https://www.jessmarieross.com/sayhello daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7625c9d1d1145429dbfcd/1588028019343/Screen+Shot+2020-04-27+at+6.40.29+PM.png say hello - jess ross writer, curator, friend https://www.jessmarieross.com/writing daily 1.0 2020-05-31 https://www.jessmarieross.com/writing/kyle-dunn-ghost-world monthly 0.5 2020-04-27 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea742d36aa028710def8f04/1588024207807/Stone_Tea_Room.jpg writing - Kyle Dunn: Ghost World Stone Tea Room, Acrylic on epoxy resin, plaster and foam panel, 48" x 60" x 2", 2019 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7470117881b75db1ddd9b/1588024207814/The_Witch_highres.jpg writing - Kyle Dunn: Ghost World - Jessica Ross: There seems to be a clear tonal shift in your work in 2019, still fiercely compositional, but more gripping and moody in timbre and style. Can you elaborate on this aesthetic shift? Kyle Dunn: I think there is something theatrical about freezing an image and turning it into a painting. For me, it is about digesting and reflecting on a certain emotion or hypothetical situation, then trimming off the fat so what remains is necessary—in the same way that props and background in plays or film set the scene but don’t pull focus from the action. Over time, I have been more inspired by film stills and their kind of visual logic. For example, in the piece The Witch, my initial interest was in painting a male witch, as this is often a female character, and wondering what that would look like. Witches have a sort of seductive element, an idea of wiles and scheming, that doubled my interest, as I have been making work where men are the objects of desire. He is lit theatrically from below, and the low camera angle is taken from George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), when Barbara is confronted by a zombie inside the abandoned house. The tilted camera is an old-school movie trick to translate this idea of menace or something being “off.” While the Salem-era spindle chair and dead tree wallpaper reinforce things thematically, the heaviest lifting, of course, comes from the broom he is holding and about to mount. I wanted there to be humor to it as well. Dust clouds are being kicked up at his feet, which makes you wonder if he is, indeed, a witch, or simply a boy daydreaming about being one while doing the chores. The Witch, Acrylic on epoxy resin, plaster, and foam panel, 58” x 41” x 2”, 2019 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea74d590f5cd5606b9cd52e/1588024207820/Lovers-Leap.jpg writing - Kyle Dunn: Ghost World Lover’s Leap, Acrylic on epoxy resin and foam panel, 48” x 66” x 2”, 2019 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea74e54a019ee17e40315ae/1588024207823/Bent_Gardener.jpg writing - Kyle Dunn: Ghost World Bent Gardener, Acrylic on epoxy resin, plaster and foam panel, 48" x 58" x 2", 2019 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea74ee09b1f162f4bcd9e3f/1588024207831/Peoples-Parties-.jpg writing - Kyle Dunn: Ghost World People’s Parties, Acrylic on epoxy resin and foam panel, 54” x 42” x 2”, 2019 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea750be6aa028710df3bdd0/1588024207834/Vanity-Never-Ends.jpg writing - Kyle Dunn: Ghost World Vanity Never Ends, Acrylic on epoxy resin and foam panel, 54” x 42” x 2”, 2019 https://www.jessmarieross.com/writing/dominique-fung-the-weight-of-water monthly 0.5 2020-04-27 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7568dc0f6b2513c00c1db/1588028190411/Dream-Gun-oil-on-canvas-48x482018.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water Dream Gun, 2018. Oil on canvas, 48" x 48" https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea757ae30106d62c3af8efa/1588028190416/An-Alluring-Vase-30x40-oil-on-canvas-2018.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water - Jessica Ross: Your paintings are warm and inviting. They draw you in with sensuous tones and glossy finish. Do you think this polished aesthetic allows exploration of less gentle themes in your work under a welcoming veneer? Dominique Fung: I definitely use sensuous tones and glossy finishes but also humour and the uncanny as a mechanism to draw the viewer into the painting. Perhaps a similar correlation between welcoming veneers is stand-up comedy, which I’m a big fan of. Good stand-up allows for several layers of ideas through a seemingly funny or strange narrative, but often has a complex and serious undertone. Stand-up comedy gives the illusion of dialogue when, in reality, it’s a monologue. I think about this a lot and I can very much relate to this. Who are your top three? My current favorites are Ali Wong, Dave Chappelle and Trevor Noah. You utilize a plethora of imagery to subvert Western interpretations of the East through the lens of traditional European painting. What are some of the meanings behind the figures and objects in your work? I’ve used imagery of lounging nude women similar to women depicted in nineteenth-century European and Orientalist paintings in my latest body of work. The figures, bodies and objects in my paintings carry visible weight and take up space when often, in society, East Asian women’s bodies are barred from sexuality and taking up space, painted or physical. I think we are all on board with the problematic depictions of women and people of color in historical European paintings. Instead of using a completely different language to move away from it, I’m interested in using it to negotiate with the past. There’s a beautiful quote by Edward Said in Orientalism, “My argument is that history is made by men and women, just as it can also be unmade and rewritten, always with various silence and elisions, always with shapes imposed and disfigurements tolerated.” I want to liberate these figures and objects, to give them a narrative through repetition over several paintings. These artifacts, vessels and sculptures are animate protagonists in my paintings, whereas historically, these objects have been seen as cultural tropes. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea757f892010768b1b9a17f/1588028190420/watering-hole-at-the-orient-pearl-72x60-oil-on-canvas-2018.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water Watering Hole at the Orient Pearl, 2018, Oil on canvas, 72" x 60" https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea758be922d7d2200f9137c/1588028190428/A-Chinese-Dignitary-Pregnant-after-eating-cake-28x48-oil-on-canvas-2017.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water A Chinese Dignitary Pregnant after eating cake, 2017 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea75a14a019ee17e4063e88/1588028190432/An-Artistic-Entertainer-oil-on-canvas-60x60-2019.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water - Why bathhouses? Can you elaborate on their importance in your work? I have a love for Japanese woodblock prints and specifically bathhouse prints. They evoke community, contained in a safe space where you are able to care for yourself, your children or others. Bathhouses, unlike spas, are community-based and generally, anyone from any socioeconomic background has access to them. It is freeing not to be judged, to be in a room with many other people naked, people of all ages and sizes performing the simple task of self-care. The bathhouse, as an image, has been widely used to dehumanize women and POC in paintings, as well as in film, and I wanted to take some time to point this out through several paintings and create discourse and a new narrative. The Artistic Entertainer, 2019, Oil on canvas, 60”x 60” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea75d0e2b767228e49088bb/1588028190450/Ultra-Realism-oil-on-canvas-60x60-2019.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water Ultra-Realism, 2019, Oil on canvas, 60" x 60" https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea75dd84b7cd5589c503eb1/1588028190455/Inner-Offerings-oil-on-canvas-60x60-2019.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water Inner Offerings, 2019, Oil on canvas, 60" x 60" https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea75bb58459fc1567a71267/5ea75bc2d664255ee6e019bb/1588028190436/A-half-inch-from-the-tip-30x40-oil-on-canvas-2019.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water A half inch from the tip, 2019, Oil on canvas, 30" x 40" https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea75bb58459fc1567a71267/5ea75bc24b7cd5589c4fb7c8/1588028190442/Jade-Dragon-Bathhouse-and-Spa-72x60-oil-on-canvas-2017.jpg writing - Dominique Fung: The Weight of Water Jade Dragon Bathhouse and Spa, 2017, Oil on canvas, 72" x 60" https://www.jessmarieross.com/writing/heather-benjamin-twist-and-shout monthly 0.5 2020-04-27 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea76610a508eb72372a2910/1588030655880/jux3.jpg writing - Heather Benjamin: Twist and Shout - Jessica Ross: You've got an armory of imagery that repeats again and again, and I'm curious, what are some of the ideas behind the broken mirror, flaming wings and thorny roses? What's the significance of this particular symbology? Heather Benjamin: I always use a handful of symbols that I feel work well as vehicles for the ideas in my work. My protagonist and my symbols evolve, based on where I'm at in my life and what I need. In the most recent chapter of my work, I've been going hard with the symbols you mentioned. The mirror to me is about self-perception, how vanity and obsession can encompass self-confidence and feeling beautiful, as well as really loving yourself based on how you've taken care of and adorned yourself physically. On the flipside, it can just as easily encompass a different kind of visual obsession, which isn't so much vanity as it is despair; discomfort with your self-image, which includes body dysmorphia, negative self-talk, disassociation. These are opposite extremes I've struggled with a lot in my life, which have manifested in self-destructive tendencies on both ends. Shattering the mirror can stand for feeling such intense negativity about yourself that a look in the mirror shatters it, but can also symbolize a more hopeful direction, which is intentionally shattering the mirror so that you no longer obsess over your physical form, nixing the vanity and focusing instead on the deeper, more important aspects of your being. The flaming butterfly wings represent freedom hindered by the very notion of itself. Due to our own self-consciousness, the roadblocks we experience as women in this world are tempered by the hurdles we have constructed for ourselves on how we should live. They also burn with strength as opposed to destruction; it's that duality in my work that truly encompasses how I feel about everything. The thorny rose classic symbol of femininity and sensuality speaks to that, as well, manifesting as a gorgeous bloom that exists to be enjoyed and appreciated but simultaneously has evolved to protect itself with spiky thorns. Smart flower. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7672855f456514a66a075/1588030655884/jux10.jpg writing - Heather Benjamin: Twist and Shout Goosebumps, Photocopy from original ink drawing with pen and ink on paper, 9" x 12", 2017 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7675a4b7cd5589c528bcf/1588030655890/jux7.jpg writing - Heather Benjamin: Twist and Shout - You've said your cowgirls are incarnations of you playing out various psychological states and dealing with issues of trauma and womanhood. What are the pros and cons of having your art practice be your therapeutic outlet? The number one thing is that I'm able to have a therapeutic outlet that I love and actually works for me. I feel so grateful that this came naturally—it's always been such a no-brainer. Although I haven't tried therapy, I have a lot of time to think about my life and my priorities and personal psychological progress while I draw. I also expel a lot of my tension and articulate things for myself continually while working. I'm making work about my innermost self, pathos, trauma and all. So if someone can relate to something I drew, they are really relating to a very deep part of me, something that embraces a measure of sadness, fear, self-consciousness, and feelings of isolation. When you're in those dark places, you always wonder, what's wrong with me? Is this normal? When my work speaks to another person, it's incredibly comforting and validating. I'm not making my work with the intention of trying to speak for anyone else—it's like my diary—but when people do relate, that always chips away a little piece of my existential dread. As far as the cons, the big one is that I'm basically turning myself inside out for the world, all my darkest pieces on display. Fundamentally, I'm okay with that, or I never would have started making this kind of work. But I'd be kidding myself if I said it didn't get weird or make me feel a little too vulnerable at times. There have been times people have approached me, or clearly judged me about something in my work, and that has definitely made me uncomfortable, angry, or even triggered. But that's the risk I know I'm taking by putting out this kind of personal work, and the positive responses relating that the work resonates with people outnumber and outweigh the negative. So it's all worth it to me. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea768aa10d6c8071188ab5b/1588030655893/jux13.jpg writing - Heather Benjamin: Twist and Shout - What are some favorite romantic, albeit sexist, comic tropes you like to subvert in your work? I really adore this one formulaic scene that exists on the cover of so many 1950's/1960's romance comics. There are three characters, a man and a woman, in some kind of embrace, and then a third woman, looking at them crying or turning away upset. Pretty much the only thing that ever changes is the order of the threesome in the foreground and background. It's so melodramatic, and even if you've never been in that literal situation, I'm sure everyone at least knows the feeling of lost love and rejection, how lonely that makes you feel... to put it mildly. When you open up the comics they're too melodramatic—insane, like, “Bobby was going to take me to the pep rally tonight, but today I saw him at school kissing Vicky near my locker, and then she told me he never wants to see me again!”. It's cringe-y on a lot of levels, especially looking at it in 2019, how amped up and old school it is. Honestly, I always looked at it in a tongue-in-cheek way, because even when you're in that really intense emotional state of despair, dealing with lost love, jealousy, all that ugly stuff, I think you always know in the back of your head how meaningless the world really is and nothing actually matters. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself here, I don't know, but for me, even when caught up in that kind of really earthly emotional dilemma, I still have this kind of cynical zoomed out world view. So I always viewed those outdated comics through that sort of lens. I tend to enjoy the delicious melodrama of it all, but then at the same time, know that these classic tropes are amplified to serve the point of how ridiculous and meaningless it all is anyway. I see it as such a caricature of itself. I've had a lot of feelings for a long time about these comics, but it didn't occur to me to riff off them in my work until I saw Charles Burns do it. Black Hole was one of the first alternative comics I read when I was younger, and it blew my 15-year-old mind. I loved seeing him subvert those tropes, so I was inspired to start subverting it myself. So much of my work at that time was already dealing with topics like jealousy and comparing myself to other women, so using the visual to represent that via the three-person format made a lot of sense for me. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea76986a8e91d78d2f7ec2f/1588030655899/jux11.jpg writing - Heather Benjamin: Twist and Shout - Now that you're a little farther into your career, is there anything you want to say to your younger self? Any wise words for a young Heather? Not really with regards to my work, but definitely on a personal level. At the risk of sounding cliche, I would go back to early twenties Heather and reassure her that everything will be okay. I had a super intense crippling level of anxiety for years in my twenties. It affected my daily life on a massive scale. At times I felt completely paralyzed by fear. And I remember I couldn't believe it and saw no end in sight. I wish I could go back and be, like, “Hey, this really sucks right now, and I know it feels like nothing can fix it, but in a couple of years you're going to start finding and figuring out ways to slowly feel better and be better, and this really does eventually stop being a life-altering thing.” I worked on my anxiety for years and am no longer dragging that same kind of darkness around with me. Not that I'm like this perfect person now, but I no longer struggle with the intensity that defined my twenties. I had tunnel vision, and now I'm way more zoomed out. I'd love to go back and just give myself a little hug, because I really did not think it was ever going to get better, or that I'd ever figure out how to move through it. But I did. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea76a18cd3a007faf4a0137/1588030655903/jux8.jpg writing - Heather Benjamin: Twist and Shout Silly Wasn't I, Gouache, ink, and stamp on paper, 20" x 16", 2018 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea76a6e6b9f2b2c2dae2273/1588030655907/jux14.jpg writing - Heather Benjamin: Twist and Shout https://www.jessmarieross.com/writing/cheyenne-julien-body-and-the-bronx monthly 0.5 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea770569d88c135ee44921b/1588032698657/Monica.jpg writing - Cheyenne Julien: Body and the Bronx - Jessica Ross: Your paintings feel like a lens into your own personal experiences. Are all the figures in your work iterations of your own personality? Cheyenne Julien: No, some of my figures are family members, but I do make a lot of self-portraits. Sometimes I recreate moments from specific memories, and sometimes I am just reproducing the feeling of the memory or event. I guess even the figures that aren’t supposed to be me end up taking on my baggage anyways. You’ve attended some prestigious programs like RISD and the Skowhegan Residency. Do you have any favorite stories from your time at each? Oh, god, RISD was wild. I am so grateful to have parents who encouraged me to go, even though they couldn’t afford it. There weren’t many black people when I attended, so I felt extremely isolated my first year. All these kids came in equipped with knowledge of art theory, and it made me feel dumb as fuck at the time. I also didn’t have money, so I couldn’t really participate in the social scene the way I wished I could have. There were lots of good times, too, though. I learned a lot there and made some really great lifelong friends. I think it was worth it, though I don’t really have a specific story in mind. Skowhegan was so beautiful, I really miss that place. I went right after I finished undergrad, so I was the youngest one there. I was super intimidated at first, because I felt like, “these people are real artists, how did I get in?” I think that summer was really about overcoming the feeling of self-doubt that art school instilled in me. Being from the Bronx, you’ve talked about your experience with environmental racism and hereditary trauma and how it plays into your work. What is the message you want to convey and is your practice a form of therapy? I don’t think I can even pinpoint what I am trying to convey with my work because I work so intuitively. Environmental racism is definitely something that I constantly think about, but my goal isn’t necessarily to teach people or convince them that it exists. I am more interested in showing people how my life has been affected by it. I think creating through lived experience is the only way I know how to speak about any larger issue in the world. My practice is healing in some ways, and nerve-racking in others; so I don’t know if therapeutic is the right word. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea770b6de4a090ce7520feb/1588032698661/INDIVIDUAL-05.jpg writing - Cheyenne Julien: Body and the Bronx Untitled (Self Portrait), Acrylic and oil on canvas, 16” x 20”, 2018 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea77151b9abe7158ac2fa97/1588032698665/Park_Closes_At_Dusk_Crop.jpg writing - Cheyenne Julien: Body and the Bronx - Clearly, you have a masterful touch with light. What significance do windows and doorways play in your work? These symbols began to appear in my work for a couple of reasons. When I was a child, my dad would always take me to the library to check out some books. I never liked reading, so I always got art books that were full of pictures. That’s when I was first introduced to Vermeer. Other than his use of light, I remember loving that he depicted people in their homes, carrying out everyday tasks. This was significant for me, growing up, because I began making tons of drawings of people in domestic spaces. In college, I started to think about the way that light functioned in my neighborhood. I thought about the NYPD floodlights that are stationed in public housing courtyards and parks. I became interested in creating spaces where light coming through a window feels like an eerie presence. I like that I am able to blur the line between what is natural and what is reproduced as a form of surveillance. I also make a lot of interior scenes where you can’t tell whether it is a window or a painting of a landscape hung on the wall. Doorways appear in the work a few times, but they feel a lot less significant, maybe because people are meant to walk through them. Windows feel more intimate and vulnerable to me. A few works have clear ties to art history - i.e. The Fifth of May by Goya (1808) and Dead Christ by Andrea Mantegna (1480). What was it about these paintings that inspired you? They’re both classics, and that’s so funny. I didn’t intentionally reference the Goya painting, but I love when that happens. I guess that one was subconscious. The Mantegna came about while thinking of ways to paint my father. At the time, he was having a lot of back problems and was bedridden. I liked the way the Dead Christ brought the viewer right to the foot of the bed so that you can see his scars. Replacing Jesus with my father felt symbolic in some way, too. The mourners beside him are replaced with my mother’s hands carrying melting ice. This piece definitely stands out from most of my work in a way that excites me. Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio (1601) is referenced in another painting of mine, but nobody seems to notice. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7719c50b70f3eb75a5d34/1588032698670/INDIVIDUAL-02.jpg writing - Cheyenne Julien: Body and the Bronx - Definitely striking a chord, your figures possess serious pathos while aesthetically playing up what one critic coined as comic formalism. What is so fascinating about the human body, and how did you arrive at your signature style? I’ve been making figurative work for as long as I can remember. I think it’s because I love people. My favorite parts to paint are eyes and hands; I think they hold a lot of emotion. While I was in college, people constantly asked me why I paint the figure, a process that was actually discouraged for my first couple of years in school. I ignored the criticism and continued making the work. I guess things changed because now everybody makes figurative paintings. Seeing that switch is kind of funny to me. I think this “style” developed over a long time—like since childhood. I picked up my first Manga in the first grade and was instantly obsessed. A lot of the story took place within the image, which was perfect for someone who loved narratives but hated reading. Visual storytelling is obviously something that stuck with me. I think cartoons are great because they’re outside of our reality, but not really. They’re hyperreal in a way. Also, there’s more to come. I hope to continue to transform, and develop my signature style. You’ve garnered a fair amount of success for someone so young. What are you learning and do you have any career goals you’d like to share? I’ve been fortunate so far; let’s hope I don’t fuck this up. I couldn’t even list all the things that I have learned so far. It’s been a lot, and I am still learning every day. I don’t have any goals I’d like to share at the moment. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7728b2f6a507b3328e573/1588032698674/Summer_Camp.jpg writing - Cheyenne Julien: Body and the Bronx - How much does intuition come into play in your work? Do you find it easy to trust yourself or do you have to consider a lot before making a move on canvas? Intuition does play a huge role in my process. I'm all over the place most of the time. I’ll have multiple things going at once. One painting might develop from a small drawing I made, but, more often, things are completely improvised. I think working this way is liberating, but is also kind of difficult at times. I am constantly painting, wiping off, and then repainting until something recognizable emerges. I like to get tons of small canvases, maybe 10 or 20, and just go through all of them in one sitting. Larger works don’t typically come from these, and I don’t really show them to anyone. I feel like I just need this step in order to work towards the next piece. I think I've always worked this way, so it doesn’t feel hard to trust myself. If anything, I think I need to learn how to slow down sometimes. cheyennejulien.com @cheyennejulien portrait by J. Shotti https://www.jessmarieross.com/writing/koak-bodiesin-muse-and-motion monthly 0.5 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7768268016211cdf76f15/1588033170092/KoakART2.jpg writing - Koak: Bodies in Muse and Motion - Jessica Ross: What are some of your earliest memories creating? Do you have a defining moment in your life when something clicked, or was it a more gradual process? Koak: I was sick a lot as a kid and remember staying home from school and drawing from comics. The women of X-Men were my favorite, especially Storm. Looking back, there was probably a connection between the lack of power I felt at the time and what these women symbolized. When I was a teen, I started making zines that I sold at Caffe Pergolesi, a coffee shop in Santa Cruz that was a sort of safe haven for local artists and musicians. It’s also where I had my first exhibition. There was something about the act of making work and then sharing it with others that gave purpose to what I was doing. I had always had an incredibly hard time communicating with people, and suddenly I had found this language where not only was I able to express myself, but people could understand, and, more importantly, they could connect. As a young girl, I didn’t really feel like I had any power over my life, so finding a voice that empowered both myself and others was a sort of magic in its own way. True connection is so vital when you’re growing up. Is there anything you want to say to your teen self now that you’re a bit older and wiser? I wouldn’t say anything to myself as a teen. I have regrets, but that’s how we learn—navigating those difficulties is part of what shapes us. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7775d76247d5ba403af61/1588033394658/KoakART10.jpg writing - Koak: Bodies in Muse and Motion - I always get a tinge of uneasiness when I see your work. There’s a tension that seems to linger, something about the figures’ awkward physicality—beautiful but challenging. Was this an intentional move on your part, or am I just a weirdo? I am always trying to create moments of tension in my work, because without conflict, it would be one-note. To me, it is extremely important that the figures do not exist in a single state of emotion, as I find that to be very rare in life. Most things are not easily defined or boxed neatly into their own distinct categories, so to make work without tension would be to make something that I feel would be very alienating and dishonest to life. Sometimes I like to think of it as if we all contain a host of necessary archetypes within ourselves. Specialized roles, developed specifically for us, that bubble up to the surface when necessary. I think this sort of duality coming to light through a single figure is in part what creates that form of tension in my work. But, luckily for you, you’re probably also partially a weirdo. Providing agency to female subjects is a driving theme in your work. Since smashing the patriarchy is not an overnight affair, why do you think it’s important to shift the way women are depicted in art? I don’t know if I would say it’s as necessary to shift the way women are depicted in art as much as it is to shift the narratives that are being told. When the overwhelming voice of stories comes from a small pool of individuals, we are getting only a very limited experience through art of what it is to be human. Historical portraiture of women has overwhelmingly been framed by the male conception of what it is to be female, the same voice that for centuries has treated those muses as property or lesser citizens. Providing agency to the women in my work is important, not only because it gives them purpose and a sense of life on the page, but also because, without agency, I would not be able to be a creator. There’s a kinship between me and the women I’m drawing because I am not an outside figure looking in at them. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7778a0c9de910508802f1/1588033426906/KoakART15.jpg writing - Koak: Bodies in Muse and Motion - Are there any other women or non-binary artists who really inspire you at the moment? I’ve been very lucky to meet and work with some amazing women through the gallery that my partner ran: Brook Hsu, Mattea Perrotta, Alexandra Tarver, Mindy Rose Schwartz, to name a few. My friend from college, Nicole Miller, just opened a show at CAAM in LA that I’m excited to see. What is it about creating work that you find to be therapeutic? There’s definitely a lot of raw emotion revealed in your drawings and paintings. Is there a methodology or approach you take when fleshing out your own experiences? When I was younger, my work was very much drawn from my own experiences, and that was an act of therapy. In those early zines and exhibitions, I was dealing with unpacking all the difficulties of being a teenager. Some of my closest friends were struggling with addiction and I felt helpless in giving them support. I was also unraveling the buried pain of having been abused by my biological father, who had been in my life only as a distant figure since I was two. Creating work that grappled with things that felt insurmountably painful, often with a layer of comic humor, gave me an outlet for this sort of pressure that otherwise may have caused me to explode. Since then, my work and interests have shifted, evolving into something more detached from my own experiences. Recently, my focus is on universal narratives and archetypes that encapsulate the feminine—experiences heard from friends or caught through the news. There is still an act of therapy in creating the work, I have to be very present and allow myself the space to create the emotion needed to give over to the page. The method, I think, is to feel and tap into states of being, which can be very taxing sometimes. Our culture has strict, unspoken rules about when, where, and in what context emotions are appropriate, but I would not be able to make these things if I did not give myself the space to feel them. It’s funny—I think I would be a terrible actor. I have the worst stage fright, but I am very good at sitting alone in a room and conjuring up a flurry of emotions from my past. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea777b5e970ff7ccf8b811e/1588033503445/KoakART1.jpg writing - Koak: Bodies in Muse and Motion - What do you listen to in the studio? Is it podcasts or playlists for you? Today, Victoria Spivey. Yesterday, Brian Eno. Tomorrow, maybe Shilpa Ray. Since you and your partner, Kevin Krueger, opened the now-closed Alter Space in 2011, can you describe what it was like starting a gallery? And how might it have influenced your own practice? Rough. Running an art space properly, supporting the artists you’re working with, takes everything you have. At the time, I was not exhibiting or sharing my work, so putting all of my energy into doing things for other artists that I wasn’t able to do for myself was difficult. But we went into it always knowing that I would leave and Kevin would take over. He’s the one with an eye for finding brilliant people to work with and curating great exhibitions. Watching him work, from behind the scenes, has given me so much appreciation for how galleries run and the dedication that it takes to make them work. It’s influenced me in that I’ve really gotten to see all the ways that different types of artists approach their work and problem solving. It’s made me hyper-aware of the ways I work, and taught me that some of my ingrained habits are useless. I’ve always been very interested in the ways different brains work, so watching how artists I admire think has been very influential. You seem to utilize almost every medium (pastel, charcoal, oil, etc.) At the moment, what’s a favorite in your toolbox? Tombow’s sanding eraser. It can cure anything. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7780176247d5ba403db1c/1588033552257/KoakART12.jpg writing - Koak: Bodies in Muse and Motion https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7783568016211cdf7c857/1588033635335/KoakART4.jpg writing - Koak: Bodies in Muse and Motion - Your drawings read as comics, in that you can follow each line and arrive at different narratives. It’s very approachable and understandable for the viewer. Obviously your MFA in comics, I’m sure, has something to do with it. Why do you love comics so much? What about them just pulls you in? I’ve always been drawn to the underdog, or the thing that has the grit of being an outsider. There are certain constructs in society that are just so perplexingly “off” that they pull me in, like a math equation of social norms that doesn’t fit. The U.S., with its strange relationship to comics, is one of these. Here’s an art form that combines visual art and literature—two of the highest forms of art—and yet somehow, through that combination, it becomes less. This conundrum is fascinating to me, and even as comics are now becoming more of a staple, part of my love for them will always be their ugly duckling status. There’s also the added pull that, at its heart, comics are the act of telling stories through a visual language, and storytelling is one of the most powerful tools we have to connect to others. They are entirely about how we convey narrative and emotion through the use of static lines, shapes, and tones—and their meaning shifts depending on those visual elements. Comics are a fascinating puzzle about the use of space and static imagery to create language. What are some of your all-time favorite comics or graphic novels? Bottomless Bellybutton and BodyWorld by Dash Shaw. Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/t/5ea7789b3a6d292d0e7fc2bf/1588033703924/KoakART17.jpg writing - Koak: Bodies in Muse and Motion https://www.jessmarieross.com/curatorial daily 0.75 2020-04-28 https://www.jessmarieross.com/curatorial/re-arrange-a-group-show monthly 0.5 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a267ec/5ea7986948f2bb7fc78c5ae3/1588042106878/Screen+Shot+2020-04-27+at+9.15.11+PM.png curatorial - RE_ARRANGE: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a267ec/5ea798694979210e58a28a1e/1588042105701/Screen+Shot+2020-04-27+at+9.37.00+PM.png curatorial - RE_ARRANGE: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a267ec/5ea79869369d766aae417ab5/1588042097565/Screen+Shot+2020-04-27+at+9.14.55+PM.png curatorial - RE_ARRANGE: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a267ec/5ea798699bf7a13787f6e712/1588042100732/Screen+Shot+2020-04-27+at+9.14.29+PM.png curatorial - RE_ARRANGE: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a267ec/5ea79869ae03ef2c5746feb4/1588042075557/Screen+Shot+2020-04-27+at+9.14.12+PM.png curatorial - RE_ARRANGE: a group show https://www.jessmarieross.com/curatorial/drift-dan-perkins-joe-ferriso monthly 0.5 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79a6b7189b11145f0284a/1588042470628/DSC04410.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79a6bed839649e99f1153/1588042451363/DSC04418.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79a6c48f2bb7fc78cc0ca/1588042426524/DSC04422.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79a6cc7557d34639a9767/1588042425085/DSC04423.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79a6c95523208bae57b64/1588042475920/DSC04426.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79a6c95523208bae57b65/1588042447291/DSC04428.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79ab6e2aa7354f18bfae2/1588042475451/DSC04433.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a26808/5ea79ab739f9ec682b68db3c/1588042478966/DSC04434.jpg curatorial - DRIFT: Dan Perkins + Joe Ferriso https://www.jessmarieross.com/curatorial/tomorrow-a-group-show monthly 0.5 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7a9e679dd71446ef7f892/1588046568298/22990641863_d5de831119_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7a9e6ccc886265ee8f4c7/1588046581234/23249607699_1edd062205_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7a9e6e2aa7354f18eca81/1588046575494/23249631069_f45aca72d7_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7a9e683e74469bb861cf0/1588046571167/23249773839_853f4d4470_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7a9e67696131759172d27/1588046547450/23535157631_4e2c12f643_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7a9e6d2afd325cd4f51ec/1588046583319/23535193481_a074bb197f_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7aaccce8ddf535f92113a/1588046720865/23591382876_9dee63b966_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7aae6ae03ef2c574a3aa5/1588046725505/23591416496_70136359b5_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7aae6eac6e000b6dd20c4/1588046659686/23591429556_f6bb819dbb_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7aaea48f2bb7fc78fb824/1588046726154/23591438186_24946cfb7d_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7aaf2a342f570287b18bb/1588046753598/23591524646_06e9540cca_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7aaf248f2bb7fc78fb8d2/1588046728512/23617512825_c103c8509c_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea7a37679dd71446ef6e2b2/5ea7ab3fd2afd325cd4f8ea8/1588046753043/23617645975_3c7f2b0616_o.jpg curatorial - Tomorrow: a group show https://www.jessmarieross.com/curatorial/project-four-endfd monthly 0.5 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a088b20dcb36c1eea814/1588043936122/31945713844_1b0051b234_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a088b20dcb36c1eea815/1588043941133/31945721364_1cbc90e43e_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a089eac6e000b6db37e1/1588043935872/32408728610_f570375080_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a088b77e297c5830b2e9/1588043936400/32408767840_bb7c7f2630_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a0889bf7a13787f868b9/1588043936144/32635647292_99c892261f_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a088eac6e000b6db37db/1588043933027/32635653312_ef66f15088_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a09c7189b11145f15039/1588043936488/32635656262_8cd4e884a5_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a09eed839649e9a048b4/1588043938738/32635660172_736b520f0d_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a09ee2aa7354f18d0fea/1588043941206/32635665052_800e9d82ee_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a09fccc886265ee757de/1588043944078/32748645866_dc5379d41e_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a09f39f9ec682b69e995/1588043943087/32788988335_dcf6f52376_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a09fed839649e9a048ba/1588043944313/32789000435_ecdbe4c050_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea79f729bf7a13787f83645/5ea7a09f48f2bb7fc78de24f/1588043941472/32789013065_0021944c1f_o.jpg curatorial - Go Figure: a group show https://www.jessmarieross.com/curatorial/bodies-of-work-a-group-show monthly 0.5 2020-04-28 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a2682b/5ea79d5e39f9ec682b695afe/1588043313498/15_Foresight.jpg curatorial - Bodies of Work: a group show Kate Klingbeil - Foresight https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a2682b/5ea79d5679dd71446ef5b5e8/1588043322693/install.jpg curatorial - Bodies of Work: a group show Installation https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea73cd7df50b5274ea18458/5ea78e204959967123a2682b/5ea79d94369d766aae4279ff/1588043339514/Winnie_Truong_Geyser.JPG curatorial - 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