a conversation with Ted Karsch

We sat down in a small café in Fort Lauderdale and spoke over coffee about his latest series of paintings which were based on a 1948 film noir movie called “I Love Trouble”. The conversation began with the film. He told me that he enjoyed it because it lack of a cohesive plot, which begged the question:

EA
If the movie was not the actual inspiration for the series then what was?

TK
It was the appearance, the physical character of the movie… it wasn’t really the story in of in itself. I felt if I chose certain scenes from it and rearranged and it would be its own story.

EA
Are you conscious of the narrative before, during, or afterwards?

TK
No, it’s more expressive, just choosing images based on personal choice. It’s done more on an intuitive level based on feelings. There is no story beforehand. I suppose looking at what I have done with that series it’s autobiographical.

EA
Yeah but as for the audience they can take it how they want.

TK
Exactly, I don’t want to impose a strict storyline.
Although, I am interested in mythology; Greek, Roman, and Native American you know like historical narratives…stories that transcend time, space, stories of heroes. I’ve read a lot of Niche’s work where he had this idea that man started out in three stages the camel, the lion, and the child. The story is about the man starts out as the camel carrying a lot of weight during his youth and education and everything that society places upon him, responsibilities. And then people are strong enough to become lions… artists, philosophers, creators, and eventually the lion give way to the child. The child is a reborn person so it’s kind of like a circular story. I have been thinking about the child in my work right now as far as trying to simplify and clarify everything as far as my own investigation.

EA
Do you have any interests in contemporary stories?

TK
Well, I like the news especially alternative media. I’m interested from the aspect of how the media describes reality differently. There will be one story described fifteen different ways on the internet for example; I like the idea of interpretation. So that’s something that’s changing rapidly these days. Also in popular culture I’m interested in UFO’s in narratives, alien abduction; alien interpretation …more because it’s so tainted with crazy people that it becomes interesting.

EA
What about it is interesting?

TK
The mythological aspect whether its real or not it doesn’t really matter. I like the fact that it full of inconsistences.
I like the fact that it’s not explainable.

www.tedkarsch.com

a conversation with Larissa Bernardes

She walks in, gives me a small wave and sits across the small café table we both now occupy. I sip my cappuccino. It’s not that bad even though I may have had better. The waitress arrives with my order of tacos, which is perfect for a café in a bookstore. She orders a glass of wine. I invite her to have some of my tacos. We eat and Larissa Bernardes waits for me to ask her some questions about her poetry.

EA
Tell me about this concept of modern mythology? Are you going to do a series of short stories, will it evolve into a novel, or will you keep it in the realm of poetry?

LB
It’s mainly going to be poetry. I do have a couple of pieces that you could describe as poetic prose, where they are poems but could also be considered short stories. It’s always a slippery slope with poetry. For example, just look at ancient epics, when you look at Beowulf for example, it’s a poem but it’s a story at the same time. I mean the whole concept of prose is actually relatively new. Before, all stories were written as poetry because they were passed on orally and it was a good way to remember. So my work is mostly poetry but I think I have a couple of pieces that they are sort of like flash fiction. They are real short pieces that have rhythm to them and they’re very poetic. So I suppose you can say I have a combination of poetry and prose poetry. I wouldn’t venture so far as to say that they’re short stories. Although I have written short stories before and I’m definitely open to them.

EA
I wanted to know your thoughts about this poetry movement that has been going on in Miami with the University of Wynwood?

LB
I haven’t been too involved with it but I do subscribe to their mailing list and, when they had the O Miami festival, I participated in one of their events that was based on the concept of Dérive, which is an unplanned adventure. According to Dérive, because of our modern day lifestyles, we get caught up with our day-to-day routine and become detached to our surroundings. The point of the Dérive that day was to walk in the city and see what happens. So we did that and the O Miami festival choose Wynwood, which was great because of all the murals. But at the same time it’s still the ghetto and that was a nice juxtaposition.

EA
I know you’re interested in European mythology but are there any other cultures that hold your interest?

LB
I love ancient Chinese and Japanese folklore and myth. If you’re not familiar with Japanese folklore, there’s a Japanese film called Dreams, it’s by Kurosawa and it’s a series of segments, literally dream segments. The first two segments are heavily inspired by Japanese folklore. Asian mythologies in general, not just Japanese, have a lot of spirit animals in them. The first segment of the film, the first dream, is a foxes’ wedding. During the wedding, a little boy gets caught in the rain and accidently witnesses a foxes’ wedding, which is a forbidden thing to do. Foxes in Japanese folklore are very mysterious, not good, not bad, they’re…in the between. But, since they are viewed as forest spirits or lower deities, human beings are not usually allowed to watch any of their rituals. So, after the boy sees the wedding, he runs home and tells his mother what happened. His mother basically tells him, “You must then commit suicide.” You see, Japanese society is heavily based on ritual, sacrifice, and about not passing certain boundaries. Well, the little boy accidently opens a Pandora ’s Box, even though he doesn’t completely understand what happened since he’s just a little boy. And so his mother tells him he must travel under a rainbow, where the foxes live, so that he can beg for forgiveness. The segment ends as he is approaching the rainbow in a field of Technicolor flowers.

Another influence in my writing is Santeria but I’m Brazilian so it’s Candomblé for me, most of the same Gods just different names.

EA
Brazilians have Santeria?

LB
Yeah, but it’s called Candomblé, which is almost the literal translation. There are many variations of the religion in Brazil, actually, that involve the same gods but no animal sacrifices, for example. But I do have this one poem that’s directly influenced by one of the Santeria gods, Olokun, who’s chained to the ocean floor. He or she –it’s a God so it transcends gender in this case – is such a destructive God that Olokun can’t be released because chaos will be unleashed on Earth. I have a poem that is inspired by that image; about a sailor being chained to the floor; chaos chained to the floor. That is a direct influence and obviously it’s a very Miami thing.

EA
We discussed that you’re open to writing short stories but is there anything else you would find interesting to do with your work?

LB
I would like to write a novel in the future, without a doubt. I don’t think I’m ready at this point in my life but I have a lot of ideas. I would also like to do movie screen plays. I consider myself a film fanatic.

I like stories that question, why are we conditioned to believe certain things? Who decides what is really right or wrong, especially since it varies greatly from culture to culture.

EA
It’s a moral question.

LB
More ethical because it’s not so much as a religious question for me.

EA
Not for you but as far as society, historically it’s morality and then it evolved into ethics.

LB
It’s more like questioning the things I want to do, without rules and without hurting anybody. I’m interested in a sense of freedom.

www.twitter.com/LarissainMiami
www.deriveproject.com

A conversation with Luis Diaz

A Voltron action figure stands sentinel among other toys the display case. It is the Lion Force Voltron and my personal favorite, far better than the vehicles and the gladiators that came afterwards. I can hear the epic theme music that introduced the television series as this mighty robot generated its blazing sword to defeat its enemies and save the day. This small toy brings back old childhood memories of exciting adventures that have been experienced in the intimate confines of my ten year old mind. And as I look around Luis Diaz studio I get that same energy emanating from his work.

For the past decade he has been showcasing his artwork in and around the United States and Canada. A number of his work has been seen in the South Florida area along with publications such as Juxtapoz magazine. He has also created 40 paintings of the new Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages where the influence of thought pieces can be seen in his current series of work. Now he has studio space in the Bakehouse Art Complex in Wynwood, Miami.

I occupy a chair across from his desk, curious about his work.

EA
I see you have a Green Lantern T-shirt on are you excited about the movie coming out this summer?

LD
I don’t know if I’m gonna see the movie at all. I mean, I’ll wait to see if word of mouth is good but I have always been a Green Lantern fan and don’t want the movie to ruin it for me. So right now I probably won’t see it but then... who knows.

EA
So tell me a bit more about your Creatura Series.

LD
Well I just finished the Garbage Pail Kids and somehow still wanted to be working with that same idea. So what I do is bring the image into Photoshop and start to move the image around in different layers. When I’m satisfied with what I’ve done then I print it out. Then I use it as reference on a painting and continue to work with it until I’m satisfied with the results.

I just recently changed the color to the background on this painting. So it’s an ongoing process.

EA
I see that you’re really playing with these images the way you layer and manipulate them. Are the images important or can you see yourself using a different image?

LD
Right now I’m cool with the Garbage Pail Kids but I have used other images before.

EA
Yeah, I saw the Frankenstein Painting that’s hanging in the hall. That one works really well too.

LD
Well there was a client that was interested in buying it but then she changed her mind and wanted another one but with less drips of paint. I wanted to put twice as many drips when she said that.

EA
That’s funny. I know what you mean by that.

LD
I’ve done freelance graphic work for a long time but now I really want to do stuff that I want. I’m very interested in combining fine art with pop art; you know push that line further.

EA
I see you’re doing that with this Creatura Series. It seems more of an exercise in working with the shapes and colors. Do you see these painting as abstractions?

LD
I don’t know about abstractions. I guess they can be seen that way but the images are still important to me so I don’t really see them as an abstraction. I still see a mouth here and an eye there even though it’s juxtaposed and layered. It’s still important that the image remains somewhat intact.

EA
I see how your studio is set up and aside from all the paintings and drawing there are a lot of toys and comic book paraphernalia. I’m curious to know why.

LD
When I was a kid I loved comics and toys like most kids but I still like the feeling they bring back. I see that people really respond to simple shapes and colors and when I use images like the Garbage Pail Kids they become really fun to me. It’s a great way to use pop imagery. There is this thing that has been bothering me a bit that I’ve been trying to get away from and that would be from doing Lowbrow stuff. I don’t want my work to be seen as Lowbrow.

EA
What do you mean? Your work seems to be steeped in the Lowbrow movement especially your past work.

LD
That’s the thing, I don’t want to be in a movement or group of people. Don’t get me wrong I have a lot respect for the Low Brow movement and I can see my past work being up in that group. It’s just that I’m at the point in my life that I want to do my own thing. That’s why I’m really excited about the Creatura Series, it not just about the Garbage Pail Kids but what I’m doing with them.

EA
I see these large blank canvases on the wall what do you plan to do next?

LD
That’s hard to say. I’m thinking about using the same technique I got from the Creatura Series and using it to the type of work I’ve done in the past.

EA
That’s crazy. I can’t even imagine what that would look like.

LD
Neither can I.

www.luisdiazart.com
www.bacfl.org

A conversation with Karen Starosta-Gilinski

She’s just getting settled into her studio when my eyes find a small couch sitting by the corner. It seems to have been altered in a rather violent way, as a consequence of some domestic dispute. Pieces of wood from a slide closet door protrude from one side of it to another. This couch has a strange presence. Karen Starosta-Gilinski is an artist that takes everyday objects and alters them. The result is a beautiful at times adorable work of art.

For the past five years she has been making the rounds all over South Florida from Locus Projects to the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood as well as art fairs and art institutions around the U.S., Europe, South America, Central America, and Asia (Shanghai Art Contemporary Art Fair 2010). And now here at the Fountainhead Studios, I sit down on a vacant chair and ask her about her Cotton Candy sculpture series which is rooted on conceptual dichotomy.

EA
You have stated that your sculptures have a unique look, a character, creature, or personality. Are they based on anyone you know personally or are they an archetype of sort?

KSG
The sculptures are not always based on anyone in particular its more of a play on conceptual extremes like good and evil. Sometimes they can work together as one piece but I tend to display them separately. I like the fact that they are different and similar. But yeah, some of the sculptures do express a familiar personality just not on one specifically maybe bits of one person here and there that I may know or have moved my emotions in some way.

EA
I’m looking at your work here and I see that all of them are deconstructed from toys or pretty objects. I wanted to ask you about your process or rather how does it work?

KSG
I like to take objects with provocative textures or anything that I find interesting and change it to my own beauty. So I start to break it apart like removing a limb off a doll or cut open a plush toy and put it together to another object until it becomes visually satisfying and strong enough to express a character or situation. It’s a very "fast" process, I mean it doesn’t feel like I’ve spent that much time on it but then 8 hours pass by and wonder where the time has gone. It gets pretty involving.

EA
It sounds like a hostile process. I can see your studio filled with disembodied/deconstructed toys and colorful knick-knacks lying here and there. Kind of like some sort of crime scene or torture chamber.

KSG
I guess it could be seen that way but I don’t feel that it is. I don’t get pleasure from taking something beautiful and tearing it apart. It’s a painful process but I do it because it makes me stronger. I believe that nothing lasts forever and everything is temporary so it’s more of an exercise to prepare me emotionally for what is to come. I have children now and eventually they will get older and leave to follow their own life. One of the reasons I do this work is to be strong for that. Some of the objects I deconstruct are very personal to me. I have a toy doll that was given to me by my grandmother and one day I decided to take it and break it apart and put it together again as a sculpture. Needless to say it was not easy to do that, in fact it was very difficult but I felt it needed to be done.

EA
Well then why not deconstruct something you think is ugly or take something pretty and make it ugly?

KSG
Because I won’t feel anything. It doesn’t work for me to take something ugly because it’s already ugly. There is no emotional connection. The object has to be precious. And to make something that looks ugly is not something that interests me.

EA
I didn’t think your work had that kind of intent.

KSG
Neither did I but it tends to move that way sometimes.

EA
So what plans do you have now? Does it have something to do with that couch sculpture on the corner there?

KSG
Its part of a concept I’m playing with right now dealing more with telling a story or an event. The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood are giving me a large space next year and I’ve been looking to work on a larger scale. So I’m excited about that.

EA
Maybe it could turn into installation?

KSG
Maybe.

http://karengilinski.com/
http://fountainheadresidency.com/

George Tooker

He passed a way last Sunday. A good retrospective story on his work.

This painting rocks.

I know its an oldie but it reminded me of John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo and its just done so well. In any case it can be seen at the Huntington for their Taxing Visions exhibit.

Tiger Blood

Alex Pardee has does it again. Here is the latest super awesome master piece dedicated to the best new drug on the market right now Charlie Sheen.

Rothko Chapel

I was not aware that a chapel from Rothko was ever created then I tune into NPR and find that it has been sitting in Houston of all places for the last 40 years. The reason I find the notion of a Rothko Chapel so interesting has more to do with the fact that is not really a museum. I suppose there is the Dali Museum in Florida, Van Gough Museum in France, and the Picasso Museum in Spain but the Rothko museum is simply a chapel. The concept of a museum was intentionally discarded to focus on the intent of the work itself by the artist. It seems to be an idea that should be adopted by other great artist in the future. Not to make a museum but rather a vehicle to carry the message of your work, a structural installation.

I may visit Texas but now this has caught my attention.

More Exit

Here is some more Exit Thought the Gift Shop on an NPR interview. Check it out if your still interested.

Narrative Painters

This is the first of many narrative painters I would like to present in my blog in the months to come. I do realize that I have been talking about this aspect of art since the blog's inception but now it will be a more conscious approach. That begin said Nathan Lewis' work is compeling and unsual to say the least. Please take a look and enjoy.

Zach Attack!!!

Been following Zach Johnson for a while now but since I never cited him before on my blog it would be rude not to do so now. If one is not able to see what is intriguing about his work there reeeeaaally isn't anything to say.

snoody, snood, snoood.

The Google Musuem

I heard about what Google did about a month ago and it wasn't until today that the gravity of what has been done has been completely absorbed. Even now I am dizzy with absoulte delight and shocking surprise. Google has offered virtual tours of the major musuems of the world and with it selective paintings.

Finally I can stare at a Van Gogh without having security go out of their minds. I will site that the Rembrant pictured above is highly recommended along with most of the Van Gohs of course. You know what it really doesn't matter just go in there and go crazy looking at all the painting in great detail.

Wooooowwwww.

I would love to see Titian in person.

I was listening to this story on NPR and now Im very interested in seeing this show. Hopefully it makes its way down to Florida.

Im addicted

I had to stop myself from looking at all of Scott Cambell's paintings in his Great Showdowns series. Click on the link and find out for yourself.

These are some really good portraits

Well... these are the portraits of Tom Bingham and I find them quite compelling.

Interview on my Solo Show

An interview about my solo show at the CS Gallery.

Bear and Bird this weekened

Yes boys and girls, this great painting will be on display at the Bear and Bird Gallery this Saturday. So put on your Sunday best for this... Saturday... show even though its Saturday you can still...put on your..Sunday best...nevermind.