The Interview

We are very interested in this series of works on paper, how did these extraordinary works come about?

I started doing these smaller paper paintings in between or sometimes during a pause in working on a much larger painting. Painting them feels very similar to the quick gestural drawings that I would make during very short poses when I used to work from a live model (as opposed to the more finished or more studied single drawing or painting that would result from a longer pose).

How does your environment & the scale of how you normally paint influence this body of work?

I think one kind of balances and supports the other. Though working very large and working much smaller are different thought processes both seem to benefit somehow from the act of me regularly switching gears. It feels like the large works come from a different part of my brain than the small ones. So I go back and forth like this, giving each side a rest.

Which artists influence your work?

So many artists and art forms have been influential during different stages of my life and work. Cave paintings and all kinds of primitive arts and crafts resonate with me. Street art, spare Japanese brushwork, many of the mid century action painters and also children's artwork speaks loudly to me.

What attracted you to General Public and the Synograph? Are you drawn to the democratization of its premise?

I think that whether it's a poem, a film, a song or a painting art is ultimately just a communication at large, wanting to be shared and felt. We rejoice in the poet being able to share her poem with many while keeping every word and punctuation true to her original text. Now, with the Synograph, there's no longer any excuse to uphold a less inclusive standard to visual art than we do to any of the other arts.