![[Valid RSS]](valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
« TBL (TallBlondLadies): Solidly Grounded | Main | Phoenix Film Critics Society 2007 Awards »
Spraygraphic Interview with Kirk Stoller
By Spraygraphic | December 17, 2007
Spraygraphic Interview with Kirk Stoller
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
KS: I grew up the 5th of 6 children, on a farm outside of Portland, OR. I appreciate the experiences that country living afforded me, but moved to the city at my earliest opportunity. I spent a year of my undergrad studies of French Language in Lyon, France and then moved to the Bay Area after graduation. I am a Program Coordinator for the Office of Continuing Education at City College of San Francisco and received my MFA from UC Berkeley in 2004.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
KS: I, currently, live and work in San Francisco.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
KS: I am predominantly a sculptor, but paint and take photos as well. I am not one of those purists who feel that an artist should stick to one medium in which to work. I’ll use whatever medium the concept in my head requires.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
KS: I tend to think a lot about what it is I want to create before actually creating a piece. It’s important for me to have a particular issue on which I am basing the work. Often I have several sketches outlining what it is I will construct. Once I am actually working with a live piece I might adjust the original idea if the physical nature of the piece requires it…or if I figure out a more concise way to get my intended message across. The key to a successful art piece however is the editing process. This allows me to evaluate whether or not there are redundant elements within the work that might convolute the meaning.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
KS: When ever I experience a creative block I make it a priority to get into the studio every day. I might not get around to physically create something, but it allows me the time to be quiet…sort of meditate on what is going on inside my brain…to decide what thoughts need to be clarified by actually making something. Sometimes when I am in the midst of a dry spell I switch to another medium. For me, the simple act of painting tends to liberate me from any blockage. I might never show anyone these paintings, but they help to get me sculpting again.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
KS: I was just in Los Angeles at the Gordon Matta Clark exhibition. That was inspiring. While in transit I listened to an audio book, “Speaking the Lost Language of God” by Gregg Braden. I want to some how capture the ideas of quantum physics and how we can project the reality we want, into one of my upcoming shows. For the past few months I have been creating small works that require their purchaser to actually reconstruct the piece using hand drawn instructions. I was inspired my by left brain inability to follow the “simple” directions for putting together furniture bought at Ikea. These pieces also question the issue of authorship, as who actually created the piece, me or the person who re-constructed it. Musically I have lately been inspired by listening to two CDs, the Shepherd’s Dog by Iron & Wine and Book of Bad Breaks by Thee More Shallows.
SG: How has your work and subjects change since you first began doing art shows?
KS: My work has completely changed from image oriented identity based work to what I do now, which is abstract and material based. I thank my time at Berkeley for this. I felt that images I was using gave a picture of me (sometimes literally), but they were designed for the viewer to be more passive in their appreciation of them. What I am doing now is trying to conceptually challenge the viewer to confront their notions of art, while physically encroaching on their space as well. In this way the viewer is actually forced to experience the work on a multitude of levels. The work tends to consist of stacked materials with very little if any actual obvious connectors other than gravity. I like the little narratives that laying certain objects next to other objects create.
SG: Can you tell us a little about the aesthetic differences and the artistic choices you make when making a piece like foundation compared to yellow pants.
KS: I find that they are both quite similar. They both use the wall as a support and all the items are constructed by placing various objects upon each other. Of course the idea of balance comes more to the fore front in “untitled (foundation)” simply because the main colorful visual elements are resting on a less substantial but no less important base. The floor in this piece is the source of power. In “untitled (yellow pants)” the visual interest seems to come primarily from the wall (and the items stacked against it). Both pieces are fairly abstract, but with the inclusion of the little boy image into “untitled (yellow pants)” the viewer is given a figurative silhouette as a key to how the work should be read. When I was creating both works however, I was using the same intuitive process of which item to place where.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
KS: I’ve shown my work in various locations around the country from Madison, WI to Shippensburg, PA to Los Angeles, CA. Currently I have two pieces in a group show that is traveling to various venues around the state of Texas over the next two years. Locally I was included in the Gen Arts Emerge show in 2005 and in the Bay Area Currents show at the Oakland Art Gallery in 2006. This past summer I displayed an outdoor sculpture in Albert Park in San Rafael as part of their Artworks Downtown. It was my first foray into the realm of “public art”.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
KS: I currently have a piece in the Little Show at Swarm Studios Gallery near Jack London Square in Oakland and i am the first featured artist for a new on-line small works gallery, Red Cake Gallery, that premieres in December. Ping Pong Gallery in San Francisco has invited me to create an installation in their gallery space that will open December 14th and I’ll also be included in a three person show at the KALA Institute in Berkeley called Casual Labor. It opens in late February of next year.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
KS: My dream art assignment is the next opportunity presented to me in which to show my work. I’d rather concentrate on what is tangible now than what might be available to me in the future. Of course this is not to say that I wouldn’t love to show at the Frieze Fair in London or participate in the Whitney Biennial…or the Venice Biennale for that matter.
SG: What is your favorite color?
KS: My favorite color is probably Burnt Siena, but I like gray as well. Is that a color?
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
KS: My favorite artist is Felix Gonzalez Torres. His work is so simple in construction but very deep in concept. I don’t know anyone else who could get as much emotional reaction from a pile of candy.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
KS: A friend gave me Miranda July’s book of short stories titled “No one belongs here more than you” for my birthday and I need to make time to read it. As for magazines, I read the Matthew Collings article in Modern Painters and a couple of articles in Frieze Magazine this week.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
KS: As I mentioned before, I used to do nothing but self portraits. Many have made it into the collections of friends and family. A few of them I still own and use as reference points for my art as well as my life.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
KS: I really don’t have a favorite place in which to hang out other than my studio, but I do enjoy the atmosphere of Truck and Salsa Sundays at El Rio, both in San Francisco.
SG: Any final words of advice?
KS: If you believe in what you are doing, keep doing it and other will eventually believe in it as well.
ART: 1) foundation, 2) yellow pants, 3) circles, 4) remnants, 5) red, …low&blue, 6) dna
Topics: Artist Interviews |
