on the secrets of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
Seth Curcio: You have recently completed exhibitions with great success in London, Rome and New York City. You also have an exhibition of new works currently on view at Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles titled, Home for Hobo. This exhibition continues to explore different emotional states through your hobo clown protagonist. Can you tell me a little about what is included in the exhibition?
Allison Schulnik: Its a little bit of his world. He’s got a home, his sanctuary. There is Rug Girl, Possum, and Klaus… friends and companions, maybe alter egos and bizarros.
SC: Within this exhibition, several different characters appear in your paintings, sculptures and animations, many of which you just named. Most, if not all, reoccur in your other bodies of your work too. How did you decide on these specific characters, and are they rendered completely from imagination or are they based on anything in particular?
AS: They come from different places. Mostly they come from drawings that I do. Sometimes I get inspired from a photograph or another painting or sculpture or film or dance or song, then I draw that or something inspired by that, and it becomes something else. Sometimes I just draw from my imagination. Often for months, even years I’ll have an image or character continuously reappear to me and not know why, until it proves important enough to get immortalized in oils. Then, I still don’t know why I painted it. One day I might figure it out.
SC: The animated video Forest, which is also on view at Mark Moore Gallery, was used as the music video Ready, Able for the Brooklyn-based band Grizzly Bear. This is the second video that you have created which utilizes a Grizzly Bear song, however this one became their official music video. Talk to me about how this collaboration began. How was the video created and what takes place?
AS: I asked them for permission to use their song Granny Diner on my last film, HOBO CLOWN. They approved and a year later they asked me to do a music video for their next album, Veckatimest. I agreed. They gave me the song, and I made an animated film for it. It is an abstract kind of narrative, if anything. It follows the Long Hair Hobo character through an alternate type world, Forest, where he encounters a bizarro world version of himself. Then things begin to happen…
SC: The animation seems like such a natural synthesis of your paintings and sculptures, and Grizzly Bear’s music really adds a different element to the work. Are there any other collaborations similar to this that you’d like to explore? I know that you play in a couple of bands, have you ever considered composing your own music for future animations?
AS: Yeah, I have a couple bands in mind I’d really like to work with. I’d like to have music composed for my next film too, rather than using something that already exists. I’ve thought about doing some sound and music myself as well, but that might not be a good idea.
SC: Learning that you are an avid painter, sculptor, animator, dancer and musician, and by viewing the myriad of works listed on your website and your exhibition schedule, it appears as if you are a very prolific artist. What is an average day like for you in the studio?
AS: Once I get into the studio I stay there all day, sometimes all night. I like privacy. I sit and stare a lot. I like to snack, and to look at stuff. I find weird little things to do. Sometimes painting comes in a very concentrated way. Then, sometimes it comes with a fury of dancing and singing. I put on some good Babs show-tunes, some epic Angel Witch, some atmospheric doomy metal, or maybe a little Peabo Bryson… it just depends on my mood. But, the music is always loud. I don’t have computer or TV at the studio, because procrastination involves those kinds of things. I just don’t have any kind of method that I can count on. One thing works one day, and doesn’t work the next day. I’m fickle with a short attention span.
SC: It seems as if you still manage to complete a lot of work even with a short attention span. What are you working on in the studio right now? And, what projects are on the horizon for you?
AS: Well, I just finished all my work work for this show, so I am taking a little break for a minute. Going to let some ideas brew in my head for bit… you’ll just have to wait and see!
The playfully grotesque characters found in Berlin-based artist Stefanie Gutheil’s paintings act out scenes from her daily life. Many of the subjects in her paintings are directly based on artists, musicians, dancers and poets that live and work in Berlin, alongside the artist. Gutheil has lived in Berlin for over 10 years and has witnessed the city blossom into an international center for contemporary art. Her studio, which is centrally located near much of the city’s nightlife, has provided the artist with fertile ground for artistic inspiration, exposing her to some of Berlin’s most eccentric individuals.
Gutheil’s recent paintings are the subject of the artist’s first solo exhibition with Mike Weiss Gallery and her first exhibition in New York City. Titled Kopftheater, meaning theater of the mind, the exhibition features luscious, yet imperfect paintings that are composed of oils, acrylics, spray paint and even aluminum foil, all employed to produce her larger than life scenes and characters. The artist received both her Masters and Bachelors degrees at the Universität der Künste, Berlin and has exhibited extensively in Germany including recent exhibitions at Galerie Winter in Wiesbaden and Schultz Contemporary in Berlin.
San Francisco-based artist and curator Brion Nuda Rosch creates subtle, yet powerful collages, paintings, sculptures and conceptual projects, which often pair disparate but poetic associations. This ability to provide insightful connections shines through Rosch’s playful but pensive collaborative and curatorial projects as well. Rosch often partners with other artists on creative exchanges through a one-day residency program in his own home called Hallway Projects, while curating more extensive exhibitions in other venues. Earlier this month, Rosch closed a solo show at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, simply titled New Work by Brion Nuda Rosch, featuring work which investigates the value of materials and the idea of the non-monumental. The artist recently sat down with DailyServing.com founder Seth Curcio to discuss his recent Artadia Award, the next installment of his curated exhibition series, Paper! Awesome!, and his recent solo exhibition in San Francisco.
Seth Curcio: So Brion, you were notified a few weeks ago that you are one of the recipients of the Artadia award for San Francisco this year. Congratulations on your award. Tell me a little about the works that were included in your application and about the process that led to the selection.
Brion Nuda Rosch: I included a selection of collages and documentation of several assemblages. At the time I was also in the process of selecting work for my first solo exhibition and for an upcoming book project. Ultimately, the works included in my application were the starting points for the work shown at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions in San Francisco, CA from November 18 – January 2, 2010. I was short-listed as a finalist while preparing for this exhibition. The process was rather swift. First, a social with the jurors and other finalists, then a studio visit, then an announcement.
SC: Your creative practice is very diverse and includes curatorial projects as well as impromptu galleries and online projects, such as your blog Something home Something. Do you feel that your decentralized practice made your work more attractive to the panel at Artadia as they reviewed hundreds of artist applications? How do you feel that each of these different modes of working help to inform your greater practice?
BNR: The focus for my application was primarily centered on my art making. My curatorial efforts were only represented in my Curriculum Vitae and were discussed only briefly during my studio visit. In any discussion about my work, conversation will not remain on one topic, such as painting, or collage. I feel I could easily assert different categories for various works, however doing so would prove to be a shortcoming. I balance the roles of both art making and curating — both practices relate to one another, each sharing similar starting points. Somewhere the boundaries fade and a project initiated from a curatorial standpoint becomes a work of art, and vice versa. It is not a priority to identify each action with defined labels. Most of my work simply involves a selection of material and then a relationship to that material within a new situation.
SC: Thinking about your recent show with Baer Ridgway Exhibitions and the statement that ‘most of your work simply involves a selection of material and then a relationship to that material’, I am curious about both your humbly-constructed images and sculptures. Talk a little about the concepts that play out in that exhibition, both through your image and object construction.
BNR: The images and the collages are both humble and monumental. Minimal adjustments have been made, a waterfall placed over a waterfall, a new ridge placed over a mountain range, a vague monument placed over a field. These ideas are monumental in scale, almost impossible, while also positioning room for our own reflection into the world around us. The monuments I create are non-monuments; they lack distinct meaning. The materials lack value, found book pages, recycled dump stock paint, wood and drywall. The assemblage works are a direct reaction to accumulated materials within my studio. The assemblage titled, Contents of Studio, Gathered, Painted Brown is just that, the contents of my studio gathered, painted brown and placed in a pile. I accumulated a collection of unsuccessful and unfinished works, and painting them all the same neutral color resolved the conflict I was having with them, placing them in a pile offered a solution for their arrangement and physicality.
SC: In addition to your studio practice, I am also interested in your other more social and collaborative projects. I know that you have produced the ‘Fluxus Coloring Book’, you are now conducting day-long artist residencies out of your home, and you are in the process of curating the third installment of Paper! Awesome!, a show that features an impressive line-up of artists that work with or on paper.
BNR: The Fluxus Coloring Book was produced while in residence at Southern Exposure. During my residency, I worked with a group of artists to build The Portable Ice Cream Stand, part art object, part functioning ice cream stand, part social happening. Visiting artists and guests initiated the direction of the project. A worktable was built to make handmade fliers, later the table functioned as a place for conversation and art making. A few artists made coloring book pages, and guests colored in them. All of the work created at the table was left behind. As a reaction I wanted to develop something that could be taken away from the project. I have an interest in Fluxus art, and felt there was a relationship between the childlike tendencies of a coloring book and the humor of Fluxus art. The coloring book consisted of blank pages and non-representation lines. There was nothing to color in or around; the coloring book was failure, a document for it’s own joke.
One-Day Artist Residencies will take place within the context of Hallway Projects, which exists in my home. During these residencies, an interaction will take place in private, and then later be shared with the public via on-line documentation and distribution of printed materials. During each residency the contributor is offered both a physical venue and a reasonable timeline to execute direct actions in art making. Within the modest time frame and hospitable environment, I hope to interview each contributor and produce either collaborative works or investigate shared sensibilities in our interests as makers. For example, in a conversation many years ago, Amy Rathbone and I discovered we both dislike the colors yellow and blue. For her residency, we plan to explore the colors, and our reaction to them now. We plan to evaluate various tones of each color and rank our tolerance. In addition, we plan to directly tackle our fears by submersing ourselves in the colors and sharing our experience with the public in efforts to gain a better understanding of why we dislike the color yellow and the color blue.
And, Paper! Awesome! was first produced out of necessity for an exhibit within a short timeline. It took place at the now closed Mimi Barr Gallery in 2003. I put out a call to artists to submit work on a letter size piece of paper. I figured with the upcoming deadline, a letter size piece of paper was the most approachable form for both the artists, and my vision for installing the work in a cohesive manner. The works were hung on two walls in a quilt-like fashion. The second installment took place two years later, and involved an open call and a jury process. The range of artists selected added an important element to the exhibit. Artist who were established within the art world and artists who have not shown their work before were hung alongside one another and the proximity of the works offered a slightly anonymous experience for the viewer. For the third installment at Baer Ridgway this spring, I have invited an interesting range of artists who have shown extensively in the international art world, and I am in the process of working with members of other organizations to provide another element to the exhibit. Again, the timeline here is important, I invited the artists to participate nearly six weeks prior to the deadline of submissions. Like the One-Day Artist Residencies, I am interested in what can be produced within a limited time frame and limited space.
SC: So what can we look forward to from you in 2010? Do you have any exciting new projects that you have been wanting to tackle?
BNR: 2010 is shaping up to be very productive. I will be a curator in residence for a short period of time with Baer Ridgway Exhibitions. Little Paper Planes is publishing a book of my collages and assemblages. The book will be released in February. The Andy Warhol Foundation has funded the catalog for Artadia Awardees. I’m looking forward to returning to the studio, and having a lot of conversations about the potential to do larger projects. A very ambitious year to come!
Weatherbee’s Revenge is the title of a new exhibition featuring works by Mark Mulroney, which opened last night at Chicago’s Ebersmoore Gallery. When the artist was a child, his mother gave him a book titled “What’s Happening To Me?” in hopes of answering all of his questions concerning puberty and sex. For the show, Mulroney continues his irreverent imagery through a new series of works on paper which explore his youthful and naive understanding of sex as an adolescent. The book’s illustrations and texts proved to be completely misleading and altered the artist’s understanding of sex. As a response to the comedy and horror that ensued, the artist has created the work in Weatherbee’s Revenge.
Discussion
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