Barnaby Furnas, Elephant Magazine Summer 2013 by Barnaby Furnas

After orriving on over-eoger 40 minutes eorly for the inierview I wos oble to preview Bornoby Furnos's mosi recent show The First ond Losf Doywos ihe New York-bosed pointer's first exhibition with the Victorio Miro Gollery, where seemingly disporote bodies of work were presenied over two floors, brought together through the cohesion of subiect motter, process ond orchitecture.

in geiiing my ihoughts to be as concise as possible.

Against the backdrop ol th€ gaLlery's earden, Furnas €loquently described whythe show was aturnine pointfor him. lquietly woried thatlhs consiruclion work soingon in the adiacent sardon was drownincoul every word thal Furnas was sayins, and my Diclaphone edged evsr closerlo him.

So, fot you, this show is

The new thing with th€so paintings is thal the surfac€s of the canvas have b€€n trsated with this thick coat of absorbenl sesso andlhen rak€d vedicallywith acomb, which creales someihins lik6 a cordu roy pallern. I mainly work f at with watered-down painiand lhese grcoves pullev€rything up and down. Thal is when I decided a painling aboul the Fallwould be interesting because I have this paintine thai is literally falline. ln mywork lalways try to find awayto paint my subiecl in away thai's most like it as possible. lf I wers io have a very gory painlingwiih blood spudin& lwould usea hypodermic noedle. That's more reallhan any oth€r way I could pa;nt blood. I'm consiantly coming up with thes€ iechniques ihal

nsins tosethet the two bodies

The Geresls paintineis as sisnificani a paintineas I've made in six y6ars. li was the faslest one lmads in the wholeshow. I work with lols of water, so most ofthe lime is spent waich_ ing ihings dry, bul l lhink l made lhat one in a week The ones

with ihe fieures took lons€r, but I aclually made the whole

are approximatinc what they ar€ trying to describe They are more interesied in that rsalism ihan in lryingio create

The way lwork is very procgss-driven. There's a lo1 of experimentation with matsrials and whal happens is lend up in several difierenl placss. I follow the medium more than I do anythingels€, and ovsr lhe yeals I have produc€d these dispamle bodies of work. The problem is they look like thoy could be wo*s from differentartists butthey allcome from

realism in a piciorialway. Do you leel that yau will settle into one coherent way of whot you're ttyins to desctibe cantinualy chonge your style of work? Th6 way I pick my subjgcts is based purely on tho idsa of how to paintlh6m. So I have lhis idea - God's punishment Ior gatingfrom the Tree of Knowledse was gravity - so lde' cided thos6lines in that canvas ihat arc pulling everylhing vertically are eravity. There's a realislic capturing of gravity ir the makine of ihe paintins. l1's whal makes ihe paintins aid it's also whatlhe painling is aboul, and the fieures are subjecied to thaiioowhich is whythey look so stranse.

wrkins, ot wil

averysimilar6thicand poinl.otview. Other than the physicol spoce, how do these paintinss

rc'

ln th€ downslairs space lwanted to make paintings about the beginnins of everythins, Gsnssis and the Gaden oJ Edon. I liked ihe idea of paning it with these apocalyptic landscapes ihat would b€ ths last day of everythins. Therc's somethi.g really inter€stingabout the idea of tryingto bookend ihese crealion mylhs with this ve.y plausible t€al 6nd'

you see yourself as patt of a new generotion af painterc? -ll Do became cleffto msthaithe modemiststory, the abslract Expressionist schooL, and the whole sori of lntsrnational Styl€ that d€v6loped in the United Stales poslwar, had no wav to have anythins new added to it. With this consiant cycle of lrends, it just seems silly 10 try 1o even bother reenactinslhe history of modernism over and over asain Why nottake from allperiods oliime allatonce? lhavethis id6a that you can do anylhing now, thal by embracins allperiods of art history you could come to a place ihai is slill quile

You have rcturned to fisumtive worlL This seems to be nore in tune with yau fload paintinss [produced by pouing point dcross d cdnvds - ,re driist hovine produced abaut one pet day - fron difrete dnectionsl than you prcviaus, Bo.e ld' ba u r - i n te n s i ve, fis u roti ve wo*? What Ive done Be is jusl focus on one slory. lt s amaring becaLse lhe Bibl6 is tlis huee book bul Gen€sis is somethins like thrc€ pag6s. Clarity is somelhing that I'm rsally lookinsfor now. For many years lthousht'the mors complicaied itg€1s,1h6 betler', bui now l'm much mors intoresled

fertile. Once you let go ol the expeclalions of art hislory andjust branch out into evsrythingthere is a lol offrosdom.

lt seens like the way yaDle scraping the convos atu1 using the pajnts is drawn fran your streetatt rcats? Graffili is whai t was called whon I did lt. I stopped doing graffitiwhen fksi moved to NewYork Clty lgot nalolof irouble and I was doing communily service for yeals. For iunatelv lstaved out ofluvenile hal . Graffitiis aboui absorb ing the messages you re g€tting from the medla and ihen

pullirgo!tyou.own messages.Thecoolestihingabouigraf_ s the misuse of maier als. We wou Ld make these l,lagic Markers oui of old chalkboard e.asersr you would cui thos€ ofl, roLl them up and put ii n adeodoranttube, fil itwilhink and youvejust madeihe bigeesl marker. Theres something I always oved aboui lhal. Thalt how L approach my materi-

fili

als now lvlyvery uiorthodox useofnralerials may be one of my grealest streigihs and it delin teLy stems lronr lhai time

Gralfitiaho iihodlced m€ io workiigbig. lt's quile on oggtessive nediun. Yes, i's very aggressive and I like ihat dea of that aggres' sveness. The sca€ is one thing: some pa nie6 never gei above 2 x 3 Jeel and sraffiti is like: How do I gel lh s smal '

er? f,4y painlings arc aciually pretty aggressive and lhey're also not very concerned wiih being n lhe moment l think my relalionship w lh style also has someth ng to do w th srafiili. Therc are rea ly no holds ba(ed, lhere is so much innovalion ihere. I siil know people ihat are graflili writers ir New Yorkand iheyte lke: Lei'sgolbli I'm nol inierested

ll'.r a1!ro,a.

at efr s e- [ah onaors ,"'i"s Ldr lau nn obau he se "s of portrcits p.aduced bv the ottist that rcspantl ta the ideo of defacenent, the accult and block artl vau nade?

l've stopped show ng ihem bul I st ll make ihem. I lh nk I made a mistake in showing lhern at the beg nning Al the time cou d alford io piss people off ii plblic lt's a very aggressive graffiii and punk thing; figure defacemeni has a ong history in ihis fieLd. I'm noi a confrontationa pereon and I avo d conf icl, but cai l he p btl feel ablsed al iimes eo I

m"[" "\" picrures o_ pcople

lh 1l

oo ng me

wrong. I find il calharlic, ii makes you lee beiier and it's funny. Theyte on ve lum, animalskin, ifyou burn ihem itr lhe sludio il smel s I k€ the gaies of heLl, il's great f!n. I have 17

The distinction between obstroction ond representotion doesn't motter; in foct,

flotlining ond keeping them equol is where I've gotten most of my progression

You were raised ds

slillth€rs because lhal wasihe lhlncthat ca l6d to you lt's

a Quaker Haw does this feed inta your

the thingthai allowed you io name the ihing thai you did

Well, I'm attracted to spectaculd subject mallsr,lor sure. Th6 Ouaker religion is buill around passiviiy and there is somelhlns 1o the Ouaker wo6hip, which is esseniia ly si lence and waili'rg. I'm quite comfortable beingquietly overwhelmed and that's avery Quakerthinc Even in my earlier phase, when €vsryihine was maximum gore, that position of appreciating sorneihinglerribl6 as a thine of beauty was essential. Th6re is somelhins fu ndamenial in beins abL€ to sii and stare and aying to undsrsiand. I do a lot o{ yoga and they have this pose ai tho end where you lie qui€tly on your back, corpse pose I think il's called, and thsy ask you to cose your eyes. l'm tolally relaxed and al peac€ uniil I clos€ mv eyesi il's ths hardestlhlngand I have this phrase: Ey6s closed, mind riols;6yes open, mind quiets

Do you ever feot that stoty and prccess nay detroct fron the ,"r'andenent of your work? That's inieresting. I mean, it may Ths first painting in thls group but the lasi painlins I mad€, Genesis, was the firsi

paintinswith nofigures.That'sihowaytoso. I lhinkitworks rea ly wellbocause ii avoidslhs story by almost going pasl il.Thai llne between whereth€ story stopsandlho painling beglns is the trueeoal, movingthat llne constantly towads the dissolution ofih€ figurss. lihinkihal ths Genesis painl ing is quile close to doing ihal. lt would b€ nice to mak€ painlines withoui usingthese siories bu1 I'vs needed thern, 6vsn il jusi lo oreanize my thinkins

How nuch control do you hove aver paintings' outcones, and in tun the narntives that ore farned? Th€ fleures are the lhing I have ihe l6asi conirol of in ny paintings and that is why they look so strange; lhe figures in ihis show ar€ liieraly fallins or m€hinc. I have sreater conirolover the landscapes and the skies. The ihingabout theseold sioissand myths is,thoy are so familiar and have been iold for so ong thal it helps io pull what's interesling about the painlinc out. To take from such a familiar place

helps highlight where most of my achievem€nts aciually come fiom, the technicaland ihe process parts of painiing lfth6rs is onetheorythat I loved in schoolil was Roland Barthss' semiotics. Semiolics ls a hlge thing and wiihout lnderslandine ihat I don'i think you can maks figurative

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ls this whete your titles cane hom? Through findins some' thins in ke painting? I usually sit and I wail for some kind of iechnical idea thal could represent somethine. lf I had made the show and

combed the grooves sideways, everylhlns would look dit foreni, everylhingwou d besprsad oul leftto risht ltwouLd have to be a subjeci based onwind or somethins;1hal is the way lhal lthink. You come up with the subject and th6 paint lns may or may not beaboullhal subiect, butth€ subjeci is

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If I were to hove o very gory pointing with blood sPurting, I would use o hYPodermic needle

Do you evet wofty about your

beconing conPletelv

I've not caredr that was a decision I made lonc aso The distinction between abstmction and rcprcssntation dossnl matter; in fact, flatlinins and keeping them equal is where I've golten mostof my prcgression, itgoes backtoallofour history all a1 once and it's allequally inter6slin& lthink ii's a valid way 10 make painlings. I think it! a contemporarv wav 1o makepaintings, becausethat's our stalq our informalionov6 oaded momentthatwe'ro in This is whv l find some ol th€ mo.e rcduclive styles an inapprcpriaie response Painl ing aay be an ,nappropriale response anYwav. bLFo lh€1 na(ow th€ focus further seems asainst the times Do you eve. try to wo in a particulat wov? I spenl a coupl€ of years worling smaller' I didn't wan'lo be ll'€ Bie Red Paintine Guv. I mean now' Iuck ii! Lel s itrst go with the scal€ ihai works ll wasn't helping ne s61 anvwher€, you have to eo foruard for your own reasons.

etiuon thal make them almost mechanical The onlvsesturc I make in thsm is 10 put a piecs ollape down to make that horizon line. I can conlrol the piich, the ansle oJ the pour' the humidiiy and thecolour, and then the rest is up io th€m. Hove you evet worked pourins points dircc v into the space? I haven't. h's a sood idea. Stails would be verv inlerestins'

Tho inspitation for pouring paint comss frcm these Robed Smithsont pours he did back inth6'7os where he would just dump hugs things of iar into old construcii'n sites And ihen, of course, N,lorris Louis, the Amgrican abstract

Your work often hds an apacslyptic essence but therc seens to ne to be hunour at the heart of it. You don't seen to toke

Red is yout sisnature colouL -I should get sponsored or som€thin& lf lwere a graffiii

voureeI too seriauslv.

woJld o€ very diilicull to male a s€'ious paintins of ihe FallofMan or of Adam and Eve. Thev'ro quiie funnv' which is whal makes thsm plausibl6; vou taks the humour out of them and they could becoms quite torrible. I waiched Tar' antino's movie Diotqo Unchained on the plane ride over h6r6and l'mobsessedwilh him right now.llovethat movie' H€ laclles lhe bissesl subleci you could ds an Am€rican filmmaker: slavery. He really so€s lor it and the onlv wav itworks is ths blood is funny, thevengeance is realbut the blood is funny and that's what koeps ii fiom iusl beinshorrible - from beins a N4el Cibson film, for instance. I also like the way he has no problems borcwingfrom everv art

art_

istlhey would have siven me rny own colour brand bv now'

Are you bored with rcd now? Well. l nesd that r€d li's incrediblv bdght but it's also tolallv opaqu€ and il s Lhal oPacily ihafs hard to lild. Othpt reds arc quite ra nsparent, you jusl can't do rh€ same rhings lhai you can wilh that red. As t was doing lh€s€ progr6ssiols I would try to find olhor colours. There are som€ colours rhal iusl willnoi work bscause of lhe wav lhev ms togelher' I suppose I am tircd of red l tnink Ive Sollen a 'ot oul ol il. lhouqh. Red iusl has so mucl" signilicancer vou ca' ind€r n in io manv wavs colour rs fasc,naling h s nol as losroal as everylhing els€. Red jusl makes so much sense for me becausglhe procsss and concepi ars so intsrtwined'

Do you feel that if you don't genuinelv drow fran everv' thing, then whot you're Wins to ochieve becones cti'hdd ond doesn't ted Y work? The ihinsihal binds things toseth6r the b€st is humour, for sure. Like i{ you can'l laugh at something' you can1 putthe two things that don't go together, together. Humour is thg ihinsthat helps everythinslind its plac6

intercstins that vou would noke the flood point' inss to reflect upon the archnecturc of s specific space the flood painlines wo k besr when responding lo given ar_ chitecturc. They have a minimalisi teel' sequence and rcp-

I found

Do you work olone?

No on€ else car really sit and watch a puddle spread out' ard thal's not a pad ihal I can givo to som€one: thev can't r€cognizeihings and thal's what ldolhrough makingthese

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Copturing movement, thot's onother moior concern in the creotion. Thot's whot I love obout Pointing ond why I become o Pointer

stains and these things. I try lo see them for what lhey are and that's exirem€ly personal l have my assislanl, Jared, who prepares the canvases wilh the gesso My painiiigs are eenerally aLl tlal and iherc is no overlapp ng lf you work wilh imnsparcni paintsyoucan'i paint a landscape and ihei putafiguroon top.ltal has lo be at the same p ace lthink lhal r wndl gives my wo k a big pan or ls assrhelic. I had one series wher€ lused assistarts a lol. I was painl lng these rock and ro I conce(s for a ysar or iwo and th€y were incrcdibly ornal€ and patteri_heavy, lhey wouLd basi_ cally lill in patterns for hours. lf you have !nlimited labour you wil lird ways to use it. which rieans you will end up

witharlworklhat suliimatelyabouilabour'That'sthegreat

Thal's ii, lhe ihingihat sets off a loJ lhe accidenl into image and illuslon. Thal tapeline, forexampe, is huse Thehorizon line s the quickssi way to havs plausible pace and lt's jusi so simple, you're somewhers aheady, and il's quile magical. It represents grounding. Ths Barneit Newman liner he basi_ calLyf ipped itand then it bocomes a{isurc, and ii'sjusilhe

simplestthiig. ls it inpana far you to not lose the feeling af the painting comins lrcn the real world? I think il's lhe only way I can operale Complete and iotal abslraciion. I mean, I don't think this is realy possibLe anv_ way. I don'l really believe arlists when they say ihai ii's no1

danger of workingwiih asslstants and fabricaiors You rctetence the fluidity and novenent of the paint Capluring movement, thai's anolher major concern in the creation. That's whai I love aboli palnting and whl/ I became a painl6r. l've talked a loi aboui this belore: painting's v,"ry stil, ihe siillest of any ol the visual m€d a lt's jusi lhal momenl and nothing more. ll would seem such a shame to wasle a momenl of such siil ness with something

lf you didn't hdve this navenenL would yau wony obout losing the idea of the painling being o rccatd of its own naking? There would be no wayJor meio reaci to it and lguesslhai is were what L really need: I need lo respond to somethins to taks accident out, which ls how get allihe movem€nt ln the piclures, ihen I would jusi hav€ lo siart with somsthiig else.ldor't dothat, I'm this Quaker pacifist and itwotrld be an imposition for me to siarl with contro first l had marv where just couldn't bulld frustraied years ol makins find a way to gei sorn€thing oul of accideni in. I couLdn'l my control in, and as a result lcame down with lhe hammer and endsd up wiih too much controL l was carefu ly renderlng irnages inlo existence ard lhal approach, likelhg rock conced pictures,took me intoabad place You have to avoid exp€rlise al allcosts and ihe onlyway to do thal is to gel thls accidentaL elemeni ln.

7 stotic rcfercn.e paint in ordet to -giveBut you hove to have the novement context?

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