6 + 1 Questions with Yasemin Kaçkar-Demirel

I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I sort of expect that most people do, to some degree. The love part of my own relationship with Instagram comes primarily from my connections with other artists. I’m drawn to the generosity of artists who share the bits and pieces of their studio practices, their successes and their failures, the consistency of their work ethic, and the small glimpses into their day-to-day, non-studio lives. I’m well aware of the ability of the grammable image to deceive or to self-mythologize. Instagram, like all things, has changed since I joined in 2014 and the algorithmic suppression of lower-profile, emerging artists is a major disappointment. That said, I am still thankful enough for the relationships that I’ve been able to maintain over the years, as well as the new, online ones that I’ve been lucky to develop.

 

One such artist who keeps my Instagram adoration afloat is the Hudson Valley-based artist, Yasemin Kaçkar-Demirel.  Although we have never met in person, our work has been included in two physical exhibitions together: "18", a group exhibition of 18 abstract artists at the Janice Charach Gallery in suburban Detroit AND "Painting at Night", organized by Artist/Mother Podcast and juried by my friend (and phenomenal artist) Allison Reimus. I was immediately smitten with Kaçkar-Demirel’s ability to work with a variety of two- and three-dimensional materials (oil paint, embroidery, insulation foam, yarn, etc., etc.) while maintaining her own consistent voice and vision. The irregular, highly specific shapes within her abstractions bring to mind land masses, geographical boundaries and islands. Her work, however, resists many boundaries within traditional painting and incorporates chance as part of her making process. Kaçkar-Demirel often uses found materials and accidental stains, the detritus and residual marks of the painting practice, as a means of reflecting on the mutability of natural and human-made landscapes.

 

In the interview below, Kaçkar-Demirel discusses both Susanna Clarke’s 2020 novel, Piranesi, as well as the novel’s eponym, the 18^th century, Italian artist and architect, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Known for his layered etchings of inescapable, imagined prisons, Pirenesi’s interior worlds border on abstraction. We lose the ability to discern direction. Conventional depictions of reality crumble. In "Two dots or lavender clouds", one of Kaçkar-Demirel’s more frenetic, mixed-media works, I feel immersed in the same sort of disorienting un-reality evoked by Clarke’s novel and Piranesi’s prison etchings. The linear, embroidered paths lead my eye around the surface, diligently mapping both the stains and deliberately applied areas of paint. The tracks seem to weave and retrace their steps, linking explosions of paint, cyanotype prints and areas of camouflaged stitching.  In spite of the crystallographic balance, the elements push centrifugally outward, bending and distorting the edges with their delicate and persistent force.

 

Through July 17, 2024, you can find Kaçkar-Demirel’s work in ‘Scapes, a group show at Elisa Contemporary Art gallery in Riverdale, NY. She will also have work included in Peep Space’s 2024-2025 Flat Files program, with an opening exhibition in Fall 2024. Kaçkar-Demirel will be spending the summer in Bodrum, Turkiye where she will develop and experiment with mixed media works on paper, involving relief structures, blockprints and cyanotypes.

 

Thank you, Yasemin, for your generous and insightful responses and your willingness to share a peek into your studio practice. Here’s to an in-person meeting at some point in the future!🍻

Yasemin Kaçkar-Demirel, Leap island, 2022, fragment of paint palette, insulation foam, modeling compound, acrylic and oil paint, 8 x 9 x 1 1/8 inches

1. What’s your sign? If you are astrologically inclined, feel free to give your Sun/Moon/Rising. Do you identify with the characteristics of your sign(s)?

Both my Sun and Rising sign are Sagittarius. My Moon sign is Aquarius. I do identify with their characteristics in the sense that I consider myself free-spirited and try to avoid getting tangled in possessive relationships or restrictive environments. I have a curious nature, a love for learning new things, and eclectic interests. I enjoy traveling and exploring places, as well as testing materials and taking risks in my studio. While I generally have a joyful and lively disposition, there is also an introverted, introspective side of me that is very emotion and intuition driven. I feel quasi-comfortable within groups or crowds, and definitely prefer more intimate, one on one interactions. I like to think of myself as being quite observant and I enjoy listening rather than talking. I have a highly romantic side too but in a very down-to-earth kind of way.

 

Yasemin Kaçkar-Demirel, Wonder of a ruin, 2024, oil on oil paper, 12x 9 inches

2. What is your morning routine?

I have to say that I do not follow a strict routine. It tends to change frequently especially depending on the season. But a typical morning involves preparing my son for school and after sending him off, I brew some coffee. I briefly check my e-mails and Instagram. I take some time to greet the nature outside of my window. I pick a poetry book from my library and read at random, taking notes of any verses that resonate with me. I also recently began practicing meditation with an online community in real time. After it ends, I step in to my studio which is in the basement of my home. I start by spending some time planning my tasks for the day, and organizing the physical space. I make dance movements and stretch my body. Depending on the season, I incorporate outside walks to my morning-to-noon routine as well.

Yasemin Kaçkar-Demirel, Two dots or lavender clouds, 2022, paint stains and paint residues, hand embroidery, cyanotype on fabric, dye, on found textile

3. Have you ever cried in front of an artwork? If so, what was it?

 

I cannot think of a time that I cried, but I do get chills, teary-eyed or awestruck very frequently when I view artworks. Some specific moments stand out, especially from my youth. The first one might be a cliché for some, but the first ever artwork I remember that astonished me was Michaelangelo’s fresco in The Sistine Chapel. I was in middle school, visiting Italy with my mother. Seeing the figures so masterfully executed on the ceiling had a profound impact on me then. I wanted to reach out to the ‘Hands of God and Adam’. I was drawn to the delicacy, fragility and emotion of the hand gesture. Likewise, seeing the similar effect on the Pietá sculpture, the marble absorbing and projecting the emotion of grief and compassion was equally thrilling. Another memory is when I had visited the archeological site of the ancient city of Ephesus near Izmir, Turkiye. Walking on the marble stones on the site, the statues, the amphitheater, the infamous façade of the library and the promenade of columns have since been feeding my fascination with structural remnants and interest in transformation, bridging the past and the future by making art in the present moment. One last memory I would like to mention was on the very first day I entered my alma mater Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul as an undergraduate student. I was teary-eyed seeing the sunlight shine on the replica of the Hellenistic statue of Niké, known as the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Yasemin Kaçkar-Demirel, Décollage, 2023, oil and oil stick on linen, 16 x 12 inches

4. What are you reading now? (You can also include what you’ve read lately, as well as what you are listening to, watching, etc.)

 

I am currently reading Piranesi, by Susanne Clarke. I was intrigued by its title because I love Piranesi’s architecture drawings and especially his series of intricate etchings called Carceri (prisons). Hence, I am quite attracted to the novel’s utopic labyrinth like setting, perhaps an island with its layered structure, halls full of statues, water flowing throughout and vestibules. The mysterious plot where new characters emerge through a quest for a ‘distributary’ world, sustains my interest. Before this book, I listened to the audiobook of A Wizard of Earthsea, the first one in a series by Ursula Le Guin, which, similar to Piranesi, followed a character’s quest to attain magic through journeys to various islands. I tend to forget the details of what I read over time, but a quote, a feeling or a description of a setting generally stays with me. Currently, I am also listening to the audiobook of Life with Picasso by Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake. I find Gilot’s insightful account of their complex relationship with Picasso and conversations about paintings and processes within their circuit of prominent art figures interesting and useful. I have the hard copy as well but since I am a slow reader I gain more momentum by listening to the audiobook.

As for music, I am presently listening to Erlend Oye’s new album La Comitiva, Céu and the new single Like I say (I runaway) by Nilufer Yanya.

5.  Tell us four truths about yourself and one lie:

             

a. I sometimes dance in my head as if I am creating a mental choreography
b. I am left-handed but I recently became aware that I have a better tendency to dribble basketball and iron with my right hand.          .    
c. When I was in college in Istanbul, I sang ‘It is only a Paper Moon’ at a jazz music festival.       
d. I love wall tennis and paddle boarding.           
e. I prefer text messaging or facetiming rather than talking on the phone.

 

Yasemin Kaçkar-Demirel, Autumnal ascend, 2023, yarn and vinyl paint on monk’s cloth, 25 x 20 inches

 

6. This is the wild card question. What do you listen to in the studio? Does what you’re listening to change the way that you make your work?

 

I strongly believe that all I hear, see, listen to or experience have their way of seeping into my work. The music I listen to depends largely on my mood and the kind of mediums and process I am engaged with in the studio. While I cannot say that listening to music changes my work in a concrete and representational way, listening to a variety of genres certainly inspires me to save my paint palettes and paint rags to use them as a source to generate collages, blockprints, sculptures and textile works. Similar to noticing variations of sounds, harmonies, melody and rhythm in music, I regard my painting practice as a conduit of possibilities expanding in tandem with a multitude of mediums. When I am painting with oils, I tend to listen to instrumental music or with minimal lyrics, such as jazz, opera, classical or indie/electronic and ambient music, to cultivate concentration. For this purpose, I prefer rhythmic, improvisational or repetitive tunes.

At other times, I simply prefer the sound of silence, or some tunes intrinsically pop up in my head and I find myself listening to them while painting. When I am making mixed media drawings or collages, I choose songs with lyrics which can be very eclectic, from Brit Pop to Radiohead. When I am doing mostly slower paced or rhythmically repetitive tasks like priming or shaping a sculpture, rughooking or embroidery, I pick podcasts, audiobooks, and talk shows in English and in Turkish on Youtube. Some favorite podcasts are Ariacode, On Being, Poetry Unbound and Sound and Vision.

I also like listening to interpretations of well-known pieces such as Pink Martini’s take on Ravel’s Bolero or Jacques Louissier’s take on Bach suites. Growing up in Istanbul, I acquired an affinity to a wide range of musical genres including nostalgic French and Italian songs, musicals, jazz, and classical music, as well as Turkish music from Alaturka to pop. While listening to music, I feel as though a sound space gets transmitted to my painting. This space releases an atmospheric quality inviting me into a subconscious state similar to the structural cues and traces of places I observed transform and dissolve into what I call a beyond space. I have been thinking about this beyond space lately, where remains of places dissipate, memories wilt, end and begin again, continue as angles, lines, gestures, as a new realm within sea, sky and land. By maneuvering the paint through sound and intuition, I observe the work becoming a welcoming container to what arises. I love this aspect of abstraction in music and in painting coinciding, proposing open-ended directions, sensations and unleashing obscurity for the work.  Aside from sound and rhythm, a lyric or a verse in a song or poem can evoke a feeling that I contemplate which can later end up as a title to a work.

 

7. What other artist(s) would you like to see answer these questions?

 

Sarah Arriagada, Seher Erdogan, Niki Kriese, Ashley Garret, Melissa Capasso.

 

Born in Istanbul in 1978, Kackar-Demirel received her MFA from Northern Illinois University, and her BFA from Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, Turkiye. She has had solo exhibitions at The Yard: City Hall Park, (NYC), Mooney Center Gallery of The College of New Rochelle, (NY), C.A.M. Gallery, (Istanbul, Turkey), Courthouse Gallery of Lake George Arts Project, (Lake George, NY), and McLean County Arts Center, (Bloomington, IL), including her virtual exhibition with Laura A. Sprague Gallery of Joliet Junior College, (Joliet, IL), among other venues. Her works have been exhibited in group shows across the United States as well as internationally in Turkey, Italy, Israel and including KinoSaito in Verplanck, NY, the High Line Nine Galleries in NYC with Visionary Projects and at Ortega y Gasset Projects in Brooklyn, NY. She attended the residency programs at The Bischhoff Inn in Tamaqua, PA, School Of Visual Arts in NYC and AreaOdeon in Monza, Italy. She is a recipient of Moon and Stars Project’s Exhibition Award. Her work has been featured in various catalogs and periodicals including Friend of the Artist, Dovetail, New American Paintings, New Visionary Magazine and Fresh Paint and was included in the online curated registries of The Drawing Center, All She Makes and in the Flat File 2021 Program at Collar Works. She lives and works in Lower Hudson Valley, New York.

@yaseminkackardemirel
www.yaseminkackar.com

All images courtesy of the artist.

6 + 1 Questions with Taylor Sizemore

Taylor Sizemore is a painter with an affinity for photographic practices. Her painted still lifes allude to the image as source and include all manner of arrangements of symbolic paraphernalia. Their contemporary significance, though, does not prevent them from engaging with traditional still life themes. Like the still life paintings adorning ancient Egyptian tombs and 17^th century Dutch vanitas paintings, Sizemore’s paintings explore the material of daily life, the pleasures (and excesses) of living and the fundamental constraints of time and death. Sizemore's use of these conceptual contrasts evokes both Venusian and Saturnian attributes. The archetype of Venus represents sex, love, decadence and living in the moment, whereas Saturn calls forth the limits and the boundaries, time and death. We can over-indulge in the moment, but we may pay for it later.

Where I think these paintings depart from tradition is in Sizemore’s ability to mine and mimic social media for compositional choices and subject matter. In doing so, she examines authenticity against performative aspects of our self-mythologizing, online identities. The paintings (and their caption-like titles) are funny, acerbic and sassy. A darker reality often hovers beyond the edges. In The Other Side of Paradise, an unpretentious heap of modern bounty spews across the surface. The poolside is a stage for an orchestrated mess of Cheetos, a partially peeled orange, and a coyly placed bikini top. As in most still lifes, the human owner of these consumables is absent. The ghost of High Fidelity whispers in my ear, "...what’s really important is what you like, not what you’re like."  This is a still life, but it could also be a portrait.

Taylor is my first former Longwood student to complete her MFA in Painting! What makes this even cooler, is that she also attended my own alma mater, American University. You can see Taylor Sizemore’s work in person at her upcoming MFA Thesis show Surface Tension: the visible and the hidden, in the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC. The Opening Reception is on April 6th at 5:30 PM and open through May 19th. Look out for an accompanying catalog with an essay, On the Threshold, written by Marcu Civin, which will also be available soon on East City Art.

 

💟🪴☠🌈Thank you, Taylor, for sharing your work and studio practice with us! Congratulations from all of us at Art Habit!🌈☠🪴💟

Taylor Sizemore, The Other Side of Paradise, 2022, Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

1.  What’s your sign? If you are astrologically inclined, feel free to give your Sun/Moon/Rising. Do you identify with the characteristics of your sign(s)?

I am a Leo, born just after midnight on my mother's (and her identical twin’s) birthday.

Sun, Leo. Moon, Leo. Haha! and I’m not sure about my rising. I’m not astrologically inclined but I have friends that are, and I always find it insanely interesting and pretty spot on.

Confident, charismatic, creative, direct, strong, tenacious.
Stubborn, laid back or languid, and indulgent, with expensive taste.

I like working hard in long stints for focused sections of time, and then being playful and indulgent and relaxed, a compartmentalization of time, if you will. Similar to the lion.

 

Taylor Sizemore, Where Are You Running?, 2024, Oil on canvas, 42.5 x 32.5 inches

2.  What is your morning routine?

It depends on the season!

But I hate to end the day and end up working late, into the morning (especially lately), so I prefer to wake a little later if the day allows it – maybe around 9:00, if I have somewhere to be.

I’ll make an americano and take our dog Trace for a walk. She is a Chesapeake bay retriever and full of energy. Sometimes she gets me out of bed.

I always make a priority list the night before so that I know what I’m doing the next day (I like to dilly dally and get distracted easily). I have notebooks full of lists. Along with journal entries and things. I do decide as  little as possible in the morning so I always try to lay out clothes and pack a lunch the night before.

As it stands currently, I get ready and dressed and head to the studio at school about 4 days a week. I’m currently in the second year of my MFA at American [University]. The first year I lived up the street and walked to the studio most days. This year I’m about an hour and 20 commute each way – living in the suburbs of Virginia… Oh the things you do for Love! It’s hard, but well worth it to come home to Joe after a long day.

I use the time in the car to listen to podcasts or books on tape, or blast music to get in the groove.
If I don’t have class, and I’m not TA-ing, I work from the home studio. Which is nice, it allows for slower mornings and some housekeeping and emails.

3. Have you ever cried in front of an artwork? If so, what was it?

Ah, yes! It’s kinda cheesy but it was the first time I had really been to a large contemporary art museum, MoMA, and my first visit to New York City. It was the summer before I started my BFA at Longwood.

I say cheesy because it was Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso.

I sat in front of it for probably 20 minutes and had the singular tear or two roll down my face.

I was 24 and had lofty romantic ideas of what it meant to be a painter (I still prescribe to this to a certain extent) and the idea of ‘the muse’ (I am much more educated and conflicted …It’s complicated).

I think it was the sheer size of the work, the color and invention, the persona and drama, and seeing the texture and movement on the surface. It was such a spectacle.

 

Taylor Sizemore, My Boyfriend Planted Flowers For Me in His Garden; It Was Pornographic, 2022, Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches

4.  What have you read (or listened to) lately that might be beneficial for other artists?

I’m not all the way through it yet… but I pick up this book anytime I’m stuck in my practice. It’s a great tool to think and write specifically about your work, and it inspires and invigorates me to get moving in the studio.

It’s titled Mapping: the Intelligence of Artistic Work by Anne West

I “borrowed” it from my ceramics professor and artist, Adam Paulek. I do intend to eventually return it to him and get my own copy.

I highly recommend it. Useful for the longevity of any artistic practice.

  Taylor Sizemore, slutty little oranges, 2023, oil on canvas, 42.5 x 32.5 inches

5.  Tell us four truths about yourself and one lie:

a.     I was a competitive athlete and held  a world record in jump rope at age 9.

b.     If I wasn’t an artist, I would want to be an actress.

c.      I have 2 titanium rods and 13 titanium clamps attached to my spine and part of my spine is fused together with bone fragments.

d.     I drive a manual transmission (stick shift) and always have.

e.     I am ambidextrous due to a roller skating accident.

Taylor Sizemore, Familiar Patterns, 2023, Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches

6. This is the wild card question. I know that you are a big reader. What character in a book do you most relate to and why?

I struggled with this question. But my immediate thought went to the narrator of Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palaniuk. Though I would say I connected to the character more when I originally read it, because of my life at the time. It was after my 5th or 6th surgery to remove a breast tumor(s). And I was fat and depressed.

The narrator spills the story of self discovery, and trauma, and being beautiful, through spliced sequences of time. The ideas of presentation, attention, being othered - invisible -,desire and fear, and the detailed descriptions of objects and brands and what they say about the characters that habit them.

It’s dramatic, grotesque, and oddly inspirational.

It describes the dramas of our everyday lives – in a really high key way.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book are:

“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.”

“When you understand, that what you're telling is just a story. It isn't happening anymore. When you realize the story you're telling is just words, when you can just crumble up and throw your past in the trashcan, then we'll figure out who you're going to be.”

I love dark humor and social commentary.

I like books about why people are the way they are.

Another favorite of mine by Palaniuk is Fight Club. I’m a big fan, I’ve read 9 of his books.

 

Taylor Sizemore, Lucky Charms, 2023, Acrylic on paper, 14 x 11 inches

 

7. What other artist(s) would you like to see answer these questions?

I would be interested to see my professional practices professor, Danielle Mysliwiec, answer these questions.

Or some of my colleagues: Marie B Gauthiez or Pooja Campbell (I think you especially would love both of these women)!

 

 

Taylor Sizemore’s artistic practice is a contemporary twist on the still life genre. Using memories, objects and patterns she describes a life lived from her perspective through rhythm and opacity in paint. Sizemore has familial roots in the small coal mining town of Grundy, Virginia and grew up in Okinawa, Japan. She currently resides in the suburbs outside of Washington, DC. Sizemore graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in painting and drawing and a minor in art history at Longwood University. During her time in Farmville, she worked as an artist assistant and exhibited at galleries including the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts and the Bedford Gallery, where she received first place for a photography narrative included in the exhibition “Art and the Archives”.  In 2023 Sizemore was contracted by the National Gallery of Art for events including “Homegrown” and “Poetry is a Country”, and was a recipient of the Carol Bird Ravenal Art Award for artistic research. Most recently, Sizemore co-curated “Holding Hands, Holding Space'' at the Katzen Art Center, an MFA invitational exhibition fostering care and community among artists. She has also exhibited with The Valdosta National (GA), Sitar Art Center (DC), and Goodwin House (VA). Sizemore has works on paper and prints hosted at Transformer Gallery in Adams Morgan (DC). Her work resides in personal collections across the country, in Berlin, and Japan. Sizemore is currently working on her Master of Fine Arts Fellowship and graduate assistantship at American University.

www.taylorsizemorestudio.com
IG @taysize

All images courtesy of the artist. 

 

6 + 1 Questions with Austin Brady

Sometime in the 90's, when I was a kid, my dad decided that he would build a platform structure for my brother and I on the wooded hill behind our house. From what I remember, it was meant to be some sort of wooden deck for a tent, an outdoor area for my brother and I to play camping. The job was started, but then slowly and imperceptibly abandoned. I was given no rationale, nor did I ask for one. The reminder of this failed endeavor remained in the back yard for years--the stacked cinder block foundation, a monument to projects left undone. Now, as an adult and a parent, I can think of about a million solid reasons why one might ditch an uneccessary project. To his credit, my brilliant, funny and thoughtful father also successfully completed many household jobs. However, this is the memory that comes to my mind when I reflect on Austin Brady's work, likely pulled forth by his body of work’s compelling title, “No Dads No Masters”.

There is a haphazard, mutable quality to Austin's work, although decidedly different than my dad's abandoned project. For one, Austin's work is complete, though perhaps not in the way a layperson might anticipate. Secondly, Austin’s various states of (in)completion are an intentional conceptual choice. Great care is put into his application of various methods and techniques. In one sculpture, Flail, Austin leaves visible the lumber grade stamp on a mass produced 2 x 4. This exposure is in contrast to a neighboring trompe l'oeil hole within which we glimpse painted Skeletors in a dark, cartoon world. In another sculpture, a modern-day Excalibur is adorned with truck balls and protrudes from an orange Home Depot bucket, its blade stuck and useless in what appears to be cement.

In addition to complicating the hierarchy between high and low art practices, Austin’s work invites a playful breakdown between fantasy and convention. An ordinary work space, such as the garage, becomes a place where magic can happen. The paintings and sculptures flip flop between functional and decorative, as I sift through a multitude of possible masculine gender roles. Some are problematic and stereotypical, while others are funny, nostalgic, vulnerable and unexpected.

I'll end on a synchronicity. As I am writing, I am listening to a recent Astrology Podcast ep called "Unshaming the Signs". When speaking about Gemini, astrologer Britten LaRue indicates that Gemini's tendency toward distraction has important benefits. Maybe each so-called distraction gives us something we need at a given moment. Maybe we aren't meant to finish every task. 

A thousand thank-you’s to Austin for sharing such thoughtful responses to my questions and for providing generous insight into his work, process and habits.  You can find more about Austin Brady and his work on his website: www.austin-brady.com and on Instagram @_wolfprison_

*☿*☽*☉ Bonus Astrology PSA ☉*☾*☿* I am not an astrologer, but after listening to hundreds of hours of The Astrology Podcast (plus extra cred for reading Chris Brennan’s 700-page book Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune), I am at least entitled to play one on this blog. Most people are familiar with sun-sign astrology, which is the zodiacal sign of the sun at the time of your birth.  Each of us, though, has an entire birth chart, which represents the placement of all of the planets in the sky (as well as other important astrological points) at the time of birth. In our natal charts, each person has a section (aka a ‘House’) for each of the 12 zodiacal signs. This means that we are all a little bit Gemini, babes. So, if you take astrology seriously enough to malign a sign, remember that every sign provides you with a different set of ways to exist in the world and is also, in some way, a part of you.

Enjoy! xoxo

1. What’s your sign? If you are astrologically literate, feel free to give your Sun/Moon/Rising. Do you identify with the characteristics of your sign(s)?

It’s pretty funny, I get this question almost every semester as a professor and I always tell my inquiring students to guess based on my personality. They usually get it wrong 5-7 times before they land on Gemini. When I confirm they are always like “uhggg, of COURSE you are a Gemini”

My mom was always very into astrology, and so I know a bit about it, but not a ton. I wanted to do a little research and found out my moon is Pisces and my rising is Leo.

I suppose I do identify with some of the characteristics, which I see as this kind of gazing pool, or like the Studiolo in the Ducal Palace. Just this big mesh to catch and organize all these insecurities and indecisions. It’s helpful to have some external source that can assign meaning and direction to all the chaos. 

2. What is your morning routine?

I am so bad at routine, hahaha. I find myself getting off task pretty easily. It’s kind of goofy, but I need a checklist to direct myself and show myself that I am actually accomplishing things. It is usually: brush teeth, wash face, take meds, feed the boys (our cats), make an improvised breakfast out of whatever we have in the fridge, listen to the news while I cook, and do whatever chores my partner and I have talked about the night before. If it is a day that I teach, I always leave extra early to go down to Milwaukee Cafe so that I can get a coffee with oat milk and vanilla cardamom syrup (shout out to Vern, a good friend and the best barista in Detroit) and then I walk from the cafe to campus and do all of my prep before class.

Before I say this, I have to acknowledge that, yes, I know he is problematic, but there is a thing that I watched about Tom Sachs where he practices “output before input” where you are supposed to draw or sketch or dance or whatever before you scroll your phone or listen to the news. I am so bad at this, but sometimes I can commit for few days at a time and it always comes out good. I really need an old-fashioned alarm clock so I don’t touch my phone first thing in the morning, otherwise I am in bed for an embarrassingly long amount of time just scrolling. 

3. Have you ever cried in front of an artwork? If so, what was it?

Absolutely. Every time I even talk about Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres I start to weep. It is so simple, and tender, and the feeling of loss… enjoying these small little bits of sweetness while the body diminishes. There is no greater love letter in the world. There are definitely others. I don’t shy away from being moved by artwork, but this one has made me cry pretty much every time. 

4. What are you reading now?

I have been reading a lot of sci-fi/fantasy with my partner. I know I should be reading more theory and whatnot but N.K. Jemisin has a chokehold on me. I read her Broken Earth trilogy and I was just hooked. I am a quarter of the way through The Shadowed Sun. So good. 

I am also reading The Wound is (Not) Real: A Memoir by Marty Cain, which is this absolutely beautiful and haunting book of poetry that are spliced with QR code’s that you scan for these short videos. I picked it up at this local book store (another shout out to Book Suey in Hamtramck) and I read about 3 lines of a random poem and practically ran to the register to buy it. It hurts my heart in all the right ways.

5. Tell us four truths about yourself and one lie (in any order, just don’t divulge which is the lie!):

a. I was once ran over by a car while biking to an interview and still showed up to the interview, on time, and in the back of a cop car
b. I once ran out of D-rings when prepping for an exhibition and ended up stapling pop tabs to the back of my art as a quick fix (and still get teased about it)
c. I have a casting of Vin Diesel’s real face in my studio that I talk to some times
d. I once mistook a sculpture at the MOCAD for my partner of 13 years. Even put my arm around its waist and got yelled at by security.
e. Coming up with truths about myself is a hell of a lot harder than coming up with the lie.

6. This is the wild card question. Your work often includes unusual, non-art materials that are in conversation with traditional oil paintings. Can you talk about the symbolic value of the materials you use? How and where do you find your materials?

There were quite a few processes that happened simultaneously in my practice that felt very important to this transformation. The big one is that I began to consider a painting as an object with an image on it rather than the traditional “portal” that depicts a scene. It is this funny punishment to painting. It started by leaning paintings against the wall rather than hang them in order to take them down a notch. When I did start hanging paintings on the wall, I would stack things on top of them to turn them into these really dumb shelves where I could just put knick knacks and empty beer cans onto. They are receptacles for the runoff of life. They get all gunked up.   

I am also in love with flatbed paintings and the way they could organize information free of physics. Things feel like they are always subject to change. I slowly shifted into the vernacular of the “garage,” letting it become a mythical site in which these paintings live. The organizational logic of garage pegboard worked in the same way that flatbed painting does. Here are these images and objects that are essentially tools of identity (more specifically white midwestern masculine identity in my work) that I can take off the wall, use, and put back when I no longer need them. Mounting swords or truck nuts onto the paintings felt as natural to painting as using the color red or using a certain brush. It also confused and frustrated some of my grad school professors, which I loved.

I source the materials from all sorts of places. Most of the weapons I get from flea markets when I can, or source online if I am looking for something very specific. Some of the objects are casts, such as the silicone D20s I use. Others are sourced from vintage shops or resale stores. I just picked up this resin “floating beer bottle” sculpture from a vintage shop that has got to make an appearance soon.

7. What other artist(s) would you like to see answer these questions?

I love Kyle Koguts work. I did a duo show with him a few years back at KO gallery and I think he would be great

Kristina Sheufelt would also be great. They have an insane body of work that spans ecological and technological realms that it just jaw dropping

Oh, and Kara Güt! Killer artist. Everything that they do just keeps getting impossibly better and better.

© Jeff Cancelosi 2022

Austin Brady was born in the cold midwestern town of Gaylord, Michigan and lived the majority of his life in the Detroit area. He received his BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan with a concentration in painting, and received his MFA in Painting from the University of Notre Dame with a minor in Gender Studies. He is also an alum of the Redbull House of Art residency, and has been exhibiting nationally, including the South Bend Museum of Art, Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame, Field Projects, Vantage Art Projects, and KO studio gallery. He currently resides in Detroit with his loving partner Lyndsay, and his dumb cats Renaissance and Goose. He enjoys cheeseburgers, Dungeons & Dragons, and music most would consider aggressive and unlistenable.

www.austin-brady.com

All images of artwork courtesy of the artist.