martedì 15 marzo 2011

Interview with Wojciech Grzanka






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

a)Hello, My name is Wojciech Grzanka also known as “voogee”. I live in a small town Jelcz-Laskowice located in Poland. I work as a webdesigner with friends in Helldesign.net., and after the work I take my camera and take a walk around my neighborhood taking pictures of everything that interests me: people, nature, macro, animals, and even astrophotography... but I feel best in photomontages, where I try to combine all these categories into one, using different techniques to create something unreal, surreal, unusual - something that is only in my mind.


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

a)As I have said, I take pictures with different themes - gives me a lot of fun, but the most satisfaction I have when creating a photomontages. My work is very emotional and personal, often surrealistic and “dark”... My works are created by digital technology - now I use a Canon 5D Mark II, from which the images are processed in Photoshop and occasionally in other programs. It all depends on the idea and what and how I want to present.


q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)I hope that a load of emotions that are contained in my work, makes people like to watch them. I try myself do not to inspire on anyone, even cut off from watching the work of other people, although it is known that it is virtually impossible.


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

a)I have been showing my photomontages relatively short - about 4 years ago. "Big break"? I hope that everything is still ahead. I create mainly for myself and published only on the Internet, but I would like to organize an exhibition with my photomontages in the future.


q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)My personal experiences are the main factor that have inspired me. Emotions that I feel reflecting on life, trying to understand it... The impact on what I make are also people who surround me, the music I listen to and even the weather ...


q)What have you been working on recently?

a)Recently, I have been experimenting with lights and night photos... I always wait for the right moment, trying to do not force myself, so I leave my ideas in sketchbook, where they are waiting for “materialization”.


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

a)I love to work when TOOL or Archive are playing... I like also Clint Mansell, System Of A Down / Serj Tankian, Porcupine Tree and many, many others ...


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

a)Not really. Sometimes I made short movies, but it is a derivative of what I do, so it's not a completely different media. I once loved to draw with a pencil, but that was before I had my first computer :)

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

a)Well, do not force people to watch your works. First of all, you need to focus to open up for the world around us. Sensitivity helps in perceiving things that others do not see. So keep your eyes around the head and draw inspiration from everything that surrounds us and then your works will say for you – let's people judge them. That's the best way.


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

a)Yes, but it will be not connected with my photomontages. At April 1, 2011 in Jelcz-Laskowice will be an exhibition of panoramic images of my city, which I am the author.


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




sabato 5 marzo 2011

Interview with Vahge






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


a)My name is Vahge. It’s a nickname I’ve had since I was little. I was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs, and spent several years in Santa Fe, NM before moving to Brooklyn, NY, where I am now.


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


a)I collage. I mainly use magazine clippings, adhesive, and tiny mustache scissors. I feel most connected to what people are calling the lowbrow, new brow, pop surreal movement. There’s an acceptance within that community of weirdness and imagination, things with which I feel most connected.


q)What do you think sets your work apart?


a)I think being a lowbrow collagist is kind of odd. I’ve also been told that my work is highly detailed.


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


a)I’ve been showing for about six years. It hasn’t been so much a big break, as many small breaks and a lot of hard work. I’ve definitely had a few exciting moments, jumping up and down on the sofa, and I love those times. But I think most artists would say the same thing, it’s mostly work, work, and more work.


q)What are some things that have inspired you?


a)I recently found a copy of Der Struwwelpeter, an old German children’s book from the 1840s that has inspired a lot of the music and theater I listen to and love. The stories in the book are meant to be lessons for children, but they are all fairly gruesome and depressing. There’s one about a boy who was told not to suck his thumbs or else a man would come out of the wall and cut them off. There’s another about a child who slowly starves to death because he refuses to eat. That book was an amazing find.


q)What have you been working on recently?


a)I’ve been collaging a 40 ounce bottle for a group show in March. I’ve started work on a large piece on wood panel, and have been making more small portraits. One of my friends, an incredible writer, is working with me on a children’s book. And I’m trying to write a grant.


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


a)I definitely listen to music, but I also love NPR, and I’ve recently started putting on episodes of Bones and Lie To Me while I cut out tiny tree branches. If I’m listening to music, it might be Tom Waits, old French pop, Nina Hagen, jazz, or Antony and the Johnsons. It kind of depends on what I’m doing that day.


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


a)I sometimes make yeti dolls out of clay, wire, paint, and fake fur. I love making homemade gifts for friends and family. I rarely draw, but I’ll occasionally do large portraits of my beau.


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


a)Work hard and keep sharing.


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


a)I’m in a group show in March at MF Gallery in New York. That’s where the bottle will be.


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


a)www.vahge.com