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~
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.
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.
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?
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/pages/arts/design/index.html
Artforum http://artforum.com/
MNArtists http://www.mnartists.org/
Quodlibetica http://www.quodlibetica.com/
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
