One Culture and the New Sensibility

What is it like to be a bat?, "5" questions with Carrie Collins.

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:16:00 -0500

Carrie Collins is 50% of 10% Tiger Fire, which will open Friday, September 5th at Copy Gallery 7-11. The other 50% being Beth Brandon who I have already interviewed here. I would say a good 80% of the artists, who still make art, that I talk to would call anything they have to do to make money besides fine art their "day job", and many of them might work in coffee shops or grocery stores to sustain their art habit. There is nothing wrong with this way of life and I only point to it to point to how Carrie Collins is a little bit different, she loves her "day-job" which is running a company of her own making; Fabric Horse. I would say that she even puts her industrial design work, creating aesthetically awesome hip pouches, lock holsters and etc. for the bike culture (mostly), before her art work. A good 60% of the time Carrie Collins prefers a higher rationality of form and function that unities good taste with sustainability. I would say that it isn't impossible, but perhaps highly unadvisable, for a person to be about anything 100% of the time. When we close ourselves off to options then we shut down the myriad of possibilities that life may allow us, and besides that, society created the holiday because the people always need a break from their own ideas of moral and order. When Ms. Collins picks up her sewing machine and allows herself to create any flight of fancy she can imagine regardless of function or rationale the result are works of art that address our need to escape order, if only for a moment.

Some Say I'm a Dreamer, "5" Questions with Beth Brandon

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:53:00 -0500

Picture is a group shot of everyone involved in Hang-Ups/Bang-Ups at Padlock Gallery Beth Brandon is one of the two artists I asked to be in 10% Tiger Fire, an exhibition "I" (I think the majority of any sort of credit goes to Beth and Carrie, the artists) put together for Copy Gallery in September (coming up in like, three weeks!!!), so I think really highly of her and her art. You could even say that Beth has consumed maybe 20% of my thoughts for over a year, which when you consider I have to pay bills, work 9-5, draw some, and drink beer, is quite a lot. In the past I expected too much from art and the art-world: I wanted it to save lives, feed the hungry, fix discrepancies in the class structure of the world and pay the IRS for me. Art is never going to do this, but art still has a really intangible awesome quality that I can't seem to ditch and still have impossible hopes for. This is why I like the work of Beth Brandon; she sort of unites a fundamentalist return to drawing with just the right amount of idealism in the power of ideas. Don't know what I'm saying? I'm not sure I do either. Beth Brandon is a young artist in progress, just as I am a youngish (getting older all the time) artist/curator/art-writer in progress, which is to say 50% of what we try is experimental and so what we "do" isn't clearly defined. I can say that Beth has produced happenings/installations that have included a fully functional salon complete with cocktails and cucumber sandwiches. I can say she has produced art that is closer to the idea of a slumber party, and that she creates drawings and prints. She is drawn to the idea of creating a human habitat where tradition is important and our landscape dictates our actions. You can call her a utopianist if you want, but she's not the only one. This time I tried to only ask five questions, I didn't really succeed but I think I'm going to continue to try it.

BEER SONG by Paper Napkin

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:04:00 -0500

This song is about the only thing I want to do when I get off of work.

L-O-V-E song by Paper Napkin

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:35:00 -0500

A recording of one of the last-ever paper napkin songs.

Marisa Olson: Background Information

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:12:00 -0500

Image taken from Marisa's blog The following is a telephone conversation I had with Marisa Olson. I must warn you that the quality of the audio is appallingly bad. The first question I asked was supposed to be "What is New Media Art?", a question Marisa, classified as a new media artist herself and also curator-at-large and staff writer for the new museum's new media component; rhizome.org, is in a better position then most to attempt to answer. However, I forgot to turn on the recorder for most of that answer. Marisa, who lives in New York and has recently taken her oeuvre on tour to Paris, Berlin, and Cincinnati, Ohio, is in no fewer then two exhibitions in Philadelphia at the minute. A solo exhibition of her work, "Background Information", opens at the Esther M. Klein Gallery TONIGHT (she is also in Bitmap at Drexel):

Alex Da Corte, forever and ever

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:11:00 -0500

Alex Da Corte has an exhibition opening, Love Explosion, on Friday (with Jack Sloss) at Fleisher/Ollman Gallery. It's not the sort of thing you should miss out on. The text below is the transcripted version of a talk with Alex DaCorte over the hum of traffic outside The Last Drop. For a quick primer on Alex visit his work on the web, or read this review I wrote not long ago.

DUNE

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 13:12:00 -0500

I've decided to start posting random music to my podcast in between interviews because interviews take so much time and effort and posting music does not. Working on: An Interview with Alex DaCorte about, or more surrounding, his up-coming exhibition at Fleisher-Ollman, and re-vamping an old interview with the creators of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle because the second one is on it's way out. . . This post is the theme to Dune, done all midi-style.

A phone call with Mark Mothersbaugh in which I sound like a total geek

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:18:00 -0500

This is an older interview, a phone call I had with Mark Mothersbaugh about a year ago. It's pretty much unedited. I sound like a total fan-nerd and don't really ask any good questions. Mostly I giggle because I had to take two shots of vodka to get up the nerve to call his number. It's long. The only reason I got off the phone was Mark had some kind of family emergency that involved a swarm of killer bees. . . I remembered this interview because my little nephew is now watching a children's TV show called Yo Gabba Gabba! that Mr. Mothersbaugh has something to do with. . .

Paul Coors Talks About Publico

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:36:00 -0500

Over Christmas I journeyed back to my hometown; Cincinnati, Ohio and caught up with an old classmate, Paul Coors, who also happens to be one of the founders of one of the best independent non-commercial, artist-run galleries in the country. Publico Gallery, located at 1308 Clay Street in the under-privileged neighborhood of Over-the Rhine and at publicoart.com via the internet, was opened five years ago, quickly becoming a beacon of culture in the vast desert of the mid-west. Paul plans to shut Publico's doors this month, hosting a final hurrah that you can find out more about on the website, so I thought it was the perfect time to ask him why he feels the need to quit, and learn a bit from the things he learned. Unsurprisingly, the conversation hit home and Mr. Coors was able to articulate some of my own thoughts about artist-run out-of-pocket gallery ventures (Publico was probably one of the biggest inspirations for my own participation in Black Floor and Copy gallery) as well as make some optimistic points about the future of using the internet to create your own art culture. This is my first-ever podcast, they should get better as I gain experience. Thanks for listening! -Annette