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HALF is a zine started by two friends who have an affinity for conversations with stimulating people in the arts. Primarily centered around Miami and New York,
HALF
has
expanded
to
include people from all walks of life and from international cities. HALF was created to share what artists and curators have to say about their work and their projects. It offers a peek into the mind of those individuals who are making meaningful work.
Featuring
4 / 13 Katherine Laurent 14 / 21 Lauren M. Jones 22 / 29 Ramon GutiĂŠrrez 30 / 43 Adolfo Bimer All images courtesy the artists
Katherine Laurent
Contours, 2015
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Katherine Laurent is a Miami-based photographer who has an affinity with portraits. In a recent interview, she discusses her newest series Contours, her feelings about having studied Psychology, and the hardship of mental disorder.
www.cargocollective.com/katherinelaurent
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Instagram Feed, 2015 @yosoyklrnt
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On Color So, I know you’re working on a new photography series adnd I see you started off with black and red. Is there a reason as to why you chose those colors first? I would like to do many different colors, even pastels. I started with black because it was neutral and bleak and I wanted to start off simple. Red seems to be my favorite color, and I like it as an accent/dominant color. But there is no reason for the order, it just happened that way. Next I want to try baby pink and lavender. Your Instagram feed has a lot to do with a relationship to color in your everyday life. How are you looking at color through your phone screen as opposed to your camera lens? With my phone, I always have to edit every photo and raise the vibrancy to make any color pop because it is nowhere near the same quality as a camera. I usually have to get closer and make sure there is enough light using my phone. With my camera – digital or film – I barely have to edit, I just colorcorrect a little bit and the colors pop more.
On Contours What about emotion? The subjects in your series have a straightforward look to them. I’m drawn to more natural or “off guard” emotions because I feel the way people are when nobody is watching them says more about them. I am an introvert so the way I photograph myself or anyone else may project those qualities too. Most people aren’t drawn to quiet people, and my whole life the attention was always been drawn to the loudest and perkiest person in the room. With my photographs I try to show beauty in the silence and simplicity of someone by themselves because there is so much stigma with being “shy” that the quiet people often get dismissed and become invisible to the crowd. With the contour, it’s a different approach to this because it’s staged but the drawing and the colors helps accent the same emotions.
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Contours, 2015
So you use the lines as reinforcement of this portrayal of someone who is more reserved than others. You say that there is a stigma with being shy. I can understand a bit where you are coming from. Miami has a latin culture and almost everyone has an energizing personality so it’s uncommon to see quiet people. Shy has always been frowned upon where I live. People see a quiet person and they dismiss all other qualities they might have and just categorize them as “oh, they’re shy” like a stamp on the forehead. If it wasn’t a problem then why is the question “why are you so shy?” so common? Why does it make people so uncomfortable? I never ask people why they’re shy. I just talk to them like normal and they always respond. It’s not like I’m a mute either; I talk when I want. I also feel that there is a double standard for girls. We are meant to be bubbly at all times but nobody questions men. I just hope I can create art where the minimal is enough and other non-bubbly emotions can be expressed without judgment and be appreciated too.
On Psychology What’s your history with psychology? I know it’s something that you have a personal relationship with. My history with psychology goes way back to when I was a child. I have anxiety and depression. I dealt with a lot of issues - a lot of schools - and saw some psychologists myself. It made it difficult to meet new people and made me very self-conscious but it made me more empathetic of others and a good listener. I wanted to help people like me because I didn’t want anyone to feel alone. I took 3 years of college courses in psychology. I changed my major to art because of my conflicting views with how America treats mental disorders. Creating is a form of therapy for me and I believe it can help many people too. As soon as I feel a huge low coming on, I channel it in my studio rather than popping a Prozac. Now with art therapy being an alternative for some people, I think that can be more progressive with healing bad emotions. Making art gives me a chance to be who I am 100% and feel great about it.
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Contours, 2015 11
What was the most alarming thing you learned when you were a Psych major? Do you think the way we treat people with disorders is changing? Most of it was easy to understand when it came to anxiety/ depression/personality disorders. This class I took called Memory Improvement was very interesting. The professor spoke about the different parts of the brain that affect memory and different types of memory. He said that most of what is said under hypnosis therapy are lies. That was the only shocker to me. I think there is much more to be analyzed. I blame societal standards and gender roles for a lot of personality traits that aren’t accepted as easily. Like when they say stuff like “girls are more prone to depression than men” it’s like “well, duh” you know? The whole world wasn’t handed to us at birth with equal opportunities so of course we might be a little more depressed. Instead of telling me I have all these disorders and that I need to take Prozac to be “normal,” how about just letting me live because I’m not hurting anyone and it’s okay that my voice is soft. You get me? I wasn’t questioning myself and my sanity until other people made me insecure about who I was. That’s a big reason why I didn’t want to be a Psychologist anymore. I did not want to sit in a room facing a 12-year-old and having to tell them everything they told me. It’s not progressive and the patient only tells you certain things. They don’t tell you everything and they can lie. What patients say is not enough information to administer drugs or diagnose them with serious disorders. A lot of issues are subconscious and people don’t even notice where they come from.
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Contours, 2015 13
Lauren M Jones is an illustrator currently based in Brooklyn. www.lmjones.com
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Ramon GutiĂŠrrez
Self-Portrait, Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, 2010
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Ramon Gutierrez is a painter living in New York City. Born in Tehuitzingo, Mexico, his work is “an attempt to give rise to that which is spiritual, socially relevant, and sympathetic to the world that surrounds us.�
www.heartofcrow.com
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Let’s talk about how you got started. Growing up in New York, I always saw graffiti. My family first lived in the Bronx and I remember riding the train and seeing amazing artwork and I was fascinated by that. As time progressed, I somehow always leaned towards making art. I remember in fifth grade, they asked the students if they wanted to join the band group or the art class and I chose art. It just felt really natural to me. Then, in my teens, I hung around kids who did graffiti and I was obsessed with it for a really long time - practicing hand styles, looking them up on the internet, that’s all I did. Graffiti was my way into being creative when I didn’t know that you could be an artist for a living. You have an undergraduate degree in Art History, how does that affect your work? Specifically considering that graffiti is what got you interested - and I don’t imagine you were taking courses on “ancient graffiti” or “the history of graffiti.” I like to think the two are polar opposites. I think that’s a misconception. I saw graffiti as this innate creative need that people are always born with. Everybody’s an artist in some sort of way and I feel that graffiti is the urban youth being like “I have this urge to get my creative juices going so I can’t hold back.” You know. And then in Art History, I started seeing the connections like when Napoleon conquered Egypt and his soldiers engraved their names on the temples. Which is like making a tag... Basically. So there’s always been some sort of graffiti. I always thought that cave paintings were their mark on their surroundings. “This is me, this is my environment, I was here at this time, and this is what I’m leaving behind.” You hope that it stays there forever, and maybe it doesn’t, but for the moment that you’re creating it’s like a rush. So I do see a connection between art history and graffiti - I actually took a class on The History of Graffiti.
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Anima / Animus, 2014
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As Above, So Below, Acrylic and Paper on Wood, 2011 26
You have previously mentioned that you began working with immigration issues but you recently stopped working with that motif. Do you feel that exploring immigration through your art helped you understand it better? Immigration has always affected my family and my life and I thought that making art was one way that I could come to terms with such a crazy system of legalities and paperwork that make someone legal in the country. Also, the muralist movement in Mexico really influenced me in how they used their art to make a social statement. I thought that that was the way art should be viewed. Everyone should make art - for a purpose. Lately, I haven’t been doing much of that work because I feel that there should be no borders. I don’t want to expand on the issue and so now I am working with spirituality. Are you reading anything or one right now? I used to read a lot of Latin American History, so a lot of Galeano and Marquez. Stuff that at a politcal undertone. Lately I’ve been reading and listening to Alejandro Jodorowsky. He does talks on the tarot and through his talks I’ve been able to connect it to my own work.
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You work with a pretty wide range of mediums: oil paintings, drawings, mixed media, and zines. I know Matt W. Moore says “range equals growth” - that as you expand your range in the way that you can communicate your ideas, then you’re growing as an artist. I completely agree with that. Definitely. I’ve always been bothered with being stuck in a box. As an artist, you should never be limited to one type of way of working. I always feel that it’s good to be able to work in different mediums. But I do also believe that you should master something in life. Are there any mediums that you’d like to tackle in the near future? Video. Video? Yeah, I want to start working with video. I have this idea of asking three simple questions and sending them off to my cousins. We’re all first-generation, so I want to ask them, “how old were you when you got to the states, how has the United States helped you out, and do you ever plan to return?” My family is super huge; it would create a sort of family tree history. So, I want to work with video, but also, I’d love to do a wall - a mural. It’s daunting and even though I was into graffiti and I admire murals, I never did a mural. Now that I’m drawing more, I feel that I have enough ideas and that my work is unified that I can make that happen.
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Nathual, Undated
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Adolfo Bimer
238 Varnishes, oil and enamel on polycarbonate. 2014
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Adolfo Bimer en un artista Chileno que comenzó como un artista de graffiti y evolucionó a ser un artista visual. Si está trabajando con lo orgánico o lo industrial, su obra tiene una relación íntima con la naturaleza.
Adolfo Bimer is a Chilean artist that started off as a graffiti artist and has evolved into a visual artist. Whether he’s working with the organic or the industrial, his work has an intimate relationship with nature.
www.adolfobimer.com
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Primero que todo te quería preguntar en que andas. La última vez que te vi estabas en International Studio & Curitorial Program (ISCP) haciendo obra nueva. ¿Cómo te fue al fin? Bueno, me fue muy bien. Estoy contento por haber podido viajar y conocer NYC. Pude ver muchos shows increíbles estando allá, conocer a muy buenos artistas y además, como dices también pude hacer un par de trabajos nuevos que me dejaron bastante satisfecho. Quizás se me hizo un poco corto el tiempo, por eso vuelvo a darme un paseo el próximo invierno. ¿De que se trataba tu trabajo en ISCP? Poco a poco he ido entendiendo que la interacción entre estos materiales industriales en desuso y las pinturas (que son hechas con materiales de la misma proveniencia) generan una tensión muy interesante para repensar los procesos mismos del trabajo y la comparación de resultados de ambas investigaciones. Así mi trabajo en ISCP se basó principalmente en poner a interactuar pintura con escultura a baja escala y ver como estos elementos concebidos como obras separadas generan una tensión que a mi gusto ayuda a potenciar ambas partes. Dejar de ver las esculturas como esculturas y las pinturas como pinturas, sino pensar en el cuerpo del trabajo y la interacción de elementos más allá de los elementos por separado.
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245 Varnish o
First and foremost what are you up to? The last time I saw you you were working on new things at International Studio & Curitorial Program (ISCP). How did it end up going? Well, it went very well. I’m happy because I was able to travel and experience NYC and able to see many incredible shows. I met good artists and on top of that, like you said, I was able to work on new projects that left me extremely happy. Perhaps my time there seemed a bit short which is why I’m going back next winter. What was your work about? Little by little I was able to understand that the interaction between industrial materials in disuse and the paintings (which are made with similar materials) generate an interesting tension to rethink the same processes of both works and the results of each. My work at ISCP was principally based on the interaction of painting with sculpture on a low scale and to see how these elements conceived as a separate work generated a tension that to my liking gave each piece a new potency. I wanted to stop seeing sculpture as sculpture and painting as painting, but rather to think beyond the body of work and the interaction between elements.
on PVC. 2014
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252 Found sponges and plastics. 2015
¿Continuas haciendo lo mismo o ha cambiado tu proyecto les de que regresaste a Chile? A partir de esa serie he desarrollado nuevos trabajos con esponjas en los que estoy trabajando actualmente. He ido a recoger residuos al Río Mapocho (El río más importante que hay en Santiago) y estoy planeando un trabajo con ellas para mi próxima muestra acá en Chile. Junto con eso, sigo trabajando en mis pinturas de microscopía en un formato mayor, tratando de descubrir nuevas formas y comportamientos a través de las interacciones de materiales. ¿Has notado algo diferente en las pinturas más grandes que en las pequeñas? Ciertamente en las pinturas de gran formato se puede ver como funciona mejor la idea de estas alusiones microscópicas del cuerpo humano. El tamaño hace que los cuadros sean más envolventes y que se pierda más la noción del propio cuerpo que la ve. El ojo del espectador se sumerge en la extensión de la pintura en vez de enmarcarla en la pared donde cuelga. Las manchas y las formas se desplazan más libres en esta fiesta rara. Las manejo muchísimo menos y entonces se dejan ver de forma más clara. ¿Cómo empezaste a trabajar con esponjas? Empecé con las esponjas totalmente sin querer. Caminando por las calles en NYC empecé a observar que había–entre toda la basura interesante–una gran cantidad de este material y que por alguna extraña razón, después de ensuciarse mucho tenía mucho parecido con la visualidad de mis ultimas pinturas. Me sentí muy atraído por la visualidad que adquirían las esponjas luego de someterse a la suciedad y al clima exterior. Así comencé a llevarlas al taller para ponerlas cerca de los cuadros, para poder mirarlas y tratar de entender por qué tienen estas relaciones formales. El hecho de que parezcan a veces minerales o extensiones dimensionales de los cuadros me parece cada vez más concreta, porque de alguna manera estos materiales que provienen de fuentes orgánicas (Petróleo y a veces rocas pulverizadas) son transformadas en plásticos a través de sistemas industriales, pero una vez que vuelven ser inútiles y vuelven a la calle, comienzan a erosionarse por la ciudad y su mugre, devolviéndolas a ser piedras nuevamente, piedras plásticas o algo así, materia orgánica que continúa un ciclo real pero versionado por la creación humana.
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Are you still working on the same project or did you start something new when you returned to Chile? Since getting back, I’ve developed new work with sponges and it’s what I’m currently working on. I’ve gone to collect waste at the Mapocho River (the most important river in Santiago) and I’m thinking about using them in a new work that I’ll be having in a show here in Chile. With that, I’m still working on my microscopic painting on a bigger scale; I’m trying to discover new forms and behaviors through the interaction of materials. Have you noticed anything different from your bigger pieces than your smaller ones? Certainly. In the large format paintings you can see how the idea of these microscopic illusions of the human body function better. The size makes it so that the pieces are more gravitating and makes you lose the notion of the body that sees it. The spectator’s eye is submerged in the extension of the painting instead of focusing of the painting hanging on the wall. The stains and the forms are displaced more freely in this weird way. I work with them a lot less so then they can show themselves more clearly. How did you start working with sponges? Have you used them before? I started using sponges by chance. Walking through the streets of NYC I began to observe that there was–among all the interesting trash–a lot of this material and for some strange reason, after being overused had a visual similarity to my last paintings. I was very attracted to their visual appeal after being drenched in dirt and climate. That’s when I started taking them to my studio and putting them near my pieces so that I could look at them and try to understand why they have these related forms. The fact that they look at times like minerals or dimensional extensions of my pieces makes it more concrete to me to see because in a way these materials that come from organic foundations (petroleum and at times pulverized rocks) are transformed in plastic via industrial systems, but once again they become useless and they return to the street; they begin a new erosion process through the city and the dirt. They once again become rocks, plastic rocks or something like that. They become organic material in a real cycle but through human creation.
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Sin tĂtulo Latex on wall. Santiago, Chile, 2008
¿Cómo estás incluyendo lo que encuentras en el rio a tu trabajo? Como te decía antes, estoy tratando de articular una visualidad que haga contrapuntos y relaciones con las formas que se generan en los otros ámbitos del trabajo. He pensado que estos elementos que sacó del río aluden al paisaje, y de alguna forma las pinturas microscópicas también tienen una relación visual con el paisaje, y espero poder mostrar ese paisaje sin dejar de decir cuerpo humano, y ojalá sin tener que decir ninguna de las dos cosas directamente tampoco. Nunca has trabajado en 3D. Digo, en manera física y no óptica. Sé que comenzaste con graffiti y algunas obras tenían la ilusión de 3D. Sientas un regreso a tus “roots” o estás experimentando con algo completamente nuevo? Siempre creo que he ido tratando de ser consecuente con los pasos anteriores. No traicionarse pero tampoco estancar la visualidad en las formas que alguna vez han funcionado. Seguir hacia adelante buscando ver algo que no he podido ver, pero que creo firmemente existe en los parámetros de la mirada. Veo relaciones con mis graffitis y con mis dibujos, con las pinturas anteriores y las actuales, pero aun así no creo importante decir exactamente en qué, la imagen se resuelve en la imagen misma o por lo menos debería ser así, y el paso del tiempo puede dar forma al cuerpo de obras más que una opinión mía en este momento.
247:Bloodscapes III microscopic photograph. 2014 40
246:Distancias II Microscope slides with body secretion samples and microscopic photograph. 2014 How are you including your findings from the river in your work? Like I was telling you before, I’m trying to articulate a visuality that will counteract and relate to the forms generated by other scopes of the work. I was thinking that these elements that I take from the river allude to the landscape and that in a way the microscopic paintings also have a visual relationship to the landscape. I hope to show this landscape without having to directly say things either. You haven’t really worked in 3D before. I mean physically and not optically. I know you started out as a graffiti artist and some of your pieces had a 3D effect to them. Do you feel like you’re going back to your “roots” or are you experimenting with something completely new? I always think that I’ve always been consistent with my previous work. Not as a betrayal to yourself but also not stall the visuality of the forms that once worked. I continue looking ahead to see something that I haven’t been able to see, but I firmly believe in the parameters of the gaze. I see relationships between my graffiti and my drawings, with my previous paintings and the new ones, but I still I don’t think it’s important to say that exactly in what, the image is resolved in the same image, or at least how it’s suppose to be, and the passage of time will give form to the works of art than my opinion at this moment.
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Entonces en cierta manera tu trabajo tiene una conexión sutil con la naturaleza. Pensándolo en modos de proceso y tiempo con los materiales que usas y la obra en fin. No tan obvio como dices. Con el tiempo he tratado cada vez más de poder liberar al trabajo de las presiones del virtuosismo, dejando que mi voluntad se vaya más a liberar los procesos más que condicionarlos, dejando que las reacciones químicas y físicas hablen un poco más que mi propia mano acerca del proceso con el que se articula la obra. No sólo pintar con el pincel o con el vertimiento, sino pintar con la gravedad, con las inclinaciones del suelo del taller, pintar con el calor de la temporada del año. Creo que visto así, todo tiene una conexión con la tierra. Lo industrial le pertenece a lo orgánico, por más distancia que parezca que hay entre estos ámbitos. Por más que mi obra se vea muy industrial a veces, y debido al tipo de materiales que utilizo pueda llegar a serlo, creo que no es sólamente la flor que brota o el río que la atraviesa lo que habla de la tierra, sino también el desecho tóxico que oscurece un paisaje o el asfalto de una carretera que separa a una especie, lo que también habla de ella y completa su ciclo. ¿Has pensado en usar otros materiales distintos a los que has usado en el pasado//presente? ¿Te da curiosidad nuevos materiales? Si claro, siempre me da curiosidad conocer nuevos materiales y ver que se puede hacer con ellos. ¿Qué tienes planeado para el futuro? Ahora mismo estoy preparando una exposición en la Galería Patricia Ready en Santiago de Chile, se inaugura el 02 de Septiembre (2015) y podrán ver una serie de trabajos relacionados con lo que hemos estado conversando acá. Luego de eso tengo una residencia desde septiembre hasta comienzos de diciembre y una muestra individual en Cleveland Print Room, en Cleveland, Ohio.
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209 Enamel on F
Foamboard. 2013
So in a way your work has a subtle connection with nature. Thinking in terms of process and time with the materials you use and the final result of your work. Not so obvious as you mentioned. Over time I have tried to liberate my work of the pressures of virtuosity, letting my will liberate those processes instead of making them happen.I let the physical and chemical reactions speak rather than my own hand. I not only want to paint with a brush but paint with severity, with the inclination of the studio floor, paint with the heat of the season. If you look at it that way, everything has a connection with the land. The industrial pertains to the organic, even though there appears to be a greater distance between them. Even though my work appears very industrial at times, and even though it appears that way because of the type of materials I use, I don’t think it’s only the flower that blooms or the river that speaks of the earth, but also the toxicity that darkens a landscape or the asphalt of the road that separates a species; it also speaks about the earth and completes its cycle. Have you ever thought about using different materials than the ones you are currently using or have used in the past? Yes, of course. I’m always curious about new materials and to see what I can do with them. What do you have planned for the future? Right now I’m getting ready for an exhibition at the Galería Patricia Ready in Santiago, Chile that will open on September 2 (2015). I’ll have a series of work that shows everything that we have been talking about. After that I have a residency at the Cleveland Print Room in Cleveland, Ohio from September to December and a solo show there at the end of my residency.
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01_03 2015
@halfzine halfnyc@gmail.com