- Was the idea of your project "Regulated Fool’s Milk Meadow" born by a special situation you experienced?
- How long did you work on this project?
- What makes a thing -like a carton or a simple peace of wood- a valuable or worthful thing? And what in your eyes is worthless?
- There are special details one can see in your project. Would you comment some for our readers and us?
- ...Aquarium with golden golf balls
- ...Energy drops
- ...The different species of grass
- Does your project have a regional relation to New York or Brooklyn?
- Where do you feel at home and why?
- What are your associations of the town Berlin?
- Does art only belong to museums?
- Is everyone an artist?
- Who is a fascinating or moving artist in your eyes and why?
- Is there a place in New York you love very much?
- Do you protect the environment and if yes, how?
- Do you know about networks, who unite artists, scientists, environmentalists and economists, like "Global Challengers Network" and do you think, that that kind of Meeting between such different professional disciplines is useful?
- Is there something arty about Greenpeace?
- What are spontaneous associations when you think about Greenpeace?
- Would you reveal our reader a view in your fututre of art-working and/or is there a dream-projekt in your mind, you will realize in the future?
Was the idea of your project "Regulated Fool’s Milk Meadow" born by a special situation you experienced?
There is not one single experience that exclusively inspired this project. Probably more like a series of smaller things helped shape the idea. But, I do remember taking my truck to a car wash and being very impressed by the complexity of the car wash. I do not wash my truck very often so the experience was new to me. I loved how you could stand in the waiting room and watch through the glass windows your car go through the various stages of washing. It seemed really funny to me that people would want to “keep watch�? over their car as it was being washed, as if the car was a patient in a hospital. I also loved looking at all of the extra basically useless car related accessories that were for sale and displayed in the waiting room. I’m sure that this experience helped shape the project. But I would not say that it was all figured out after one car wash experience. The installation evolved and took shape over time and even until the last days of the installation.
What makes a thing -like a carton or a simple peace of wood- a valuable or worthful thing? And what in your eyes is worthless?
I think that one of the things that has helped me in my process is that I have a hard time throwing anything away because I always hold out hopes for finding a purpose for everything. Once it enters my studio it is really hard for me to let it go. My studio is a black hole. I know many people are like this and especially artists so this is not necessarily a unique way of thinking and working. I am always nagged by this idea that something, almost anything can always be useful somehow. This philosophy has kept me open to almost anything and constantly searching and tinkering with things. I find it more satisfying to make something out of almost nothing rather than purchase new materials. I like the challenge of it and I have come to discover that I prefer the look of used or seasoned materials.
There are special details one can see in your project. Would you comment some for our readers and us?
In order for the experience of the installation to have any sort to integrity or richness, it is important for it to be considered down to the smallest details. Sometimes these details have tenuous connections but feel right on some intuitive level and it is only later after I reflect on the project that I can sort of draw clear connections between everything.
...Aquarium with golden golf balls
The aquariums are like miniature still lives. This piece is very much about looking into something, peering into something rather than looking at something. The aquariums are another small mico-environment to peer into. They have their own activities and their own set of rules separate from the activities of the factory. The fluorescent yellow golf balls are advertising. The aquariums are not only microenvironments but they also double as display cases for showcasing the golf balls. The golf balls are each printed with the factory’s logo on it so they are not simply golf balls but they are promotional items as well. They are promoting the factory and the exhibition.
...Energy drops
The Gatorade was a sort of spontaneous thing that came together during the installation. This piece is so much about labor and work I was being a little silly with the Gatorade and I wanted to make a “worker’s Champagne fountain�? but use Gatorade not Champagne.
...The different species of grass
The differed species of grasses simply came from me doing research on these grasses and wanting to have a variety of textures and growing cycles.
Does your project have a regional relation to New York or Brooklyn?
I think that it must even if it is not overtly intentional. But there most certainly is a relationship because all of the collected wood comes from NYC. So there is a direct connection in that respect. Also, because real estate is so expensive in NYC, and space is at a premium, most people do not have extra space for storage. So I think a lot of stuff gets thrown away because of this. People don’t have extra room to save their old TVs, or their outdated furniture or whatever…so this stuff gets thrown out each week. And when this stuff goes out to the street it doesn’t take long for someone else to come along and pick it up to take home for themselves. It’s a cycle and it happens every trash day. Watching this each week has influenced me a lot. Even though I have not used these types of domestic things such as TVs or furniture in my work, it never the less has been a great influence to see this cycle each week.
Where do you feel at home and why?
I definitely feel at home in NYC. There are too many reasons to really get into it all. But one of the things that I love about NYC is the energy everywhere. It is so intense. People are always out doing their thing. As you know NYC is predominantly pedestrian culture, everyone is walking around or on the subway or bus and because of this; you are forced to deal with each other on some level. It is a shared space and therefore shared experience. It feels very different from places where everyone is sealed up in their cars. People’s lives (for better or worse) are out there in public space. I love it.
What are your associations of the town Berlin?
Well, I have to be honest. I did not get to spend very much time getting to know the city. I had too much work to accomplish while I was there. That sounds pretty lame but that was the truth. But, I have to say that what I did get to experience, in terms of the folks who I was working with each day, was great. For a city that has so much sadness and darkness in its not too distant past, I got wonderful feeling about the city and the people in it.
Does art only belong to museums?
Oh, certainly not. Sometimes institutions can suck the life and spirit out of art. Now- I know that is easy for me to say and I certainly do not pretend to know what it takes to run an institution. But sometimes I get the sense that institutions and museums get so far away from art and from the source that it begins to feel hollow. When you think about what happens in an artist’s studio and what that all means and then you fast forward to a museum and you think about board meetings and acquisition meetings all of the other stuff that is necessary to run an institution (which I can’t even begin to list off)… it seems like the two things are so distant from each other. Most times the institutions become bigger monsters than the art. The art should always be the biggest monster.
Is everyone an artist?
I love this question. I wrestle with this and I think I say yes everyone is an artist but not everyone is a good artist. Or maybe it is better to say everyone has moments of making art. I know this sounds cliché but art is everywhere and I have to believe that everyone has moments of discovery, creativity and ingenuity that can be classified as art in some way. First what comes to mind are great experimental chefs like Ferran Adria who’s process amazes and inspires me. Or another example could be a wine maker and all of the intuitive decisions, love, obsessive drive, and patience that goes into making wine. Then I think about the elderly Chinese woman who I see collecting plastic bottles around my neighborhood. She fills several huge garbage bags each day and as they fill she straps them to her grocery cart. By the end of the day her cart begins to looks like some strange biomorphic parade float.
I guess if you are looking for it there are moments of art to be found everywhere.
Who is a fascinating or moving artist in your eyes and why?
Jason Rhoades. I loved that he was a bull in a china shop and pushed and pushed, I think his work is thrilling.
Is there a place in New York you love very much?
I love my walk to the subway everyday. I see familiar faces, I see people at work, activity everywhere. I love my walk home from the subway, too.
Do you protect the environment and if yes, how?
That is a pretty broad question. I try to be responsible and aware as an individual and I try to support things that I believe in. I’m sure that there is room for improvement for me. I am not an activist but I try to do what I feel is right.
I think I try to make responsible decisions in the most direct, local and immediate way.
I think the slogan “think globally act locally� is amazing and sadly amazingly disregarded. I suppose I spend a lot of time looking and thinking about garbage so my example here involves garbage again… I get crazy about how and what people throw out. I see dangerous things thrown out and things done in way that you can tell people have no regard or concern for the garbage collectors. People do not think about what happens later on down the line they just want it rid of it now. It is a simple and very localized example but it is telling. People sometimes overlook the most immediate, direct and local impact they can make.
As an artist I find myself in a tricky place because my work is often misinterpreted or misrepresented as a political or socio-ecological statement. I do recycle and repurpose materials and skim off of consumer culture and I also recycle my own studio waste and materials from one project to the next. But I choose to work this way because I find it more interesting and satisfying to work this way. I do not have a problem with those types of themes such as urban refuse, and sustainability running as undercurrents in the work but it would be disingenuous for me to say that I started off with his idea of making a statement in that regard. It is really more of a byproduct of a way that I like to work. However, having said that- recently a woman came up to me and said that after having seen my piece she really felt moved by the call to help with environmental concerns and she felt inspired by the work. That was cool. So if these undercurrents are there that is great, it was not my starting point.
Do you know about networks, who unite artists, scientists, environmentalists and economists, like "Global Challengers Network" and do you think, that that kind of Meeting between such different professional disciplines is useful?
Oh for sure. Anytime people mix deas and have a hybridized way of thinking it is fresh and good. Having said that, often times these amazing ideas once presented within the context of art can lack what to me is most important about art- a compelling visual experience. It can be tricky- I think often artists give up to soon and use a good idea as a crutch. They don’t pound it out and really take control of every aspect of the work. Instead there is the expectation that the viewer will engage with the work, embrace the idea, and put their own energy into it to complete the visual experience. But back to your original question, when different ideas and disciplines can come together in the real world and function it is exciting.
Is there something arty about Greenpeace?
I don’t know. Greenpeace is a huge machine. I’m sure yes in some regards but that is too broad of a questions to answer in one big stroke.
What are spontaneous associations when you think about Greenpeace?
Aggressive, confrontational, clipboards, whales.
Would you reveal our reader a view in your fututre of art-working and/or is there a dream-projekt in your mind, you will realize in the future?
I do have some ideas that I am mulling over and trying to push forward. My new ideas are more along the lines of service providing structures. I have been thinking about a library and a baseball stadium. Admittedly two very different directions. Maybe the two will ideas will morph into one strange thing.
