Interview with Enrico Pitzianti

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)I am a visual artist, currently living in Sassari, Italy.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I work mainly on collage and painting, but I like to explore other media, using photography and bricolage for instance.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)The most distinctive features are the use of black and white as well as color choice in general, and the spirituality in the compositions. In particular reference to my collages I think the peculiarities are the kinds of material I use, often result of a good mix of research and selection, and the right hint of subconsciousness.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I never had a "big break". I have never stopped drawing, a really important moment to me has been the beginning of my passion for graffiti, but post-graffitism boom was what most fascinated me. After several years of passion for public art I began to believe more in the human and anthropological value of the individual, consequently creating a personal production; personal but not an end in itself, though. Since then urban art has given place to spirituality, reflection and relieve in an more intimate dimension. What I have been showing is various, aside public art experiences and first canvases what most matters to me are the occasions of collage and composition works exhibitions.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)In this very period my biggest influence comes from nature, especially from the mountain. I have always been bound to it but lately, for some reason, this feeling has grown. Atmospheres, aesthetical logics, even just the "mountain dimension", influence what I do. Although there is no influence in the works but in the phase precedent to their creation. Even aesthetic philosophy and its evolution are a big influence, most of all the one between the the thirties and the seventies.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)The last thing I have been working on is a serie of big sized collages. It is something I really care about because of the use of color besides black and white, fairly unusual to me. I hope to show it soon.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)I do often, though not always. Lately I have been accompanying my work with drone, industrial and psychedelic rock: Bardo Pond, Sunn O))), Isis, Current 93, Maurizio Bianchi just to mention a few. Referring to something that influences what I do I would say late New Age.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)A musical project, still in development though.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)I do not think I can say it, I am neither a gallery manager nor an expert, but in my opinion timing, spaces and choices made about showing one's work must be taken considering working modalities and types.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)The presentation of a fanzine entirely dedicated to collage, "mekanik copulaire", edited by Willaim Turlisky, featuring several european artists, besides me. Other upcoming events are two collective exhibition, a fantasy-themed one in Cagliari and another entirely dedicated to collage art. Soon there will be more informations.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)I have a temporary site on ptznt.tumblr.com where people can find links and updates.

Interview with Eric Hibit

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)I was born in Rochester, NY, in western part of the state. This is also where I spent my childhood. Now I’m in NYC.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I do acrylic paintings on paper. I also do sculptural paintings, made by stretching fabric over wire armatures.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)Sensibility is what sets any artists work apart.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I’ve been showing my work since undergrad.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Mysteries. Nature. New York.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)Well, recently, there is a lot going on. I am planning an installation, containing images and objects presented in a very specific way. Wish I could say more, but I can’t divulge the themes until the work is complete.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)Well, my musical tastes are not very evolved. I’m really an idiot about music, always been. As a teenager I had no sense for what was cool. People had to really spell it out for me, I had no idea. The contents of my ipod are truly too humiliating to list :( Next question....

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)I do not work in other media.
Besides art, I enjoy running, vegetarian cooking, all types of cookies and cakes, coffee, my pet turtle Ginger, meditation and yoga, state fairs, astrology, Scrabble, excursions into nature, dancing, and interesting wines.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Honor inspiration.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)I will be ready to announce that soon.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)erichibit.com, curatorsoffice.com, annakustera.com,

Interview with Erin McCarty

q)What is your earliest art-related memory?

a)Every thanksgiving (when I was really little) I used to make these festive, super elaborate sets of the Native Americans dining with the Pilgrims. This involved life size paper cut outs of characters fully accessorized in head dresses and those little pilgrim shoes with the buckles, a full on construction paper thanksgiving meal and table, and a bunch of little piles of fallen tree leaves. There are all these really creepy pictures of me posing in front of the scene (which I taped onto the wall by the dinner table) in a bonnet and looking really pleased with myself.

q) Who has had the greatest influence on your work?

a)I don’t think it is one particular artist so much as it has been my surroundings and experiences. I grew up in Alaska, and the intense weather conditions and towering, craggy landscape has definitely had the biggest influence on my art. It’s made my paintings more epic, concerned with extremes, and bent on communicating the awe-inspiring. I’m definitely more excited to work on a new piece after going on an outing of some kind rather than trolling around online. There is so much jaw-dropping talent out there that it can get pretty overwhelming and even discouraging at times. If I’m feeling down on myself, it just creates icky feelings that aren’t good for motivation. A good time spent in the mountains or forest always, always puts me in a frame of mind where I become overwhelmed by beauty in a good, healthy way that feels meaningful and not forced. Then I’m more driven to create something that is unique to my experience and perception, as opposed to copying someone else’s techniques.

q) What are the main tools of your craft?

a)Gouache, ink, 400lb archival watercolor paper. I’m really into Holbein Acryla Gouache right now for the insane color options.

q) Is a formal education important?

a)Depends on the individual. All I can say is that it really helped shape me as an individual. I became more serious and engaged. If I hadn’t gone to college, there would have been more potential for me to be aimless. Initially, going in to art school I had a pretty bad attitude about it, and was even embarrassed to tell people that that was what I was doing. It sounds cheesy, but I started to take myself more seriously the minute I took art school more seriously.

q) What is the biggest misconception about art?

a)That you always have to suffer for it.

q) Which is more important in art - concept or execution?

a)It varies piece to piece and person to person. For me, concept is more important for now. This is because I can’t get excited about a piece if I’m not excited about an idea first. However, the concept can be as loose as “okay, today I want to make a painting that describes how bright the sun feels”. It doesn’t always have to be major.

q) What theme or aesthetic are you most drawn too?

a)Rendering the grotesque in a way that is really beautiful to look at. Lately I’ve been pretty fixated on the human body…veins, pus, bones, rot, and all that.

q) What is your favorite piece of art in your home?

a)At my childhood home there is this big goat head on the wall. It is the one & only thing my dad has ever hunted and had mounted. He did it alone in Alaska when he was a young man and I think it was a pretty big deal for him. I remember him saying he cried afterwards, and ended up eating some of it that night. It is one of those stories that made my dad seem larger than life when I was a little kid, and feels mythologized to me at this point. Usually people that have animal heads on their walls have about 5-10 heads. We just have the one, and it stands out so much in our little tv room.

q) If you could collaborate with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

a)Gustav Klimt. I know we could make some ultra patterned, pervy stuff together. William Blake for his boldness, storytelling, and compositions.

q) What has been your greatest achievement to date?

a)Seeing how much stronger my work has become over time. It is a huge motivator to keep doing this.

q) What has been your biggest roadblock?

a)Fear & self doubt, the biggest killer of creativity.

q) How do you define success?

a)Getting to a place where I feel stable enough financially to support myself, as well as help emerging artists make a career for themselves in some way. It is important to give back to the community that opened the gates for you, and after so much time of self reflection I think focusing on other people would feel like a vacation!

q) What is the best piece of (art-related) advice you’ve ever been given?

a)A teacher of mine said something along the lines of , “half of succeeding as an artist is talent, and the other is just pure serendipity”. That just feels really true to me. You can’t always force things, and sometimes the most perfect opportunity comes out of nowhere.

Interview with Winston Chmielinski

q)What is your earliest art-related memory?

a)Crimson berries grow wild around my childhood elementary school... I would mash them up, smear the color on cheeks, into my hair, and since my hair was already quite dark brown I would sometimes involve the blondes.

q) Who has had the greatest influence on your work?

a)Francis Bacon, Egon Schiele

q) What are the main tools of your craft?

a)For now, Golden Open Acrylics on canvas, panel, clay board. Really old brushes.

q) Is a formal education important?

a)As for painting I’m self-taught. An effective artist is perceptive, and effective schooling opens up the eyes.

q) What is the biggest misconception about art?

a)That it can be confined to a category.

q) Which is more important in art - concept or execution?

a)Both have their place, maybe at different times. If I try to follow the oscillations between the two I get confused; I theorize outside the studio (I think a lot, a lot,) and let loose inside.

q) What theme or aesthetic are you most drawn too?

a)Confined accidents, moments of menial rendering beset by freefalls and vice versa.

q) What is your favorite piece of art in your home?

a)Of my own, “Color Me Quiet” – it resonates with memories, and powerful objects are exhilarating

q) What has been your greatest achievement to date?

a)Sticking with it

q) What has been your biggest roadblock?

a)Someone else will determine that in retrospect.

q) How do you define success?

a)If intense individuals find my artwork intensely relatable

q)What is the best piece of (art-related) advice you’ve ever been given?

a)Just do

Interview with Jeremy Wagner

q)What is your earliest art-related memory?

a)My Grandparents collected art, they a few scary pieces like this one painting that depicted a life sized woman running on fire her breasts were exposed and she was screaming with her hands on her head, that was a powerful piece, especially for a young child.

q) Who has had the greatest influence on your work?

a)It’s hard to name a singular influence, I’ve looked at a lot of artist like Ed Ruscha, Robert Betchle, William Steiger, contemporary artist like Erik Benson, Brian Alfred, Julian Opie, I like artist who depict stylized everyday scenes that make us examine them in new ways.

q) What are the main tools of your craft?

a)I use Cameras, Computers, exacto knifes, Sheet metal, contact paper, charcoal dust, and enamel paints.

q) Is a formal education important?

a)Of course, education in any form is important; it especially helps to be informed in your field.

q) What is the biggest misconception about art?

a)That you have to be educated in art to enjoy it or have an opinion.

q) Which is more important in art - concept or execution?

a)I think the best artwork has a brilliant concept and is well executed.

q) What theme or aesthetic are you most drawn too?

a)My work is very architecturally influenced; I like geometric shapes and repetitive patterns.

q) What is your favorite piece of art in your home?

a)My home is filled with my own artwork and my wife’s artwork, I try not to be too attached to it because, it is all for sale. I have been collecting works on paper from my friends and peers, I have a couple great ink on paper pieces from my studiomate at grad school Evan Gruzis whose work is now selling for big bucks.

q) If you could collaborate with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

a)Probably Andy Warhol. He was definitely one of the most significant artists of the 20th century.

q) Which emerging artist do you think more people should know about?

a)My wife Jiyoung Park, she’s super talented. www.Jiyoungpark.com

q) What has been your greatest achievement to date?

a)I think building a solid career is a gradual process; a lot of young art stars that are overnight successes don’t have longevity, I intend to be in the art game for the duration and am proud of my accomplishments thus far but know my greatest achievements have yet to come.

q) What has been your biggest roadblock?

a)My biggest roadblock in my artistic process is coming up with concepts for imagery, or once I have a concept finding the proper source material to paint from.

q) How do you define success?

a) At the moment success for me means making work I believe in and having an audience that enjoys what I make as well as have patrons who buy my work and allow me to keep producing and evolving.

q) What will be the name of your autobiography?

a)I’m too busy making paintings to write one.

q)What is the best piece of (art-related) advice you’ve ever been given?

a)Not to allow yourself to feel as though your work is too precious that you won’t take risks. I learned that lesson from a art teacher in high school who had his students work on a drawing for weeks only to have us rip it up and reconstruct it into a new piece.

Interview with Julio Falagán

q) Well, first of all please tell us a little about yourself.

a)Hola, me llamo Julio Falagán, soy un terrícola.

q) Had you always planned on being an artist [or had you other hopes]?

a)Siempre me gustó el arte y la creatividad, pero nunca planee ser artista. La verdad es que aún sigo pensando qué es lo que quiero ser de mayor.

q) Do you have a preferred medium to work on? Why?

a)El mejor medio para expresarme es el lenguaje, como todo ser humano. A veces utilizo el lenguaje oral, otras el escrito, otras el audiovisual, otras el asociacionista del collage, etc. Depende lo que quiera comunicar. Hay tantas formas diferentes de expresión y cada una enfatiza cosas tan diferentes, que no me caso con ninguna.

q) How would you describe your style?

a)Libre, personal y optimista.

q) Do you go through any certain processes while trying to produce your work?

a)Cada trabajo requiere un método de creación diferente. Depende de lo que quiera comunicar.

q) What are you working on at present?

a)Estoy trabajando en varios proyectos a la vez, y de formatos muy variados:

Uno es G.E.F. (Grupo Empresa Falagán) Que se puede ver en www.grupoempresafalagan.com que trata sobre la precariedad del status social del artista en la sociedad actual, y sobre el Graffiti y la publicidad relacionada con el arte.

Un proyecto pictórico con interacción del espectador, titulado “Proyecto de los cuadros populares” (se puede ver en www.juliofalagan.com), En el que el espectador aconseja al artista la evolución que debería seguir la pieza.

Y ahora estoy comenzando con “The history of Iron Decision Machine”, un proyecto documental de video instalación sobre conspiración; y “María y José” un proyecto expositivo en torno a la fotografía, la verdad y la manipulación de la historia y el recuerdo.

q) What about recent sources of inspirations?

a)Para mí todo lo que me rodea es una fuente de inspiración, solo puedo reflexionar sobre las cosas que he vivido. Pero últimamente me está llamando mucho la atención el tema de la manipulación de masas a través de medios masivos y el nuevo orden mundial. Cosas más globales o universales.

q) What are some of your obsessions?

a)Me da vergüenza decirlo.

q) Which galleries have you shown at and which galleries would you like to show at?

a)He expuesto en varias galerías de forma individual, en Raya Punto de Salamanca, Galería Artificial y Carmen de la Guerra en Madrid, y Galería Caracol en Valladolid. También he estado en diferentes espacios en exposiciones colectivas, como en Madi s Mad, Estudio Banana, Rampa, Subaquática, Fast & Cool, etc. Y alguna feria como ARCO Madrid, Estampa Madrid, o Artissima Torino.

Y ¿Dónde me gustaría exponer? Pues sinceramente, después de los palos que me he llevado, solo pido exponer en una galería que te respete como artista y como persona, que valore realmente tu trabajo y tu amistad. Me es indiferente si es potente o pequeña, mientras haga su parte de trabajo.

q) If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted?

a)Cualquier forma de comunicación es buena. Normalmente el mail es la más utilizada, pero el teléfono implica más interés.

q) Do you have any suggestions or advice for artists that are just starting out?

a)Cuidado con el perro.

q) Who are your favorite artists?

a)Chiquito de la Calzada. Un humorista español castizo.

q) What books are on your nightstand?

a)Tengo dos, “La última lección” de Randy Pausch, que hubiera preferido no tener que hacerlo, y me acabo de releer “David Boring” de Daniel Clowes.

q) To what weaknesses are you most indulgent?

a)No entiendo la pregunta

q)….your contacts…

a)www.juliofalagan.com

www.juliofalagan.blogspot.com

www.grupoempresafalagan.com

info@juliofalagan.com