Preview: Ones to Watch opens at Alan Avery Thursday
Dosa Kim, 30x30. Photo courtesy Alan Avery Art Company.
Seriously though? I joked the other day that I’ll be an ‘emerging artist’ until I’m 50. … Look at the work, that’s all. … You’re not looking at me. In that regard I’d rather people know what kind of parent or friend that I am.
—Daniel Biddy
Few people like to be lumped into generic categories. The term “emerging artist” is just that: a brown paper sack, a convenient container for when we’ve little time to spare for idiosyncrasy. Meg Aubrey, Daniel Biddy, Donna Johnson, and Dosa Kim—the four artists in The Ones to Watch at Alan Avery Art Company—each work in a different medium. Each has a distinct flavor. And as Daniel Biddy suggests above, the majority of artists are constantly emerging; this show is merely one stage in a continual evolution. Otherwise, the exhibition lacks a theme. We can expect at best a celebration of individual talent among members of a thankfully heterogeneous arts ecology. Below you’ll find excerpts from an interview with three of the artists as they prepare for opening night Thursday, August 6, from 5-10PM.
Meg Aubrey, The Call. Photo courtesy Alan Avery Art Company.
Q. Why have you chosen to work in your current medium? Is there a strength that is unique to one and not others? How is your work related to other media, to photography or graphic arts, etc.?
I work in oil for two reasons. First, I aesthetically love the medium on a formal level, and, secondly, it is the most traditionally accepted ‘artist’ medium and that works with my concept of the suburban woman fitting in and being accepted by her community.
—Meg Aubrey
Encaustic medium is by its very nature transformative. It is part chemistry and part painting. I am a contemporary alchemist. The doing and undoing, the building up and scraping down process that is integral to encaustic, works well for me. I can overwork a piece and then scrape down to minimize; yet the end result is enriched by the process. Encaustic with mixed media works for me as an overlap between painting and drawing and sculpture. In this current body of work the lush background and the surface drawing is a ‘best of both worlds’ and references a medieval Book of Hours for contemplation.
—Donna Johnson
Ten years ago, right out of school, I was making work that was almost purely nonrepresentational. I was also living life completely … mastered by my emotions. … One day a friend taught me a Xerox transfer technique that added image appropriation to the vocabulary of my visual language. It was still quick, but I could add a little sort of ‘directional signal’ … into the mix of swathed hues and erratic lines. Over a period of a couple of years the possibilities of representational imagery opened themselves (back) up to me. Physical collage … was a gradual transition … alongside my life as it developed out of its previous psychological limitations and began to include some intellectual and spiritual influence—thinking, instead of just acting.
The work has become, in large part, about re-contextualizing imagery from popular culture, printed media, photography, advertising and various visual sources in the public domain. … Thematically the work hasn’t changed much over the last decade. … Their powers of articulation have evolved. Their moods have improved. Everybody works from a finite set of habitual patterns, rearranging the variables in the same equation. Every so often I’ll polish one, change the vestments on another … maybe adjust the frequencies, echo and volume, or rake the leaves out from around some … and ill use whatever tools make sense ….
—Daniel Biddy
Donna Johnson, Riding the Dragon 3. Photo courtesy Alan Avery Art Company.
Q. What does it mean for you to be One to Watch? How do you feel about this representation, in terms of your career path and in terms of your personal life? Or, in terms of your role in the arts community?
At this point in my career I want my work to be seen by as many different groups as possible. Being one of Alan’s Ones to Watch is an honor and will introduce my painting to people who may not have seen it. I am very open minded about who and where I will show my work, and I hope it will lead to opportunities outside of Atlanta.
—Meg Aubrey
To be completely honest (in the way that you are never supposed to be, in that secret place of self that desires recognition), it feels pretty OK, even if it is just one person saying so with the title of [Alan Avery's] gallery show. … I’m happy to be included, for certain. Mostly, I’m just effervescent to have the opportunity to show people the work I’ve done. I definitely want everyone to ‘watch’ the work. Is being an ‘artist to watch’ important like those things you can make a list of that are important that have no dollar value and maybe aren’t actually ‘things’? No. Is it good for my career? I fucking hope so. ‘Hey, tryin’ to make a livin’ over here!’
—Daniel Biddy
I’m flattered and thrilled to be chosen by Alan as an ‘artist to watch.’ I returned to graduate school in painting at mid life to devote myself in depth to art. Trinity Gallery (the former incarnation of Alan Avery Art Company) was one of the galleries I looked up to and aspired to years ago. I think it’s always important to set goals that seem farther than even possible. Just like I would once have thought this current moment would be impossible. Now, I dream about entering the European art scene, since the archetypal themes of my work resonate with a European stance. I believe the artist’s role in the community is to speak the truth at a deeper, intuitive level. I hope to communicate. If commercial success comes as well, then that’s an extra bonus.
—Donna Johnson
Daniel Biddy, Honest to God. Photo courtesy Alan Avery Art Company.
Q. Do you watch TV? What do you think of this artist reality show on Bravo? The one where everyone will be watching artists like yourselves … trying to “make it big?”
Sarah Jessica Parker, producer of Bravo's reality show, Untitled Artist Project. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
I love Project Runway, so I think a show about artists could be fascinating. I am not sure how to ‘make it big,’ so I could probably learn something.
—Meg Aubrey
I watch a little bit of CNN with my coffee and my laptop when I wake up … and whatever cartoons I happen to stumble upon when my 7 year old is at the helm. Though I try to steer her towards the offerings of PBS, her new 2nd grade maturity leans towards Sponge Bob and Scooby Doo. I rent full seasons of certain cable serials and watch them in blocks, back to back (Deadwood, Mad Men, Dexter), and I watch a fair amount of film. It’s not that I don’t watch TV for some ‘kill your TV’ philosophical reason, I just don’t enjoy it that much. Books are my better friend. I’m an obsessive compulsive reader. However, I do know of this show because Alan Avery, I think, was in the running somehow or other …. Mortification is the most accurate appraisal of my desire to be on moving camera. The last reality show I really did enjoy was the Ozzy Osbourne one. … I get embarrassed just to have my picture taken …. Actually speaking in front of an audience? Cold Terror. … That’s why I make pictures that hang on the walls.
—Daniel Biddy
Of course I watch TV. I hate reality shows. Believe it or not, I still watch cartoons, although I mute the sound. I’m thrilled that the new show Merlin seems to be making an impact on this new generation. The writers are rewriting the Arthurian legends, but they’re getting the symbolism of the dragon accurately. The dragon is chained under the castle, because the king, Uther Pendragon, can only relate to it through a dominance of power. Merlin recognizes the dragon as the voice of the unconscious and has direct access to it in the dark, deep under the castle for his magic.
I expect that the artists who are trying to ‘make it big’ will rarely be a success. It’s counterintuitive. Being an artist is a shamanic calling.
—Donna Johnson
It might be interesting to compare summer shows in Atlanta to the New Museum’s recent Generational: Younger than Jesus. There’s a double review on page 40-43 of ART PAPERS’ July-August issue, which hit newsstands just last week.
The Ones to Watch will be on view at Alan Avery Art Company through September 1.
[...] also my interview with three of the artists at [...]