Quick Draw Artist Interviews are a series of
interviews conducted by Otino Corsano using Facebook's IM Chat feature.
Spontaneous conversations with international artists are recorded and
documented specifically for publication on this blog.
Quick: Inverse. It is often difficult to determine
whether a rhino is capable of movement. Charges. Big sculpture vs. lightweight
theory; elastic band; eyepatch; pebble. She is convinced vision is impossible
in darkness arguing the kid simply sees well in low light; yet I see her so
clearly now. And floating in this sensory deprivation chamber my eyes are
locked shut. She is smiling.
Draw: art about art.
Draw: art about art.
Laura Findlay (b. Montreal, QC) Raised on Vancouver
Island, Laura returned to her native Montreal and received her BFA from
Concordia University in 2011. Currently, she resides in Guelph, Ontario
completing her MFA at the University of Guelph. Findlay has been nominated as a
finalist in the 2013 RBC Painting Competition.
Laura Findlay’s work will be presented alongside the work of Fiona Annis, Lorna Bauer in a group show titled “Upshot” curated
by Anastasia Hare and Natalia Lebedinskaia. The
exhibition will debut at PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts,
121-100 Arthur St. Winnipeg, Manitoba, from February 7 - March 22, 2014 before
travelling to the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba to run from June 19 -
August 16, 2014.
Laura Findlay
(Work in Progress), 2013 *All images © Laura Findlay unless otherwise noted
Chat Conversation Start
Today
Otino
8:58pm
Hi Laura,
I just need another minute or two to set up. Hope that's ok?
8:59pm
Totally fine.
Otino
9:00pm
Alright, I'm all set.
Laura
9:00pm
O.k.
Otino
9:01pm
So it seems like you have this photography-painting combo art
approach quite happening for you.
Would you say you are a photographer who paints or a painter
informed by photography or are things all blurred/blended at this point?
Laura
9:04pm
In the grand scheme of things I like to think it all gets
blurred under the title artist.
Up until last fall I was spending a great deal more time on
photographic projects. Right now I'm focusing my brainpower on painting.
Working in each media to execute specific ideas puts different
parts of my brain in a kind of equilibrium.
Otino 9:05pm
I'm super impressed with your newest paintings Laura.
Laura
9:05pm
Thanks!
Otino
9:07pm
Tradition would call for our conservation to progress like your
practice: discussing your photography before discussing your paintings. Should
we remain with history or chart a new course?
Laura
9:07pm
A new approach is fine.
Otino
9:14pm
Let’s stay with convention at least out of habit since I do
think your photography practice emerging in Montreal is still relevant to fully
understanding the conceptual framework of your current slick paintings.
Laura
9:15pm
Sounds good, although I don't live in Montreal any more and I'll
most likely be moving to Toronto after school.
Otino
9:18pm
Smart plan it seems.
Your photographs, like all photos to a degree, attempt to
capture traces of the past: more specifically family members or other
distinguished individuals who remain present via their belongings, objects as
visual memorabilia.
Is this a fair enough encapsulation?
Laura
9:18pm
Yes.
Photography offered both the ability to document as well as to
amass an archive as the closest way I could get to knowing people who were
never really present.
Otino
9:19pm
Who are the "Three Women"?
Laura
9:22pm
The full title for that series is "Three Women; None of
Whom are Sisters".
They are my mother, my paternal grandmother, and my maternal
great-aunt. These three women have made a huge impact on my life through the
items they left for me specifically as mementos to help me progress through
adulthood.
I barely had the opportunity to know any of them before they
died; still, I've encountered them many times over via these objects they had
left for me.
I keep stumbling across them as breadcrumbs leading me as I age.
Otino
9:23pm
"Jean Berger Project".
I imagine is in reference to the German composer known for his
popular hymns?
"A Rose Touched by the Sun's Warm Rays" Jean Berger
Laura
9:26pm
It isn't.
I was invited by the Art History Department of Concordia
University to create new series presented in conjunction with the release of
the book "Jean Berger, Peintre et Complice?" by Dr. François-Marc
Gagnon.
The book follows clues to the life of the first and most famous painter
of New France. Using legal documents Dr. Gagnon was attempting to retrace Jean
Berger's life and paint a portrait of life in New France at the dawn of the
1700's. I was asked to make a series of photos examining the daily lives of
women from this time.
Actually, it was from this project the “Three Women” series was
formed.
Otino
9:30pm
The sofa in the lower right of "A Sculpture - 2011"
reminds me of both the old chesterfield my Mom just replaced as well as the
collaborative work of Elinor Whidden and Julie René de Cotret recently
presented at VSVSVS.
The Whidden and René de Cotret VSVSVS Residency
It was an exceptionally strong show weaving together unexpected
forms seemingly inspired by upholstery as well.
Laura
9:32pm
That's really superb work!
It's a settee set I've come across several times over the years.
My grandparents taste was very Eaton’s chic and it's a set so popular even the
parents one of my friends have the same sofa too.
Otino
9:34pm
How were you able to reduce the size of the backgrounds to
miniature in your series “The Burden of What Remains"?
I'm half kidding.
Laura
9:35pm
Photoshop trickery.
And magic.
Otino
9:35pm
I knew that. About the magic I mean.
Laura
9:35pm
Where would art be without it?
Otino
9:37pm
"The Royal Dalton" 2009 is particularly brooding.
Laura
9:37pm
Oh that figure.
It and I have a long history.
Otino
9:38pm
Let's discard history now since it seems all your work technically
could be located in the "Personal Work" section of your website.
And your paintings bring this source material into more
unexpected visual and conceptual locations.
Laura
9:41pm
Very much so.
I go to the opposite sources as the starting point for
paintings, beginning instead with found imagery.
As I progress with painting I'm increasingly looking far outside
what's labeled as "Personal" more and more.
Otino
9:43pm
Can I say the strength in your photos resides in the research
and conceptual drive carrying over in a different manner into the paintings?
Laura
9:43pm
I'd have to agree.
Otino
9:44pm
I recently interviewed Chris Sheppard and he currently is
exhibiting in Vancouver now.
"Club Monaco - Avenue Road and Bloor" © Chris Shepherd
Your paintings’ compositions remind me of his photos to a
degree.
I guess we are back at blurring media.
Laura
9:45pm
I'm a fan of his work so I'd have to take that as a complement.
Otino
9:45pm
It is.
As mentioned when we first met in person, "Basketball Net
with Contemporary Art References", 2013 is my favourite of your works thus
far.
Laura
9:47pm
Thank you!
Otino
9:48pm
Since your work is definitely messing with the painterly points
of reference in the mind of the viewer and scrambling it up before serving it
clean again with new order.
I want to say I've seen these paintings before; yet cannot
locate the point of origin. What is their origin? Which ‘Contemporary Art
References’ are you considering in their construction?
Laura
9:50pm
All the time I'd spent reading, looking, studying, thinking
about art and painting I was also considering where one fits their work within
this other discourse and all this was running through my head when I made the
“Basketball Net” painting.
It’s production also coincided with Dave Hickey's visit to
Guelph and my studio. I couldn't help but think of all his sports metaphors after I'd
read a big chunk of his writings prior to his studio visit.
"Untitled (a)" 2004 © Wilhelm Sasnal, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ
I had been also been thinking a great deal about Richard Prince and
Wilhelm Sasnal when creating that piece. With Richard Prince I was deeply
considering his “Second House” around the same time. I love that work so very
much.
"Second House" 2004 © Richard Prince
Otino
9:53pm
I was thinking Jeff Koons’ appropriated Nike posters; simply because of the signifier.
Laura
9:53pm
I can see that for sure.
Otino
9:54pm
Was the reference for this painting from a found source?
Laura
9:55pm
It's a mixture of Google image search results (for “basketball
nets”) and my imagination (trying to place the net and the court into a place
far away I know would not normally include either objects).
Otino
9:58pm
Can you explain to me how one camouflages as a photographer and
then suddenly can paint like Kevin Durant?
Gotta go - think about that question and we'll pick it up later.
Thanks, Part 2 soon...
Laura
9:59pm
Ok! Later!
Part
2
Monday 9:25pm
Otino
9:26pm
I'm back.
Sorry for the delay and thanks for your patience.
Laura
9:27pm
Hi! Really no problem at all, I'm in the studio so time loses
some meaning while here.
Otino
9:29pm
I think you mean time becomes continuous like your paintings and
in my opinion you gain more meaning this way.
I think we were talking about basketball last night. Wondering
if we can pick up with painting?
Laura
9:30pm
Yeah, by 'meaning’ I really do mean to say there's no such thing
as a moment wasted here.
Otino
9:31pm
And by 'meaning' I mean significance.
It seems we are both fans of accuracy.
Laura
9:31pm
We were talking about basketball, I had to Google “Kevin Durant”
and got confused; Googled “Kevin Durant Painting” and was more confused before
I completely understood.
Otino
9:33pm
Happy it was a Polaroid effect.
+copy.jpg)
"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with a basketball in 1978" Andy Warhol
When I look at your work it makes me feel like I'm at a
crossroad of interpretations.
I absorb the content and search for links (era, identity,
location- yet mostly nostalgic tracing).
Then I get caught in the mesh of your application. It really is
seductive in a painterly aesthetic sense.
(Work in Progress), 2013
I almost feel the subject matter becomes negligible.
Not as discarded as in Gary Hume; yet more as enticement.
It's like you have to paint something to paint the way you do
and these images seem to work.
Is this interpretation wrong of me?
Laura
9:40pm
It's fairly evident how much I enjoy the process of painting
from the marks and application of paint. You're very accurate in saying the
imagery of the paintings gives me permission to work in a physical application
I find most enjoyable to work with. At the canvas it's like a dance, very
physical, sometimes so far that it becomes frustrating, yet always requiring
bursts of energy to accomplish.
I'm drawn to imagery and subjects letting me work in this way
but will often make changes, big or small, from the sources. Staying faithful
to anything I first employ as a source is way, way down low on the list of
important ingredients to a successful painting for me.
Otino
9:43pm
What was the source material or starting point for "Three
Vantages", 2013?
Laura
9:44pm
I don't remember where I found it, but it was an image of a sexy
woman in a leopard skin bikini from the 60's somewhere on a boat and in the
background you can see the details of the bow.
It was kind of an, "Ugh, what is this woman doing in the
way of such a nice looking boat?" moment.
And in the end I wanted to make a painting where you wouldn't
quite be able to tell if you were looking up at the bow of a ship, down from
above it, or at it's reflection in the water.
Otino
9:46pm
Are we talking about the same painting?
“Three Vantages” - 11"x14" – 2013
Laura
9:47pm
Well, that's the story of “Three Vantages”, yes.
Otino
9:47pm
Really!?!
Laura
9:47pm
“Three Vantages”: three possible points of view of the bow, yep.
It really looks nothing whatsoever like the source imagery.
Otino
9:48pm
I think I just proved my earlier point regarding the inessential
quality of your photographic references with respect to your final paintings.
I'm completely impressed - almost in awe - at your description
of process (completed unexpected) yet remain with a feeling like the didactic
panel is not really necessary for the painting's real success? Do you agree?
(Work in Progress), 2013
Laura
9:53pm
I do, my motivations for the specific evolution from found image
to final painting, with this one especially, isn't essential.
I prefer to imagine the installation of groups of paintings
together and the possibilities of manipulating the reading of the bigger
picture to revealing the stories and secrets of each painting one at a time.
It's like a frog (or a joke) - once you dissect it, it's dead.
Otino
9:57pm
Actually I even think you are pulling my leg about the
"leopard skin bikini from the 60's". It's like Gerhard Richter can
blur anyone.
Laura
9:58pm
Totally serious about the bikini lady.
Otino
9:59pm
So unlike what I guess Gerhard would argue as a necessary
connection between painterly abstraction (let's take the blurring of the three
Danish princesses in "Drei Geschwister Three Siblings", 1965 as an example)
to inform his practice, you are happy with complete disconnect of subject from
the object of painting?
"Drei Geschwister Three Siblings", 1965 © Gerhard Richter
Laura
10:00pm
It's not my goal when I set out making a painting, like I said,
I'm imagining this bigger picture, but once I put a thing like a painting out into
the world I can't control how people are going to interpret it (by even
choosing to read about why I made it or ask) so it's futile to be unhappy when
my original goal for making a work is overlooked.
It makes me happy when people find some part of themselves in
something I've made, even if it's difficult to be put into words.
Otino
10:02pm
I do not necessarily think your original goal was overlooked if
you are content with a complete disregard for the original reference material
in favor of the final painting image from the onset. I think the issue I have with
the work is you are still lingering onto the narrative delivering us here
whereas I'm fine with simply enjoying the present offered.
Laura
10:03pm
I can’t – not - linger on the originating story of my own work:
that would be impossible; but if other people aren't interested in it, I'm not
upset.
Otino
10:04pm
I also do not think I'm saying I find "myself" in the
work at all.
When I mentioned nostalgia earlier and the role of your source
materials more recently, I was speaking of this style of painting as a trope
signaling more communal significance like a collective memory. Not
surprisingly, this is a common approach.
Laura
10:05pm
I've been very surprised from time to time by other’s
interpretations of my work. Someone once mentioned they thought my earlier
paintings were homoerotic. My eyebrows were certainly raised by this comment,
yet the fact this perspective wasn't part of the origin or content didn't upset
me or change the painting's significance.
Otino
10:07pm
I'd be disappointed if you are saying you are willing to accept
any read.
Quite a different stance than severing significance with your
initial source materials. True?
Laura
10:08pm
You're right.
I wouldn't accept any reading or projections onto one of my
paintings. I do accept works of art are consumed and enjoyed and shared in ways
beyond our control as artists once we put it out there. Something can be put on
a blog with no context and still be absorbed and appreciated and that doesn't
bother me. It happens to most artists these days.
Otino
10:09pm
With respect to my earlier observation regarding this interplay
of source photography vs painterly effect, your work also reminds me of my
friend Isca Greenfield-Sanders’ work.
"Ferryboat", 2013 © Isca Greenfield-Sanders
Isca will be featuring her fifth solo show with GALERIE KLÜSER
in Munich, Germany on Friday September 13th, 2013 and the new work is both
signature and exploratory in regards to her subject matter.
Laura
10:13pm
Hmm, looking with a cursory glance at her work I'd have to say
where we differ is I don't try to reference the technologies or signifiers of
photography through my paintings.
Otino
10:14pm
So are your works becoming more abstract or non-representational?
Titles like "Laundry at Night", 2013 still seem to tug
us back into photographic modes.
Laura
10:17pm
No, though abstraction creeps into the work through a simplification
of spaces or objects I'm representing. Objects I wish to represent become
reduced to marks when taken out of context may appear abstract, but these are
intentional selections I make in the translation from source to painting.
“Laundry at Night” was more about imagining and seeing and again
barely resembles the source imagery. I wanted to imagine what it would be like
to look out a window at night down into a yard where the laundry had been
forgotten.
Otino
10:18pm
Would you describe your painting style as manipulative?
I'm returning to my original perception of the work betraying a
slickness and mastery possibly for it's own - Painting's - sake. So you literally discard the photo source and left its painterly
idea out to dry.
Laura
10:20pm
I think that's quite an accurate word for my painting. I might
have to borrow it.
Otino
10:21pm
"Manipulative" or "dry"? ha.
Laura
10:22pm
Manipulative. I'm very drawn to the wet quality of paint and
having it do some of the work of rendering an image for me. Dry might apply to
how I get the wet look to do its thing.
Otino
10:23pm
I think we share the same dry sense of humor regarding
contemporary approaches to paint. It is refreshing to hear painters be so light
around their work's discourse.
Your upcoming group show titled "Upshot" also relates
to "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" in the Kundera-sense. Right?
Laura
10:25pm
It does.
Otino
10:26pm
What works will you be presenting here alongside Fiona Annis and
Lorna Bauer?
Laura
10:31pm
It's going to be a lens-based, centric show.
I'll be showing the series “Portrait of my Grandparents”: a
large format black and white series which represented my attempt to assemble a
portrait of each of my grandparents through formal still lives of key items in
their house I lived in after they passed away. I'll also have some images from
the “Three Women” series and some GIF work. All three explore archiving items
of lost people through documentation.
Otino
10:32pm
So it doesn't seem like you are completely moving from photography
any time soon even if your painting practice is becoming more purist.
Laura
10:33pm
In some ways I'm especially appreciative of this show for
exercising a lens-based language while I continue my focus on painting for the
next year.
Otino
10:36pm
Your new paintings are becoming even more liquid in both the
formal sense of application and involving the subject – in a new instance with
Ruscha-like mountains melting.
(Work in Progress), 2013
Is this new work ebbing into other painterly signifiers like a
more obvious brush?
Laura
10:42pm
I grew up next to the ocean and it always seemed like the most
difficult thing in the entire world to try to capture in its essence. Large
bodies of water are also possibly some of the scariest things I can think of.
Right now I'm exploring great lake shipwrecks through painting.
I'm interested in the reconstruction of an event from the past which had no
witnesses and which can only be understood through gathered fragments. The vast
and unsympathetic obstacle of huge amounts of water is an incredibly alluring
subject for painting.
What better to render as a melting mountain, than one made of
water.
Otino
10:43pm
Painting is hydrous after all.
What is your past relationship between painting and panic?
Laura
10:47pm
For a few years all the paintings I would make would indirectly
reference my different fears, however this wasn't something I would ever reveal
to explain the work. There was a particularly stressful period where I was
dealing with temporary anxiety and in moments of extreme crisis the only way I
found to calm myself down and find my feet again was to let loose on a canvas
alone in the studio.
I'd be lying if I said I still didn't make the odd painting for
the same purpose from time to time.
Otino
10:48pm
Seems therapeutic.
Laura
10:48pm
As I said, I love the process of painting.
Finding relief in it seems to be part of that love.
Otino
10:49pm
Are you anxious about how your work will operate after
completing graduate studies?
Laura
10:49pm
No. Presently the only apprehension I feel is for the conclusion
of my MFA.
The future usually looks pretty exciting.
Otino
10:50pm
Be wary of sharks around shipwrecks.
Laura
10:50pm
Always.
Otino
10:51pm
You must also be excited to be a finalist and my pic for the RBC
painting competition 2013.
Laura
10:51pm
Ha! Of course! How could I not be?
I'm excited for the opportunity to exhibit in the National
Gallery, meeting all the other finalists and all the ritz that accompanies
these kinds of events (galas!). It's all very exciting.
Otino
10:51pm
Thanks Laura.
Laura
10:52pm
And thanks to you Otino!
Interesting and mature work from this young artist. I look forward to watching Lura Findlay's development. Many more surprises in store for us all, I'm sure.
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