Meant to elicit quick, intuitive responses, Short Answer Sunday
will introduce readers to a wide variety of artists, educators,
writers, curators, arts professionals, art enthusiasts and art adjacent
individuals whose inclinations I admire. With the intent of getting to
know the person behind the artwork as well generating new avenues to
artistic discovery, participants may respond with only a few words or an
artist’s name, always with the opportunity to elaborate if they wish!
I have been a Rachel de Joode fan for nearly a decade now (the 2017 Myths of the Marble show at the ICA in Philly was my hook). If you are not yet familiar with Rachel de Joode’s work, I implore you to stop reading immediately and visit her website right away. Her work is featured in survey texts like Phaidon’s Vitamin C (Clay & Ceramic in Contemporary Art) and Photography is Magic. If you are a fellow de Joode-head, then please pat yourself on the back and do a congratulatory little dance. You know what I know, Rachel de Joode’s work is a force.
There are certain songs that I can’t listen to without dancing. It doesn’t matter where I am, what I am doing or who I am with, I will absolutely start to dance if you play these songs around me (thankfully only one or two other people know the power of this music over me—it is a powerful tool and should be used only for good). I bring this up because Rachel’s work is also like this for me. When I see it, I want to move. Maybe I digress, but sometimes I think that the response to contemporary art should not be to write intelligibly or to think rationally about it, but to follow it where it leads us. To let it move us.
Perhaps it is my god-shaped-hole talking, but I do look for spiritual experiences in works of art. Not every art object has it—but Rachel’s work does. I expect that it lives within the tension of the materials themselves, in the strange oppositions and mergers of color, shape, and form. These supply the messages that speak to me the most. Her nuanced use of color, light and shadow is unexpected, as is the surprising, subversive quality of her materials (clay as image and photography as object? yes, please). There is also often really fun slippage between the screen-based and the physical worlds (are they even separate places?? As time progresses, it feels harder to distinguish). Her sculptures are made by the body and speak of the body (the sloppy, fragile, disgusting gorgeousness of it all). While clay and paint are often used as metaphors for the body and it’s output, there’s something that strikes me as new and different here—an awareness of our physical forms as perceptual systems that have both allowances and terms (that can be manipulated). But whatever it is, it’s bigger than what I have the capacity to sum up, and that is something that I look for in a work of art.
Sending a giant thank you to Rachel de Joode for participating in this project! I know you will enjoy her Short Answer Sunday. xo, Lauren
Name: Rachel de Joode Occupation: Artist Astrological data: Sun in Cancer, Moon in Taurus, Rising Sign (Ascendant): likely Virgo (late Leo into Virgo) Hometown: Amersfoort, NL Current location: Berlin, DE
Rachel de Joode (b. 1979, Amersfoort, NL) is a Dutch-born, Berlin-based
artist working across photography, sculpture, and installation. Her work
explores the relationship between images and objects in the digital
era, treating photography not as representation but as material. Printed
images are cut, folded, layered, and assembled into spatial structures
in which surface, edge, and support become central elements.
De Joode’s work investigates how images behave once they enter physical
space. Photographs are materialized into sculptural forms and often
re-photographed, creating a feedback loop between image and object.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including
the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter
(Oslo), ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Museum Prinsenhof
Delft, and Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen.
She is represented by Galerie Christophe Gaillard (Paris) and Annka
Kultys Gallery (London).
Alongside her studio practice, de Joode is active as an educator. She
teaches in the MA Photography program at the École cantonale d'art de
Lausanne (ECAL), where she leads the course Materialized Photography.
For more information about Rachel de Joode, take a look at her website and follow her on Instagram!
Meant to elicit quick, intuitive responses, Short Answer Sunday
will introduce readers to a wide variety of artists, educators,
writers, curators, arts professionals, art enthusiasts and art adjacent
individuals whose inclinations I admire. With the intent of getting to
know the person behind the artwork as well generating new avenues to
artistic discovery, participants may respond with only a few words or an
artist’s name, always with the opportunity to elaborate if they wish!
Brian Barr is an incredible artist, professor and
curator. I can attest to all of this because I am married to him. One of the things that I admire most about
Brian is his integrity, in both artmaking and curation.He is a supporter of the
beautiful and the strange, and does not succumb to trends. He is sincere and
does not care about being cool (which, in turn, makes him the epitome of cool).
Although Brian started his artistic career as an oil painter, these days
he works with drawing, print media, collage and sculptural installation. Manipulating
found imagery is at the center of his practice. Conceptually, his work
confronts ideas around the limits of human understanding. Do we have any hope
of understanding the past when our own temporal, cultural framework imposes
limitations upon us? If we can’t understand the original context of an image,
where does that leave us? With Brian’s work, I find myself sitting with the
shifting instability of the image, in the place between aesthetics and context,
between abstraction and figuration, between certainty and doubt. It is precisely in this state of mystery where experiences beyond language exist.
I was excited to have Brian answer these questions because even though I’ve
known him for 20 years and definitely had an inkling of what a lot of his
responses might be, I knew there would be a few surprises (and I was right). For
more about Brian and his work, take a look at his website and follow him on
Instagram.
xo, Lauren
Name: Brian Barr Occupation: Artist/Professor Astrological data: Cancer Hometown: Detroit, MI Current location: Richmond, VA
Other than Instagram, how do you find new-to-you artists?
Galleries and word of mouth from friends mostly. I also an art book addict. I love the Phaidon Vitamin series. Vitamin P4 just came out and is one of the best since the original Vitamin P.
Trenton Doyle Hancock, The Former and the Ladder, Ascension and a Cinchin', 2012, Acrylic and collaged canvas, 84 x 132 inches Image Source
An artwork that makes you cry?
Anything my kids make for me; especially with words like "I love you" or "best dad ever”!
Most underrated artist?
I am going to list two, with the caveat that I am biased (and extremely biased) in both cases having curated both of their work and liking them both as people! Ian Pedigo and Lauren Rice. Ian is one of my favorite artists and has been for some time. As a curator, I worked with him for the 2014 show, Ad Infinitum, at the Katzen Art Center Museum in D.C. His work has continued to evolve over the years and is as smart as it is strange and beautiful. His work and career are incredibly well respected, but in my opinion he deserves as much recognition as possible.
Lauren, on top of creating this questionnaire, is my wife, best friend, partner in all things and studio mate, so of course I am biased (but I am also not wrong). My proximity to her creative practice is a blessing. Her work and studio ethic push me to work harder, take more risks, and value creative growth above all else. Ditto on her work being beautiful, strange and smart (my trifecta for what makes great art)!
An artwork that you'd like to live inside for a week?
A week is too long for me, but maybe for a few hours I could check out Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights (for purely anthropological research purposes of course).
An artist whose work you can't stop thinking about?
I love risk takers and artists not afraid to change, grow and evolve. This is increasingly rare. Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Njideka Akunyili Crosby are examples of artists that have done just that.
I will also be forever obsessed with the ultimate irreverent trickster, Marcel Duchamp, and his legacy for the history of art. He is the world’s forgotten boy, the one who searched and destroyed. He exploded both the classical and modern structures through which art had been made and understood. This was freeing, but the creative freedom he bequeathed the world was also immensely heavy to handle.
What's your favorite characteristic in an artwork?
I touched on this above, but the right combination of intelligence, beauty, and strangeness. I have no formula, but I know it when I see it.
Erotic artwork? (editor's note: this is a multiple choice question)
Other: It depends on how it's handled. For example Bonnard's paintings of his
wife in the bath are subtly erotic. They are very much about the erotic
nature of the sensual pleasure of both paint and flesh.
What's an artwork that doesn't look like art?
That is impossible to answer because since Duchamp, anything can be art.
What is an artwork that you know you shouldn't like, but you do (guilty pleasure)?
No guilty pleasures for me. If I like it, I like it. But an artist who wasn’t “cool” to like back in my art school days was Tiepolo. Goya was punk, Tiepolo was Neil Diamond, but I like Tiepolo (and I love Neil Diamond). I would add Andrew Wyeth to this list. He is too often dismissed as a technician, but his drawings and gestural studies are incredible.
What's an artwork that you secretly hate?
I do often complain privately about things I think are overrated or soak
up too much attention but I prefer to share what I love.
I will say an artist a lot of people love that doesn’t do anything for
me is Mark Rothko.
Most insane art piece?
Ryan Trecartin’s entire oeuvre. It is incredible, disorienting, and so prophetic in understanding today’s internet culture. To me all the work that deals with internet culture today is second rate knock offs compared to Trecartin’s work.
Fav monograph or art book?
As an obsessive book lover it’s impossible for me to list just one so I’ll give a list of the ones I return to over and over for inspiration: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Arturo Herrera, Phaidon Vitamin Series (P and P4, T, C), Kerry James Marshall, The Painting Factory: Painting Since Warhol, David Hockney Drawings, Ian Pedigo, Corin Hewitt: Seven Performances, Jessica Stockholder, Mark Bradford, Dada and Surrealism, Phyllida Barlow, Albrecht Durer, I could go on and on!
I don’t know about spiritual, but an artwork that has always deeply affected me, and continues to all these years later since first seeing it, is Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry mural at the DIA. As a Detroit boy, this work is certainly a point of hometown pride in that it was in my city and internationally recognized as significant. It is incredible. I go see it every time I go back to Detroit.
A detail from Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry at the DIA Photo: Getty ImagesImage Source
An artwork that you'd like to see before you die?
I have to see the Prado to see the monumental Velazquez and Goya paintings before I shuffle off this mortal coil.
What art material do you love to nerd out on?
Colored pencils, graphite pencils and oil paint
What was the last thing that you listened to in the studio?
I usually split my studio listening between music to get me going when I am in the creative discovery/play phase, and podcasts to engage my brain while in the more technical, execution phase. Most recently, I first listened to my "Crank it Up" playlist of songs to listen to loudly. It has a lot of Detroit Punk, MC5, The Stooges, White Stripes etc., but also James Brown, Joan Jett, and The Eurythmics. I also listened to the “Where are We Going? Societal Collapse-Origins" episode of the Past, Present, Future podcast hosted by the political philosopher David Runciman. The guest was Luke Kemp who discussed the origins of the state in hierarchical societies, and patterns leading to societal collapse. It was fascinating and deeply alarming.
What's a book that changed your life?
Again, cheating here, but I can’t possible name just one. The first book I read that ignited my love of reading literature and complex books when I was young was William Faulkner’s Light in August. Some of the books that have had the strongest intellectual and emotional impact on me are: John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Benjamin Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World, Rebecca Solnit’s Orwell’s Roses, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Robert Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers, and Thomas Hobbes Leviathan.
What song, book, podcast or film do you think everyone should know about?
Benjamin Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World. While slim in size at under 200 pages, it is an intellectual powerhouse and a whirlwind of a read. It is brilliant. I have read it 3 times since it came out a few years ago, and each time it has the same impact. I can not recommend it highly enough!
❤
Brian Barris an artist and independent curator from Detroit, currently
based in Richmond, Virginia where he is an Assistant Professor at
Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds an MFA from American
University and a BFA from the College for Creative Studies. Barr has
been awarded fellowships at MacDowell, the Kala Art Institute, the
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and completed a residency at the
Luminary Center for the Arts in St. Louis. He currently serves on the
city of Richmond’s Public Art Commission.
Barr frequently collaborates with his wife, artist Lauren Rice.
Together, their work has been exhibited at Vox Populi (Philadelphia),
Flashpoint Gallery (Washington, DC), Purdue University, Current Space
(Baltimore), the Neon Heater (Findlay, OH), Artist Alliance Inc.’s
Cuchifritos Gallery and Project Space (New York), and Alabama
Contemporary (Mobile, AL). His solo exhibitions include Popps Packing
(Detroit), Skylab (Columbus, OH), and the Museum of Contemporary Art
Arlington (VA). His work was featured in New American Paintings No. 95.
Prior to relocating to Richmond, Barr founded and directed PASSENGER, a
nomadic Center for Contemporary Art in Detroit. As a curator, he has
organized exhibitions at PASSENGER, ORG Gallery (Detroit), Purdue
University, the Museum of New Art Detroit, Delicious Spectacle (DC), and
the Katzen Art Center Museum (DC).
As Executive Director of PASSENGER, Barr forged partnerships across the
public and private sectors. He worked with Mayor Michael Duggan’s office
to curate local artists into the mayor’s residence and municipal
offices. He also collaborated with Dan Gilbert (Founder of Rocket
Mortgage) and Rock Ventures to activate vacant downtown properties
through public events and art exhibitions. Under his leadership,
PASSENGER received a grant from the Knight Foundation to support
community programming in Rock Ventures spaces. This initiative
contributed to the revitalization of a formerly vacant business
corridor—now a thriving commercial, arts, and entertainment district.
For more about Brian Barr and his work, go to his website and follow him on Instagram!
Meant to elicit quick, intuitive responses, Short Answer Sunday will introduce readers to a wide variety of artists, educators, writers, curators, arts professionals, art enthusiasts and art adjacent individuals whose inclinations I admire. With the intent of getting to know the person behind the artwork as well generating new avenues to artistic discovery, participants may respond with only a few words or an artist’s name, always with the opportunity to elaborate if they wish!
Sharon Shapiro and I met through a very cool
synchronicity involving a copy of New American Paintings. I won't
elaborate on the full mystery here, but I'm overjoyed that the NAP gods
connected me with Sharon and her work. I loved getting to see her 2024 solo
show No
Man's Land at Quirk Gallery in Richmond, a stunning show that included her large-scale paintings (oil! airbrush!), as well as smaller gouache
paintings and collages. During her artist talk at the gallery, she led with a
quote by D. W. Winnicott, "Artists are people driven by the tension
between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide." Chills.
Another cue from the universe that I was in the right place at the right time.
There's
so much I want to say about Sharon Shapiro's paintings (let’s blame the Pisces Mercury
retrograde for my vivid, swimming thoughts). Compelled by both the female figure
and color as subject, Sharon’s paintings ride the line between beautiful,
eerie, and deliciously provocative. The figures are poised yet roiling beneath
the surface, as the chromatic underpainting acts as optical antagonist against the outer layers of paint. Often
including imagery that conjures fairy tales, mythologies and the art historical canon (I'm thinking especially of Manet and Moran here), many
paintings resist easy logic. To me, they feel dreamlike, with narratives that bend and refract through layers
of color within a surreal, constructed environment. Other paintings, like the
fantastic, tongue-in-cheek (tongue-on-axe? ha) Tradwife, are darkly funny. And! As a paint-loving painter, I really
just can't get over the way she applies paint to a surface (I am basically a
gouache on paper addict).
I hope you enjoy Sharon's incredibly thoughtful, contextually rich responses for Short Answer Sunday. For more on Sharon Shapiro, check out her website and follow her on Instagram.
xo, Lauren
Name: Sharon Shapiro Occupation: Artist Astrological data: Pisces sun, Pisces moon, and Cancer ascendant Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia Current location: Charlottesville, VA
Other than Instagram, how do you find new-to-you artists?
I meet a lot of artists going to art openings and/or galleries. I try to
get to New York once a year and I always discover at least a couple of
artists that are new to me. I also frequently go down online rabbit holes.
An artwork that makes you laugh?
Martin Kersels’ ”Twist” (1993), a kinetic sculpture made from rubber bands, a prosthetic leg, wood, a sock and a shoe. His work walks the line between humor and failure/misfortune so well.
Hannah Hoch. Her exploration of gender and media was way ahead of its time.
An artwork that you'd like to live inside for a week?
A painting by Rosson Crow. Her large, exuberant, vivid and stylized interiors and exteriors make me want to dive in and walk around. Her work has enough darkness that I wouldn’t feel out-of-place but the way she handles themes of American history and decay give me joy.
An artist whose work you can't stop thinking about?
Omg, this was the hardest question for me. The list is too long and there is no hierarchy so to name just one feels wrong.
What's your favorite characteristic in an artwork?
The feeling of surprised recognition, when I see something as a viewer that I know but didn’t know that I knew it until I saw it.
Erotic artwork? (editors note: this is a multiple choice question)
Yes: ✅
What's an artwork that doesn't look like art?
Joseph Grigely’s installation “White Noise”, an installation in two huge circular rooms covered in hand-written notes. Each one is an artifact from his life as a deaf person, a piece of paper that someone passed to him in order to communicate.
What is an artwork that you know you shouldn't like, but you do (guilty pleasure)?
“Thérèse Dreaming” (1938) by Balthus. I see it as a young girl who feels so free to be in her own world with her thoughts that she doesn't care that her underwear is showing, and of course I wish it were painted by a woman! (editor's note: love this response so much)
Kara Walker, A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and
overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane
fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the
demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant, 2014 Image Source
Hyphen (1999) by Jenny Saville. I saw it in person in 2009 at the Phillips Collection and it was the most incredible experience I’ve ever had looking at a painting. Very transcendent and spiritual.
What song, book, podcast or film do you think everyone should know about?
The Swimmer (1968) directed by Frank Perry and adapted from the short story by John Cheever. It’s dated, yes, but in the best way (to me). Whether you love it or hate it, it’s 95 minutes that you probably won’t forget.
❤
Sharon Shapiro explores opposing forces in her female-centric, figurative work, balancing the fantastic and the natural, the utopian and the dystopian. Working across diverse media and scales, she sees painting as a cunning vessel for tension and insatiable longing simmering beneath the surface. Recent one and two-person exhibitions include You Kissed Me First at Pollinator Art Space (Atlanta, GA); Déjà View at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, NYC; Then the Dream Changed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (Arlington, VA) and No Man’s Land at Quirk Gallery (Richmond, VA). Group exhibitions include the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Maine Center for Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; the McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA; and Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA. She has been in residence at Ucross, Jentel, Ragdale, The Hambidge Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her practice has received grant support, including two awards from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and she was the recipient of the Atelier Focus Fellowship at AIR SFI in Georgia. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, Whitewall, Art Spiel, Studio Visit, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Kolaj Magazine. Shapiro holds an MFA from the Maine College of Art and a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art.
Find out more about Sharon Shapiro’s work on her website and on Instagram!
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