Brent Birnbaum makes some interesting sculptures. He always has a vast supply of pop cultural ephemera on hand to manipulate into lasting works of art. We caught up with Brent and he agreed to answer all our questions and explain why his girlfriend wasn’t thrilled about his used condom collection.
Kako Ueda makes art using an intricate Japanese style paper-cut technique that many would find in the art of making stencils and Kimonos. A Xacto knife is the instrument of choice for this artist and it’s amazing what can be made using a sharp blade and some paper. Repped by Smack Mellon Gallery, we caught up with intricate paper cutter to find out more about how this mind slicing art that takes on a sort of highly advanced Rorschach test quality. Kako answered all our questions and shows us how to play with cellulose.
“Untitled” | 2006 | 74 x 62 inches | Acrylic on paper
THOMAS QUIGLEY paints big ass paintings. He’s done murals bigger than a box truck and understandably, likes to sell his art by the ounce. Like most artists we interview he’d love to destroy one of Damien Hirst’s creations, but would never harm a museum collection. Thomas almost answered all our questions and showed us some of his super colorful, oversized drippy paintings.
“The Sensation O”
Brian Miller does the unthinkable. He grabs a desktop scanner, takes it off the desktop and transforms it into a digital camera of sorts, actually taking pictures with the damn thing. This is by no means an easy task. Brian tells us that he often burns his eyes for each shot as he has to see where the scanner bar is to predict what he’s going to get. Not only that, but he’s also in constant motion as is his subject. And what you see is what you get since there is no digital post-production manipulation. Don’t try this at home, since you’ll probably end up blind with a broken scanner. Brian agreed to answer all our questions and thinks the best thing about the web is “sexy picture distribution,” you like?
Chrissy Conant is one of those ‘real’ artists. She jumps from medium to medium and never limits herself to one style or process. From her terror threat level for the office to her own brand of caviar her art actually makes you think, question, and do all that other stuff that art is supposed to help your brain do. She also likes bears, gets turned on by kitchen fires, and reads the drudgereport.com. She answers all our questions and discusses her primitive ritualistic art dance.
Jim C. aka James Cornwell might be 50 years old, but his art still attracts the youngins. This artist first started making his work in the East Village in the early 1980′s, back when that area housed afterhours-art galleries, and when the neighborhood was still ripe with burned out cars and junkies. He creates an assortment of work from video art, sculpture, giclee, all which can then be remixed and made into even newer work. Jim C. is looking to sell out but it must be under the right conditions as NYU’s Fales Library can attest to when they offered him 20k for his video art but couldn’t get the contract right. Oh, and Carlo McCormick, you better holler at this guy, he says you owe him something.
PORTRAIT OF ENGIMA III, 2006, Collage, Magic-Sculpt on Aluminum Panel, 36″x36″
Chambliss Giobbi has more than just a cool sounding name. The self admitted stalker is a photo-collage artisan who follows people like Amanda LePore around and fixates on them and distorts them even more than they already are. The collagist answered most of our questions and showcased some work that is both colorfully horrifying, exquisitely deforming, and serves as a perfect way to start off your week.
Scott Machens is one sick, twisted individual so it comes as no surprise that he graduated from NYU Film School. In addition to making AIDS patients get out of their dying beds to see his films, he gets off on hearing the cries of his enemies’ women and making online books. While some artists make art in their studios he prefers a peep show booth, and who needs a gallery space when he’s got a website called Empireofthedamned. So next time you’re feeling horny and sensually religious, log on, open up your browser and visit his newest masterpiece, The Revelation of St. John. And as evil as he might seem and no matter how annoying our questions, he agreed to answer them all and only insult our mothers once.
Jacob Williams stays up late and enters into a trance when he creates his fantasy collages. Although he enjoys his current career he aspires to be “Architect of the Universe,” and gets excited by skinned knees, broken English, and shaking the foundation of your soul with his art. We caught up with the artists and he showed us some of his work and agreed to answer all our questions to the best of his ability.
“Video Stills”
Alexander Reyna is a self-admitted narcissist when it comes to his artwork. He finds inspiration for his work from graffiti, advertising, and other self promotional imagery found on the street as well as TV and of course, video games. In addition to art he’s proficient in finance and calls himself a “gloom financial bear.” But no matter how good the economy is doing or amount of artwork sold, you won’t catch him dead buying one of those fat lady paintings from Botero. He does, however, find rats way underrated and thinks that they can actually be loving, tenacious, and sure to die a horrible cancerous death. Oh, and he once saw an elephant in an African zoo imitate his dad. Welcome to Alexander Reyna’s World.
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