October 2011

Table Of Contents October 2011

Artists

8 Amanda Atkins 22 Chris Schuch 30 Kayla Mohammadi 44 Ultimate

4 Abstraks October 2011

Founder/Editor-In-Chief

Darius Loftis

Art Director

Brianna Calello

Writing Editor

Claudia Puccio

Contributing Writers

David D’Alessandro Kevin Hebb David Showalter Jr. Carina Wine

Marketing

Pete Cosmos Darius Loftis

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8

Amanda Atkins

David D’Alessandro

The Lady Behind the Ladies David D’Alessandro

Even before I talked with Amanda Atkins, I knew that I just had to meet her. Under her profile section on her webpage (http://amandaatkins.blogspot.com/), Amanda is posed with a scenario: “Your superpower is that you smell like dandelions whenever someone lies. How will you maintain your secret identity?”

Her answer: “By always wearing a dress made entirely of dandelions, so no one will notice when my natural floral scent is coming and going.”

<Sigh>. What an answer!

The charm, mental image, and poetry of this response captures Amanda perfectly. Her paintings-largely comprised of long-necked women adorned in vintage clothes and posed in front of simple yet elegant nature scenes, wallpapers, or shapes--are often inspired by phrases akin to ‘natural floral scent.’ She loves designing clothing. And, her engaging smile, nervous energy, and intoxicating innocence make it easy to envision her wandering into the Harvard Bookstore (one of her favorite places to pass an afternoon) in a dress made of dandelions.

When I first contacted Amanda, I couldn’t wait to go into her studio and examine some of her work in person. I imagined a workshop covered in pictures of 1950’s Hollywood starlets, bits of fabric or magazines lying around, and the beginning of sketches on papers everywhere. However, she informed me that most of her paintings were hanging in the Three Graces Gallery in Portsmouth, NH or had been sold. Good for the artist, disappointing for the interviewer. Instead, we agreed to meet in Cambridge over some coffee.

I had wanted to meet Amanda since the day I read her bio. I was expecting a well-spoken, passionate, and creative artist with an adventurous soul but solitary inclinations. I was not disappointed. At first, she was so nervous and full of energy that I contemplated ordering us caffeine-free drinks (I didn’t). Every comment I had about her paintings was returned with a high-pitched, drawn out “ohhh, thaaaaannnk you” and a smile that meant it. As our afternoon progressed, and Amanda became more comfortable, we began examining her work and talking about her life.

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“They are self portraits in the emotional sense,” says Atkins. “Each painting really encapsulates, for me, the time in which it was painted. The titles of the paintings and the objects in the paintings hold a lot of personal meaning for me. At the same time, I love keeping things elusive. I like mystery. I like leaving paintings open for interpretation so that others can project their own meaning upon them.

I love heavy symbolism, a note I’ve probably subconsciously taken from artists like Frida Kahlo, and the idea that a painting must be decoded.”

Scattered throughout her collections of women, Amanda has ladies that are covered in tattoos. Examples of symbolism can be found in almost every one of Atkins’ paintings in her completed collections; however, none seem to create as much mystery as her painted ladies.

In her first collection called “the language of fox trot” (Aside from a person’s name, Amanda does not capitalize the names of collections nor the titles of her pictures), a lady in a beautiful, blue, halter-top dress with flowing brunette hair stands in front of raised curtains and a couple of carnival tents. Her entire torso and neck are covered in different tattoos. There is a pine tree with roots showing, a hand inside a pink oval, a red fox, a steamship with anchor and a few more. Adding more intrigue and ensnaring the viewer, there is an ambiguous title typed below the photo: “and with unspoken ease, I was your pet”.

Even though she does not have any, Amanda claims, “I am fascinated by tattoos. I think they are so beautiful. I love how they can tell a story. I love the idea of covering yourself in little paintings. I like tattooing my ladies with really simple, natural images, where you really have to wonder what they might mean to the woman wearing them. Sometimes they’re themed tattooed-ladies.

I think if I were to get tattoos, that’s the way I’d go. I’d be covered in only foxes or something.”

Atkins comes from Hudson, MA, which she classifies as, “a fairly small town.” She still feels an attachment to her hometown though, stemming from the impact her family had on her growing up and her current career path.

“My mom is the kindest person I’ve known in my whole life. That is something that has made a really big impact on me. I inherited my love of animals and nature from her. In addition to that, I’ve watched her make art her career, which spared me from ever thinking that this isn’t possible. That isn’t a thought that crosses my mind, and I think that’s because of her. My dad is a really hard worker and has done so much in his life. He’s incredibly smart but so humble about it. My Grampa, who just passed away last month, was one of the best people in the world. He would have done anything for anybody. He lived an incredible life and passed so much on to my mom that she passed on to me. I’m so glad to feel like I have those pieces of him now.”

for, and their influences show up in my work constantly.”

Although she attended The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University in Cambridge, it was her family that instilled her love of art, and influenced much of her style.

“The way I started getting a following was kind of a fluke. I had my artist blog but didn’t really know about “following” other peoples’ blogs. One day, I decided to follow a few really neat vintage clothing blogs and before I knew it, they were following me back. Then some of their followers were following me, and the numbers grew from there. I love that I’ve found my sort of target audience, but that it stems from the fact that they and I share a passion for something other than art. The people who buy my work amaze me. I’ve received so many kind emails from people after they’ve purchased my work, and it means so much to me.”

“My mom is a working artist. She’s always done art for a living in some form. In the 70s, she did these amazing realistic portraits of animals, which are so different from her art now! My dad and sister are definitely creative, as well. I remember asking my Dad to draw things when I was little because I thought he was so good at it, and my sister and I like to paint together sometimes. My Grampa was really talented; while fighting with the army during World War II, he would draw pin-ups for all the other soldiers. I like wondering about where the artistic inclination originated, how the ancestors I don’t even know about might have used art.”

In her “paper dolls” collection, Atkins really shows off her passion and talent for vintage clothing. The collection has the feel of a behind-the-scenes look at women preparing for a party at Gatsby’s. For example, “Francesca among fireflies” depicts a sultry woman dressed in stockings, garter belt, underwear, and brazier surrounded by ball gowns, hats, necklaces, and a variety of other early-mid 20th century accessories and trinkets.

Amanda does not only paint high fashion, she reads blogs about it too. It is here that she has developed her biggest following and patrons.

Amanda’s paintings constantly show all her familial influences. Her Grandfather’s pin-up girls are probably reminiscent of the nude drawings and sultry woman in her sketchbook online. Also, it is rare to find a painting without a flower, naturescape, or animal included somewhere in it. But, one of the most prevalent and eye catching aspects of her ladies is their dress. This, too, is a childhood influence.

Atkins’ love of blogs, and there are links to plenty of them on her website, leads us into another of her passions and influences: poetry and literature. Amanda looks at the world through the eyes of T.S. Elliot, e.e. cummings, and writers galore.

As we leave the coffee shop and head over to a little pub to grab a sandwich and drink, I ask Amanda about the titles of her paintings. They have names such as: “remember me remarkable”, “the art of waiting”, “silver in e minor”, “rarities unleashed”, and “bird in a bird bath”.

The names spark visceral emotions for me, and I asked her where she comes up with them.

“I’ve been really into the mid-century decades since I was 10; I can trace it back to an obsession with poodle skirts from the 50s (my mom then made me one for Halloween) and a tin bank with bobby soxers on it. My love has stretched outward in all directions since then: the 20s, 30s, 40s, and early 60s are all eras that I kind of long

“Often times, a title will come to me before the painting. I love creating titles that sound like a phrase that’s been removed from a novel and taken out of the context of a proper sentence. Partial sentences like that pop into my head all the time: strings of words together that don’t necessarily make sense but it just feels like they

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need to be that way. So sometimes a painting will evolve from an already born title, but just the same, sometimes the painting comes first and the title forms after I’ve been looking at the piece for a while.”

One of Amanda’s true literary loves is children’s books. As a child her mother used to read her and her sister books that they picked out of the local library and, with her natural disposition to drawing and early interest in words and phrases, the illustrations and language pulled at her. Days before I had noticed a link on her webpage to a book by Writebloody Publishing called I looooove You, Whale, and I asked her about it after she had finished her sandwich (appropriately it was a grilled cheese with tomatoes, the quintessential comfort food). When she realized that I had noticed the book and wanted to talk about it, her eyes widened, and a Cheshire Cat grin spread across her face.

“I really love illustrations of cozy interiors with lots of little things to look at. All through college, I loved Writebloody Publishing and its founder, the poet Derrick Brown. A couple of years ago, I received an email from Derrick. I was used to receiving emails from Derrick because the Writebloody newsletter arrived under his name each month, but this time the subject read, “amanda.”

When I opened the email, he was asking to use my first tattooed lady painting on the cover of Karen Finneyfrock’s upcoming book of poetry. I said, ‘YES!!” and everything evolved from there. He wrote a children’s book called, “I Looooove You, Whale!” and asked me to illustrate it. I love nautical themes and animals so I was very excited, and working with him was like one of my art dreams come true.”

that my art comes from is the part of me that really loves old things, literature and philosophy, and fields and trees and animals. I am good at knowing what my art is for me, but I would never know how to describe my work in the context of the bigger art picture. Even though I’m creating art, I relate it so much better to literature. I think a lot of artists’ work fits better into another creative category, but that’s what’s so beautiful about this thing we’re all doing: the linking between science and theater and writing and painting and sculpture and natural history. It’s about connecting things and making them accessible to someone new.”

Just as well crafted novels can transport you to any era, the majority of Amanda’s paintings send you to a place that, although the subjects have distinct attire, is truly timeless. The titles of her work, the symbols she creatively lays in the background or on a person’s skin, along with the eyes and slight tilt of her ladies’ heads, evoke emotions that have no temporal limit or singularly acrylic-on-canvas link. At the same time, she often creates a connection to the natural world by interlacing the creatures that cohabit the Earth. Not all of Amanda’s work is of her ladies, but I met the woman who was represented in a portion of all of them, and it made them all alive.

Contact: amandaatkinsart@aol.com http://amandaatkins.blogspot.com/

My time spent with Amanda was enchanting. She is an artist whose talents and interests span paintings, clothing, writing, and some photography. It is no wonder why she said that if she were living anywhere else in the world, right now it would be Paris. “You can literally feel the art and literature in the stones on the ground there.”

She is a true renaissance woman. However, sometimes she feels a little disassociated with the art world.

“I find it a little intimidating. I feel like I don’t know all the things I’m supposed to when it comes to modern art. Of course, there are different segments of the “art world” and I know I fit into parts of them. The place

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Chris 22 Schuch Interview by Kevin Hebb

It was a Thursday evening around eleven o’clock. I was just settling into my studio for the night. To be honest, focusing less on my actual painting and more on bellowing an untuned voice across a mostly unpacked vacant space. Club Hebb, as we have come to call it. It’s no wonder I was missing calls with what sounded like Tom Waits being water boarded and broadcast gloriously over some punk band I am too ashamed to name. It’s now midnight and I have missed four calls from a friend of mine. Wash my brush, turn the music down and call him back. The call is answered with urgency: “What are you doing?” “Well, Chris, to be honest I was kicking ass and doing a mean Meatloaf routine and that’s why I missed your calls.” The good thing about old friends is that you immediately know when to just start laughing. Chris was my roommate in college and knew exactly how little ass I was kicking and just how terrible of a singer I am. The urgency resumed in his voice, “What are you doing tonight?!” It was one of those moments where the person asking the question has already planned the next few steps because they are so sure of your answer. “I’m not doing much, really. Why do you ask?” I asked him. “What’s the closest harbor to you?” he asked with such excitement that I ignored the time. Before I could answer, he belted out “Buzzards Bay!!”

It was raining outside and Chris doesn’t own a boat, and I had no fucking idea what he had planned. We conclude the call with a location and lists of supplies. The next morning at or around ten o’clock I was pulling off of Water St., parking my car and calling Chris. “Good morning!” he answered. “Fuck you, where is your car?” He laughed and instructed me down the pier and insisted I would see him.

Chris is one of those people that no matter where he is, he makes it look like a commercial. Today was no exception as he was standing on the bow of a fishing boat with the sun glowing behind him. “Good morning and welcome aboard!” he said. We hugged and laughed loud enough to get funny looks. Without a word of indiscretion or a hint at questioning logic, we set out on our way.

I hadn’t seen Chris in a while. We chugged along and the docks got smaller behind us. “I haven’t been ignoring your calls, you know, I’ve just been busy with shooting.” He delved more into his recent trip to the Bahamas. He was photographing the remains of shipwrecks for an organization that wants to bring more shipwrecks to the New England coastline. (Look into the use of decommissioned NYC subway cars as manmade reefs.) Before that he was shooting in his hometown of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.

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“There was this land we used to play in as kids, we spent a lot of time there and have a lot of good memories there.

I knew plans were already made and there was nothing I could do to stop the town from changing, but I had to get photographs of the area one last time. It’s condos now.”

There was a pause in the conversation. One of those pauses that is concluded with nothing more than a head nod and a broken smile. He was working with non-profits in Africa and Haiti. “The trip to Haiti was along the lines of my last trip home to Wisconsin. It was different though, there was so much more feeling of urgency.” “And a lot more black people?” He gave a laugh and a ‘fuck you’ look and we changed topics.

Now this is just me and my narrow views on things I like, but when it comes to photography, I get bored - often. Flat printed surfaces do very little to pull me in. What makes things worse is the unnecessary placement of ambiguous elements to solely lock in a composition. I get pretty tired of seeing photos of car accidents, people’s family barbecues or naked people frolicking in the woods. Simply having a camera and an Instagram profile does not make you a good photographer. Knowing Chris’s work process is having a constant reminder of the amount of information and effort most people ignore. (There, I said it.) “I treat a lot of my work like a research project. I become completely consumed with projects that keep taking me down unexpected paths.” I remember this one time we were hiking to an abandoned mine in a small town in Vermont.

Chris was documenting the mine in all four of the seasons, this trip happened to take place in winter. I can laugh now that we hiked through 3 feet of snow for hours. I can only blame myself for not changing out of a pair of sneakers and into a pair of snow boots while we were in the car. But I cannot forget, nor ever will, the feeling of utter helplessness when us morons turned a corner and were face to face with what had to be a 12 foot moose. That trip to the mountains humbled us. We could have gone the hippy route and said it connected our souls with the spirit of the animal. Fuck that, go stand next to a moose in the middle of the god damn woods and try to not be reminded how easily two dick head art school students could have been killed. Was it worth dying? Well, we are alive and we have that story.

By then it was nearing midday. I was getting hungry and grumpy and wanted to eat. I couldn’t get a straight answer as to where he even got this boat. I gave up. I just wanted something to eat. Chris went into this whole thing about reef diving on his last trip to the Bahamas. Out of jealousy, I ignored most of what he was saying. “I was planning on diving and catching lunch.” I told him to do his thing and I would try with a rod and it became a challenge. Like any adventure I’ve had with Chris, there is always a lesson to be learned. That day, we learned two. I am much better with a spear than with a fishing rod. And if you are jigging off the side of the boat, pay mind to your friend diving underneath you. Sorry, Chris.

We docked in Nantucket harbor, because why wouldn’t we? Don’t judge us. Chris has friends on the island. Well, Chris has friends everywhere. I just assume that’s where the boat came from. Honestly, I didn’t give a shit about the boat. I still just wanted to eat. We got a ride to what seemed to be either an abandoned or private beach. If you ever get a chance to prepare a freshly caught meal on the beach and cook it over an open fire, don’t. I would love to talk about how resourceful us “boy scouts” were and how we did man shit all up and down the beach that afternoon. Truth is lighting fires is a huge pain in the ass and we trekked back the dock and just bought a small grill.

It was late afternoon now. Thanks to some lighter fluid and a bunch of drift wood we had a pretty good fire going.

“Should we be photographing this?” I asked. This introduced a new and oddly unpleasant topic for the both of us. “I know it sounds crazy, but photography for me has always been about the process of photographing itself. It was going into the woods or out on the water and finding some peaceful contemplative moment that I felt and that I could translate onto film. That’s where my favorite work comes from. I found myself ‘saving’ those moments, preserving place, time, memory. Nothing would ever look exactly like this or be like this again. I know that’s what every photograph is though, but that’s the amazing quality that can be given to a banal photograph. The only proof that remains that something existed exactly as it did at one given moment is that photograph.” We didn’t photograph anything the entire day. I can live with the memory, just like I will never forget that moose. As the sun went down over the Nantucket sound, we made our way back to mainland. The air was changing, my skin was burnt and my head was in a weird place. Days like these really make you think just how long you can live with

however much is in your savings account. With the change in seasons just ahead of us, I wonder how often I will be able to pull this shit off.

Until now, there was no record of this day ever happening. We ‘didn’t check’ in on facebook and we damn well didn’t tweet about it. We are in an age where people seem content with being completely full of shit. Suburbanites with longboards, mouth guards in mosh pits, rich kid skate shops with their $300 skate shoes and hipster kids patting themselves on the back for creating a culture traditioned in absolutely nothing. In order to be considered successful you need a facebook, a twitter, a blog, a tumblr AND an Etsy page. Chris Schuch is a walking example of how none of that shit matters.

Until next time friends, learn by doing NOT by reading blogs.

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Kayla 30 Mohammadi Interview by Carina Wine

The history of art is a journey through time. Each artist contributes a little slice to the continuum. Each work is part of a larger journey which then informs how the present artists pursue their individual art journeys. Cave paintings and hand worked beads become part of the collage just as much as bleeding edge contemporary art and conceptual installations.

Downtown Newbury Street in Boston shrieks at you with its insistence on purveying the latest trends in fashion, food, consumerism and art. Three blocks away, off the main vein of Newbury Street, is Fenway Studios. A quiet eye in the center of the hurricane that is Mass Ave, the Mass Pike, and Fenway Park, Fenway Studios has been incubating artists since 1908.

Fenway Studios houses only painters, and is such a coveted space that the waiting list can last almost a decade. Kayla Mohammadi has waited eight years for a studio to become available and I am meeting with her the first weekend she has moved in. Kayla’s studio is a two tiered open plan room with a massive expanse of windows where a wall should be. The feel is that of a life size diorama peering out at the tumult of Boston.

“Every window in the studio faces north.” Kayla explains. The space is filled up with brightness and light even on cloudy day. Ambient noise is low, and the room is calm despite being perched above the river of road rage that is the turnpike.

The route which led Kayla to 30 Ipswitch Road is a winding and circuitous one. Born in San Francisco, Kayla moved to Olympia, WA for her last years of high school. After graduation Kayla had no inkling she wanted to be a painter, so she attended the University of Washington Seattle where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business. Then Kayla relocated to Chicago where she worked at an accounting firm doing software support.

While training tech support personnel during her day job, Kayla found her attention being drawn to The Chicago Art Institute across the street. As she roamed the corridors on her lunch hour she became more and more enamored of the works hanging on the wall.

“I got so excited when I saw successful paintings! I was asking, ‘How did they do that?’ I wanted to do that. PaintPage 33: “Persian Miniature IV” 38” x 30” Acrylic on canvas Page 35: “Hanko I”, 36” x 48”, Oil on canvas

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ing gave me joy, and while I enjoyed it so much at the time I wasn’t thinking of it as a career.” Kayla began to take painting classes on nights and weekends, while propping up her canvases on the kitchen table.

“It was the total opposite of what I was doing in my job. When I got to college I thought I had to be serious so I majored in Business. When I would go on my lunch to the museum I would see fantastic paintings which stirred up my desire to take the painting classes. I took painting and drawing in high school, but did not really continue after that. I felt painting would allow me to use the opposite part of my brain, which was fun and freeing.”

Taking classes in watercolor, painting and drawing Kayla soaked up new ways of expression. Momentum in Kayla’s life turned toward art and began to snowball. Learning more led to getting serious about creating, especially on canvas. “I wanted to learn how to make a feeling of light on paper. I never saw myself as a three dimensional artist, I wanted to work in two dimensional. When you start something you need to know more.”

A move to Seattle to work for Microsoft also brought Kayla back to the University of Washington, and she decided to enroll for her second degree: a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Painting. Near the end of her degree program Kayla was offered the opportunity to spend a semester in Rome. Like countless young artists before her, Kayla was inspired by Rome’s rich tradition of art, architecture, and history. Rome was an important milestone on her journey to artistic self-discovery.

“We had one big room we all worked out of, and I lived across the river in Trastevre. I had to walk a mile down streets that were a thousand years old to get to the studio. Such a different environment then Seattle, I found it magical.”

Another magic moment occurred when she traveled to Madrid’s Museo del Prado to view the Valazquez masterpiece, “Las Meninas”. A large, almost life size painting, Kayla found “Las Meninas” majestic in form and detail. “It has everything there: portrait, figures, spaces and light. At first you are confronted with the people looking back at you, but when you get up close you want to touch the fabric on the dresses. It is just paint, but it transforms into something else that is a surprise. The painting transports you.”

Page 34: “African Mask”, 47 ½ “ x 72 ½”, Acrylic and oil on canvas Page 36: “Tianamen Square IV” 12”x16”, Oil on wood

Transferences and surprise are two goals Kayla strives for in her work. “A good panting should surprise you and take you somewhere.” Kayla strives for a “slow read” for the viewers of her work. A slow read means that a painting should become more interesting as you look at it. Initial engagement with a painting should lead to the viewer being taken to a place or a mood created by the artist.

Kayla creates immersive works by abstracting landscapes, still life, and interior spaces. Frames within frames. Moods within moods. Light, color and shape are all rendered by composed brush strokes. Some painters batter their canvasses with paint to create texture. Instead of slopping gouts of pigment onto a canvas, Kayla uses unruffled brushstrokes and nuance to bring her paintings to life.

The final product looks as effortlessly composed as a TaiChi form.

A large work called “Forbidden City” is based on the titular structure in China. “Paintings come from whatever I am involved in. After I visited China in 2008 I did several works about the Forbidden City. I included circles to balance the angular composition. I challenged myself to do a large version of what could have been a small painting.”

After earning her BFA in painting Kayla eschewed more formal training and concentrated on painting on her own. Success came in the form of a ten painting series of swimming pools. “Diebenkorn was my favorite painter in school. In the Bay Area around the middle of the century Diebenkorn became an important abstract expressionist.

I loved how he painted water and thought of swimming pools. I was swimming a lot and started bringing an underwater camera to take pictures of the pools, underwater, and of the water line. I mixed colors and light with my own experience.”

A Seattle bar hosts Kayla’s first solo show. “I gave myself a goal to create paintings for the show, and it turned out to be a really good thing to create my own incentives. A series should be a group of paintings that talk to each other. It is hard to tell the artist’s intention when you can only see one painting. With a series, the viewer, the work, and the artist together create a much deeper dialogue.”

accepted into Boston University’s Graduate School of Fine Arts. “I think they saw an artist that was thoughtful and that I had my own point of view. While I am aware of current contemporary art, I am more inspired by Matisse and Picasso.”

Less concerned with the hottest thing of the moment, Kayla focuses on what were the hottest things to come out of centuries past. “I am not interested in jumping on any bandwagon but I do find the latest trends very interesting. I get inspiration from new designs and catalogues.

I do not want to give the impression that I live in the past, but there is a reason we have the old masters in museums.

They are technically and conceptually great. In the National gallery in London every painting works beautifully; you would not want to change a thing.”

Kayla is still figuring out how to proceed in her new space. In a way, her new studio is like a blank canvas. I mention that I understand how some artists take inspiration from just the bank canvas, as if the canvas is telling you what it wants to be.

“A blank canvas does not do anything for me. I start out by drawing, going to a museum or looking at books. Ideas feed ideas. I want to apply color right away just to start the process. I also cut up paper and create collages because the colors and shapes often come together in ways that are surprising and visually interesting. That’s what I want!”

Like a collage, there are varied artists Kayla finds exciting.

Rather than adhering to one era or style, stimuli come from all over the artistic spectrum.

“Gee’s Bend is a collective of women that all live in the same town in Alabama and create quilts from various fabrics. The quilts have such incredible color, shape and texture. The skills are passed down from mother to daughter.”

A slow read, if you will.

“I am also very attracted to Leon Kossof’s work because it has nothing to do with mine. He is aggressive with the brush. At first his images might appear crude and raw but as you come closer you do not even see the image- you see the paint which is confident and free flowing.”

On the strength of her Swimming Pool series Kayla was

“Milton Avery does crazy landscapes that are really colors,

Page 37: “Hanko II” 30” x 40” Oil on Canvas Page 38: “The Forbidden City I” 60” x 72” Acrylic and oil on canvas

Page 39: “Fruit bowl” 16” x 16” Oil on canvas

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shapes and mark making. Really bold for his time, he was alive till 1965 and that was when I was born.”

Marking making is a new technique for Kayla that she is experimenting with. “Rather than applying paint on with a brush, marks can be made by rags or rigid objects. The texture of the marks puts paint on the canvas in new ways, and alters the atmosphere in the painting.”

Ripping the protective plastic off the newly arrived paintings Kayla talks me through how her work has evolved.

“My most recent stuff is in galleries in Maine and Florida, but some of these here are a good idea of the concepts I like to work with.”

The paintings are large; taller than artist herself. “I wanted to paint life size because I’d like the viewer to image themselves considering a painting as a space with texture and depth. Big is a challenge! I like doing small paintings, but every year I try to have a couple of large paintings going on.

Someone once told me if I wanted to paint with the big boys I have to go large! When it works, and when you see a large painting that is successful, you go ‘Wow!’ A good painting will surprise you.”

“Thank You Obama” is another large painting that stands more than seven feet high. “I wanted to do a painting based off formal line and dash marks. As I was I finishing it, Obama it was inaugurated. It didn’t start off as a political work.”

Surprise in a painting can work both ways.

Even in this small sample of work, I can see themes among the images. Doors, walls, landscapes, windows, and floors are rendered in a modern, expressive and abstract style.

Kayla uses large stripes of blended color to denote frames and suggest boundaries. Marks are added to convey light and texture.

Relocating from her former studio in Somerville, Kayla is now able to walk to Mass Art College where she teaches Abstract Painting as adjunct professor. After graduating with a Master’s of Fine Arts in 2002 from Boston University Kayla is now on the other side of the classroom and finds that teaching impacts her work.

“Students come to me with various levels of experience.

Some have never been formally trained but paint on their own. Teaching keeps me grounded in the community.

When I teach something I feel like I then need to practice what I preach. I am reminded how important it is to let yourself make mistakes. My classes are a mix of people, and if they are excited about something then the dialogue continues outside of the classroom, outside of the studio.”

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Kayla has a fondness for folk art and outsider art. “Growing up was a little bit tough because I had parents from two different parts of the world. My mom is from Finland, and my father is from Iran. And here we were living in American culture! As a kid it was kind of confusing but it led to openness about diverse ideas. My thinking about the world became a lot different.”

From her father’s side Kayla became an appreciator of a visual style and culture that was thousands of years old.

Persian rugs lay on the floor of her home permeating the space with rich reds and greens. Scandinavian design is a lot lighter in concept and idea. Marimekko, a Finnish textile company, is also a style that Kayla finds inspiration in.

“Marimekko is new and modern. It’s simple. In fact, Crate & Barrel now carries Marimekko designs.”

History mingles with the present and brushes up against the cutting edge. In an historic city like Boston you can walk through the past even as the future blasts you. Artists percolate in the streets, in schools and in studios.

Everyone wants a quiet oasis to compose before floating your unique creations into the cosmopolitan swirl.

Fenway Studios is a historic building that welcomes new blood, and Kayla Mohammadi creates canvases about her journey and the collage of her soul’s interior. Kayla then goes down the street to teach the future curators of the artistic continuum.

“If anyone told me I would have been doing this when I started working in Chicago, I would have thought you were crazy.”

And now?

Growing up Kayla’s family saved up to journey to both Finland and Iran. “My mom is from Hanko, the southernmost part of Finland. I bring into my work elements that exist separately- Persian miniatures or Finnish architecture. I am always playing with those ideas, and why I find inspiration in a process like collage. As I evolve I am more attracted to non-Western art. I find it all now to be attractive and engaging and some of that comes into my work.”

“I want to grow old doing this.”

Contact: kaylamo@hotmail.com

Kayla’s journey has taken her across the costs of America and around the world. Fenway Studios is her latest stop.

From her Finnish and Iranian heritage Kayla can trace her attraction to opposites. China, Rome and Spain fit together in a collage of influences and inspiration. Her work is currently on display in Maine and Florida. Now in the beating heart of Boston it is no surprise that Kayla wants to help others with their journeys, even as she continues her own. In addition to teaching at Mass Art and Brandeis University, Kayla leads art tours throughout the Boston area.

Booking a tour through Art Tours Boston (www.arttoursboston.com) will take you through the historic South End as well as the glassy galleries of Newbury Street. Museums, the first place Kayla found her artistic spark, are on the menu as well. The Museum of Fine Arts and The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will allow you to gawk at the old masters, while the Institute of Contemporary Art thrills with what is new, now and next.You might even be able to find some Marimekko to take home in the gift shop.

Page 41: “Winter is Coming” 9 1/2” x 15” Oil on wood Page 42: “Persian Miniature II (Thank You Obama Study)” 18” x 14” Oil on Canvas

October 2011 Abstraks 43

44

Ultimate

Interview by David Showalter Jr.

Under the Cadmium Harvest Moon A Short Play/Interview with ULTIMATE (Timothy Moores) David R. Showalter Jr.

Cast of Characters: Narrator/David Showalter (DS) - interviewer, writer, artist, extroverted creature of mystery, adorable, back seat center stage ULTIMATE (Timothy Moores/U) - interviewee, artist, introvert, back seat stage left Andrew (A) - bassist for the band Color Channel, co-interviewer/commentator, passenger’s seat Dylan (D) - drummer for the band Color Channel, co-interviewer/commentator, driver Matt (M) - filmmaker/documentarian, mainly The Mute, back seat stage right Scene: The streets of Allston/Cambridge, MA. Driving around in a red 1984 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel.

Narrator: To say interviewing ULTIMATE was like pulling teeth would be a gross understatement. It was more like performing open heart surgery with a rusty butter knife and my limbs tied while being taught Quantum Physics and translating the Mahabharata into Swedish. It is a writer’s nightmare when the interviewee begins their answer to almost every question with the phrase: “Uh, I don’t know.” With that being said, I would not change the experience for anything.

ULTIMATE is the kind of person that is not a braggart or conversationalist. He creates without a grandiose sense of philosophy, theme, or high art. He makes stuff, goes with his gut, and does what he feels. It is simple, unique, and a representation of himself. Another distinguishing feature is the keen sense of community. He has surrounded himself with a cool bunch of like-minded souls who live, work, and spend time with each other. What he does is a celebration of everything local and in his life.

The evening began with our meeting at the Green Side Up Gallery in Allston. Everyone I met spoke highly of him: his dedication, fervor, reliability, and passion for what he does. We took a few moments to look at his art, which was hanging in the gallery, before we made our way to Great Scott where I met his friends. We shared conversation and a beer on the patio before we made our way to their house. By the way, I have a crush on Dylan and he already knows it.

I usually ask the artists I interview to suggest a place to meet where they feel most comfortable. Little did I know, ULTIMATE had his own idea for where we were going to conduct the interview. I was pleasantly surprised to find out he wanted to cruise around the Allston/Cambridge area in Dylan’s red1984 Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel while Matt filmed for a documentary he was creating. It was all very Quentin Tarantino as ULTIMATE was wearing sunglasses and a blue button up, short sleeve shirt with palm trees. He is the Royale with cheese or something from the book of Ezekiel. The evening progressed and the harvest moon shone down on us as we, the vagabonds, drove our way around the area.

Page 51: “Necco Street” 30”x40” Mixed Media/Newspaper, Page 52: “Make Fun Not War” 30”x40”, Mixed Media/Newspaper

46 Abstraks October 2011

David Showalter: Thank you very much for taking time out for Abstraks. We appreciate it.

just the way I see things. I try not to think about it too much. My mom would probably say it’s pessimistic.

ULTIMATE: My pleasure.

Andrew: Do you feel good about it?

DS: Let’s start by asking: What is ULTIMATE or the ultimate?

U: I feel great.

A: Talk about the cops.

U: ULTIMATE is a visual operation. Pretty much, it’s the name I make art under. I started making T-shirts [at the] end of senior year. I have friends who called me ULTIMATE so that’s where it came from. It makes sense when I’m making shirts to put ULTIMATE on there.

DS: Is that how you sign all your art work as well?

U:Yeah. It’s evolved to a lot more since I started using ULTIMATE. I didn’t think I was gonna keep using it.

DS: Talk about the evolution from senior year to now.

U: Senior year was when I started getting into stencils. My friends got me into it. I would put stencils on shirts [and] give them to friends. I had friends in bands. [They] would play shows and I could set up. They would wear my stuff.

Since then, I’ve put out a bunch of shirts. I started getting into canvases a year or two later. I just kept going with the name ULTIMATE. I plan on printing a lot more shirts very soon. I’ve kinda been neglecting that. I’ve just been having too much fun with canvases.

DS: One thing I noticed is you do well to take things already in existence and make them your own. Could you talk about how you view the things you create or view the world in a larger sense?

U: Um, I don’t know. [We all laugh]

U: Talk about the cops? I don’t know if I should talk about the cops. [We all laugh] DS: I don’t know if I should write about the cops! [We all laugh] One thing I wanted to say about your art is it seems like a very warped world. It’s a warped perspective, it’s yours, and it works for you. Comment on that.

U: I would say a warped perspective is pretty accurate.

I definitely don’t think I see the world as everyone else [does]. I know I’m on the same page as my friends and the people I create and hang out with. [They are] a positive influence. I definitely feel like I have a warped perspective.

I don’t think it’s warped.

Dylan:You’re fucked!

DS: Nor do sociopaths. [We all laugh] There is a lot of merchandising you do. Was merchandising the seed to your art or was art the seed to merchandising?

U: I’ve been making art my whole life. In the realm of what I’m doing now, merchandising definitely works [as] the seed to making art. I got back into making art once I started making T-shirts or once I started getting moderate success with T-shirts.

DS: That’s where it all started though, with the T-shirts?

Would you say there’s a symbiotic relationship?

DS: That’s the perfect answer.

U: Everything has its influence. ULTIMATE, I guess, is just my expression of how I see the world and certain objects.

DS: Talk more about that. How do you see the world? It’s not just optimist/pessimist. Talk about your worldview.

What do you think? I want to probe you.

U: I’d be interested in the probe results. [We all laugh] It’s

48 Abstraks October 2011

U: There is, definitely. I can do what I’m doing on canvas on T-shirts [easily] with the materials that are at hand. Obviously, the canvases I can get a little more developed. For the people who can’t spend money to get a huge canvas with a bunch of layers on it, they can get pretty much get the same idea for $15 [or] $20 on a T-shirt.

DS: So you would say you want to reach as many people as possible?

U:Yeah, definitely. If people are pumped on my art, I want to be able to get it to them however I can, whether it’s through a T-shirt, canvases, stickers, coming to a show.

That kept me motivated to want to do as much as I can.

Two years ago I put out an official line [and] launched a website. The whole time I’ve been doing graphic design for bands, fliers, and different companies. I started getting back into art when I met Green Side Up and they gave me the platform to do what I was doing digitally on canvases.

[They gave me] the space to show and have people come and see it.

DS: How has the Boston art scene been for you?

DS: Where do you come from?

U: Design wise, things just seem to make sense symmetrically. Lately, I’ve been trying to get away from the symmetry because I was doing that a lot.

U: I’m from Braintree, MA. [I’m] residing in Allston at the moment.

DS: Where did you go to school?

U: I went to Braintree High and the Arts Institute of Boston for a semester and a half.

U: It’s had its influence on what I’m doing because I wasn’t making the art I’m doing now before I moved to Boston.

Being around what’s up, different street artists; it’s definitely had its influence on what I’m doing. There [have] been more people responding since Green Side Up. DS: One of my favorite things about your artwork is the symmetry. It’s so beautifully symmetrical. Could you comment on how you view things in a symmetrical way?

DS: What is your artistic process? How do you go about creating what you create?

U: It all starts in a sketch book. I usually take it digitally and then take it to canvas. There [are] a lot of steps for the canvases before them. I do a lot of layering and perfecting.

DS: What was the experience like?

A: Would you say you measure twice before you cut once?

U: I learned a lot. I’m just not good when it comes to school. I sleep in a lot. I don’t want to do homework. It was a lot of money going towards not too much. It could have been a lot if I went to class. I’m doing what I would have been doing when I graduated way earlier. I took some very intense drawing classes which had a positive influence.

DS: How would you say your experiences shaped and formed you to be the person/artist you are today?

U: Everything has its own effects on how you see the world and how you live. Life up to this point is the reason why I’m doing the art I’m doing.

U:Yeah probably. I don’t do a lot of cutting, but I see the metaphor. [We all laugh] DS: Another thing that’s really interesting is the projector.

How did you come up with that idea?

U: It kinda came to me. I was working digitally for the longest time. I wanted to find a way to present it to people bigger so you can take in all the details. I thought of using a projector. I print out what I’m doing digitally and put the projector over it. I can make it as big as I want. It makes it [really] easy.

DS: Do you title your work? How do you title your work?

DS: This is the philosophy question. Even if you don’t have a philosophy, then don’t. That’s fine.

U: I try not to title my work. I try to leave it untitled. I only do titles if I have to.

U: My philosophy is “It’s all gravy.” [We all laugh] DS: KFC gravy?

U: No! It’s gravy I haven’t heard of. I don’t know what gravy it is.

54 Abstraks October 2011

DS: Untitled is still a title. [“Oooh’s” and “Ahhh’s” from the peanut gallery] U: It’s true.

DS: Why do you not have the desire to title?

DS: What would you like to accomplish?

U: I feel like I say what I need to say visually. Trying to think of something to say is way harder than all the steps that led up to making the piece. I can express myself visually way more than verbally. I’ve been trying to make progress on the verbal, but the art is doing better.

U: Different projects. I’m going to try to figure out the best way to go about it. I like working as big as I can and having projects to work on.

DS: What would you say you do well or what do you do best?

DS: I really like the unique prints you make. Can you comment on your work as an illustrator versus the prints you create?

D: Drinking. [We all laugh]

U: Do you mean T-shirt wise? Or canvas wise?

U: I guess it’s open to interpretation. I don’t think I do anything best. Best for me is drawing, taking things visually.

I say I’m doing everything about average at this point.

DS: No, more like the designs or patterns you make; even the backgrounds rather than the characters or illustrations.

A:You don’t run marathons?

U: No.

U: I can have way more fun with it. I’ll layer the shit out of it. I’ll have a color scheme. If I’m not totally feeling it, I paint over it and draw it again. I just keep going until it looks right. The T-shirts and prints are more set in stone.

D: How many push-ups do you do every day?

U: It depends on the day. [We all laugh]

DS: What are the main materials you use to create?

DS: What is it that you need to improve on?

U: For canvases, it’s just acrylics and paint markers. There’s silk screening on T-shirts. I love using the paint markers because my work is [focused on line work]. I get the [cleanliness] that I wouldn’t get out of a brush. I would like to start doing more painting.

U: Most things. [We all laugh] I need to be more productive. I need to be producing more than I’m producing now.

I want to get out as much as I can.

DS: What would you like to do that you haven’t done?

U: I don’t know. Get ULTIMATE. [We all laugh] I have an art show coming up at Hour Glass Tattoo Shop and Art Gallery. It’s called “The Elements of Oddity”.

U: I’m in the process of doing a mural over at Green Side Up. I’m still figuring out how I’m going to go about it. It’s something I would like to do more of, just make it way more accessible. I want people to be able to see it. I’d like to do some installations. Art shows in general I want to do more of. I want to pump out a bunch of T-shirts from all the stuff I’ve been doing on canvas from the past year and half to two years.

DS: What would you like to say to the readers?

DS: Aptly titled.

U:Yeah.

DS: See. He’s working on his titles folks. [We all laugh] U: That’s October 15th at Hour Glass Tattoos.

DS: Would you classify yourself as a street artist?

D: What about the All Asia show?

U: Not yet. I have some stickers I put around, but they get scraped off [quickly]. Fuckin’ bastards. [We all laugh] Literally, I walked by the spot three days later and they’re gone.

All gone! Someone gets paid to do that.

October 2011 Abstraks 57

U: I have some art up at the All Asia, but I think it might be down by the time this comes out. I’m working on a mural on the stairs of Green Side Up.You can’t see it from the street, but once you turn…

A:You’ll never turn back! [We all laugh] U: I also have art at Green Side Up constantly. That wall is constantly evolving.

DS: If you had a soapbox to get up on, what’s the message that you want to convey?

U: I’m going to have to go back to “It’s all gravy”.

DS: It’s all gravy, baby?

U: It’s all gravy, baby!

[Blackout] Contact Information: Websites: http://www.getultimate.net http://www.facebook.com/getultimate Email: tim@getultimate.net Green Side Up Gallery 202 Harvard Avenue Allston, MA 02134 Phone: (617) 487-4882 Website: http://www.greensideupgallery.com

October 2011 Abstraks 59