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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Val Britton
By Spraygraphic | May 27, 2009
Spraygraphic Interview with Val Britton
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
VB: I’m an artist originally from the East Coast currently living in the Bay Area. Over the last few years I’ve been working on an ongoing series of multi-layered works on paper that draw on the language of maps. The impetus for this work was my curiosity about and longing to connect to my father who was a cross-county truck driver. Using road maps of the U.S. as source material, I fragment, layer, and re-imagine these routes in an effort to synthesize elements of beauty, fragility, and chaos and to communicate something that is emotional and authentic. Since my works are unplanned, I work in an exploratory mode, using the abstract space of the map as a pliable structure for intuition, improvisation, and chance. Spending time constructing the small parts that accumulate to create a large work, I find a meditative possibility in working with my hands, creating a closeness and depth of value for me. This handmade element of craft in my work indicates evidence of the hand, allowing for the beauty of imperfection. Using hand-cut paper shapes as collage material and cutting into the ground paper brings the drawings into a sculptural space that hovers between two- and three-dimensions. Currently I’m interested in pushing my use of abstraction to defy a concrete, physical space and to push the emotional impact that can be created through this material exploration. I always come back to mapping, and how it serves as a metaphor for searching, an implication of the unknown in wide, open spaces, and a trace of how we see where we’ve been.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
VB: Berkeley, California.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
VB: I work on paper with collage, drawing, cutting, and painting with gouache and ink.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
VB: I have a hard time describing my process because it is so intuitive. I tend to accumulate materials that I’ve made (collage pieces, painted bits, vintage papers) and sort them out as I’m making a piece, deciding through trial and error what will work. I usually start by sketching in pencil and projecting parts of maps that I collect or sections of drawings and ink paintings that I’ve made from old photographs. Most of my work evolves organically as I’m working with my materials, and each decision leads to the next. I love working with paper and using it feels very natural to me. It has so much potential for texture, layering, and accepting many kinds of painted and drawn marks. Sometimes I like to work in a series because it allows me to take one idea and expand it in different directions to explore different possibilities.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
VB: I work on many different pieces at once and have different projects set up for myself so that when I don’t feel like doing one kind of task I can do something else. When I’m really stuck and can’t seem to resolve things or decide what to do next, I try to take a break and get a change of scenery, go out for a walk or bike ride. Putting distance between myself and a project helps me come back to it with fresh eyes. Looking at books or going out to see other art usually inspires me, too. A lot of my friends are artists as well, and it helps to talk to them and bounce ideas off each other.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
VB: It’s a bit strange, but I’m discovering as an adult how much I love being outdoors, and how being outside clears my mind and inspires me, even if it’s just walking around my neighborhood. I think a lot about the places where I go, the places where my dad has traveled, how we map and try to describe these places and the feelings they inspire in us. I’m concerned about the environment, and I feel like that anxiety has a place in my work. I have a big collection of old maps that my grandfather gave me, and I look at those a lot. I’m always inspired by looking at other art and listening to music, but I also find inspiration in my materials and in the meditative place I find in being able to slow down when I’m in the studio.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
VB: Over the last year, I have shown in San Francisco, Marin, Oakland, New Orleans, Chicago, Miami, and at the San Jose Museum of Art.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
VB: In May, I will have a 2-person show at Johansson Projects with Michael Meyers and will be in a group show in L.A. Sometime later this year I will be working on an experimental installation at Project 7 in Berkeley.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
VB: I really want to publish a book…I dream of being able to give up my day job to make art full-time.
SG: What is your favorite color?
VB: I’m partial to turquoise blues, fuschia, and grey.
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
VB: It’s hard to choose just one. I really like Mark Bradford. His work is so elegant yet chaotic, I get lost in it. I love looking at work by Julie Mehretu, Ernesto Caivano, Wangechi Mutu, Maya Lin. There are many Bay Area artists that I really like: Reed Danziger, Adriane Colburn, Andrew Schoultz, Hilary Pecis, Josephine Taylor, Amanda Hughen, Weston Teruya, Katie Lewis, Michele Carlson, I could go on and on.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
VB: I usually have a few things going at the same time…right now I’m reading the latest issue of the New Yorker, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Julie Mehretu’s Black City.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
VB: I have done many as an art student, unfortunately most are filled with teen angst. Some I gave away to friends and the rest are in my mom’s attic.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
VB: I hang out at home in Berkeley a lot. I have a live/work space, so my studio is underneath my apartment. The little community where I live is filled with great neighbors, so I feel really comfortable there. When I’m not in the studio, I like to get outside and walk around my neighborhood, ride my bike, go see bands play, go look at more art.
SG: Any final words of advice?
VB: Do what you love, and try not to worry too much. Things have a way of working out.
Topics: Artist Interviews |
