Contemporary Art and Culture
In her layered paintings and installations Cecile Chong brings to life notions of “otherness”, how cultural filters make us see each other. Her departure point derives organically from her experiences since early childhood. Here she shares some of these experiences, the genesis of her diverse body of work, and her upcoming projects.
Throughout her drawings and paintings Tamar Zinn has developed her own visual vocabulary, rooted in abstraction. Zinn shares with Art Spiel her growth as an artist, work process, and current art and curatorial projects.
After November 2016 Patricia Fabricant‘s paintings shifted from dense and layered abstractions to self portraits depicting fluctuating expressions and altogether underscoring post election malaise. Fabricant developed an intriguing mechanism of observation and layering. Her gaze is meant to be neutral, just a stare into the mirror but throughout the weaving process, chance yields unintended emotions – knowing, anxious, sad. The artist describes in this interview for Art Spiel her process, ideas, and on going projects.
Continue reading “Patricia Fabricant – Weaving a Fluctuating Self”
Just inside Jaynie Gillman Crimmins studio is a small table with a mirror, a piece of coral, and jar of shells. By the time you leave, you understand what they say about her inspiration and concerns. But they’re quickly forgotten as you go further, encounter the artist’s work and fall under its spell. Continue reading “A Visit With Jaynie Crimmins”
Although Julia Von Eichel‘s sculptures appear to be fragile, at times almost on the verge of collapse, they are held together as if against all odds due to their obstinate resilience. Whether mounted on the wall, hanging on a wire, or drawn on mylar, her shapes embody a restless exploration of the dimensional form – how its defined by line and light. In this interview for Art Spiel the artist talks in depth about her thought and work process.
Continue reading “Julia von Eichel – Portraits of Emotional States”
Jeanne Heifetz‘s art has evolved from weaving and fiber early on to drawing and painting later on. While her previous body of work has typically derived from a process of material exploration, the impetus for her more recent work has been prompted by concept. As Heifetz puts it, “in spite of herself,” after the election it can also be seen as politicized. She was recently awarded a LABA fellowship for 2018-2019 at the 14th Street Y, where she will study ancient Jewish texts on a given theme with other artists of different disciplines. In this interview for Art Spiel Jeanne Heifetz talks about her art, ideas, and projects.
Elisa Jensen‘s imagery draws upon pre-historic narratives – ancient rock art scattered in pristine Irish landscapes, a Danish bog person sacrificed during the Iron age, or stone age burial mounds spotted in a Danish island. Her paintings and sculptures bring to mind mysterious rites and myths salvaged from a forgotten ancient past or perhaps from the depth of our collective unconscious memory. In her interview for Art Spiel Jensen shares some thoughts on her process, imagery, and context.
For photographer David Samuel Stern’s photography typically serves as a departure point for crafting tangible objects. In his Woven Portraits series for instance, Stern physically assembles pieces of his photographic portraits into new forms, aiming to fuse the notion of photographic representation with its own material nature, making a new essence. The imagery in this series may bring to mind Cubists’ and Futurists’ paintings, or David Hockney’s Polaroids, but in Stern’s hybrid artworks, the imagery derives from a photographer’s imagination and can be distinctly traced to our digital age – the manual counterpoints the virtual. Here Stern shares with Art Spiel some of his ideas, process, and projects.
Continue reading “David Samuel Stern’s Portraits: The Mechanics of Longing”
The combination of material and abstracted imagery in Andrea Burgay’s complex and richly layered collage work makes the passage of time tangible – traces of destruction along with a sense of potential renewal. She shares with Art Spiel some of her main art processes, core ideas, and current projects, including her recently launched art magazine “Cut Me Up,” a publication with a fresh twist. Continue reading “Andrea Burgay – Sorting Through Chaos”
Debra Ramsay embraces “beauty” as a core in her work. Throughout her installations and paintings she reflects on the relationship between color, light, time, and place with a minimalist’s impulse and a colorist’s flair. Mara Williams, the curator of “Painting Time”, her recent show at Brattleboro Museum, eloquently describes it as both “reductionist and exuberant.” In this interview for Art Spiel the artist elaborates on her background, ideas, and projects.
