One of the first fables I heard as a little girl growing up in Japan was "Red Ogre & Blue Ogre" story. It’s interesting that I learned about mythical figures before physical things like typewriters, walls or paintings. In old Japan the ogre was created to teach kids morals. He was the perfect embodiment of good, evil, fear, love, and all the other traits of human nature. So it was natural that I felt instant connection to Lee’s illustrations of scary mythical characters when I saw them. I was also curious why this American person was so into drawing ogres.
Q1: Your images look like they are from a great saga. Who is this figure above and what is the story you are trying to tell with this illustration.
i definitely think a lot of my work or the characters in them are searching for something... what that is i'm not sure... but you could probably use a title of "the seeker" to describe this and much of my work. i've also been fascinated with constructing my own mythologies. i like to think the characters in my work are part of some odd mythological narrative... well in my own head anyway.
Q2: Were you into monsters when you are growing up? What were your favorite ones? Who is your current favorite?
i was very into monsters and creatures as a kid. i was totally fascinated with H.R. Pufnstuf. way back when, and while not so much a monster, he was definitey an interesting sort of creature. i was pretty amazed with any of the Sid and Marty Krofft productions, and of course anything related to Jim Henson. The Dark Crystal is a totally an amazing movie. it is completely unique and sinister. also very early on i was always venturing around the woods with my friends. so i think this sparked a lot of imagination of monsters in the woods. Where the Wild Things Are would also be a favorite of my childhood as well. currently i am very fascinated with Japanese mythology.
Q3: Do you believe in supernatural thing? Have you had experienced with it?
hmmm... haven't had to much experience with the supernatural. although i'd like to believe there's whole other sets of energy and spirit out there they we are not quite tapped into. the idea of supernatural is very inspiring though.
Q4: What is the first art you made? And what did it look like?
i remember way back making a drawing of a turkey using my hand as a base shape. also i remember being very good at drawing the profile view of big rig trucks, 18 wheelers. i would study these trucks as my family drove to where ever. trying to get all the details down as a kid was very challenging. the best part of this process was drawing the airbrush art that appeared on the side of truck cabs such as a sexy pin up girl. it was always interesting to try to translate this onto paper using crayons.
Q5: You have a very unique illustration style. How did you develop your current style? What was your inspiration?
i've definitely been heavily influenced by japanese prints over the last few years. the soothing quality of repetitive line drawing is very appealing. trying to break out of that somewhat lately. haven't quite found a new comfort zone yet. we'll see what comes along.
Q6: What magazines/ publications/web feature illustrations worthwhile to look?
http://www.drawn.ca is always full of good drawing/illustration sites. i was a big fan of The Drama Magazine while it was in publication. but sadly i haven't been looking at too many magazines or books recently. i should get out more.
Q7: What music do you listen to when you draw?
right now i'm on a heavy rotation of Battles, Blood Brothers and Part Chimp... but i've been known to listen to way too much YES.
Q8: What are you wearing today?
today i am wearing a faded black tee (kinda dirty), Levi's 505 jeans, a pair of black suede Vans and a substantial beard (getting an early start on the winter super scruff).
Q9: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
home mostly. but we take our dog to McCarren park a lot as well. i am a fan of Barcade... i can get a Coke and some beef jerky and entertain myself for hours playing old school video games. it can be a very affordable evening. and i'm definitely a fan of any place that serves pork belly... Fette Sau is dreamy.
Q10: What are the random funny jobs you had in the past? Also what do you think you’d become if you weren’t professional illustrator/artist?
paperboy, busboy, lawn care were my main sources of income early on. the craziest job i had was driving a huge truck for a rock quary. it was super challenging and fun, but kinda dangerous now that i think about it. i think my dream alternate career would to be a chef. i've often thought about dropping everything and running off to culinary school. but if any future endeavor includes a vegetable garden, i'll be stoked.
Q11: What are you working on right now?
currently i'm working on a large format vector drawing for the Todays Art Festival in The Hague. the work will be projected onto the City Hall Building i think at a size of about 32 x 32 meters. should be pretty fun. it's always amazing to see your work at such a large scale. this is really the firs thing i've done in awhile, i'm just coming out of a pretty big creative slump and i'm excited to get some new ideas onto paper. also perhaps look for a small destroy rock city book in the beginning of 2008.
Thanks, Lee!
Special thanks to Dan.
See more of Lee's great illustrations at www.destroyrockcity.com
Destroy Rock City: Q&A with Lee Misenheimer
Cookie Cake: Q&A with Tarissa Tiberti
It's becoming more and more obvious that I have a thing for food related art. I've done Q&As with Jason's Little Gift, Caroline's Diner Journal and Milton's Free Food. On top of that I am planning an interview with Studio Feast in a few weeks. Come to think of it, I remember it was Dan who first realized my particular interest in the subject matter since he seems to have the same inclination I have. I showed him THE QUERIES for the first time when he was still working at this design wasteland with me. He said to me "You'll like my friend Tarissa's work" and showed me her website. Her work looked so sweet and tasty that it immediately hit the spot.
1: Can you explain a little bit about the piece? When you see it close up the texture looks so yummy looks like powered with cocoa. What are they made of? Do they smell sweet?The "drawing" is made of all paper, doilies included. The cookies themselves are three-dimensional so they look as if they have a filling. Dusted with cocoa, I like that. Some of the paper is flocked resulting in the cocoa dusted affect. They smell freshly baked if you close your eyes and picture your grandmother's kitchen.
2: How did you start making confectionary art pieces?
It all started with frosting! That's right good old buttercream frosting. I loved the texture and began applying it on the wall as you would dry wall mud. This application sparked many ideas and the opportunities were endless.
3: You mentioned artificial sweetener in your artist statement. What's your view toward artificial sugar? There's something creepy and interesting about the fake sugar because it only satisfies mind but doesn't do anything to the body, no nutrition or calories.
Funny you should ask this. My sister and I were just talking about this as it is a constant thought of mine. I actually don't like artificial sugars, at all. That's exactly it, it is an illusion! Your mind thinks you are choosing a better alternative, yet your body craves the real thing. So you use or consume more of the artificial than the real deal. I don't think I will ever understand how diet soda can be 0 calories. It's not like it is a healthy option. Hmmm.
4: Do you have sweet tooth? Do you have cavities?
Yes I have a sweet tooth. I always love a good dessert after a meal or a bit of dark chocolate will often do the job. Cavities?? I think I have one in every tooth possible. But my last visit to the dentist I was clear and free.
5: What 's your favorite flavor for ice cream?
Coffee or Pistaschio. Of course chocolate and all its forms are always enjoyed!
6: Tell us about your sweetie.
My best-friend from grade school just had a baby girl. She is my newfound sweetie! You should see her in person.
7: How do you indulge yourself?
Food and drinks are a great way to satisfy me. That's how I usually indulge.
8: What are you wearing right now.
My p.j.s Actually, they sort of look like one of my drawings!
9: Where is your favorite tea room/coffee shop?
In Florence, Italy on Via San Gallo.
10: What's your plan for the fall?
Plan for the fall. If that isn't the question of the century. Alas, I have an answer. I hopefully will be working at a bakery on the Upper West Side. Negotiations are in the works!
Check out more of Tarissa's work at www.tarissatiberti.com
Thanks Tarissa!
Special thanks to Dan Weiss! This Saturday he's opening a gallery called OPEN SPACE in beautiful Beacon. He's featuring the works of Michael De Feo. The Opening reception is held on September 8th 3 - 9pm.
Bad Goods: Q&A with Matthew Lusk
When I was living in this building on Eckford Street, I used to see lots of cool garbage coming in and out. There were pickle barrels, tarps, tons of tires and weird stuff I couldn't quite figure out. They were being brought into the loft at the end of the courtyard where Matt was living. I was suspecting something good was going on in that loft.
After I moved out, I googled him and found sculptures of hipsters, thugs, good guys and bad guys that Matt made with salvaged materials and hats. I really liked those sculptures because they were humorous and utilitarian-looking. I am especially fond of the fact Matt used hats as a key item to characterize types since he's also a great hat wearer (It's great when he pairs them with red striped overalls.)
Q1: Can you explain a little bit about the work?
This show at Outrageous Look was in the form of a window display in a vernacular storefront in South Williamsburg. Taking into account the location, I decided to couch my presentation in the realm of a hat display. There are several hat stores in the immediate area. I set out by creating some simple forms, figures really, to place the hats onto. They eventually became parodies of types: a couple of hipsters with boards for bodies and nails shooting out of their faces, newspaper-chubby western Good Guy and Bad Guy with knotted rope genitalia, a dirty-shirt newsboy, a burlap feed sack thug, and a big blue plastic tarp hobgoblin with a green plastic dealer's visor.
The other window had a geometric construction in garish pink and green. Inter-tangled twin replica spice racks from the pages of Martha Stewart Living. Inverted. Being the middle of winter, I had chosen the colors and the title: Ode to Spring. A little tongue-in-cheek adoration to wistful abstraction/distraction.
In place of curtains, I used commercial perforated black rubber mats like one would find in a kitchen or behind your favorite bar.
Both window displays, I'm remembering now, were sitting on a thin carpet of fresh asphalt.
The whole effort was untitled at the time, but I refer to it as Bad Goods.
I've been working on storefront ideas for awhile now. In my last residence, on Java Street in Greenpoint, I constructed a storefront in my loft to separate my studio space from my sleeping and office quarters. I had three little group projects in that storefront and four others in the rest of the loft. That space was referred to as Weather Records, a name that I keep in use now as a picture blog without words.
Q2: I always suspected you make cool art work from witnessing a pickle barrel coming in and out of your house. Do you mainly work with found objects?
This is something I've been doing for a long time and thinking about very seriously as of late. It's hard to distinguish between the fiscal necessity of using salvaged materials, the content of past use and the ramifications of removing that use-value, and the political or ecological arguments for using recycled objects. When I think of doing something, I'm usually drawn to removal/relocation rather than outright fabrication. But on the other hand, I'm very good at crafting objects and have a lot of experience in building structures and fabricating furniture and other somewhat traditional things.
I'm afraid that what you saw was someone stealing my pickle barrel and I'm very angry about that. I'm in the market for a replacement.
Q3: Where do you get the supplies?
Recently I've been very happy with a recycled building supply warehouse in Queens. And eBay. But nothing really beats going out there and rooting around. Getting out of the neighborhood is imperative. Especially if that neighborhood is New York. Though the garbage here is usually surprisingly good. McMaster/Carr is good if you have the money, and construction supply houses are probably my go-to guys. There is always something there that is really simple, familiar, and mutable.
Q4: Who are your favorite artists at the moment?
Robert Gober. H.C.Westermann. Fischli&Weiss. Magritte. William Wegman, even the later stuff. Hans Bellmer. I think about Louise Nevelson occasionally, but maybe that's because of her first big show in awhile that's up at the Jewish Museum. Roni Horn. Felix Gonzales-Torres. Frank Stella. Mondrian. I was thinking lately about artists whom I used to like, but no longer do, and it seemed like an interesting alternative to the usual "favorites" list. Like if it were music, it's more interesting to my friends that I used to listen to a lot of ska than that I now occupy myself with the Hold Steady and Pere Ubu. I'm just saying that it's just as important to know what you hate as what you love. Just as long as there's more love going on.
Q5: What are your favorite museums?
Triple Candie. They've got more of an idea of what they're doing and how they're contributing to dialogue than just about anyone going right now. And their last show cost about twelve dollars to produce.
Q6: I often saw you wearing red striped overalls and you looked cute in them. What are you wearing today?
Red-and-white striped overalls. I found them on the trash by the L about five years ago. Neatly folded. They're the exact same kind that my friend Tyler Bush wore when he was on the cheerleading squad at Wabash College called the Sphinx Club. They wore beanies. I usually have a newsboy's cap or some other thing to keep the sun out of my eyes.
Q7: I was wondering you must be a good curator. Tell me what about the high and low of organizing art shows.
Organizing shows is great, at least how I do it. Come up with an idea. Plan to change the space you're in to carry the concept of that idea. Invite able-bodies and elastic-minded folks to make things expressly for that idea/space. Get some cards printed up and make sure the beer is cold. Simple.
I distinguish this process from curating by choosing artists based on their abilities and potential, rather than choosing specific works, and also by the absence of editing on my part. Once you're in, whatever you want to contribute is in the show. This is where it gets interesting as some people play well with others and some just don't play at all. The lows are when people who showed interest don't bother to do anything at all. I won't mention names, but they know who they are. The highs are when people totally blossom under the circumstances and do something good and out-of-the-ordinary.
Q8: Any new show coming up?
I just finished installing three new outdoor pieces at ArtOMI up in the Hudson Valley for a show curated by Max Goldfarb called Bivouac.
I'm also working on a suite of half-a-dozen group projects that will be looking at products of American identities, the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the lack of supporting evidence for the American Dream. The first two shows have their roots in the pages of The Great Gatsby and are titled Daisies and Valley of Ashes. I'm shopping them around to a few spaces that I think might be interested in hosting them.
Q9: What is your plan for summer?
Not to accidentally kill myself. Not to go completely broke more than twice. To drink a lot of water. To go fishing with my father. To make a good trip or two. To go to Hale County, Alabama. To eat well. To make some good work while nobody's watching.
Q10: Anything we should know about you?
I play left field for the Mendoza Line softball club in theWilliamsburg Softball League and I love my life.
Thanks, Matt!
Check out Matt's picture blog Weather Records
See matt's portfolio onWhite Columns and Artists Space.
Hektor: Q&A with Chloé Derderian
{graffiti} {spraycan} {laptop} {programming} {art} {robot}
Can you guess whose those tags belong to?
It's Hector, the graffiti robot.
Hektor is consist of spray can folder, two motors mounted and his brain, the laptop computers. His spray can part of the body is driven by two motors mounted at the upper corners his canvas/wall.
He has just finished a show "It's Ok to Make Mistakes" at the Riviera gallery in Williamsburg. On June 13, he produced graffities on the walls of the gallery. He diligently drew the lines making the robotic moves. He looked very humorous and charming.
Hector unfortunately is already back home in Switzerland. So I asked questions to {young} {cute} {smart} {sweet} {Williamsburg}{riviera gallery} {curator} Chloé Derderian about him and also her views on technology and her devotion for art and her gallery.
1: Can you explain about Hektor and the work made by him? Is Hektor also an art piece?
Hektor is something that needs to be seen to be believed. The robot/machine Hektor was created in collaboration with Uli Franke and Jürg Lehni in Switlerland. To create the pieces, Juerg works with a guest designer (for this show he worked with Laurenz Brunner) who makes the design in a special program that tells Hektor how to draw the lines. It is then installed within the gallery hooked to the computer and there you have it. The real magic in Hektor is as a spectator, you never know what the final piece will be as he teases you by drawing one line in the upper right corner, swings down to create a line to the lower left and so on. You really get trans-fixed by watching the story unfold. It is really about the performance as opposed to just the finished piece.
I would say that Hektor the machine is a work of art in itself. It is a one of a kind object, which took quite a bit of work and ingenuity to create.
More information can be found here: www.hektor.ch
2: Computer nerd or art nerd?
Art nerd, but I guess any nerd is cool. If a nerd means someone who is completely interested and devoted to one thing (whether it be art, computers, Star Trek, the Civil War) that is something I find admirable in a person.
3: If Hektor was an android what do you think he¹d look like?
This is an interesting question as I have a very specific connotation to the name Hektor, and I wonder if it translates the same way to the Swiss designers.
4: What do you think of ape artists, like Janey the orange utan?
I¹m not as interested in ape artist as I am with elephant artists. The fact that an ape makes art is not so surprising, since they are a close relative to humans. But the idea that an enormous animal like an elephant can hold a tiny brush in his trunk and paint a painting is amazing.
5: What¹s the moment that you hated technology?
When your computer crashes and dies and you go to the Apple store and they very nonchalantly say "There's nothing we can do". (although perhaps that is really 75% a people issue). Otherwise, I love technology and don¹t know what I would do without the internet and email.
6: How did you land on your current job? How did you start getting involved in the art world?
My position with the Riviera came out of the blue. I was curating a show at the gallery set for this July and one of the partners asked if I might be interested in managing the space. We had a few meetings and I started within
2 weeks. I got really involved in the arts in 2001 when I curated my first show, "The All-Girl Art Show" at a lounge in Greenpoint. I was the Deputy Director with a not-for-profit called s.u.n.Arts and we curated numerous shows in the NYC area from 2001-2003. After that I branched off on my own for a bit and now I'm happily at the Riviera!
7: Any galleriest /curator you adore?
I admire the works being shown at New Image in LA. I think they¹re really on target with what¹s going on with real art. Deitch Projects and Cinders
Gallery has cool shows as well. Cinder¹s has their Porch Show up right now and I keep meaning to go and see it.
8: Where is your favorite place to see art?
Honestly, my favorite place to see art is generally in a book so you can really leaf through the pages and get in to it. I often feel intimidated going to galleries. There have been times where there was a garbage can in the gallery and I wasn¹t sure if it was art - so I¹d give it a good look just in case.
Other than books I like going to Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria. Last year they had a giant hairy sculpture of a Bigfoot. Our dog actually ran towards it from yards away barking thinking it was real.
9: How are you dressed today?
I am wearing a black pencil skirt, purple tank top, black patent leather flats and a gold necklace with the initial "G".
10: Anything we should know about you?
At the moment, the only thing I can think about is the show I¹m curating at the Riviera- "Tiger in a Tropical Storm". It¹s a project that has been in the works for over 6 months and I am thrilled that the opening is just around the corner. The piece that I am the most excited about is Richard Colman¹s. He will be sending along a 10 foot by 12 foot piece. Needless to
say- I'm excited!
Thanks do much Chloé! See you at the opening!
Special Thanks to Dan.
Watch Hektor making art
Check out upcoming exhibitions at the Riviera Gallery
Chole's new show "Tiger in a Tropical Storm" opens on July 12.
