september/issue 13 by FORGET GOOD

September 2013, Issue 13

Big thanks to all participating artists! Founder/Editor in Chief Kylie Gava Managing Editor Tara Mahadevan Feature & mini interviews Kylie Gava Interviews edited by Laura Stamm Spanish Questions Translation Issac Walker Designer Tuan Pham To be considered for our next issue, please visit our website www.forget-good.com Cover: Thread Wrapping Machine Photo By Paul Plews by Anton Alvarez

Aaron S. Moran 4

Julia Schwartz 10

Kike Besada 16

Patrick Schlotterback 22

Michael Uckotter 38

Kali Puder 34

Anton Alvarez 40

Aaron S. Moran What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? Well the worst and first job I ever had was as a dishwasher at a restaurant. I did it while I was finishing my undergrad degree to ‘pay the bills’ and was there for just shy of 3 years. The shifts always went over 8 hours, we never got breaks and it was just generally greasy, hot and gross work. Being the dishwasher would appear to be the lowest rung on the restaurant ladder, and there wasn’t a shift where I forgot it. There is just something about going home smelling like someone else’s food, etc. *gag* Do you believe there are things you should do/are obligated to do? I feel obliged to be kind and help people when they clearly need it the most. I was fortunate to have a good support system growing up, so I feel like being courteous and considerate is just part of being a good person anything less is lazy.

When does time pass the slowest? When I am waiting for something or someone - I am a very punctual person, so I always seem to have a window of dead space between organized engagements to prepare and arrive on time. I always feel anxious or unsettled during those moments because I like moving forward. Do you remember a favorite art project from elementary school? Absolutely! I believe it was grade 5: it was this one where you draw a squiggly line on a page, then make successive lines following the contour of the first one over and over until it fills the entire space. It ends up looking like a topography map or folded cloth. I remember getting the finest tipped pen I could find and going all out on it. What never dies?

Donald Judd wrote, “Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” Do you agree? I think painting tricks the viewer, and the more skilled you are, the better you are at tricking. There is something about going into overwhelmingly large spaces (like airplane hangars or empty warehouses, maybe) and feeling stunted or humbled. Perhaps really good installation or site-specific artists can bridge that gap the best.

If we’re speaking sentimentally, perhaps a ‘good idea’. If not, then I would say Jason Vorhees from all those Friday the 13th movies!

Kite Contest (Malay)

Kite Contest (Box)

Sump i 138 (Broken Triangle) i

138 (Broken Triangle) iii

/005 208 iv

Julia Schwartz What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? My first thought was this greasy fast food restaurant, although in a way that’s just part of the teenage life cyclelike surviving your first hangover. So, I’d have to say it was working in a research lab in college. My assignment was to “collect” rat brains (yep, you can picture how) and put them in a blender in order to do experiments on them. Needless to say, I did not last very long before giving up entirely on research and moving on to retail. Do you believe there are things you should do/are obligated to do? Pay bills, floss, be kind - these are the things I should do, and I’m pretty good about them. Deleting emails regularly: um no, I should but don’t. I try to keep ‘shoulds’ out of actual art-making as much as possible, though, as it kills the fun/danger. Should not, sometimes, is a more interesting road to travel in making art. Donald Judd wrote, “Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” Do you agree? Paint on a flat surface can be quite powerful. I wonder what Judd would make of a Forrest Bess painting? Then again, I’m more interested in subjective/psychic space than actual space.

When does time pass the slowest? When you are waiting around to see if someone you love survives their own awesome stupidity. Do you remember a favorite art project from elementary school? I made a painting in kindergarten of a hand painting a duck. I remember it mostly because my teacher ‘borrowed it’ for an exhibition and never returned it. What never dies? The need to make things visual - to draw and paint, or to visualize in my mind.

Narcissus on the Rocks

Woman with Red Hair and Blue Dress

Ice XXV

This is the Shape of the Heart and the Mind

Dummkopf

Kike Besada What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

¿Cuál es el peor empleo en que has trabajado?

I don’t know if it was the worst, but there’s one that I won’t forget: isolating around 700 product images, one after the other, then exporting them and realizing you did something wrong.

No se si fue el peor, pero seguro uno que no olvidare. Aislar del fondo alrededor de 7 imágenes de producto y después exportarlas y darte cuenta de que hiciste algo mal.

Do you believe there are things you should do/are obligated to do?

¿Crees que existen las cosas cuales estás obligad@ hacer?

We should only be obligated to enjoy our life.

Deberíamos estar obligados a disfrutar de la vida.

Donald Judd wrote, “Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” Do you agree?

Donald Judd ha escrito que <<El espacio real es intrínsecamente más poderoso y específico que la pintura en una superficie llana>>. ¿Estás de acuerdo?

I think he had a good and valid point. Although I also think when space interacts with the artwork, the global can be even more powerful than space or the artwork alone.

Creo que tenia razón, aunque también pienso que cuando el espacio interactua con la obra el conjunto puede ser incluso mas potentes que por separado.

Arredads

Sagra

19 When does time pass the slowest? When I’m flying back to Spain to see my family. It’s just a 7-hour flight with a connection, but it seems like one entire day. Do you remember a favorite art project from elementary school? Once we had to create a “sculpture” out of things that we had at home. The final result wasn’t the best, but I remember having fun looking for stuff.

¿En qué momento pasa el tiempo más lentamente? Cuando vuelo a casa para ver a mi familia, solo son 7 horas de vuelo y una conexión pero parece un día entero. ¿Te acuerdas de un proyecto de arte favorito que hiciste en la escuela primaria? Una vez tuvimos que crear una escultura con cosas que tuviésemos por casa. El resultado final no fue el mejor pero recuerdo haberme divertido buscando cosas.

What never dies? Future

¿Qué nunca muere? El Futuro

Soar

Colmbra

Fisterra

Patrick Schlotterback What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

When does time pass the slowest?

Every job up to this point in my life has just been a job. So, every job I’ve had has been the worst job. Working on an ice cream truck in Brooklyn really sucked.

When you’re in grey areas of in-between - in between transit and your apartment door, in between lovers, in between projects. More accurately, time passes slowest when you’re conscious enough to know that it’s passing.

Do you believe there are things you should do/ are obligated to do? Absolutely. But I find comfort in feeling obligation a lot of the time. I feel an obligation to talk to my family, wash my face, be friendly, take on complications that are implicit in the aforementioned and to rationalize it as humanity. In following through with obligations, I find reaction. Reaction is where I fall into conversations with myself, which spurs my art making. Donald Judd wrote, “Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” Do you agree? Yes, but I think that quote is a bit fuzzy. Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than art. Paint on a flat surface on a wall and a pile of kitty litter in the middle of a gallery floor have equal power as far as contemporary art is concerned. I believe that actual space outside the context of art (if that exists) is more powerful than space in the context of art.

Do you remember a favorite art project from elementary school? My quirky elementary school art teacher had us set up 4”X4” popsicle stick looms for weaving. The project was really exciting to me for some reason, maybe because of the tactility or because it’s the only one I can remember. I remember weaving a stripe of color, then running to the pile of yarn and coming back with several new options and comparing them to the colors that were already in place. The project is still in my parents’ house. What never dies? When something dies, something else falls into its place.

In Place

and now I hate you

chewin thoughts

arrangement 3

No more talk

Michael Uckotter What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

When does time pass the slowest?

Hands down the worst job ever was scrubbing dishes at this Greek chili bar.

Mixing paint and spreading jelly.

Do you believe there are things you should do/ are obligated to do? I am never able to stick to one medium, so I guess I always feel obligated to switch up my approach in order to make something feel satisfying. Donald Judd wrote, “Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” Do you agree? Ehhh, not really. Engaging real space in a three-dimensional sense and mimicking space with paint are two totally different things to me. I think both have their own specific applications and visual weight. Paint is more than a material that just covers a surface - it has a vast subtext of art history tied to it that transcends any physical properties.

Do you remember a favorite art project from elementary school? Cutting these little jazzy collages out of colored construction paper. What never dies? Catholic Guilt

Jungle Fever

Walkinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;the dog

Horse Play

Figure Head

the Ascension

Kali Puder

This project was a collaboration with Meagan Jenigen. We were lucky enough to interview them both. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

KP: One time we had to make this really crazy forty-foot snake puppet that was going to be carried like a Chinese dragon through the crowd of Starscape. But I guess that was probably the best job ever.

Do you believe there are things you should do are obligated to do?

MJ: Don’t stop believing in magic! KP: Adventure. MJ: Go to the farthest place from where you are. KP: Have fun. MJ: Ask questions.

Donald Judd wrote, “Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.” Do you agree?

MJ: All space is constructed by our brains’ perception of it, so his argument is irrelevant. KP: I feel the same way, but in other words: paint on any surface, even a flat one, can be considered an object which exists in actual space, so it has the capacity to be just as powerful and specific as any other part of “actual space”.

When does time pass the slowest?

KP: When you’re waiting for your ramen noodles to be done in the microwave…? MJ: In waiting rooms where infomercials are the only thing on TV. I have learned a lot about meatloaf slicers, though.

Do you remember a favorite art project from elementary school?

KP: I don’t really remember anything great being assigned in school, but when I was a little kid I did love to make my own clothes out of weird old scarves and bandanas. I didn’t know how to sew, so I stapled everything together. My parents actually let me go out in public wearing it all too. MJ: I took classes at the Hand Workshop in Richmond, and cried when I learned how to weave. I guess I loved it anyway because I ended up being a Fibers Major in college.

What never dies?

KP: Cockroaches. MJ: Zeus. KP: Cactuses. MJ: Jellyfish! ‘Cause they do that thing where when they get old they revert to being a baby! KP: Love. MJ: Black holes.

Beasts of Burden

Catch and Hood

Smile

Lamb Chop

Floriography Turkey and Boneface

Anton Alvarez KG: Would you like to introduce yourself? AA: Anton Alvarez, the Intergalactic Craftsman. Graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2012.

KG: Do you believe there are things you should do/ are obligated to do? AA: Continue working.

KG: Where did you grow up? How did you end up in London?

KG: Do you remember a favorite art project from elementary school?

AA: My family moved around quite a bit when I was young. We spent a couple of years on the Swedish countryside in the tiny village of Viksta. It was quite idyllic. We had an old yellow house with a garden and our neighbor was a farmer. A couple of years later, my parents decided to leave Sweden to try a new life in Chile, my fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home country, so they shipped our belongings over the Atlantic. We moved to a small place called La Rudilla and, later on, Talagante. After a few years in Chile, my family moved back to Sweden and I finished high school in Uppsala. Much later, I ended up in London after I was accepted to the Royal College of Artsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; department of Product Design.

AA: I remember one specific project: a design/craft project in which we were instructed how to make a wallet. I made a brown leather wallet stitched with leather strings. I still use the wallet after 20 years.

KG: What is the worst job you have ever had? AA: I never had a bad job; all of my jobs have been there for a reason. While working as a chef cooking food for kids in elementary school, I could save up money to travel and live in the French mountains. While working as an aircraft loader during my studies, I could spend the long night waits between flights reading books and school literature.

KG: What never dies? AA: The Turritopsis Nutricula. KG: You have been receiving a lot of recognition for your Thread Machine. How did you come up with this process? AA: The project started as a self-initiated task in the beginning of my master studies at the Royal College of Art in London. I assigned myself to make something new every day and document it on a daily basis. After 120 days, I tried to put myself in the position of an observer of this archive in order to come to a conclusion of what this was all about. The Thread Wrapping Machine was the next step. Now I work with the tool in a similar way - I sign each piece with the date so that I can keep a record and later look back and understand where this is taking me.

Photo by Eric Severin

Thread Wrapping Machine Photo By James Champion

Thread Wrapping Machine Photo By Marta Thisner

Thread Wrapping Machine Photo By Paul Plews

46 KG: So the Thread Machine came out of your reflection over 120X120, was there a specific object that grabbed your attention, or was it more the process of making? AA: A lot of the experiments were about joining things together in new ways. Possibly, it comes from my background in cabinet making and my will to challenge my previous knowledge of traditional joinery. The thread was also something that frequently was coming back in my experiments, and I understood it as a path for me to continue on. KG: There are currently two machines. Do you think you will make another? AA: There are some other things on the drawing table that I want to keep to myself for a bit longer until I understand what they are about. Each piece that I make hopefully takes me closer to that understanding. KG: I also noticed that you need two people to operate the machine, and in the first, you needed four. Would you be interested in making a machine you could use alone? Do you think of the process as being performative? AA: Sometimes it feels a bit like dancing - I am leading and the other person is following, trying to understand my intentions and predict my movements. I have worked with a few different people assisting me, and the result always differs depending on the person on the other side of the spinning wheel. I think I like that, and I don’t intend to design that away.

I would like to see not only the process as performative, but also the pieces of furniture as something performative. They contain the story of how they were made - the material and the trace of the collaboration between my assistant and me.

KG: The work you most often make with the machine are chairs, benches, lamps, and tables- do you ever think of them as sculptures or objects? AA: I see them as sculptural pieces of furniture. For now, they are a good projection surface for this technic and to understand what it can be about. KG: It is interesting that you talk so much about needing to look back on your work to see what comes next for you. Is it important to your practice to archive your work and reflect often? Is it a sense of being able to know where you’re going only if you know where you’ve been? AA: I think so. It’s quite easy for me to make things and sometimes my mind does not follow the same speed as my hands. Then, I need to stop and see what I have done to understand where I am going.

Thread Wrapping Machine Photo By Paul Plews

Thread Wrapping Machine Photo by Paul Plews

49 KG: Where do you picture the environment for these objects? AA: I would love to visit my pieces after they leave my studio to see where they now live and how people interpreted these objects. KG: Donald Judd said “Color is never unimportant as it usually is in sculpture.” Do you think your objects would not lose importance if they were done without color? AA: I don’t think so, but for now the color is good to take this work and my understanding of it further. KG: When your sculptures are placed all together they remind me of a playground. How do you see them? AA: In the Craft of Thread Wrapping, pieces of wood, metal-tubes or plastic are wrapped together to create strong joints and generate sculptural pieces of furniture. To push the Craft of Thread Wrapping forward, the pieces of furniture have now advanced in a similar way, as the wood is the component of each piece of furniture. The stools, benches, chairs or lamps interlock with each other to create big, colorful structures reaching toward the ceiling, but they also form a new platform for my future ambition to grasp towards architectural magnitudes. Each progression of the work leads to the next step.

KG: When does time pass the slowest? AA: Thinking of when time passes the slowest. KG: You alluded to the fact that your next project may be architectural. What’s next for you? Will you create entire spaces? AA: I am investigating the possibility of expanding the scale of making and I am searching for a good platform to present such a project.

Thread Wrapping Machine Photo By Paul Plews