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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Daniel Davidson
By Spraygraphic | June 23, 2008
Spraygraphic Interview with Daniel Davidson
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
DD: 42, Married to the amazing painter Tricia Keightley , and I’m originally from San Francisco. Been in New York 15 years.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
DD: I live and work in Brooklyn. My studio is one floor below our apartment. This is the first place where I’ve been able to do that- All my other studios have been away from where I have lived which can have it’s benefits, but I really am liking this arrangement.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
DD: I am mainly a painter, and I mainly use water based paints- but I use oil a bit and I work in other mediums- sculpture and video and performance.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
DD: It all seems upsettingly unfocused , but I’ll look back and about six months after a group of work it seems more coherent in the rear view mirror. I guess the most consistent thing I do is keep an ongoing sketchbook/diary kind of thing, and I’ve been doing that since I was 18. It’s one of those blank books 11” x 14” and I’m on # 37 now. It is the most open place, The freest place to think about stuff. A lot of what starts out as a stupid thought or doodle can find it’s way on stage in a way. I am constantly struggling to have the paintings retain the sense of honesty and pure energy of the books.
What else- When I am working on paintings it varies- I like to work on about 2- 5 paintings at once. Less is too precious, more than that becomes too easy to run away from problems and lose focus. Some paintings take a day, some can take months. Most are about 1 to 2 weeks.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
DD: I wish I had an answer for that – Well, I have two very different things I do,I am a believer in working through blocks or problems by just staying in it, keep trying new stuff and force yourself to kind stay in the moment and endure the pain or boredom etc- OR just get the hell away from it, get a change of scenery, leave the studio for a while do something inspiring. The worst thing is to sit for days staring at the thing, not knowing what to do, and tearing yourself up about it.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
DD: I have been doing some performance / dance stuff with Heather Kravas and Antonija Livingstone this year in New York, France, Belgium and in Montreal last year. They invited me to be a performer in their work and to document the process and performance from within the work, so I did a lot of drawings while in an enormous fat suit that I made. The issues in their work have incredibly been on many parallels with my own work. I would never think it would have inspired/influenced me so much, but it has.
SG: Could you please tell us a little about Racing Thoughts?
DD: I made it last year when I got back from a week doing the performance thing, and I had made some paintings that were multiple vignettes of “crazed humanity” funny scenes, strange upsetting biology or figuration or just everyday stuff, and I wanted it compressed within one or two figures that were in an empty environment- And I thought the figures should be without flesh , that these scenes compressed on the “skin” of the skeletons somehow shows this feeling of racing thoughts, all competing and overlapping radio stations in my head. Ironically, it was one of the longest to make, it required a disciplined approach that I find personally difficult.
SG: Could you please tell us a little about Little Dinner (yellow)?
DD: This is based on series of paintings that I have been doing for about two years about suppering, in some form of group. My friend visualist.com kept saying I should do a “Last Supper” but one with all the corpulent characters I prefer to paint, so I did and I called it “Last Summer” because all of these fat guys are not looking forward to the oncoming heat. They are about eating as a ritual/celebration. Also about addiction and consumption. I also was looking actually obsessed with one painting by James Ensor called “The Bad Doctors” which has so much going on about social classes and the body and the “drag show” of professional attire, corpulence and violence and and – just go look at it!
SG: You have done several solo shows and many group shows? Which do you prefer and why?
DD: I guess the group show is a lot easier and less focus on what you’re doing. Can be a great venue to slip something in that you aren’t so sure of , to take a chance on the work of yours that bothers you the most, that sends you to the fridge the most. Solo is more gratifying , much more of a “record” of where you are in that moment. Unfortunately It is what cracks up my friends the most, and I don’t mean cracks up as laughing.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
DD: I have had recent solo shows at Pierogi in Brooklyn, Galerie Schuster in Frankfurt, and ADA gallery in Richmond Va.
Some recent Group shows at Cinders in Brooklyn, Heskin Contemporary , New York, and Robert Berman in LA, and Mogadishni in Denmark
SG: Where will it be seen next?
DD: Good question? I’m wondering that myself. Haven’t decided on where I want to go with it next.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
DD: To have no assignment.- Just to be in the studio making the stuff!
SG: What is your favorite color?
DD: Money color
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
DD: Me, cause that’s the way it needs to be, and you should say you.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
DD: Scientific American Special Report on Robotics
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
DD: Yeah, done lots of them. Most recently at the Kaai theater in Brussels , pretending to draw Tonja and Heather but really drawing myself. (They told me to do that)
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
DD: With My wife and our friends. I don’t really have a hang out- My studio is the closest to that. I would say I like to hang out in artists studios- there’s always something interesting to talk about.
SG: Any final words of advice?
DD: Work hard, have some fun, don’t take it too seriously, and cultivate meaningful friendships with other artists you admire. Trade your work with as many people as you can. I found a piece of paper in my neighborhood that says it all:
Friendship is like peeing your pants; everyone can see it but only you can feel it.
Topics: Artist Interviews, New York Art Scene, Paintings, Pencil Drawings |
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 am
Daniel Davidson’s work is an outstanding example of a new direction in contemporary art. The freedom that he allows his imagination suggests there is more to be said about tomorrowâ��s art than the common social critique. Twisting American modes of being, such as addiction and consumption, he introduces humor and invites the viewer to indulge in his projection of a possible end product. Nightmarish gluttony and social complacency inform Daniels tortured subject, reminding his audience of the need to go outside and play!
July 25th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Dan,
I have a big, fat smile on my face. I figured that you still had lots of paint under your finger nails.
You’ve never been far from my thoughts.
Cheers to you, my friend,
Coeli