#bos14

[AiB] You said that you stay in these places as long as you can – what does that mean?

[KT] It means what I can afford! Ultimately. I’d love to get a grant to return to Iceland and go further in the explorations there, but yeah, it all comes down to economy.

[AiB] Why have you chosen to use digital representations of your work as you do?

[KT] I had been shooting successful traditional images of nature, and I was feeling an intense lack in what the experience was providing to my audience. And I wanted to create something that drew more from the site energetically, even potentially spiritually. One of my references is Rudolf Steiner’s writings on supersensible phenomena, which is phenomena that we experience in the real world that can’t be described scientifically.

I’m interested in taking this digital culture and turning it into a more physical one, through transforming the digital experiences into objects. For me it’s also my own personal vision of a contemporary nature culture. There’s something futuristic in the forms and the geometry, but there’s something primitive as well.

[AiB] When you’re putting together a piece after you’re coming back from a trip, how do you know when your work is done?

[KT] That’s a good question, and actually I kind of feel like the pieces could be revisited and not just have one form. [For example,] these are a volcanic boulder that’s almost perfectly spherical and just looks like a miniature planet on the Earth. I don’t think I’m done with it! Even though I’ve found a form for it. So, I think that question is an ongoing one.

[AiB] Anything else you’d want a reader to take away from your work?

[KT] I want readers to create space for a dialogue, to discuss and engage in what our contemporary relationship to nature is. And how we choose to create monumental experiences of that.

[AiB] How does the work evolve as you go? Do you have a vision when you begin?

[JM] It depends. Sometimes I jump into it with a fully set format that I’ve worked out in Photoshop or just through writing and journaling, and sometimes the painting dictates where it goes, depending on who I’m working on and the person themselves.

[AiB] How do you decide who you want to work with, and why?

[JM] Well, they’re all people close to me, so it usually depends on what’s going on with their life and the moment and if I’m kind of attracted to them.

This portrait on the wall is another artist friend named Sharona, and I was thinking about painting her in a time when I was in this deep lull and I didn’t really know where the next body of work was coming from. I’ve always been really attracted to her work, so I needed to paint her to siphon off some of her energy, in a way! It was a mutual back and forth, but it was about honoring her creative spirit and taking some energy from that.

[AiB] How would you say your work has evolved over the course of your career?

[JM] I’ve always worked with the figure, but in terms of growth it’s become a little more metaphorical and conceptual, jumping away from photography and photorealism and into other layers of abstraction.

[AiB] What else should people know about about your work?

[JM] That it’s based on people, and relationships, and spiritual connections, and cosmic realities and realms and matrices and…yeah.

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Of course, it was impossible to see everything Bushwick Open Studios has to offer in just three days. So, while music from DJ JHVH blasted, people talked around the bar about what they saw and what they loved throughout all six zones. "You missed those layered resin paintings at 56 Bogart?!? Here, let me show you a video on my phone."  

Performers at the BOS'14 Closing Party at Bizarre

Meryl Meisler’s phenomenal photo exhibit was on display in Bizarre’s basement. Its images of the disco party era juxtaposed with 1970s Bushwick street culture set the scene for the retro-themed drag show that came later. Before she performed “Age of Aquarius,” Daphne Sumtimez talked about how she and her friends all live near each other by the Halsey “L” stop--a growing community to watch for this year.

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Untitled (US Map) by Dana Kane

The first few things one noticed when moving around the room counter-clockwise were big and moody, with a muted color palate. Works by Grace Troxell and Raisa Nosova made for an engaging pair: The sculptural work by Troxell literally bursts out of and beyond its frame, whereas Nosova’s painting draws you inward, into the darkness. Continuing around the right edge of the room, the mood slowly brightens but retains a certain unsettling feeling.

(Left) Clytemnestra by Grace Troxell; (right) 27th and 7th, NYC by Raisa Nosova

The left half of the room was divided into several little alcoves, each functioning semi-independently. As Salik explained, “Julia and I decided to treat each nook as its own subdivision or micro-show. The flow between each nook was important, but an easier transition to make.” One group seemed to be composed of introspective portraiture, such as Kelli Thompson’s vivid Self.

Self by Kelli Thompson

Other sections had a distinct sense of humor.  Lisa Levy continues to congratulate her audience on our personal growth, whereas Robert Servo’s alterations to found photos breathed new light into what must have been musty garage-sale heirlooms.

You Internalized a Compliment by Lisa Levy

  (Left) Gate Keeper and Key Master and (right) Old School by Robert Sevro

The additional images below offer just a small selection of the bounty that awaits visitors to Seeking Space. Although BOS'14 is over (yet not forgotten), the Seeking Space Exhibition will be on view at The Active Space until June 30. Visitors are encouraged to take their own tour through its myriad nooks.

(Above and below) Works on view at the Seeking Space Exhibition, 2014

(Above and below) Visitors at the Seeking Space Exhibition, 2014

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