Sunday, December 23, 2012

David Lefkowitz - Painting, Mixed Media, Installation


Doug Bratland and David Lefkowitz -Greetings from Nirthfolde postcard
David Lefkowitz

Name: David Lefkowitz
City/State: Northfield MN
Email:dlefkowi@carleton .edu
Website:www.davidlefkowitz.net
MNartist.org profile: David Lefkowitz
Facebook page: David Lefkowitz

Bio~ 
I am a visual artist and Associate Professor of Art at Carleton College.
My work in painting, installation, and mixed media (including repurposed refuse like cardboard, sticks, sheetrock and Styrofoam) addresses everyday paradoxes of perception, and larger questions that arise from them. Much of the work explores the blurry boundary between the human-built environment and the natural world.

I grew up in Nashville TN, and was a member of the quasi-legendary pop combo The Young Nashvillians. I received a BA from Carleton College and an MFA from the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Recent solo exhibits include “Other Positioning Systems” at the Rochester Art Center, and “Facilities and Grounds” at the Carrie Secrist Gallery in Chicago. My paintings of trompe l’oeil wall fixtures appeared in “Lifelike” at the Walker Art Center the Spring of 2012.

My work is represented in several collections, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Langen Foundation in Neuss, Germany, and the Miami Art Museum in Miami FL.

Implausible Hovering Rock (not in show- earlier related work)


Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?
My focus at the moment is on  Nrthfld: The Nirthfolde Visitors’ Bureau, a project I’ve developed in collaboration with Doug Bratland that’s up at the Northfield (MN) Arts Guild  from January 11 to February 8, 2013

I originally conceived of the Nirthfolde Visitors’ Bureau as an opportunity to collaborate with Doug and a crackerjack team of assorted helpers to build a simultaneous homage and parody of small town civic boosterism.

The exhibition is comprised of roughly a dozen separate ‘display areas’. Each part resembles the format you might find in a small town History Museum or the Creative Activities building at the State Fair, but upon further inspection the casual viewer starts to notice that something is askew.  Though each section has its own identity, for example the Nirthfolde Progressive Aquarium, or the series of watercolors documenting the Accursed Location,  a common thread running through every display is the voice of  a slippery, unreliable institutional authority. A consistently evasive, provisional language permeates the whole show.

Here’s the general info about the show from our press release:



“Nirthfolde: a bucolic, yet bustling burg situated in a parallel universe that neatly overlaps Northfield, Minnesota has existed relatively unnoticed for over a century and a half. That situation will be remedied by the occupation, for a limited time, of a Visitor’s Bureau on the premises of the Northfield Arts Guild. This installation will include misinformation panels, ahistorical artifacts, and other mildly perplexing displays.
 Featured prominently among the attractions will be a map and information orienting the general public to the pleasures of the Cowling Arboretum Contemplative Transit System, a display about Nirthfolde’s place in the pop pantheon, Hitsburg USA- Record Factory of the Upper Midwest- (1958-1973), a dubiously informative exhibit on Nirthfolde’s mysterious Monoliths of Mystery, and a scale model of a prehistoric beaver lodge metropolis that many believe graced the Canon River right where downtown Nirthfolde now stands. “  


I want the atmosphere of the space to hover between a seemingly legitimate cultural or civic institution and an obviously makeshift, marginally successful facsimile of one. The project began as began as a very specific, kinda dumb or goofy idea inspired by conflicting sentiments about where I live. It still is that, but upon reflection, there’s more going on.

     As the exhibit has developed, I’ve started to notice it’s a much more nuanced, complex endeavor than I first thought. I’ve come to realize it reflects a more personal dilemma than I usually like to admit, as my own desire for respect and attention as a middle-aged ‘emerging’ artist oddly mirrors the uneasiness of a small town (that is comparatively well-off) seeking to grow its status and economic base in the wider world, while also remaining protective of a certain character of ‘contentment’- a quality that a rapidly globalizing world makes harder to sustain. (in this context, the Nirthfolde High School ‘Radar’ mascot and logo, originally just a malapropism of “Raider,” the Northfield team name,  becomes more meaningful than I first meant, as we seek guidance about how to see ourselves from far flung powers that be).

Of course, this dilemma’s not new. The fact that the fear of or resignation about displacement and change creates anxiousness is not unique to Northfield. The town motto ‘really somewhere’ is funny, but also aptly resonant about the uncertainty of the future of a small college town. It’s an emphatically meek assertion of identity by an entity that’s not really sure it believes it.

Doug Bratland and David Lefkowitz- 
Monoliths of Mystery, Archival Document #21A

How did you decide to become an artist?
It seemed like the best path to pursue the range of perceptual and conceptual activities I like to engage in.

Accursed Location #2- Cigars and Tanning, watercolor

Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?
My work is represented by Carrie Secrist Gallery in Chicago.

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?
There are lots of Minnesota artists whose work I admire, but I’d like to focus on a few who are particularly pertinent to the themes of the current show.

Carolyn Swizscz’s work is always a spot-on evocation of the overlooked built environment. Her images of strip malls, rest areas and storefronts whose ‘freshness date’ long ago expired have been a huge source of inspiration for this exhibit. http://www.carolynswiszcz.com/

Andy Ducett’s recent occupation of the Soap Factory entitled “Why We Do This” was an amazing assertion of makeshift worldbuilding that I have sought to emulate in Nirthfolde.

Oaf’s Gulch postcard


If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
First the more obvious suggestions- the Walker Art Center is still a big draw for me, as is the M.I.A. I also find satisfyingly challenging work at the Soap Factory, Midway Contemporary Art and Franklin Artworks.  The Crop Art section of the Ag building at the MN State Fair is also a prime venue for me.
Above Nirthfolde: ontological survey Fig. 3 (detail)


In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise? 




Where can we see you next?
Northfield Arts Guild Gallery.  "Nirthfolde's Visitor's Bureau." January 11- February 28. See the press release above for details.
David Lefkowitz

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Steven Lang - Photographer


Steven Lang

Name: Steven Lang
City/State: Minneapolis, MN
Email: info@stevenlang.net
Website: www.stevenlang.net
MNartist.org profile: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=103175
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheArtistStevenLang
Twitter: @thespectacles

Bio~ Artist and writer Steven Lang received his B.F.A. from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.  In 2012, he was a resident artist at Elsewhere, a living museum set in a former thrift store in downtown Greensboro, NC, and was a participant in the 4th season of CSA — Community Supported Art, sponsored by mnartists.org and springboardforthearts.org. He has recently exhibited at Rosalux Gallery, Soo Visual Arts Center, and the Walker Art Center’s Walker ShopHis short story, “Tandem,” was included in the recent Milkweed Editions anthology Fiction on a Stick. His short-short story, The Scarecrow,” was published in 2011 as finalist in the mnLIT series on mnartists.org.

Greensboro, North Carolina

 Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

I'm currently working on self-publishing a photo book. The book is called A is for Elsewhere, and is the result of a recent artist residency at Elsewhere, a "living museum" in Greensboro, North Carolina.

How did you decide to become an artist?

When I was five years old I found an open can of deck paint and painted myself completely red. It has never really worn off. 

Greensboro, North Carolina

What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 

"Throw your work away." - Victor Caglioti

Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?
I struggle with that a lot, and like most artists I don't have the answers. But I do have a website, www.stevenlang.net

Greensboro, North Carolina

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy? 
Many, many more! 

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
I would walk around with my camera, mostly, and find the art I'm looking for that way. But recently I've been to Air Sweet AirSooVACMidway Contemporary Art, and the MCAD Gallery

Greensboro, North Carolina

In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise? 

I like Tumbr for that. Here are some examples:



Greensboro, North Carolina

What can we expect to see from you in the future?
I am currently showing work in the Artists in Storefronts project. I'm also their documentary photographer. 

Monday, December 3, 2012

Evan Palmer - Cartoonist / Illustrator


Album Cover for High Octane, 2012 Ink and digital media
Evan Palmer

Name: Evan Palmer
City/State: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Email: evan.g.palmer at gmail.com
Website: http://evanpalmercomics.com
Twitter: @evantickles
Etsy Page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/EvanPalmerComics
Tumblr: http://evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com/

Bio
I'm originally from Louisiana, but I've been living in Minneapolis and freezing my butt off for the past 8 years. By day I'm a digital media producer at PUNY (www.punyentertainment.com) working on games, animation, and banner ads, but by night, I transform into a freelance cartoonist and illustrator. I've been making my own, self-published comics ever since graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2008. Before my current position, I spent a year as a ghost artist doing backgrounds for well known cartoonist, Peter Gross (http://www.petergrossart.com/), on the Vertigo titles Fables and The Unwritten. I occasionally participate in group gallery shows and have been featured at the Light Grey Art Lab and the now-closed Pink Hobo gallery.  

To the Witch's Hat, 2012 Ink and digital media


Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

I'm hugely inspired by adventure sci-fi and fantasy from the 70's and 80's and I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to recreate the feeling that some of that stuff leaves me with. My work uses a combination of hand-drawn techniques and blown out, over-the-top digital psychedelia while trying to maintain a sense of clarity and deliberateness that my weirdo scientist brain demands. I'm always working on a few freelance illustrations for rock bands or RPG game designers and a few just for fun. I also have this weird blog where I draw a monster every few days and write a little blurb about it called Sucker Monster Creatures (suckermcs.tumblr.com) which has been really fun inventing a world where all these weird things live together with connected histories while also letting me practice my inking.

My big beautiful baby that I'm in love with right now is my first full-length graphic novel, The Godins, which I've been releasing in chapters as I complete them. I'm currently working on part 4 (of 11) and the final version will be a full, approximately 300-page fantasy adventure with goblins, wizards, knights, talking dogs, and spaceships. It's not a huge departure for me, but I am super proud of it and I can't wait for all the cool kids to be reading it.

Fungus Forest, 2011 Ink wash

How did you decide to become an artist?

As the son of two artists, I was kind of born into it and I'm thankful for that. I can't remember a time where I wasn't drawing and I've just never stopped. I remember sitting next to my dad on the couch while we both drew Ninja Turtles when I was like 5 years old. I have other loves like science and cooking, but it all comes back to creating things and telling stories. I took the long way around to land on comics as a focus, thinking early in my career that I would be more of a painter/fine artist, but I fell back in love with storytelling and world building in college and am comfortable saying that I'll be here all my life.

Since becoming a "professional" I've dabbled in just about everything from paper sculpture to animated gifs. I think it's great to keep looking for new sources of inspiration and keep the artistic spark alive. There's always something relevant to learn in getting out of your bubble that you can bring back to your "home base."


Cover to The Godins, 2011 Ink and digital media

What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 

I can't remember exactly who said this, but I've lived by it for so many years: always make the thing you're working on right now the best thing you've ever done. If it's not, then you have to find a way to make it the best. I'm always trying out new techniques and materials and I use each piece as a learning experience and stepping stone for what comes next. I look at art that inspires me and try to reverse-engineer it to try to see how they made it and try to incorporate what I've learned into my own work. It's impossible not to be influenced by other artists and that influence should be embraced, but never stifling to your own vision.


Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?

I'm lucky enough to have a day job so that I don't have to spend a lot of time marketing myself. Of course that also means that I'm not as well-known as I want to be, but at least I can pay rent. For cartoonists it's super important to go to conventions and talk to people face to face and get to know your fellow creators who can then send people your way. I've only met a few jerks in the industry and most people are so excited to chat and talk shop. I usually go to 3 or 4 conventions a year locally and around the country. Each offers a new and unique audience and you run into a lot of creators you admire or should admire. Every convention kind of has its own vibe and its good to know which conventions work with your style. Stumptown in Portland is all about the hand-made and grungy-cool stuff while TCAF in Toronto caters more to the super-produced glossy candy books, both of which I love. I make most of my money from comics at conventions or from people who saw my stuff there and went through to my Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/EvanPalmerComics). I sell all of my original drawings since they tend to clutter up my studio and I keep all my work digitally. 

Tumblr has proved to be a huge game-changer in the community and its starting to be my main focus. Its a beast all its own, but there are several rising stars coming out of it and I'm just trying not to be late to the game with my own (evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com). It's a great way to get a following and connect to people doing similar things.

The Page of Pentacles, 2012 Ink and digital media

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?

I'm strangely lucky to be friends with all of my favorite local artists. I both love and am intimidated by all of these people in no particular order:

Kevin Cannon (http://kevincannon.org/)
Bill Ferenc (http://billferenc.com/)
Erik Krenz (http://erikbkrenz.com)
Francesca Buchko (http://francescabuchko.com/)
Anna Bongiovanni (http://annabongiovanni.com/)
King Mini (http://kingmini.com/)

(I'm forgetting more people than I'm remembering)

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
If we're talking comics, I'd start at Big Brain in downtown. It may be the best comic shop I've ever been to and they carry work by local artists and the guys there really know their stuff. And it's always worth it to stop in next door at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts either for classes or just to see what's on display for some truly unique book-related art.

Heading north a bit, CoExhibitions (http://burlesquedesign.com/temp/coexhibitions/) has had some amazing shows and I try to make it out there whenever there's something going down. Altered Esthetics (http://www.alteredesthetics.com/) in Northeast has been a pretty big supporter of the comics community, so it's always worth a visit.

Going across town, we'd give MCAD some love and see what's going on in the various galleries there. The yearly Jerome Fellowship show is always worth checking out, not to mention the yearly Art Sale for amazing student art overload. Lastly, I'd pop in next door to the Light Grey Art Lab (http://lightgreyartlab.com/) to either hang out with my favorite new group of people or see what cheeky nostalgia- or geek-inspired show is going on now.

Septembeer Poster Illustration, 2012 Ink and digital media

In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise? 

My all-time favorite soucrce for weird stuff is Monster Brains (http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/This post is my favorite.
Ski-ffy is also another amzing blog of lost treasures (http://ski-ffy.blogspot.com/)
Go look at everything coming out of Study Group Comics (http://studygroupcomics.com/main/). 
Tumblr is a hugely powerful outlet for artists and is the first place I go for inspiration. I get really bummed when an artist I love doesn't have a Tumblr.  Behance is another place I go to drool over new stuff. (http://www.behance.net/)

Cover to Time Jerks, 2012 Ink and digital media

Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?
Yes! I have a piece featured in the upcoming show at Light Grey Art Lab, Girls: Fact & Fiction on December 7th. It features over 100 artists depicting they're favorite real-life and fictional ladies. I chose Ellen Ripley from Aliens (here's a preview). All of the pieces will be put together in an awesome book that's available now for pre-order here.
Evan Palmer



Saturday, December 1, 2012

Jesse Quam - Painter


American Gothic
Jesse Quam

Name: Jesse Quam
City/State: Callaway, MN
Email: info (at) onequam.com

Bio: Jesse Quam is known for doing surreal, abstract, cartoon-infused carnage that stimulates the visual cortex and transcends your mind to a place of none existence. His unique style is influenced by primitive video games from the seventies, pop music, and average everyday people.


Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?
I’ve been creating abstract, cartoon-infused carnage for the past ten years.
I’m currently working on ten new paintings 30 inches x 30 inches, acrylic and spray paint on canvas. I’ve been creating art full-time for the past five months. I’ve had more time to focus on style, depth, and color.

The Harvest

How did you decide to become an artist?
I’ve been an artist my whole life. But, I was given the opportunity to create art with Richard Mock in North Dakota at the Plains Art Museum in 2000. Richard Mock said to me “You’re a fucking artist.” It stuck! It also helped hearing those words of encouragement from an amazing artist.  Richard Mock

What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 
“Good luck!” -Judy Chicago

The Invasion

Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?
 I’ve struggled a lot with this for the past ten years. I’ve made it a point this year to put more time into using social networking on the internet to promote my work.

Where do we go now?

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?
Rob McBroom
Nick Howard
Rudy Fig
Sara Kathryn Udvig

We’re Here

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
BeanstalkProject Mural in Northern Minnesota

In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise? 




I Love Minnesota

What can we expect to see from you in the future?

Ten new 30”x 30” paintings projected to be finished in early 2013.

Jesse Quam