Q. What brought you to art or what brought art
to you?

Q. Where did you grow up/how has that location impacted your work?A. I grew up in the western part of the ward area of Tokyo. It’s a
quiet residential area and has its fair share of greenery with many beautiful parks
and fields.  Also, it’s a convenient location for getting into the middle
of the city. As a result, my work both embraces the mundane and nature.

Q. Is art learned or are you born with the talent. What does it take to be
successful in the arts?

A. You can learn certain things, but it’s important to know who you are and
how you can contribute to others. Passion and commitment are importantaspects to succeed.
Q. Do/Did your parents support the idea of you

being an artist?
A.None of my family members were artists/creative

profesionals, and they didn’t

fully understand what I was doing abroad, but they were
supportive about me being
creative.

Q.What are your hobbies?

I don’t really have hobbies. I guess collecting fabric/materials
is my hobby, but it’s also a part of my art making. I go to see
art at museums, galleries, performances when I havetime.
Q. What would you do with a million dollars?

I will think about it when I actually get such money.

Q. Do politics belong in art?

Almost everything has some angle of politics, but art is about an artist’s vision
and their way of seeing things.

Q. What artists do you like/collect? Please list your top 5
I see work by other artists, but don’t have favorites and don’t collect art at this

point.

To start our new dedication to artist’s materials and techniques on this site we thought we would look into something often ignored by even serious painters, the information printed on a tube of paint’s label.

Artist’s often intuitively understand the pigments and paints they use, relying on experience and trial and error to arrive at the effect they want. However a lot of the experimentation in the studio could be put to better use with a litttle information on what the particular paint they are using is telling you directly on the label. In  this case we will look at a tube of Golden Acrylic paint.

Here we are offered:

• A Color Swatch
• Pigment Information
• Lightfastness
• Price Group

While this information will not tell you everything about the paint and certainly trial and error in the studio is still a part of your practice but understanding these key bits of information could save you hours.

Color Swatch: This simple paint swatch gives you a great deal of visual information about the paint. This is often a stroke painted directly over a hatched black pattern. The amount that this pattern shows through gives you crucial information about the opacity of that particular paint. If it shows through the swatch significantly the color is obviously not very opaque and possibly used as a tint or for other effects. The satch will range from disappearing completely behind the paint to showing through a great deal. The effect you are striving for will benefit greatly in choosing the correct hue and opacity for your project

Pigment Information: With a little research the particular pigment(s) used in a paint is crucial to understanding what color you will get and how it will behave. (Check back for some comprehensive posts on individual pigments) Pigments come from a wide variety of sources including algae, metals, and pigments derived from animal products. Understanding your pigment will give you insight to its behaviors, toxicity and other crucial information.

Pigments are assigned a Color Index Name. The abbreviations tell you the color family they belong to for example PR is Red and PG is green. Specific pigments are assigned a number. For example Phthalocyanine Green is assigned the number 1328-45-6. This is also an important example because Phthalo Green can also be assigned the 1328-53-6 depending on chlorine substitution. While that may be information overkill, comparing the numbers will help you understand if different brands are using the same pigments for colors that have the same factory name. Staying with the Phthalo Green example, one manufacturer may use a cheaper substitute pigment. Often with a little experimentation, comparisons, and research the artist can find the colors that are right for their practice and budget with pigment information.

Lightfastness: Surprisingly even amongst serious painters, lightfastness is the most often misunderstood or neglected concept. This rating often based on a 1 to 5 scale gives you an understanding how that hue will react to and change to light. 1 being excellent and 5 being very poor. Hues with a 4 or 5 rating are often not used in fine arts materials. Hues with a rating of 1 can be understood to not fade, or yellow significantly with exposure to light. While it is tempting to use any of the hues you may like, be it house paint or whatever may be in the studio this information is crucial in understanding how your painting will change in connection with the lightfastness of the hues used. Reputable companies will often only produce artist’s quality colors or hues that will hold up as archival for a very long time.. and with the right finishing techniques (varnish etc) these colors will long outlast the artist’s that created them.

(In future posts we will explore the qualities of  individual pigments)

In this Culture Strike exclusive Aaron Johnson describes his recent show at Stux Gallery in New York City with curator Julie McKim.

by Hannah Mishin

The Gagosian, perhaps one of the most famous and respected purveyors of contemporary art in New York City, has fully facilitated the wealthy fashionista by opening a boutique to sell wares distributed with dubious intentionality. Posted in gilt letters on the store front windows of the Gagosian shop, in Manhattan, are these adjectives: Popular, Transient, Expendable, Low Cost, Mass Produced, Young, Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big Business. Granted these adjectives are posted under a title “Pop Art”, but as labels, they certainly are descriptors as to what lie inside: the sale of faux fine art trinkets.

In contemporary society, the difference between fine art and design has become increasingly difficult to discern. This boutique hides somewhere in the grey area between these two. It isn’t the objects inside, per se, which are so disingenuous. For there are several more traditional works of art for sale (i.e. paintings and prints) but also much more original works, such as Tom Sachs’s chess set; though utilitarian, are creative and unique. Not two feet from the chess set are t-shirts, not of reproductions of works art, (which pay homage as blatant facsimiles of specific works of art), but are pure designs intended as a type of promotional branding of the artists. Regardless of the few exceptions in which the artist put forth honest efforts, the environment and intention of the store in its entirety, is trendy and fashionable, borrowing the moniker of fine art from its corral of artists.

The interiors and products of high-end fashion stores consistently appropriates the aesthetic of the fine art gallery and museum; a pseudo-comodification of fine art itself. This mimicry lends their products a superficial sophistication, which validates the exorbitant retail prices of the items they promote. To have a prominent and respected monolith, such as the Gagosian, appropriate the fashion industry’s “cool” marketability demeans not only the wares inside the boutique but serves to discredit the pure function of fine art.

Some would claim, in a Hirst-ian manner, that art’s most important function is as a high priced commodity, and that art has no higher function within society. Those who subscribe to this view, would find no fault with the existence of such a shop, for it is merely the art market becoming aware of its own purpose: to sell coveted exalted objects to a public who craves them for fashionable purposes. This reductionist view of art is similar to those scientists who claim that the emotion of love, for example, is merely a series of chemical reactions. In truth, both the Hirst-ian and scientific reductionists are correct, but have missed the point entirely.

Perhaps the success of the Gagosian store is mere evidence of a cultural phenomenon that might excuse it from criticism, for as a business, it is filling a niche in the market. The recent Picasso auction, wherein his painting, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” sold for $106.5 million dollars, is a marker of the market’s profitability as a luxury commodity. The Gagosian store’s sale of a series of pocketknifes, at just a trivial $7,000 each. Why shouldn’t the Gagosian operate a store which caters to such demands in the market by providing consumers with the prestigious commodities they demand?

Art may be partially defined by intentionality, inasmuch as it should be created with the intent to shape, move, or comment on a society and the people within it. In this vein, art is so much more than what the Gagosian store offers its customers. Perhaps the market niche, which the Gagosian is exploiting, exists because of a societal phenomenon, and if art as art should be created with the intentionality stated above, then perhaps the objects within the boutique fall within this definition. What more could shape or reflect a commodity and status obsessed society than art objects that fully embrace these attributes? However, these objects do not inspire one to ponder the existence of art-as-commodity, but are marketed, displayed, and designed to inspire purchase, not an existential query of the meaning of art.

Fine art is a cultural meme, which dons many roles and carries many responsibilities within society, as it, in some capacity, should elevate humanity. Perhaps what the Gagosian is contributing to this meme is among these responsibilities, but I find that it falls short by obfuscating the profound capacities which fine art can attain. Art is created to serve the ideas and mores of the society in which it is created. In my mind, art is a propeller, nudging the society forward visa-vis inspiration, introspection, and intellectual stimulation. It should not promote shallow and vapid behaviours. The Gagosian is doing just that, by peddling well-designed pseudo-art objects which fertilize the fashionization of art; the antithesis of Art.

This evening at Apex Art a moderated discussion about painting. Although it wont be a screening of the iconic film it does have some interesting artists on the panel.

Wednesday, April 28: 6 pm

Apex Art

An alleged reply to comments on Jerry Saltz’ article harshly critiquing “Skin Fruit” at The New Museum.

Jerry Saltz reminds us that true criticism does exist. Art critics are often accused of withholding anything but positive reviews for shows due to the (understandable) need to pander to the very advertisers that exhibit the work that they must critique. Saltz proves that the word critic sometimes means criticism in todays contemporary art conversations.

Also of interest Nic Rad at Rare Saturday April 3, 6-8pm. A collection of 99 painted portraits of bloggers, journalists, and Internet “micro-celebrities”.