Category: Artist Interview

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Carole d’Inverno: Down to its Barest

Carole d’Inverno, “Where Are You From”, 3.5-x-12 ft, vinyl paint on paper, 2018, courtesy of the artist

Carole d’Inverno’s paintings can read as a coded language – idiosyncratic and universal at the same time. Her preparatory work involves meticulous research, specifically on historical aspects of a place and its inhabitants; yet her paintings seem to come together in a highly intuitive and fluid process. Throughout our conversations over recent years we have exchanged ideas about art and life.  In this interview with Art Spiel, she shares some notions on the impetus of her work, process, and plans. Continue reading “Carole d’Inverno: Down to its Barest”

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Viviane Rombaldi Seppey – Mapping her Road

Viviane Rombaldi Seppey, “Fragile”, hand cut atlas page (The World), wire, glass dome, plastic base, diameter 6 inches, 2017. Photo credit Etienne Frossard

In her poetic and playful installations Viviane Rombaldi Seppey coalesces everyday objects and materials, altogether bringing to mind  contemporary issues of identity, culture and environment. Maps, phonebooks, and books become directly embedded in her work as drawings, collages or sculptural objects. She has recently shared in an interview with Art Spiel some of her ideas and experiences. Continue reading “Viviane Rombaldi Seppey – Mapping her Road”

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Kelsey Shwetz – Other than Linear Reality

 

Kelsey Shwetz, Rec Room, Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, 62”x32”, 2018, photo credit Lloyd Mulvey

Kelsey Shwetz’s paintings  bring to mind fantastic landscapes and ornamented interior spaces at the same time. Her imagery depicts artificial environments saturated with unexpected color combinations, altogether conjuring intense psychological urgency- unsettling yet playful. In this interview with Art Spiel Shwetz shared some of her thoughts, specifically about color, narrative and style. Continue reading “Kelsey Shwetz – Other than Linear Reality”

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Katerina Lanfranco- Resisting Binary Oppositions

Katerina Lanfranco, photo by Edward Hutchinson

Katerina Lanfranco explores through painterly means the intellectual and physical freedom of making art at different scales and in various mediums. In her multi-faceted installations, paintings and sculptures she re-imagines scientific possibilities of human interference, interaction, and creativity in nature. Lanfranco, who is also a curator, educator, and writer, shares some thoughts on her journey, ideas, and curatorial practice with Art Spiel. Continue reading “Katerina Lanfranco- Resisting Binary Oppositions”

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Martynka Wawrzyniak – Ziemia: From Warsaw to Greenpoint

Ziemia unveiled at McGolrick Park, photo credit Wojtek Kubik

Unveiled on June 9, 2018, the core object  in the multidisciplinary public art project Ziemia (“Earth” in Polish), takes the form of a ceramic orb. The orb was created by the Greenpoint based artist Martynka Wawrzyniak in collaboration with The Polish Cultural Institute of New York, NYC Parks, and  most importantly – Greenpoint residents.

Surrounded by the  rolling meadow in McGolrick Park, the orb represents the collective portrait of the diverse Greenpoint community, with an emphasis on participation of the many Poles who have lived in the neighborhood for generations.  Martynka Wawrzyniak shares with Art Spiel the ideas behind her intriguing public art project, as well as some thoughts regarding her overall art practice. Continue reading “Martynka Wawrzyniak – Ziemia: From Warsaw to Greenpoint”

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Elisa Soliven – Genesis of making in Clay

Elisa Soliven, Studio Portrait, Courtesy Maxim Ryazansky

Elisa Soliven is a sculptor, curator, and co-founder of the artist collective Underdonk.  In her recent body of work, exhibited at the last SPRING/BREAK art show, Soliven experienced a turning point in her art.  In our interview for ArtSpiel she elaborated on her process and shared some of the thought process behind her work. Continue reading “Elisa Soliven – Genesis of making in Clay”

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Simonette Quamina – The Big Fight

Simonette Quamina, Swing: An ode to romanticism. 50 x 70 in. , 2017. Graphite, relief print on paper, courtesy of the artist

Simonette Quamina coalesces printmaking, drawing, and collage seamlessly. She is using only paper, graphite and ink to create richly textured surfaces in subtle yet bold monochromes. Her images vacillate between stillness and movement, personal and epic narratives, memory and tangible presence. I first saw her work at the Elizabeth Foundation open studios and invited her to share her ideas and methods. Besides this interview for Art Spiel, her work was included in an article I recently wrote for Kolaj Magazine (upcoming issue). Continue reading “Simonette Quamina – The Big Fight”

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Brent Green – Chickens Can’t Be Trained

Brent Green, A Brief Spark Bookended by Darkness installation, Andrew Edlin Gallery 2018, photo by Olya Vysotskaya

Artist/performer/filmmaker Brent Green is known for the raw beauty and poetic power in his animations, performances, and art installations. For instance, as an artist in residence at the Park Avenue Armory from the fall of 2015 to early 2016, Green performed at the venue’s “Under Construction Series” animated works-in-progress with a live band.  Later on that year, Green provided video projections and music for the first portion of “Empathy School/Love Story,” Aaron Landsman’s theater diptych of monologues at the Abrons Art Center, where the audience were seated on stage. We started our conversation when we first met at his superb recent installation exhibit at Andrew Edlin Gallery. Continue reading “Brent Green – Chickens Can’t Be Trained”

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Christina Massey – In Between Zones

Christina-Massey, artist-studio, mixed-media artwork, photo courtesy of the artist

Christina Massey is a multi faceted artist whose appetite for bold experimentation with multiple materials and techniques feeds her rigorous search for complex form and subtle commentary on social and cultural issues. This process oriented search results in prints, sculptural installations, and wall reliefs –  layered imagery in her two dimensional work and highly textured surfaces in her dimensional work. Massey represents our current state of being “in between,” not only in the hybridity of her art forms, but also in the very definition of what it means to be an artist at this moment. Continue reading “Christina Massey – In Between Zones”

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 Rosaire Appel – Cajoling sound and image

Rosaire Appel, your face, abstract comic, 2016, 16×20” pigment print, photo courtesy of the artist

Rosaire Appel ‘s rigorous graphic explorations reveal an acute sensibility to the elusive line between language / sound and image. Her skills as a photographer, writer and draftswoman seamlessly coalesce in her book forms. We first met when I covered her exhibition at Schema Projects in 2013 – her  abstract comics engaged me with their endless imaginative iterations and I have been curious to learn how her work has evolved since. Continue reading ” Rosaire Appel – Cajoling sound and image”