Interview

Jason Ackman

August 14, 2018 By Brainard Carey Leave a Comment

Jason Ackman is a sculptor, residency director and art instructor residing in rural Frederick, IL with his wife and two daughters

Central to his studio practice is his interest in the potential symbolic meaning found in ordinary, outdated and utilitarian objects. Using reclaimed lumber and reclaimed clay as sculptural media he explores alternative or re-imagined meanings for these objects as they relate to the concepts of transition and discernment.

Currently, he is working on several interactive community-based projects.

The books mentioned in the interview were The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish, Roberta’s Cookbook by Brandon Hoy, Chris Parachini and Katherine Wheelock and Called to Create: A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk by Jordan Raynor.

I Will If You Will 2016 Reclaimed Lumber, Latex House Paint and Beeswax 28′ x 10′ x 12′

On My Mark 2016 Reclaimed lumber, charred and latex painted surfaces 43″ x 26″ x 20″

Robin Winters

August 9, 2018 By Brainard Carey Leave a Comment

Robin Winters is a mixed media cultural worker, glassblower, sculptor, painter, and teacher with studios in the Catskill Mountains and New York City. Robin Winter’s work may be found in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art New York, The Whitney Museum New York, The Metropolitan Museum New York, The Brooklyn Museum New York and many other American and international museums as well as corporate and private collections.

wb bearman bags a job. Whitney museum, two month performance, bear mask, 1975

Lauren Mele

August 9, 2018 By Brainard Carey Leave a Comment

Lauren lives and works in London. She got her BFA at the Art Insitute of Boston (2008) and her MA in Contemporary Art History & Theory at the Sotheby’s institute of art (2012).

The statement from the artist:

Anxiety, hesitation, lust, and gluttony are never a step too far in any direction of my life. I work from memory; memories sidestep objectivity. Their visual manifestations are intensely personal and revealing. My work makes the fleeting essence of memory, tangible; the paintings put flesh to the bones of narrative. The unreliable and organic nature of recall makes for paintings that flirt with improvisation and result in vibrating and, in my case, anxiety laden energy. Working with concepts of femininity and the undercurrents that point to notions of the feminine, androgyny and feminist; my paintings unabashedly portray women delighted in their skins. Embracing flaws, sexuality and indulgence, they urge the viewer to engage with the unsavoury sides of themselves. Social labels of grotesque and lust associated with the body interest me, my figures explore the intricacies of the two.

“All the Girls in the Line for the Bathroom” Oil on Canvas, 40×50 (cms) 2016. All the aesthetic preparations that go in to a gritty night out inevitably ends up in a line for the bathroom. Debauchery, sleaziness and edge go hand in hand with the tweaked and teased elegance of getting ready to go out. Phones out, seedy reflections in a sticky floor; sweat and bodies congregating closely, intentionally and not. Everyone is in the rhythm of the night, in and out of synch with each other. Notes from art history can be seen here, figures imitating Picasso’s Demoiselles, suggesting femininity through the ages, is transient, a concept that breathes and exudes subjectivity.

“Girly” Oil on Linen, 55×65 (cms) 2018. This image of femininity sidesteps the pretty and puts gluttony on the table. Bodies sweaty and physical; flaws are exaggerated, embraced and flaunted. These figures, using myself as a physical point of reference, exude flamboyance and confidence, two attributes I strive for in my everyday but somehow suppress. The term ‘feminine’ should be flexible and fluid, say these figures, and more strongly associated with the term ‘feminist’. Society manages to keep the two concepts fairly disassociated, when in fact both should bring the word ‘robust’ to mind.

Ken Jacobs

August 8, 2018 By Brainard Carey Leave a Comment

Ken Jacobs: Born, 1933, Brooklyn, New York

Studied painting with Hans Hofmann, 1956-57. Started making films, 1955

Created/Directed The Millennium Film Workshop, N.Y.C.1966-68; started the Dept.of Cinema at S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton, 1969; Professor of Cinema1974-2000; Distinguished Prof. of Cinema, 2000; Distinguished Prof. of Cinema Emeritus, 2002-

“Optic Antics The Cinema of Ken Jacobs”, Edited by Michele Pierson, David E. James and Paul Arthur, Oxford Univ. Press, May 2011

Films and videos shown worldwide, numerous grants and awards.

from Capitalism: Slavery from Ken Jacobs on Vimeo.

RAZZLE DAZZLE The Lost World from Ken Jacobs on Vimeo.

R.M. Fischer

August 5, 2018 By Brainard Carey Leave a Comment

R.M. Fischer’s artwork has always rejected strict definition, hovering between the traditional boundaries that divide the worlds of art, design, architecture, and craft. Throughout his career he has made use of industrial materials in assembled objects that are simultaneously abstract and representational. His art appears both unexpected yet familiar at the same time. This is one way the artist engages the audience in a dialogue with the work.

For the last ten years, one of Mr. Fischer’s methods is to utilize aspects of craft, figuration, and references to “outsider” art in order to conjure sculpture that come alive with a human like personality. While there is humor in the work, there is also a sense of loss and sadness.

Mr. Fischer work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, The Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, The Brooklyn Museum, NY, The Jewish Museum, NYC, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, The Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho, The University of Nebraska Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln, Nebraska, The Carnegie Museum of Fine Art, Pittsburgh, PA., Fundacao De Serralves, Porto, Portugal, The Newark Museum of Fine Art, Newark, NJ, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO., and Tamayo Museo Cultural Center for Contemporary Art, Mexico City, among others.

Mr. Fischer’s renowned public art works appear in cities across the United States and Japan.