Conversation with Nancy Morrow

So today I finally got to meet with Nancy, a former professor of mine at KSU. We got to talk about what I had been up to artistically and discuss some of the issues. I couldn’t find my notebook while we were talking so I didn’t take notes. Sadly, I am now trying to remember what all was discussed.

Firstly, she was pleased with what was there. She said that is showed that I had worked, even if I hadn’t worked as much as I had wanted to. We talked a lot about how I was coming up with the images. The early work was built under the P.R.R. (refer to blog name) theory that I had created earlier. These works although landscape in nature, she said she couldn’t directly pinpoint them to their source.

Later I would give up the PRR method, and simply try to work from the brain. I really didn’t think that it was such a bad idea, but looking back I’ve realized that I stifled myself. Nancy said one of the hardest ways to work is from the brain. You have to remember form, light distribution, color variance and everything else related to its physical self. That is a lot of information for the brain to simply remember, organize and interpret. It can quickly become a mad man’s folly. I know we have talked about “inspirational imagery” around the studio, but I guess I always had this silly notion that “real” artists didn’t need that. How very wrong I was. This “inspirational imagery” is a diving board. It is a motivator for work. I don’t have to feel limited my surrounding images, but rather inspired. She suggested that I try to find something I can visually investigate. I research countless things in the form of a hobbyist, but never anything particularly visual. This seems relatively silly in retrospect, as I am a visual artist.

We would eventually talk about process. I believe that I work on canvas best, but at the same time, I feel limited by roughness of the canvas at times. There are times I want to do small delicate work, but can’t. She suggested linen. I’ve heard of it before, but never really investigated it. It seems to be a more tightly woven material, aka smoother. It is also tragically expensive. For now I should just paint.

She found some imagery that I did actually respond to and it was germs, or spores. Something like that, but the forms were very interesting due to their depth and interactions. They also made me think of cosmic photographs (space nebula, asteroids, etc.).

We also talked about the little rooms. They differ so much from the organic paintings. She said that sometimes we feel the need to compensate for missing properties in our work, and that I simply over-shot the moon a bit. She didn’t say it was a bad thing, and that I may be considerable to a therapy of some type. I really liked this idea. It means that my little room things can just be mine. She also liked the cut out shapes (the rectangles full of white lines). Yet instead of overlapping them over each other, she was pondering on overlapping them over the paintings. This isn’t really something I’ve ever considered, but it was a welcome change of thought.

Next on the list was a discussion of the number of works created. She was pleased to hear that I tend to work on multiple paintings at once. The practice isn’t good for everyone, but I work quickly and get bored even quicker. But more so on the number game is, you can start a painting the same way multiple times. The beauty of painting is that is virtually impossible to recreate a painting exactly. I know that you may be able to disagree with that statement a bit, but for me, I can’t recreate a painting without going nuts. So, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel each time, simply restart a painting and learn something new. A technique that was discussed was having 3 paintings that are virtually the same. On one you paint like you normally would, the second you paint with slightly opposing ideas or with different parameters, and on the third you just go crazy. The benefit is that you are learning something from each painting, even if they aren’t so called “the one.”
Another practice that was discussed was creating two lists. One list is filled with everything that you believe a real painting should have. The other list is filled with everything that does NOT make art. Then create two works, one from each list. This is useful in getting an understanding of what secretly and subconsciously motivates your work. We immediately discussed Julie Heffernan, an artist I am very infatuated with, but quickly realized through the discussion that although I love her work, I have not desire to actually paint like that. Please note the image below:

Juile Heffernan - "Self Portrait as Tender Mercenary" Oil on canvas

It was just a joy to talk and confront my work realistically again. I just don’t’ know how artists survive without other artists to talk to. Thank you to Nancy Morrow for your time and wisdom.

Interview regarding Mania

I am about to introduce something new. Self-interviews. I sometimes have a hard time expressing ideas. Recently though I have discovered that if I interview myself it makes more sense... to me at least.

Interview of Mania and Art
- 2/23/12-

If art were to be truly a combined matter of inspiration and training, then what is to say that a hint of madness can be an aiding tool to the natural creation of art. I would like to propose that there are certain aspects of madness that is crucial to the creation of honest work. The type of madness I would like to explore is better known as “mania.” Mania is seen as an overdrive setting to the mind, something often seen as a semi-drug induced state. The more positive aspect of this is that no drugs are required to accomplish this “high”, as we’ll call it. The following will be an outline of thoughts and questions in a pseudo interview style:

1) What would Mania look like in art?
 This is tough to say. I think of layers, color, no color. A celebration of everything and nothing.
 Scale shouldn’t be an issue. Mania can be viewed in many sizes.
 Medium: collage? Although I am afraid of clutter.
 It should be unexpected and avoiding cliché.
 It should explore many subjects.

2) What subjects specifically should be explored?
 The subjects should be “subject” to whims and fancies.
 They should be deliberate yet interpretable (open).

3) If so much is dependent on whims and fancies, then what acts to hold it all together?
 I would like to avoid “illustration”. The word still scares me.
 Its “concrete” is the mania itself. Maybe it’s unity is found within the practice of art itself.
 Or… maybe the lack of something concrete is a part of the mania.
 An artist was saying the following, “I believe this expectation and allowance for uncertainty with a reliance on the daily environment makes art making and life more exciting and less of a predictable, regimented process. It involves taking risk, following your intuition with decisions and allowing things to unfold


Mania itself is a bit unstable. It still needs some more groundwork for something to be built upon.

4) Mania often indicates a sense of repetition. How will this appear in the work?
 I have never been a fan of repetition. Mostly out of the fact that I can’t repeat images.
 Repetition of forms and color is possible, but seems…weak.

I see mania as an excuse to do whatever I want.

5) Mania as an excuse? What prevents you from doing what you want now?
 Pressures from surrounding supporters. People all have a certain expectation of what they want to see in my work.
 People want abstract, they want portraits, they want landscapes…
 I lack a clear vision of what I would like to be doing in art.

6) What have you been doing?
 Abstract with a hint of landscape in it. I do it because it is what comes naturally. I find this kinds of painting to be rather effortless.
 I guess it is because of the “effortless” quality of the creation of this work, that I feel like it is sub-par to what I am really capable of.

7) And what are you capable of?
 That’s the mystery. I would like to believe that I could really create some incredible work. Pieces that really affect the mind and emotions of humanity. I know. It seems to be a bit grand.

8) Do you feel like Mania is the key to it?
 It is a subject that I keep returning to. I don’t know if it is because of a hidden fear of madness, or rather a grasping the dark for anything that can make me substantially successful.
 I recently read an artist statement regarding and action as the catalyst. It was saying that walking was the catalyst for the work rather than the work itself. And on the walks, she would work to deconstruct the world around her and interpret its meanings. This would manifest itself in her sculptures, drawings and movies. So I think this is an interesting thought. Maybe mania is a catalyst for the exploration of artistic mediums.