march/issue 08

march / issue 08

ARTISTS

kelly o’brien jenny g. lee delegard katie bell stacy fisher luke armitstead matt sanchez alex heilbron matthew schlagbaum

kelly o’brien

kosculpture.com

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) i present myself with a set of problems to solve. if i am making a “3D painting”, i figure out how to convey painting techniques and colors through sculptural materials. if i am creating a site-specific work, i find unique characteristics of the space and exploit them with my installation, etc. each scenario provides new parameters to work within. do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? i always wear my eagle belt buckle, and although it’s not particularly lucky, i do feel grateful each day that my pants don’t fall down. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) my ideal studio situation is early in the day, music (usually peaches or primus) or podcast, organized and not isolated. i love input from respected peers and thrive with informal critiques. when your choices are questioned, self-reflection and reasoning prevail and the work becomes meaningful. what song(s) will never get old? robyn’s “call your girlfriend” when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? a piece is finished at that precious moment before necessity becomes decoration. the important factor in learning this distinction is having the curiosity to try out a final question, with the sense to be able to take unneeded elements out if they don’t work. editing is important; the least amount of visual information to thoroughly describe a concept indicate a finished piece.

luxe lounge

residue

partially outside the white cube

boulder holder

sloth glam

jenny g.

gjennyg.com

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) sometimes it begins with the successes of the previous piece, or it might begin with the problems. although my work may look like it was done quickly, it’s often the result of a back and forth approach that takes months to find my way out. working on countless pieces at any given moment is useful to generate new ideas and keeps it exciting for me. my new body of work starts from small, simple monoprints that are photographed or scanned. then the image is transformed through a digital drawing process and finally printed as photographs. as for these digital drawings, it’s more like fixing something that is broken, while the works on paper are more about wrangling with what’s already there. do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? i’m pretty keen on long johns. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) ample space is key. i like to work on the floor and sometimes on the wall. i guess ideally, i wouldn’t live in my studio like i do now, although there are definitely benefits to this. i’m all over the place, in every way imaginable, and find it hard to keep things tidy. i like how that aspect transfers to my work, but not how it finds it’s way to every square inch of my house. what song(s) will never get old? “purple rain” when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? that’s a question i ask myself a lot and still don’t have a straight answer. i have an on-going project of small, quick drawings on paper that belong grouped together. some are really good and some are really bad, but even the bad ones are OK left as is. sometimes it’s important to go somewhere that isn’t very satisfying. however with the larger works on paper, there’s a definite end point. but i don’t know what that is until i get there -- it’s all wrong before it’s right.

cracked bowl

public mural project at the crying room

(not yet titled)

double blind

hiding in weird places

four foot long

quick rip

lee delegard

leedelegard.com

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) i begin a project by responding to the spaces, objects, and materials in my everyday life that have made their way into my studio, i.e yoga mats, npr, water bottles, recycled paper, random bits of wood and pipe, tofu containers, gum, and the studio/gallery space itself. part of me hates to identify as a ‘process-based artist’ because i don’t think how i arrive at a piece is very interesting and i don’t want the work to be read as the process of its creation, or as a reflection on labor. the process is not the main content; rather, the materials are the content. if there is an empty coconut water box in a work, i am not asking the viewer to create a personal narrative about my relationship to that product; rather, the work is the resulting formal composition, material juxtaposition, and subjective interpretation. do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? even though i love to look at clothes and follow a lot of fashion designers, (which i think makes its way into my work), i don’t own a lucky piece of clothing per se. i love boots. if this counts, my favorite piece of clothing would have to be a pair of black leather fiorentini baker boots that i am embarrassed to admit i own because they are such a ridiculous extravagance. but, they have great simple design that i could not resist. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) i spend as much time as possible in the studio. my entertainment of choice is dictated by whatever i happen to be working on. if i’m making something that simply requires time and craft (like paper macheing a huge-ass boulder), then i like to zone out and watch a TV series or listen to books on tape or podcasts. if i am trying to figure out a piece or doing something less repetitive, i listen to music or work in silence. what song(s) will never get old? i am a sucker for 90’s pop music in general and have been on a big swedish pop music kick for a while. i am not sure if robyn’s “dancing on my own” will ever get old. when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? i know i am on the right track when a piece makes me nervously laugh out loud when i am alone in my studio. that’s when i know something about the materials vibrates against each other in a way that is almost uncanny. a piece is never finished in the sense that all of my work is basically an extension of itself, all a reflection of trying to hone a visual vocabulary to express things i don’t necessarily have the language for.

untitled (tools)

untitled (you’ll probably need this)

landscape sweater

kiss

splint

untitled

katie bell

katiebellstudio.com

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) i start projects by drawing. i draw out ideas -- most of them don’t go any farther than a drawing, but some make it out into a piece. for the more site-specific works, i make models. the models aren’t to scale; they are miniature versions of things. using actual material, rather than paper and pen, allows me to think about how the material is going to act in the space. do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? i don’t have a lucky piece of clothing, but i have a favorite shirt. this shirt i have had since i was 12. it’s a t-shirt i got while visiting this “museum” in wisconsin. i put museum in quotes because i don’t really know if that’s what it should be called. it’s basically a place you can stop in the middle of nowhere to look at these sculptures this guy made in his backyard -- it’s this guy named fred smith. he lived in the middle of a cornfield in northern wisconsin and built sculptures out of concrete. anyway, his daughter made a t-shirt in his honor. it’s a drawing of fred’s face, and a map of his backyard where the sculptures are located, along with his most popular quote, “it’s gotta be in ya to do it”. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) i just moved studios, and it’s now just a few blocks from where i live and that seems to be ideal. my studio is a balance of mess and order. my tools, screws, nails, paint, etc are the organized part. my materials (drywall pieces, laminates, scrap wood, plaster, etc) are in heaps, piles, and stacks, like being in a field of debris. the soundtrack for the studio is varied, but the majority of the time i like to listen to people talking. so, i find myself listening to talk radio, podcasts, and movies. there is something about listening to people talk that keeps me in the zone. what song(s) will never get old? the traveling wilbury’s, “end of the line” whitney houston, “how will i know” talking heads, “this must be the place” when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? i know a piece is finished when it gets to a point of uncertainty; it gets to a place where it is asking a question back at me. if i am making something that seems familiar it usually gets discarded or set a side to be turned into something else. each work i make needs a finish, i like having the liberty to say this is done and be done with it and move on.

blue eyes, heavy bluffs

a night’s mission

the remnants

installation view

courtyard

false frontier

stacy fisher

stacyfisher.net

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) if i’ve already begun a series, it’s a little easier to jump in and get going, but i generally like to make drawings or even maquettes first in order to avoid making things the wrong size or things i find uninteresting. do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? i really like clothes, but my favorite thing is a thick brass ring that i hope to never part with. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) i could use a studio three times the size of the one i have, but i do like my current set up. the first third of the space is a viewing area, the second third is for storage and woodworking, and the last third is a slop area. i like to spend a good eight or nine hours there at a time without taking breaks, and have a great sound system that i’m sure i play too loud. what song(s) will never get old? hopefully ”hollywood forever cemetery” by father john misty, and certainly “street hassle” by lou reed. when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? oh definitely. a piece has to leave just a little bit to be desired and has to feel perfectly natural, like it came about all on its own.

green sculpture with painting

yellow and grey sculpture on wood

grey and yellow sculpture

red sculpture with wood

orange and tan wall sculpture

hollow shape on wood (1)

odds ‘n ends (2)

black and white objects

luke armitstead

lukearmitstead.com

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) for me, i feel that planning always has its benefits; whether it be drawing/designing, making a shrink slab in ceramics, creating measurements for a piece, or with painting even as simple as gessoing a canvas nicely. preparation seems to give me more freedom to work the way i want and gives me ability to create a more successful piece. while i find myself planning specific projects out through concept and design, sometimes i work in a intuitive almost sketch like, present, or gestural manor. recently i have been trying to find a nice balance between the energetic style of engulfing myself into work, yet trying to challenge myself through the planning out the idea of a piece (whether it be design, location/ type of install, etc.) do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? i have a funky adidas shirt that i have been wearing since i was 16 -- i’m 23 now. i bought it used and have used it up pretty bad. the shirt is lucky that it has lasted this long and i am lucky i can still wear it. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) i like a place where i can sprawl out, lay out materials, do drawings, and take photos (it’s nice to have space.) i usually spend a lot of time in the studio, yet it’s nice to get out and experience life outside of the office as an artist too though. while making, music can sometimes feel distracting, but other times when i am heavier into the process it can act as a nice break while working (i am not one to need my headphones.) i love the communication, teaching, and learning aspects of a communal space (it’s nice for me to be around other focused artists.) for location, a warm place would be suhweet for ceramics. i like the idea of working outside and storing outside and installing outside. i love nature, yet dig the contemporary scene of a city. a nice balance between those would be cool. maybe LA is the next step for me. what song(s) will never get old? i was listening to paradise city, by guns and roses the other day. it never has gotten old for me, but i only listen to it once a year or so. when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? sometimes i let things be even if i want them to look another way, while other times a piece is not done until it looks like the drawings that i made. i like when there is a deadline and you have to accept that you are going to crank a project out in a certain amount of time and way. my pieces are always open to reworking though. through and through the best thing to do is move on!

structure and thought

crazy face (front)

crazy face (side)

installation shot

tilted head

things on the mind

wall piece

matt sanchez

cargocollective.com/ ttttarantula

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) i normally begin a project with a brainstorming period that happens when i am walking around my city or when i am about to go to sleep. if i think a project idea has the aesthetic outcome that i envision in my mind, then i will write it down. from there on out, i try to map out each shot either at the time of the shoot or before depending on how much access i have to a location. do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? i have a supreme box cap that isn’t really lucky, but it is most certainly my favorite article of clothing i own. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) ideal studio conditions require loud music and cooperation, everything usually falls into place. what song(s) will never get old? i love bob dylan. anybody who knows me, knows that. when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? you have to finish one project in order to start the next one.

orange project

orange project

orange project

orange project

orange project

alex heilbron

alexheilbron.com

how do you normally begin a project? (painting, sculpture, photo, etc.) usually i start out by cleaning my studio. i have become more obsessed with a fresh studio space before i begin a good days work. as for my images, i work from drawings/sketches that i have made -- it could be something i made the day before or it could be years old. do you have a lucky piece of clothing? if no, what is your favorite piece of clothing? i have a t-shirt that i bought when i was 21 in a thrift store in san francisco. it’s a really nice illustration of a busy city, lots of colors. it was the softest, nicest thing i own. i don’t wear it very much anymore but i used to wear it for days on end, hence why the white shirt is kindof grey. what are your ideal studio conditions? (amount of time in the studio, music/no music, organized, location, etc.) ideal studio would be the one where i would have unlimited hours and days to work on whatever i want to. i’ve found trying to organize my time has just added to anxiety problems i’ve obtained with age. i like music and i like listening to the radio, more for background noise than anything else. i could work anywhere if i had a nice big wall and a floor that i didn’t feel guilty about getting as dirty as possible. what song(s) will never get old? “arm around you” - arthur russell “spooky eyes” - makeout videotape when is a piece finished? is it ever finished? still don’t know the answer to this one.

broom

couch

doubles

two drops

vase

matthew schlagbaum

matthewschlagbaum.com

matthew schlagbaum received his BFA in sculpture and extended media and his BA in psychology from the university of Ssouth florida. he received his MFA in fiber and material studies from the school of the art institute of chicago. he currently lives and works in chicago, IL, but when we caught up with him he was doing a month-long residency at the vermont studio center. we opted for a virtual studio visit, so a big thanks goes to casa duno for the photos of matt’s chicago studio. kylie gava: would you like to introduce yourself? matthew schlagbaum: i feel like this might be the hardest question you ask me. my name is matthew schlagbaum. i have a cat named harriet tubman that doesn’t like me very much. i was born in florida on the day the challenger space shuttle exploded. i drink way too many carbonated beverages for my own good. i grew up making crafts out of hot glue and repurposed materials with my mother. i’m not ashamed to admit that i eat at mcdonald’s multiple times a week.

KG: how would a usual day in your studio go?

MS: usually i roll in late morning or early afternoon. for some reason it seems impossible to get there any earlier than that, even if i get up really early with the intentions of doing so. i put on some music and basically get straight to work, sometimes with and sometimes without a plan. i don’t have internet access, which is often frustrating, but it also helps keep me off facebook or netflix. after five or six hours, i usually pack up and go home without cleaning up much of the mess i have made, a habit i need to break.

KG: how often do you work in your studio? do you consider art making your job?

MS: oh gosh, are you trying to make me look bad? honestly, i don’t get to the studio nearly as much as i feel like i should. obviously, i would love to consider art making my job, but for fiscal reasons that isn’t possible at the moment. i may not be producing objects at the rate that i’d prefer, but there are a lot of activities outside of object making that i consider part of my practice. even if i’m browsing tumblr, reading internet articles, or shopping at a dollar store, i am still technically working. i’m always thinking about my work and looking at things in the world that relate to it. it’s all visual research. since i’ve never been one to enjoy sketching, i’ve recently taken up digital collage as a type of drawing practice. it provides me with a risk free platform to play around with ideas and images, and i can do it from home in the evening after i get off work.

KG: How does a project normally start for you? Do you start with an idea, sketch, or does it come from experimenting with materials?

MS: i think i generally start with an idea that i almost never sketch out first. i’m not very attracted to the act of drawing, and thus am not terribly good at it. i have a base set of ideas and interests, which of course still evolve and change, that i tend to work from. sometimes i have a very specific idea about what i want and set out to make that happen, but i also often bring some found material or object into my studio in the hopes that it will spark some ideas. currently, i am participating in a residency at the vermont studio center, and before coming here i decided i wouldn’t bring materials or preconceived projects with me and see what happens. it has been a bit of a struggle since the small town of johnson doesn’t have my normal supply sources and arsenal of collected objects, but i think it’s challenged me in a good way. i’ve had to do a lot of rummaging and collecting, and i began looking for art supplies anywhere i could find them, including the

potato chip rack at the mobile gas station.

KG: do you work on several projects at once?

MS: i usually have multiple things going at once that i can pick up and leave off depending on whatever whim may strike me. it seems like the older i get, the shorter my attention span becomes, so i need multiple things with which i can distract myself while still working.

KG: in the photos casa duno took of your studio, it feels like there is a lot of stuff but not really anything too particular in your studio. do you like having a lot of things around for inspiration or do you find it easier to create with things around you?

MS: i work a lot from found objects and materials, so i definitely like having a lot of things around me. it helps me draw connections that i might not make otherwise. but, there is a method to the madness. i have tons of fake gold objects in my studio; i have a lot of remnants and supplies from past projects; i have things that i can’t part with because i feel like they just might be the key to a project i haven’t figured out yet. however opaque, i do tend to have my reasons for hanging onto what otherwise might seem frivolous or cumbersome.

KG: what would your ideal studio conditions be?

MS: a giant studio filled with lots of equipment and an army of assistants to help me make whatever i want.

KG: could you talk a little bit about your piece “sometimes the dead just won’t stay dead?”

MS: that was one of the first things i made here at the vermont studio center. i’d found some fluorescent orange spray paint left by a previous resident and a bunch of fake flowers at the local thrift shop (which is only open for three hours, and only on saturdays). the overspray effect felt like a great way to suggest something that is both present and absent at the same time. basically, the shape of the overspray and use of the flowers is supposed to imply a gravesite. i was interested in the idea that a headstone marks out the absence and presence of an individual. it also reminds me of a solar eclipse, and the way that the rays peeking around the edges of the moon are so concentrated they can damage your eyesight. Fluorescent orange seemed like an appropriate color choice because of the way it sort of hurts your eyes to look at it--since fluorescents lack black admixtures they are essentially hyper-concentrated colors. I liked that the color appeared to have been burned onto the floor and wall around the edges of something that is no longer visible. It’s also a bit of a joke on the death of painting.

KG: at first glance, i thought it had something to do with the process of “she only dresses in hues that nature rejects,” but then i realized it was really more of a gravestone and it reminded me of maybe the first piece i saw of yours in the sullivan gallery at SAIC. it was a photo leaned up against the wall and a body sized pile of objects wrapped in saran wrap. i thought that piece was really wonderful. i think that piece is along the same lines, with the presence and absence of objects, also about a type of grave.

MS: you’re right on both accounts here. the idea did come from painting the edges of “she only dresses in hues that nature rejects,” and then i laid this bunch of fake orange flowers next to it that i had laying around, and it just sort of clicked. then i just refined the edges a bit and added the cellophane to the flowers. i do think that it shares a lot of ideas with that older work that you mentioned. with that i was watching a lot of hoarders episodes, and i was really taken by the impulse to both hang onto and bury things. so i wrapped a bunch of objects i kept for purely sentimental reasons in plastic food wrap until you could no longer make out what they were. then i arranged the objects in a grave formation that blocked the image of a framed photograph functioning as the headstone.

KG: when i think of your work the word false comes to mind or maybe fake or even cheap. i think this is because of your use of materials: fake gold, fake or painted flowers, the cheeto. at the same time, i think the ideas in your work are opposite of that: real and sincere. first, could you talk about your use of materials, especially all the gold? second, i think your work is very emotionally charged. do you think it is? do you want it to be? do you think your use of materials has anything to do with this?

MS: i’m actually going to answer this question in the reverse order that you asked it, because i think you’re onto something with your observations regarding the sentiment in my material choices. you can definitely say that there is a cheapness to the materials i work with, and i try to employ them in a way that lovingly pokes fun at them and the ideas they represent. but, i hope it also comes across that i do genuinely enjoy them. there’s so much irony floating around these days (which i wholeheartedly embrace), but i also don’t want to make fun of something for the sake of putting it down or elevating myself. i remember seeing a quote once about “camp” that said something along the lines of “camp isn’t making fun of it, its making fun out of it,” and i really like that sentiment. i often work with materials that i once loved, grew to dislike as i learned about taste, and have come back around to loving again with a new perspective. i also think a lot about an emotional spectrum and the validation of feelings that rest somewhere in the center of the good/bad or happy/sad dichotomy. so i try to make work that exists in the same way by harmonizing seemingly opposing elements. i hope that i make things that are cheap look aesthetically pleasing, triumphantly deflated, or sincerely facetious. so, this is where the color gold comes in. i first became interested in it because of its reference to ideas of value, wealth, success, and class. i was trying to make something look like it was made out of gold, and i was growing frustrated because none of the imitation materials i was working with were convincing enough to look like the real thing. in fact, they all seemed to look incredibly different from even each other.

this is when i realized that i didn’t actually know what it was that i was trying to imitate, because i didn’t own anything made out of real gold to which i could compare it. i eventually became more interested in the myriad of colors and surfaces that were labeled as “gold” than the material itself. i have grown to think of gold as being a sort of ultimate color, but also a non-color due to it being a metallic and a natural element. in reference to fashion accessories, gold is often thought of as a neutral because you can wear it with most things. when i use it in such abundance, its cheapness sort of fades away and becomes beautiful, but it never seems to fully let go of its lowbrow references either. it is always pointing out that it is just a surface, and it seems to be okay with that. in a way i feel by addressing the variations in things we so broadly lump together in a single category, i’m allowing them to become autonomous.

KG: you said you grew up making crafts with your mom, do you think that has stayed with you and comes through in your work? would you consider your work to be “camp”?

MS: i think that making work with my mom not only influenced my desire to make things, but also the way that i make things. i still repurpose objects and use cheap materials, and i even have a tattoo of a glue gun on my right bicep. as far as ‘camp’ goes, i don’t think my work is actually ‘camp’, but i think it’s influenced by it and shares similar sentiments.

KG: can you talk about “judy garland smile” and “special touch of elegance?” are these guys sinister?

MS: i’m not sure if they are sinister -- that is a decision i wanted to leave up to the viewer. my goal was to make something that resembled a void but which was also growing outward, that seemed like it might take over. i really liked the way the foam extruded through the doily’s holes because it’s simultaneously being shaped by and taking over that which contains it. there’s a strange fight between the domestic and the industrial, the natural and the synthetic, and the liquid and solid. i wanted the work to occupy multiple spaces, or rest somewhere in between binaries so that it became difficult to categorized. my goal was to make them to look a bit menacing or disgusting, but also beautiful. with the piece “special touch of elegance”, i added the colored ball chains so that it would look like the work was dressing up for the viewer, perhaps putting on its sunday’s best but sort of failing at it. with “judy garland smile,” i wanted the work to suggest that is was offering the viewer something of significance, in this case a balloon that promises happiness. you have to decide whether it is trustworthy. is it earnestly handing you this thing? is it your preconceptions that’s making it seem threatening, or are you right in your initial assumptions? the title literally comes from the judy garland song “smile”, which appears to recount the tragedy that was her life. in it, she asserts that you must “smile though your heart is aching”, and essentially proclaims that you should fake it ‘til you make it. i think a lot about notions of the exterior, and how a surface is meant to reflect a homogeneous interior. i’m also really interested in cognitive dissonance, and the theory that if someone is made aware of an internal contradiction, they will be forced to rectify it. so correct or not, there is this idea that if you just slap on a smile, eventually your insides will match the outside.

KG: i think i decided i don’t trust the smile. that specific balloon reminds me of when wal-mart was really into using the smiley face -- it’s such a forced shiny smile that i can’t imagine has a sincere motive. however, i do think they’re both beautiful, but “special touch of elegance” is a bit sweeter.

MS: fair enough.

KG: how do you title your projects?

MS: some of my titles are direct quotes, while others i make up myself. a few of the various sources i’ve quoted are the backwoods wisdom of dolly parton, an old woman asserting she is a drag queen in the movie “to wong foo thanks for everything julie newmar”; the ramblings of a love obsessed character from ernest hemingway’s garden of eden; and a piece of advice from the classic self-help book how to stop worrying and start living. even when i make up my titles i often try to put a spin on a well-known colloquialism or phrase. i like to complicate the language so that it becomes repetitive or disjointed. i look at things like the “shit my students write” tumblr, and i get really interested in the way convoluted and improper sentence structure can be grammatically incorrect but still completely comprehendible. my personal favorite title i have come up with yet is, “wanting the heart to want what the heart wants,” which was for a sound piece that simultaneously plays all 16 songs from celine dion’s album let’s talk about love.

sometimes the dead just won’t stay dead

the best you and me that we can be, only better!

KG: when is the piece finished? can it ever be finished?

MS: i usually have an idea in mind of what i want the work to look like. i don’t really tend to work intuitively. typically, i have a sense of when the work is complete based on my concept and goals for the piece. i have been known to change titles well after a work has been completed and sometimes even exhibited, but generally i find that by the time i decide to change something about a finished work, i have moved on to other projects and ideas that i find more exciting.

KG: what is the best thing someone has ever said about your work?

MS: when i was in grad school, i had a solo exhibition in one of the school’s galleries, and some man turned to the chair of my department and stated, “this is not art, but it isn’t the student’s fault, it’s the school’s.”

KG: what artists do you most admire?

MS: i’ve always had a huge art crush on felix gonzalez-torres, but who doesn’t? i recently had a good studio visit with william lamson, and i really like his work. i also really enjoy the work of letha wilson, lynda benglis, alex da corte, roni horn, jim hodges, joseph kosuth, tom griedman, martin creed, and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on. but the people that inspire me the most are probably friends, family, colleagues, and fellow artists i have met over the years. they’re the ones that really influence my work and drive me forward.

KG: it’s true, felix gonzalez-torres is everyone’s art crush.

KG: do you own a lucky piece of clothing? if not, what is your favorite piece of clothing?

MS: i don’t really think about things in terms of luck, at least not in regards to my outfits. my favorite piece of clothing is probably my angel fish hawaiian shirt that doesn’t really fit me but i cannot bring myself to get rid of.

KG: what song(s) will never get old?

MS: “forever young”

*

looking no further than my own backyard

she only dresses in hues that nature rejects

nothin’ this pretty could be real

judy garland smile

special touch of elegance

big thanks to all participating artists. interviews by kylie gava edited by stephanie haines & laura stamm designed & edited by tara mahadevan to be considered for our next issue please visit our website:

www.forget-good.com