So, in contrast to the prior class trip we took, I was actually very excited to go back to Brooklyn. Once upon a few Summers back, I found myself taking courses in Pratt and living in Bushwick, near Wyckoff. Naturally, returning to an area where I spent such a wonderful Summer (first Summer away from Puerto Rico) filled me with anticipation and excitement.
Despite several difficulties to get there, we made it on time to Brooklyn in accordance to the time specified. Hellz to-the yeah!
The first stop on our schedule that Thursday was the studio of an artist that focused on his own art, yet on the side made wallpapers, our professor told us. How exciting, this was the first visit we had to an individual artist's studio. It is fascinating to consider how the subject of patrons has switched a bit over the span of hundreds of years. See, I like to compare the modern perspective of artists having 'day-jobs' in order to pay for their own artwork with the concept of having a patron during the Renaissance.
The only difference is, if your 'day-job' has nothing to do with art, no one gives a shit about your talent and you will, in theory, not gain contacts nor recognition through it.
That being said, this wasn't the case when we first went into the Charles Lahti studio, he actually makes profit off his artwork.
Okay, not 'his' artwork perse, but he commercializes his work in order to sell it which, despite all that nonsense about 'selling out', I believe it's the smartest way to go about that 'day-job' and production of your artowrk. Think about it, you could actually make a living off your art, seriously. The only off-side, if you would call it that, is that you have to appeal to a certain group of people or company through your art, thus placing limitations in the creativity and extent of the artwork. But, despite said 'limitations', these companies go through an artist's portfolio before contracting them for a job such as this and shit, if they picked that artist, it's because there was something of worth in the portfolio. Thus, I am a firm believer that if an artist is contracted for a 'day-job' producing art that he or she creates (under the 'patron's' guidelines, of course), then it's not as constricting! The artist must exert their artistic passion, wit and technique within this work, despite having guidelines, duedates and whatnot.
Rant over. This was just a thought I had while we first met Charles Lahti and he spoke to us about the 'giftwrapping' pieces he had hanging on his walls. A company pays him to design wallpaper and giftwrap for them, sweet, that's one of the outlets of how he pays for his studio. Good on him.
Upon further group conversation with Lahti, I note a resemblance to the personality alluded to Hemmingway through documentation and his own writing. This. Changes. Everything.
I usually have many questions, yet rarely voice them in typical 'teenager,omg,soawkward' kind of self-concious. ( I should stop this though, I think I'm a little too old for that. I'll just blame my accent and sounding terrible speaking in English ). Anyway, by spotting a certain aura of Hemmingway (To describe this aura I noted: the no bullshit, honestly speaking, and not 'pegging' yourself above the people you are talking-or-writing to with adornated language and a lack of 'being able to relate to'), I felt more comfortable and thus, allowed myself to speak more. This will become more relevant by the end of this story. Keep note of this.
Later on him and his two studio assistants began showing us the studio space. It was cramped yet manageable; Improvised yet functional. I was a fan. Something that topped it off is that Lahti, aside from being a printmaker, he is also a painter. It makes me glad to see that being interdisciplinary between painting and printmaking isn't as silly as the professors in the painting department make me feel it is.
Something I knew of, yet had never seen, was the process of exposing a screen without the use of a light-table. They presented this in the studio once we visited. A print of something that looked like a map of Manhattan was being printed under four sets of upright and powerful lamps. Nifty. I should start learning how to do this so I can expose a screen in my own time.
In conclusion, Charles Lahti spoke very well about his experiences and over 50 years of experience in the field, jumping from one job to another, taking whatever he could, and thus making connections that would one day make him work with Lady Gaga and Katy Perry (oh la la, fancy?). One of the best pieces of advice he said was "Always say yes to an opportunity, you never know where that could take you.", and he was living proof of that. I certainly did appreciate those words of advice..especially coming from someone who has years of experience in the field but isn't a prick about it and treats the group of students visiting as human beings, placed at the same level as he. (Which, in retrospect, the only ones that have done this in our gallery visits are the older generation of artists. Somehow, within the younger artists we've visited, despite being closer in age and experience to most of us in the group, there is a noted sense of patronizing towards us.
The best part, to top our visit to the Lahti studio, was that he called me out in front of everyone for asking too many questions. Specifically, he mentioned "I want to see all your works, especially yours, because you plan ahead in your work." (He was referring to that, earlier, I questioned his execution methods when he mentioned he usually doesn't plan ahead to do his work, something that is so unheard of for me... I over plan!) I guess I should e-mail him my work... I don't even know what to e-mail him, I'm a bit intimidated.
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Second Gallery! Buschwick Printlab
Okay, I'll be honest, I'll make it short here because I wasn't a fan. There. I said it. This guy, now he was the epitemy of what I believe some younger artists do in patronizing younger and slightly less experienced artists. Which, drawing back to Hemmingway, reminds me of a quote of his within a Woody Allen film.
"If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer."My theory is that some younger artists resist the idea of being kind to other artists due to their own insecurity or projected envy. Talent is often a fragile thing that can lead others to exert subconcious behavior completely separated from their own nature. In any form of art, giving critique to another artist's work could be a double-edge sword. If it's bad work, you will dislike it because, as an artist, you should know what is good and what is bad (all fitting into the catagories of subjectivity, of course). Yet, if the work is good, some people develop a sub-concious, or concious, sense of envy that doesn't allow them to be completely honest during critique.
Older artists and wiser people have surpassed this. With time you realize the sense of competitiveness just makes you look like an asshole. Yes, a sense of pride can get you very far within the artworld, but being an asshole will make you arrogant (Hey, maybe people will be afraid of you and like your work even more?).
This draws me to Buschwick printlab because, despite being in a wonderful space (THEY HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEW IN A TERRACE, OH MY), the person who gave us the tour of the shop did not even speak to the students. Essentially, he was only speaking with our professor and, whenever he did speak to the class, a sense of superiority exuded from his voice. I don't know if the term 'haters gonna hate' should apply here, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, like I usually do, but after a while it just got on my nerve.
This space was great, what they did in the shop (renting and facilities in a comfortable area with schedules and all) was awesome, but the man giving the tour of the shop just turned me off completely from it. Ick.
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Third and final gallery! Wolfbat Studio Dennis McNett
Woah. Woah. Woaaaah.
Okay, so I cannot place into words how this man's work was so frikin edgy and, from a stylistic approach, amazing. The cuts his woodcuts had were so precise, yet formed a completely different form with them. Much like Van Gogh's brush strokes if Van Gogh was an badass skater in his earlier youth. And, aside from his stylistic approach, the influence McNett has with Nordic Mythology has in his work is empowering and wonderful. (I like not being the only person that has to give a 'story' behind each work she does. Except my refferences are usually derived from obscure historical events, rather than mythological.)
Once in there, I could not stop being in awe of his integration of printmaking within sculpture. Any man that makes a hand-made, life-size nordic boat and parades it around Manhattan (without permision, of course) deserves kudos.
Something a bit more relevant with this class is that, as Lahti also does, McNett does side projects to pay for his artistic endeavors. Dennis McNett takes a different approach than Lahti though. Due to his skater background, McNett has managed to score designing skateboards and skateshoes with well-known brands that patron various artists to do their work. The work McNett does for his 'commercial art' is different from his normal artistic approach, yes. In fact, his commercial art is more esthetic rather than meaningful, because that sells, and you know what? That's still awesome, because by focusing on esthetics, he makes some pretty well-done, technical pieces with his beautiful woodcut markings. GOOD ON HIM.
Aside from this, he also does preformances using masks and other sculptural elements he makes (having a construction background, for the win!) and covers in his own woodcuts and prints. Sick. So sick. He showed me printmaking can be combined with sculpture (aside from papermaking) in very exotic ways.
Anyway, I left McNett's studio in love with his work and wishing I could be 21 to go to a crazy event he mentioned he will do on Halloween in the city. Damnit.
P.S. I went to the PS1 Book Fair this weekend and saw his work there. He had stuck his prints onto a news paper dispenser that had some Showpaper in it. I was very glad to see this.
Cheers! Bettina
Yikes, so much to go through! I will try not to miss any of the important points...
ReplyDeleteI think this idea of an artist having a patron or day job ended up being a theme of the day, sort of unintentionally. Charles managed to do enough printing on the side to make a buck, Dennis gets asked to do design work, and Ray runs a print shop. None of them is necessarily the "best," it's just a matter of what you can do to pay the rent and give yourself studio time. Some people become teachers (ha, ha). But, as Paul Ramirez Jonas brought up this past week, it's not always necessary to have an art job either.
I felt really inspired meeting Charles. So great to see an artist who's been at it for years and years, and despite not being a "name," is not tormented or miserable. His attitude towards younger artists was incredibly generous, and I think that goes along with his "always say yes" philosophy. You should definitely drop him a line.
Bushwick Print Lab didn't turn out as I had hoped. Ray strikes me as a guy who's not trying to be a dick, but is distracted and doesn't understand how to talk to people in an educational context. Not sure if it's a generational thing, but for Ray I felt like it was specifically related to his role as a businessman, not really an artist or a teacher. Dude drinks too much coffee, too. I'm sorry it worked out that way and I wouldn't bring another class over there.
And Dennis. He's a very cool guy who makes a ton of work and has a large following for very clear reasons. It was refreshing to hear about some of the stories behind his work, because the complaint I often hear about him is that any content gets lost in his very typical skater aesthetic - skulls, snakes, wolves, you name it. Another important thing to take from him is the fact that he doesn't let his work stay limited to flat pieces of paper - expanding it to sculpture and performance, which brings a whole other level to his practice.