An Interview with Gail Vollrath

6/5/12

Tumble

Tumble by Gail Vollrath was a stop-in-my-tracks-and-stare painting for me at Artomatic. Dense blacks and brown-black (made with tar, I learned after talking with her) sank in deeply. The three light blue lines owned a kind of middle ground, and china marker poked out here and there. The piece offered a playful tension between things solid and ethereal. 

I was captivated.

When I came for air, I asked her if I could interview her. I was delighted that she said yes and not "Please stop breathing on my painting." Go see it in person at the 11th floor, space 265.

What's the one thing you'd like people who aren't familiar with you/your work to know about you? 

People may be surprised that I consider my work to be minimal.  Though the final work may look very complex, most of the movements take place in my head.  No matter the size, it can take a very long time for one piece to come to fruition for that reason.  I let each piece lead me.

Do you paint intuitively, with a hardcore plan, or somewhere in between? 

Well I don’t live my life by a hard core plan, so it seems natural that I don’t work that way.  Everyone works according to their individual temperament.  I have learned that when I trust my thinking (and intuition as you say), things turn out more genuine.  Typically I keep notes in a very small notebook that I carry around.  Some of what I write down is notes on things I hear or see or words or groups of words that sometime become titles for paintings.  Sketching has never been particularly useful for me.

Twiddle

Who is your biggest influence and why? 

I don’t know if I have one big influence.  Living my day tells me what to do and how it needs to be done.  My formal art education was fairly academic and comprehensive and I do try to keep up with what is going on today.  As far as what I tend to look at in galleries, I look at everything: ancient, contemporary, conceptual, drawing, performance, and film.  Reading a variety of books from popular fiction to nonfiction, as well as current periodicals can be hugely influential.  Recently after reading the book and seeing the very popular film, Hunger Games, I have been thinking about the lethal, fabricated dogs that were invented to terrorize the characters and thinking of how elements of those dogs can work as a metaphor for many things that are happening in our world today.  People make up all kinds of things to inflict on others for whatever reason, real or imagined.

A lot of artists have that one piece in their studio that they would never ever sell. Tell us about yours.

Nothing is that precious.  There are pieces that I am a little closer to and I wonder why others have sold before they have, but I am always happy for someone to take something home.  If it can move them in some way, then they should have it.

Thanks, Gail! I'm so glad I saw your work at Artomatic.

Artomatic Faves Part 2

6/3/12

Susanne Kasielke (10th floor, space 145) - Amazing surfaces and here's why: "My way of expressing is abstract while the process of my art is as equally important as the finished painting. I work with handmade paper by using filler and different layers of color (mostly oil). Between those layers of paint I use sandpaper to bring out structure and texture. A painting always starts with one coat of gesso. The combination of sanding and applying layers of paint emphasizes special areas and at the same time it brings out new shapes and forms. Through the layers of paint, the scratching and the sanding every piece of work becomes unique." Lovely presentation: crisp and clean. A complete pro. Visit her website for a portfolio of works on canvas and works on paper.

Julie Wolsztynski (9th floor, space 215) - I recently interviewed her here, so it's probably no surprise that she's become a favorite. She's a fellow artist at Adah Rose Gallery, but we'd only recently met. She's delightful, and her photos show a sensitivity to texture and composition that make me lose myself. Digging her new series Laundromatic Etude (not on display at Artomatic FYI).

Lucio Palmieri (4th floor, space 304) - Quirky, quiet collages from old scientific illustrations. Simple but effective presentation using nails.

Kathryn Trillas (9th floor, space 905 ) - Seductive, precious monotypes. At 5 x 7", Indiana Roads packs a powerful punch. Her header for her Artomatic catalog entry says Landscapes for the Soul. Yes, they are.

Thomas Petzwinkler (10 floor, space 170) - Had some drop-dead gorgeous enlarged photos with rich surfaces mounted in segments/in a grid, but I can't find these at his website and I didn't see him in the Artomatic artists catalog. (Edited to add his new Artomatic catalog link).

Kelly Guerrero (8th floor, space 306) Big sculpture always has presence, but his pieces really resonated with me, stayed in my head. His statement shows why: "I like giving cast-offs a new life and revealing some kind of hidden beauty in the process. My ideas are guided by ruminations over relationships, news of the day, or historical events and the human impulses that shape them all. Even though I may have a specific metaphor in mind, I prefer to leave the resulting forms veiled in some mystery—like a piece of machinery or a tool for which the original purpose has been forgotten." His work doesn't look like he's new to making art, but when I went to look for a website, I was confronted by some beauty pageant tween's site. I want to see more by this artist! Darn.

Same remorse for Elizabeth Brown (10th floor, space 174). (Edited to add her new Artomatic catalog link). Sorry for the fuzzy photo. Loved loved loved this piece/screen of connected doors with two (I think?) lines woven through the screen. God, this was an evocative, refreshing moment for me, standing there, carried back to my childhood with the sounds of these doors slamming shut or shutting softly or easing closed with whiny squeaks. The sounds meant the regret of coming in from outside play or sometimes the rush of coming in to feed my face leftover pieces of dough from my mom's homemade pie crusts. They meant the ticklish stampede of lizard feet over my bare toes as I came outside and roused the critters from their cinderblock home. They meant warm sunshine and four-leaf clovers and maybe something not so lucky, like a water moccasin or two lying in wait. Man...


Okay, enough nostalgia. Other stuff I was digging on.... Bromoil prints by George L. Smyth, the Burning Man image (but I don't think it was full color like the first one here) by street photographer by Luis Rosenfeld, the Comfort Series paintings on carved wood by Ellen Hill, a circular piece with script on paper by Daniel Shay (maybe this one?), tornadoes in vibrant poppy fields on copper by Jeff Wilson, and the massive glove by M. Helene Baribeau.

Stephen and I liked a lot of the same pieces/artists.  Check out his favorites here.

An Interview with Julie Wolsztynski

5/26/12

A fellow artist represented at Adah Rose Gallery, Julie Wolsztynski is a freelance photographer, born in 1984 in France. Her work is eloquent, refined, and evocative. I'm particularly taken by her sensitivity to composition and texture. She attended the Centre Iris for Photographic Arts In Paris in 2008, and arrived in Washington, D.C in 2010 where she now works and exhibits. 

To see more of her work, visit Artomatic 2012 where she's sharing a room space with Angela Kleis (9th floor, room 215) through June 23rd, or visit her website or tumblr site.

What's the one thing you'd like people who aren't familiar with you/your work to know about you?

Woo, that is a hard one! Well, maybe what people should know about me is really what they usually ask about my art: what kind of photography do I do? Which is a fair question. So, what I would say is that I have trouble defining my photography, as much as I have trouble to define myself, as hard as we all have trouble to define ourselves, and it's just fine. Isn't it?

What's your favorite piece from your Artomatic exhibit and why?

The way we see a photograph changes thanks to the support. It’s not the same feeling whether it’s on slide film, a computer, a print or framed on a wall. So, my favorite is “Rue Longchamp #2”, a piece from a series that was supposed to be more supportive than central. But once printed in large size and hung on the wall, I totally rediscovered it, like a second reading. Even though I composed it, shot it and worked on it this picture surprised me, that’s why I like it.

Rue Longchamp #2

Do you make art intuitively, with a hardcore plan, or somewhere in between?

It’s a kind of in between. I would say that generally there are two major steps in my work and the second one does not work without the first. The hardcore plan is a long process with lots of thoughts and questioning but not that much visual conceptualization. I am looking for an idea, a feeling, an answer more than an aesthetic process. When I feel ready, I start to shoot. Then it’s really just about instinct, pleasure and relief. The best part! I guess it’s like in any other field; good preparation is key.

The opposite can also be true and when I am not prepared I can be unable to take a picture because I don’t get the point. That’s basically what happened with NYC, it took me a while before being able to picture it.

Manhattan Sestet

Who is your biggest influence and why?

It could be weird but it’s not a photographer. A good book gives me the desire to write and, a good dish the desire to cook… but it doesn’t work the same with photography. Of course, I do love spending time watching tons of any kind of photographs or photographers I like, such as Duane Michals, Saul Leiter, Sally Mann, Jeffrey Silverthorne and more, but it’s not for a creative purpose. I am more influenced by artists using other mediums. For instance, literature is very important as well as cinema. I often carry memories, colors, and emotions from a film with me when I am taking pictures. 

Spontaneously, I am thinking about “Tricks” from Jakimowski or “The Return” from Zvyagintsev… 

Also, Terrence Malick and Steve McQueen (UK) are the best examples of the kind of film directors that project me onto a very sensitive and creative mood. They both have, in a different way, an accurate sense of timing and poetry. They use amazing lighting and compositions and contribute to make us be able to see the world with a different view even when we are not looking through a lens. At least that’s what they do to me, and that’s what I try to do myself. 

A lot of artists have that one piece in their studio that they would never ever sell. Tell us about yours.

Even though it’s not really a “piece”, there is one thing that immediately answered this question; it’s my Rolleiflex -- an old medium format film camera. This camera is so important to me that I had to mention it…It got broke many times and I sold many cameras when needed but this camera is almost like a part of me (I know it’s so cheesy to say that), I would be unable to sell it. It’s not an inheritance, there is no childhood story behind it, and there are no emotional memories. It’s just my camera. The one I bought with confidence about what I would do and what would be my medium. And every time I take a picture with it I feel confident… Trust me, I protect it like the Holy Grail!

Thanks, Julie, for taking the time to share your process and background! Her work is beautifully mounted with a interesting juxtaposition between warm textures in the actual image and the sleek final presentation. Check her (and Angela) out at Artomatic!