Emily Auchincloss

                   

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I make paintings. Labels are unwieldy and weird. I don’t very much believe in a hard line between abstraction and representation. But I guess I am more concerned with calling attention to moments when symbols and gestures come into being, and when they fall apart.

What drives you to make work?

The painful and wonderful feeling that comes when you see what you want to make, and you try to make it, and you fail partly, and something comes out that is a result of both trying very hard and giving in.  Perhaps like giving your ego a series of hugs and slaps.

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

I work on two or three paintings at a time, most of them are large- usually one will completely take over and then I reach a sort of plateau and then others start calling out. When it’s really good they all could perhaps be talking to each other. When I do drawings with oilstick on Duralar it is very fast work, and I have to be really conscious when I transition to the slower process of painting on canvas- I’m definitely still figuring that out. There is usually a lot of waiting, and then fast moves, and then some long slogs.

How long have you been working in that way?

About a year or so…I recently got a studio in Bushwick where I finally have everything where I want it to be, more or less, in terms of materials and tools, which is helping enormously.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

A selected list: Poussin, George Stubbs, Turner, Whistler, Johannes Itten, Francis Bacon for his stages, Phillip Guston, Elizabeth Murray (her early work very, very much), Charlene Von Heyl, Al Taylor, Keltie Ferris,  the amazing and under-known sculptor Phyllida Barlow, Alisha Kerlin very much, Celia Gerard, Linda Francis. My amazing fiancé, the sculptor Joshua Hart.

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

The ocean and the sky: how the clouds and waves stand in for things vast and unseeable in their totality. Also Navajo Blankets, Gees Bend quilts and knitted patterns. Somehow I feel they are akin to the computerized aesthetic of fractured spaces and digital readouts. There’s a connection there that is compelling to me.

How would you like people to engage with your work?

I’d like them to suspend their disbelief. I’m starting to feel we live in a constant state of disbelief…that’s sad. I sure don’t want to. I’m a believer.

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

Being in a glider plane at 9,300 feet made an impression. That was in the California desert, where I was recently.  We did what’s called a Wing Over, which is a trick where at one point you are completely upside down and the cockpit is filled with just mountains and sand, and you’re weightless for a moment… Also flying home to New York and looking out the window made a big impression too: seeing the irregular circles, lines and squares of crops and irrigation ditches and desert roads…I am sure they are going to make their way into my paintings. This country is a very beautiful thing from up above.

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

I have a solo show in New Jersey in September and a group show in NYC. And hopefully a lot of studio time.

Selina Foote

                  

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I make small scale paintings on canvas and silk. I work with a rule based system to develop each painting, borrowing information from reproductions of historic paintings.

What drives you to make work?

Lots of things.

I am interested in reproductions of artworks. Living in New Zealand it can be quite isolated in terms of seeing particularly historical painting. So, much of the painting I am interested in I have encountered primarily through reproductions which have an interesting quality quite different to the art objects themselves.

I look at books a lot, and art journals and online documentation of shows.

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

I’m in studio after work from about 5 o’clock everyday and as much as I can on the weekend. I spend some time preparing canvases and making drawings that will then inform paintings. I usually have several paintings on the go at various stages.

I always start with a drawing of some sort first, and then apply various rules that build on these drawings to produce the final composition.

How long have you been working in that way?

About a year.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

Edouard Manet, Frank Stella, Robert Ryman, Mary Heilmann, Gordon Walters.

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

I watch a lot of films. At the moment I’ve been watching Louis Malle and Elia Kazan films.

How would you like people to engage with your work?

My paintings are all developed through a series of rules which overlap, so they can be viewed as individual works or in pairs or groupings. I like the idea of paintings forming conversations between themselves. 

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

Patrick Lundberg’s shoelace works

Richard Bryant’s works on paper

Sriwhana Spong’s silk works at Sue Crockford Gallery

And R. H. Quaytman’s new work (although I’ve only seen this online).

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

At the moment I’m working toward a solo show for next year.

Magalie Guerin

          

Can you briefly describe what you do?

At the moment (08/2011) I make non-representational paintings that look like abstract art

What drives you to make work?

It’s an interest/engagement in fluidity, attentive looking (visual puzzles) and spatial/social relationship as well as shape invention and in slowing down the pace

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

My studio hours are usually 10-6PM. A lot of time is spent sitting and looking at the shapes and surfaces on the canvas. I usually build them with gesso and have to sand down multiple coats, which is time consuming. There’s a lot of removal in my process.

How long have you been working in that way?

Hard to say, but 2 years ago I was exclusively working with ballpoint pen on paper which was quite different.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

Mary Heilmann, Thomas Scheibitz, Amy Sillman, Nicola Tyson, Charline von Heyl, Susan Frecon, Brancusi, Morandi...

…Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith.

And closer peers such as Angela Dufresne, Dawn Clements, Jenny Vogel, Sunny Payson, Lea Schleiffenbaum, Michelle Grabner, Timothy Bergstrom and Sean Ward (to name a few) with whom I’ve had countless conversations regarding art and everything else.

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

Everything. But mostly it’s the dynamics in relationships and psychology. Then there is furniture design, architecture, literature, nature…

How would you like people to engage with your work?

With lightness, trust and humor. And with an irresistible desire to live with!

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

There was a show this summer at Harris Lieberman in NYC of influential women artists that got me very excited about painting.

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

Yes, I will be a fellow at the American Academy in Rome… one day.

Alice Browne

            

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I look, think and make paintings. The paintings are a sum of their parts: layered spaces made from colour and brushwork. They are influenced by a history of represented space (in painting, photography etc.) and my perceptions.

What drives you to make work?

Curiosity

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

I keep lots of things on the go and don’t plan any of them. It seems to be quite important to not care too much about any particular painting. Caring makes me too cautious. This way I’m always ready for failure. I put things away and come back to them sometimes a day later, sometimes 3 months later. My process varies – some paintings are quick and made of only 2 or 3 layers and others take 6 months.

The hardest decisions I make are about colour. Recently I’ve been choosing from a range of dry pigments as well as ready mixed tube colours which has really changed my palette.

I aim to get to the studio for 9am and work on between 5 – 10 paintings. Or sometimes I make drawings on paper. I often fail to complete more than 3 clues on a crossword at lunchtime but persevere for an unnecessary amount of time. I leave whenever I’ve stopped being able to see and think about what I’ve made (before I get too destructive) which is anytime between 3pm and 7pm.

How long have you been working in that way?

I’ve been making paintings the way I do since the final year of my BA at Wimbledon College of Art, in 2009.

My routine is still forming and changing as my studio time has increased since I started working with Limoncello Gallery earlier this year.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

This is a greedily long list….Masaccio; Philip Guston; Francis Bacon; Prunella Clough; Pieter Claesz; Jeff Wall; Mary Heilmann; Max Beckmann; Mali Morris; Antoni Tapies; Juan Sanchez Cotan; Philip Allen

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

Literature eg. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Cinema eg. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou by Wes Anderson; Dr Zhivago by David Lean; Barry Lyndon by Stanley Kubrick

Mythology

Music eg. Wild Beasts; The National; Pixies; Explosions in the Sky

Architecture eg. Churches

Mountains

How would you like people to engage with your work?

With curiosity and acceptance of the validity of their thoughts about it.

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

Edward Thomasson and Lucy Beech’s video of their performance Holding It Together

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

Yes! Very exciting…I’m currently working towards a show in the Jerwood Project Space in September and my first solo show at Limoncello Gallery in November

Michael Callaghan

        

                         

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I use acrylic paint and vinyl cloth tape (aka 'gaffers' tape), and to a lesser extent, masking tape, to create non-objective images on stretched canvas (sizes varying between 6" x 8" (canvas board for sketches) through and up to 72" x 84" currently). I do not start with a pre-determined image in mind; however, I build an image in layers initially based on tape and paint sketches. I like to gesture large in the beginning. To that end, I start with either an elaborate grid of tape or paletted paint swatches. I continue with several composed - almost 'action' - layers of tape or paint. Most works have upwards of 5 layers or more. The process of layering is what excites me the most. The final textured image hopefully delays the resolve of the viewer's eye to see space in an interesting way.

What drives you to make work?

For many years I worked in the film industry as an assistant cameraman, and we had all this tape left over. It fascinated me by its texture, color, strong adhesion quality, and flexibility. It is fairly toxic to the environment if thrown away and I wanted to find a different use for it. I actually used to 'sketch' with it during down-time at work on various media. I often recycle tape from one painting to use in others.

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

I'm lucky that I seem to wake up every morning with enthusiasm to do work. I'm a morning person and if I don't start something by 11 am, it will never happen. Sketching with tape and paint is important pretty much every day, and I put some of them on my website to demarcate between sections of similar images to help viewers see my progression.

How long have you been working in that way?

One year with the current full-time method. I have been taping and painting intermittently for 10 years.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

I look at a lot of high-end photographic images of fashion and architecture - mostly elaborate, big, flowing clothing and vibrantly colored, yet very minimal architecture. The fashion and architecture images help generate my gestures and influence my final color choices, sometimes monochromatic. Names: Newman, Judd, Malevich, Kelly, Diebenkorn.

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

My wife's drive, professionalism, and happiness in her job inspires me. Ambient music. I try to cook a lot of complex dishes, full of color, to appear simple and elegant.

How would you like people to engage with your work? 

Generally, most people see grids or maps or some kind of relief that seems familiar, something to latch onto and try to resolve. Those final images are not my intention but usually start an interesting conversation.

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

I just discovered Minus Space in Brooklyn which deals exclusively with Reductive Art. I also saw a show at THEODORE:Art in Soho (NY) with Andrew Seto, Damien Flood and Joy Garnett. Andrew Seto is infinitely inspiring as he tweets his daily travels with amazing photo images which clearly inform his painting process.

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

Hopefully a baby.

Clare Price

           

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I make large scale abstract paintings, the basis for which are digital drawings created on an antiquated computer programme and projected up with transparencies and an overhead projector. This drawing becomes the skeleton or "grid" for the painting, which is either meticulously adhered to or rebelled against using spray paint acrylic gouache and household lacquers. The paintings explore the intersection between something that is very visceral and painterly, and something that is much more controlled and designed. In some parts the paintings are spare, stark and graphic; in others, the paint washes voluptuously over the tightly restrained framework exploding into action painting.

What drives you to make work?

A gnawing, irrepressible, all consuming compulsion.

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

It varies from stretching and priming of canvas the drawing up of the pixelated drawings which takes a few hours; the steeling to commence battle with the canvas to make it work or hang together in some way; the spray painting of the initial marks that mirror the pixelated lines and then the complete immersion in the painting where things happen that are outside of you that you don't expect where time goes by and you don't know what happened to it, where you are outside of yourself, usually in a haze of paint fumes. That’s what I do it for, those moments (not the paint fumes, the being outside of yourself [although no doubt the paint fumes help]).

How long have you been working in that way?

I have been working like this for the past five years.  I came back to painting after a long absence so it still feels very new and old all at the same time as I painted when I was younger. I think a lot of the insane hunger to paint is the making up for lost time.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

Patrick Heron, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Albert Oehlen, Peter Lanyon, Blinky Palermo, Wilhelm de Kooning, Ingres, Turner, Andy Warhol.

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

Music, lyrics, sound, popular culture, reading, landscape urban and rural, film and cinematography, architecture.

How would you like people to engage with your work?

Preferably in a large white space with plenty of room to stand back.  

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

I saw a room of late Picasso paintings in Barcelona.  The compositions and colours were so effortless and perfect: they were delivered with such ease and almost flippancy but were so utterly serious, profound and charged. They moved me to the core.

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

In November I am returning to Cortijada Los Gázquez, where I did a residency two years ago. I'll be in the mountains in Andalucia with nothing to think about but painting for 10 days.  I also have a show at Studio 1.1 next year which I am making work towards and am very excited about.  The studio is also really both exciting and overwhelming me at the moment.  Things are in flux and wide open.

Paul Behnke

            

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I make non-objective paintings and drawings. Through my process I arrive at a unique pictorial vocabulary in which high key color plays a significant role. There is a suggestion of flux, in my work, and a strong sense of arriving at an image rather than the creation of a fixed representation.

What drives you to make work?

The feeling I get when I look at great works of art---part envy, part pride and a desire to compete with my heroes.

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

I paint everyday, usually starting around noon and stopping at six. 

I never begin with a preconceived idea or image. I choose a color and begin. When a few forms begin to present themselves I scrape a layer of semi-transparent paint over the composition. This allows forms and spatial relationships to be seen in a different way. The process is repeated until I arrive at a nearly final state. Often at this point I begin to edit forms and make color changes until the painting feels complete.

How long have you been working in that way?

With a few minor variations, for about two years. Before then there was not much paring down involved and the final painting was much more busy and frenetic.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

Morandi and the New York School in the beginning.  For the last six years I've paid a great deal of attention to the work of the British abstract painters: John Hoyland, Gillian Ayres, Albert Irvin, and Patrick Heron.

What, outside visual art, informs your practice?

I think literature influences how I see myself as a painter and the romantic way I view art in general and this in turn informs my practice.  I'm thinking of books like The Masterpiece by Zola, The Horse's Mouth, and the Sound of Sleat by Jon Schueler. 

How would you like people to engage with your work?

Ideally, I would like an educated viewer. With that as a given, I hope there would be many ways to approach my work. 

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

Yes, recent shows by Thornton Willis, Kimber Smith, and Norman Bluhm. And John Hoyland's work in the Independent Eye exhibition at Flowers gallery. There was also a terrific abstraction by Alfred Leslie in the Ab-Ex show at MoMA that I'm still thinking about.

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

This October I'll have work in a group show curated by Jeffrey Cortland Jones at the University of Dayton in Ohio. And on the distant horizon I'll have a one person show at the Rosenfeld Gallery in Philadelphia in 2012.