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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Mary Fleener
By Spraygraphic | March 19, 2008
Spraygraphic Interview with Mary Fleener
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
MF: I see things the way they are, and I don’t mind saying so. People who make me laugh are my friends. I like to tell stories, so that’s why I’m a cartoonist, and ever since I was a kid I’ve always enjoyed making things. I’m also a musician, and so is my husband. In the last 10 years, I’ve become quite active in local politics, and as a result, I’ve started writing articles for blogs and papers…I’ve found I have a knack for writing this sort of thing. I try to evoke the spirit of Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks in each and every observation I make. I was always doing that in my comics, but just in a different way. I like being a guerrilla provocateur. I agree with whomever said, “Religion is the opiate of the masses”.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
MF: Leucadia, California. It’s probably the LAST beach town in California that isn’t visually blighted by strip mall character. I work at home…I have a little studio shed where I draw, but I still like painting on the living room table. My studio has no phone, no computer, no electronic gizmos.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
MF: A bunch of stuff… For comic art, just ink on Bristol board. I use acrylics on canvas for my paintings, but oils on black velvet. I also love ceramics, so I have a wheel outside, and a kiln that fires up to Cone 10 (2300 degrees!).
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
MF: Sometimes it is so easy. Other times, it is really hard to get motivated. You have to have confidence and be brave. I imagine a lot of ideas when I’m lying in bed, trying to sleep. I try to envision or “see” them in either a singular image, like if I’m working on a painting or an illustration job, but if it’s a comic story, I “see” the story like a film. I haven’t read any of those books on “visualization”, it just sort of happens, and then it kinda takes off. I especially rake myself over the coals if it’s an autobiographical story I’m writing. Eventually, I will do a rough in a sketch book and think about it. Sometimes, I think about stuff for years.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
MF: I walk for hours. I go to thrift stores, antiques malls. I’m serious, even though the items in those places are over priced, and, (usually), restored, I love looking at old things. Right now I’m working on a broken tile mural on the front of my house. I haven’t been very motivated this winter. This is kinda psyching me up.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
MF: Sometimes I’ll hear a phrase on TV or radio and it sparks an idea. I’m always interested in illustrators, and the things they think up. Those big thick illustration books you get at the art store are amazing.
SG: Do you remember your first Black Velvet painting? What was it and how did you come to paint on that surface?
MF: The first one I did was an abstract figure I called “Nude With Relic”. I used acrylic paint and the fabric soaked up the paint so fast, I was brushing back and forth…back and forth, and actually scraped some of the fuzzy black stuff off! Then, I woke up the next morning and practically all the color had disappeared and soaked into the fabric. I had to apply the color 4 or 5 times. That’s when I switched to oils, and never used acrylic again. The oil paint simply “sits” on the fibers and doesn’t soak in cuz it’s not water-based. I ended up doing a SECOND “Nude With Relic”. The people who bought the first one, love it, but when I go to their house, I can hardly stand to look at it…I see so many flaws.
SG: Can you please tell us about your contribution to Hotwire Comics: Vol. #2.
MF: I have 2 color pages. They are these paintings I’m working on right now called “Our Ladies”. One is “Our Lady of Apocalyptic Fixation” and the other one is “Our Lady of Uninterrupted Munitions”. I also wrote and drew a 10 page black and white comic story in there called “Niacin”. It’s about going on a blind date with this guy who doses me with PCP and the comedy of errors that takes place as I spend hours higher than a kite, and not enjoying the experience very much.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
MF: Lots of anthologies like Weirdo, Rip Off Comics, Wimmen’s, Tits ‘n’ Clits, Twisted Sisters, Drawn and Quarterly, Roadstrips, and Heavy Metal. I had a solo title called Slutburger, and did an Eros comic called Nipplez ‘n’ Tum Tum. I have a book called LIFE OF THE PARTY, that is a collection of my autobiographical stories. I just had a painting in a show that was a tribute to Alex Steinweiss, the guy who invented album cover art in the 40s’, so I did a portrait of The Temptations and riffed on his style.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
MF: In January 2009, “The Beats-a graphic history” will be published by Hill and Wang. I did a 4 page story about the poet Diane DiPrima. I’m a regular contributor to the best zine right now, MINESHAFT. I’m currently writing stories for a graphic novel for Fantagraphics. My idea is to do animal stories that aren’t exactly uplifting, like accidentally drowning the family parakeet when I was a kid. In March 2008, I will have two of my ceramics masks exhibited at the 11th annual “Everything But The Kitschen Sync” show at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in LA.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
MF: If someone asked, (and paid well), me to do a dozen portraits of the jazz greats…Coltrane, Miles, Monk, etc. I’d love to do a CD cover for Little Richard.
SG: What is your favorite color?
MF: Amethyst
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
MF: Robert Crumb because not only did he take comics to another direction but what he has to say about the human condition is spot on. His drawing ability just keeps getting better, so it’s inspiring to see him evolve and improve. He is the bridge between fine art and comics. I would compare him to Frank Zappa, too. They were both the voice of reason when it came to the Hippie Movement, and there was a lot of hypocrisy hat needed to be addressed, like the sexist behavior of the so-called “freaks”.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
MF: Yeah, this week! I read a lot. I just got my new copy of FORTEAN TIMES, and I just finished “It Ain’t Easy”, the biography of Long John Baldry. I’m still reading my VANITY FAIR, and tonight I may start on “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” by Rajiv Cahndrasekaran.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
MF: Only this one that I’m sending you.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
MF: My yard. I like to plant things, and I have a very cool garden. Ponds, and vegetable plots, fruit trees, a compost heap. It’s divided into 6 sections, so each area has it’s own zone. It’s a lot of work, but it’s my “gym”.
SG: Any final words of advice?
MF: Take it from me: I’ve tried to do art that “conforms” to what I thought would be the best way to get a grade or make a sale or get in a gallery, that is POISON to me. So for many years, I didn’t do art AT ALL. In fact, I told people I wasn’t an artist. I was 33 when I decided that comix would be cool to do because I can draw, but at the same time, I could express myself and make a statement through my writing. Push some buttons and speak the truth. So I set out to do the comics I wanted to do, and paint the stuff I wanted to paint and write about things I thought were worthy of telling. Robert Crumb gave me the best advice in the first letter he wrote me: “Fleener, draw it the way YOU want it to look.” This is the only way you can create something that is ORIGINAL. You may not be the best or the worst, but if you’re original, people will notice.
ART: 1. Red Hair Tiki Girl, 2. Fixation, 3. Munitions, 4. Other Women 1, 5. Other Women 2, 6. Temptations, 7. Black Face, 8. Skull Face, 9. Fleener Face
Topics: Artist Interviews, Paintings, Women Art |
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