#creative interviews

Thank you Felipe for letting us into your lair for the afternoon and sharing your inventive world with us!!

Last week Christine and I had our first official interview with artist Jonathan Chamberlain. In this new series of content we hope to bring our viewers into the conversation and shed some light on the interworking of the curators, artists and creative professionals who are responsible for developing the Pittsburgh art scene. Jonathan has lived in Pittsburgh for four years after moving back from Chicago. Like many artists living in this area Jonathan moved here to capitalize on the livability of the city.  Notably Pittsburgh has been ranked in both Forbes and CNN as one America’s most livable cities. What does this mean for an artist such as Jonathan?  It means the affordable living is conducive to the creative cultures that inhabit the many boroughs of Pittsburgh. For this interview we met with Jonathan, who works for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, in S.P.A.C.E gallery downtown.  The Cultural Trust owns at least seven galleries downtown and every few months they host a downtown art walk. It was at their most recent gallery crawl that we met Jonathan.  While he both showed in the exhibition, Currency at 937 Liberty, and co-curated it with Brian Brown he was very humble in describing each artists’ process and personality before discussing his own. It is my opinion that Currency is one example of Pittsburgh’s cultural push to be recognized as a creative city.  The show was created in response to the seemly lack of relevant contemporary art being shown in the typical white-walled gallery space.  Brian and Jonathan presented their work alongside four other artists. Oftentimes artists don’t want to be pigeon holed by a medium but for the purpose of this article and in the context of the show there were two painters, two sculptors and two that walk the line of both painting and mixed media. While the show was carefully organized the curators took a step back once the artists were chosen, allowing them to make the final decisions as to what and how many pieces to exhibit.  With six large sculptural pieces Cara Erskine placed her work in the gallery first.  An interesting tactic, if this were an institution such as a museum or a gallery in Chelsea the curator and/ or director would most likely dictate the pieces to be displayed.  Their approach makes Currency a more artist-community driven effort.   Ryan Lammie’s seven topographical pieces question the line between painting and sculpture. Chris Beauregard only showed two pieces but when one of the sculptures is burning sage and fragrancing the gallery, there is no need for more. This particular piece was inspired by Mussolini's logo when he came power.  Painter Martin Swift whose larger than life nudes eye the viewer with little notice to their own nudity is also featured on our Local Treaders page for his great sense of style. Brian, who in previous Pittsburgh shows has exhibited large paintings, showed a series of small oil works.  Lastly, Jonathan, whose background is in printmaking, showed a carefully curated wall of retro inspired paintings and re-fabricated objects, including one rather playful badminton racket.     ML Interview, is a new blogging series that takes us through the ins and outs of Pittsburgh's creatives.