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Spraygraphic December 28, 2007
Spraygraphic
Interview with Lauren Davies
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
LD: I live in San Francisco, work mainly in sculpture,
mixed media assemblage, little models and drawings. I went to a children's art
school when I was growing up in Pittsburgh. The drawing
and painting classes were conducted in a classic old style natural history
museum. Lots of time spent sketching dioramas with camels and leaping tigers
and that sort of thing. My summer time activities involved making little scenes
out of mud and twigs inside of shoe boxes for the salamanders I would catch in
the stream. After so many years and a MFA degree, I'm basically back where I
started!
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
LD: I live in a slightly foggy, sleepy part of San
Francisco - I can look out over trees and rooftops and see the ocean from the bedroom
window. It's quiet and smells of vegetation and ocean air. I have a small
studio on the ground floor of the house. I'm sure no one in the neighborhood
knows that I'm an artist. I am just that anonymous little person who lives in
the greenish house with too many barking dogs. Constructing installations in my
home studio began to seem like building a hand-made boat in pieces inside of a
closet. I recently moved into a very large shared studio work-space in the
Yosemite artists' building in the Bay View off of Third Street.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
LD: Primarily mixed media sculpture installations
that involve diorama display cases, simulated taxidermy, models made from cast
off materials, digital prints on fabric and drawings on wildly inappropriate
materials. Lint and dog fur have also played a major role.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a
new work.
LD: In a previous phase of life, I actually worked
in a library. I love researching things - going down endless topical rabbit-holes
that lead to more strange stories with accompanying pictures. Collecting old
books, digging up oddball images to help formulate ideas for the installations.
I'm constantly scouting for new materials or alternate uses for old materials.
Nothing is too lowly or obscure to not have the potential for future
fabulousness.
SG: Where are you currently finding your
inspiration?
LD:My next one-person show (at Gallery 16 in April - May 2008) is based on
a rather disappointing trip to Newfoundland. I went to see icebergs - there
were none - but the thing of real interest turned out to be a slightly sad
little museum located in the village of Twillingate. The installation is based
on the museum and centers around a polar bear that was shot and killed in the
village. Ironically the bear is having a second "life" as the star attraction
taxidermy display at the museum.
SG: Can you tell us a little about your dog breeding project.
LD: When I was around twelve I went into my early
dog obsession phase. I actually worked at kennel and was trained how to handle
dogs in the show ring and briefly competed in junior dog handler showmanship
competitions. I won a silver plate once in a major competition - I still have
it. I grew up, got over it, moved on to art school and didn't think about it
again for years. But eventually the obsession resurfaced and we now have three
dogs that have covertly seized control of our household. The interest in dogs
has manifested itself as a series miniaturized models of purebred dogs. Each
dog model is constructed from the fur of the breed represented by the model.
Meaning, the Cocker Spaniel model is made specifically from the fur of a Cocker
Spaniel, etc. I base the studies for the models from images and descriptions in
the American Kennel Club's book of breed standards. The dog project will be
seen next year at UC Davis.
SG: Can you tell us a little about your position as
a project manager at the Kala Art Inst.
In what ways has it influenced your art work?
LD: I have been the Program Manager at the Kala Art
Institute in Berkeley for about seven years. For those of you not familiar,
Kala is a print and digital media residency center - everything from
traditional intaglio and letterpress printing to digital media, sound and video
equipment. I curate a number of gallery exhibitions each year, coordinate
outside exhibitions plus jury and provide oversight to our Fellowship residency
program. It's been a really great experience - that's why I'm still there. It's an interesting and informative experience for an artist to sit on jury panel,
each year reviewing work by three-hundred artists from around the world, then
interacting with those you have helped select. I've learned a lot about new
technologies that I still don't know how to use! Modes of presentations,
curating, installation design and have met an amazing array of artists. It's really informed my own work and expanded my horizons.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
LD: Over the years I have presented work at the Oakland Museum, Gallery 16. The Lab, Headlands
and The Exploratorium. This
past year I was included in exhibitions at Yerba Buena
Center for the Arts, ampersand
international arts, The Intersection and a new gallery called David Cunningham
Projects. I had a great time this past summer creatively shacking up
at Djerassi Resident Artists Program.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
LD: Next week, Gallery 16 will have some work at Aqua Miami. In 2008 I will be included in
Art of the Diorama at the Bedford Gallery
in March, a one-person show titled When Hell Freezes Over at Gallery 16 in
April-May and in September there is a three-person show at UC Davis curated by Rennie
Pritikin.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
LD: Having some sort of a residency at a natural
history museum. Preferably a place with taxidermy displays in a decrepit state
surrounded by dark wood paneling and cobwebs. Wait, that sounds like our house...
SG: What is your favorite color?
LD: I like the language of color - as in the naming
of color by paint companies. I like thinking about those poetically
inspirational names, like "Frozen Tundra", "Seal Pup", "Falling Tears", "Total
Recall" - the names might be better than the color. Perhaps that could be my
next career - "Inspirational Color Naming Manager"??
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
LD: Hard to say - it's so vast and changes from
month to month depending on what I just saw, what my focus is. Anything from
the drawings/paintings by Giacometti to Rockwell Kent's iceberg
paintings to the natural history museum commentaries of Mark Dion
or museum photographs by Richard Barnes.
Cornell. Bueys,
Nauman, German painters. Taxidermy displays by the legendary Carl Akeley. I love works
from the Arte Povera
movement, conceptual art and installations from the 1970's, primitive crafts
and so-called outsider art, things involving cryptic obsessive-compulsive
activity and odd materials. Folksy humility really speaks to me.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
LD: I just finished Don Delillo's "Falling
Man" - awesome. I believe he introduced the term "organic shrapnel " a staggering
notion. Check it out.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
LD: Last time was when I was a teenager. I'm sure
it eventually made it's way to a thrift store on the outskirts on Pittsburgh.
In the painting I'm looking quite sullen and wearing a frightening fur coat
from Afghanistan. That should place it in time - right?
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
LD: Night-time, sitting by the winter fireplace,
glass of red wine in hand, watching "Meerkat Manor" on Animal Planet,
surrounded by our super fun trio of dogs. Does it really get much better than
that!?
SG: Any final words of advice?
LD: Keep it real - otherwise,
what's the point?
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