http://www.kelsey-henderson.com/
email: kelsey.henderson@gmail.com

FP: Hi Kelsey! Your portraits are very open and honest. Do you choose your models based on their looks or are do they all have personal connections to you?

KH: It's pretty instinctual when i know i want to paint someone, it's the same feeling that makes you want to look at someone for a moment longer, if someone has caught your eye... it's based on my reaction to an individuals' appearance or their presence which then grows into a desire and infatuation to want to see more. I want to see the details, to want to study the person, to keep looking.

I usually chose people I hardly know, a waitress or a friend of a friend or at times even a stranger... which is in such contrast to the personal connection I end up having with their appearance. Painting someone is a very intimate experience but obviously not on a physical level. By studying the individual, I'm getting to see all the close details that come together to create that person. This gives me a chance to learn so much more about that individual and understand why I'm attracted to them.

Unlike many real life situations, by painting someone, I get to spend time staring at a person. It's a level of closeness and examination that is usually only shared between people who are closely involved. I enjoy having that opposition of distance and intimacy in my works. It's easier for me to portray someone I don't know in one particular way vs a close friend who I connect to on many different levels. I've also learned that it's more difficult and complicated to feel an instinct and sincere reaction to want to paint someone I'm around constantly.

FP: What are qualities that initially draw you to a model?

KH: I have a large interest in skin and especially pale skin tones. Not only because it's what I"m used to from myself, but because I love being able to see below the surface, to get a sense of the veins, or a persons imperfections like scars and bruises or blotchy red marks. Because I'm so pale and translucent myself I suppose that is the self portrait aspect that I highlight in each painting. I look for that same quality in individuals and show them in my perspective.

FP: How do you define beauty?

KH: Beauty can be so many things... but the type of beauty I feel most interested in within and connected to my paintings is the reality of what makes up a person... meaning the structure underneath... the bones, the blood. How fragile and at the same time strong the body is. The skin is so easy to cut, which shows it's delicacy, then the blood clots, showing it's power. When I'm seeing these nuances I call that beauty.

FP: You say that your work is based around the idea of the "platonic crush." There is definitely a feeling of androgyny to your work, is that intentional?

KH: Androgyny is definitely intriguing to me in many ways, primarily I like how it takes the sex out of my attraction to a person. In other words, it's less about my attraction towards a male or female, but to an individual. This also allows me to show a body as just that, taking away a certain heightened and drastic level of male or female sexuality. I feel androgyny overlaps both male and female sexuality and confuses and/or plays with the viewer's attraction to the individual. This creates an provocative perspective to my work. Perhaps, for that reason, androgyny is an easy way to show my platonic crush.

FP: Who was your first platonic crush on?

KH: I don't know that there clearly was a first. It took me some time to figure out the concept... separating a crush from a platonic one. I think it occurred to me when my attraction was not when I wanted to act on my intrigue but examine my interest.

FP: Clothing seems to play a very important part in your work. Do you think fashion is integral to show the personalities of the subjects in your portraits? In other words, how much do you style your subjects?

KH: I'm actually trying to pull away from clothing in my newer paintings. I've realized people become very fixated on what's being worn by the model in the piece, rather then the model his or herself. In the past I usually told the person to wear something that he/she likes, a favorite shirt or outfit. But now I'm starting to become slightly more involved with the styling. Recently I've taken clothes away from my paintings. I am trying to focus on what clothes and accessories add to my painting as well as removing those that take away from the image and person.

FP: Have you been commissioned by designers or editorial magazines to do the portraits? If so, by whom?

KH: In the summer of 2008 I had a great opportunity. I worked with FLY 16x9, creating a short film documentary which presented my paintings and process in collaboration with Christian Dior couture. In that situation I went about my usual process of picking my models and taking photos, the only difference was that the apparel was that of a designer's vs a model's own.


FP: In the very beautiful documentary that Melissa O'Brien shot of you, (http://www.melissacobrien.com/) you shoot your subjects first. Do you ever exhibit your photography, either with or without your paintings?

KH: I haven't. But I'm starting to consider my photography more seriously as a part of my work. Initially when I started, I wanted to use photos that were just OK and then make a great painting out of it... trying to raise the caliber of the image from the source. In time I've started to care more about my photos which I feel in return have made my paintings stronger. Now there are moments when I'm looking through my photos and realized.... "that's a great image, but it's better as a photo then it would be as a painting." I'm starting to see that there's a value for each medium in my work and I'm excited about further developing and showing my photographs in the near future.

FP: Who are your influences?

KH: I always like looking at Jenny Saville, Gerhard Richter, Richard Phillips. When I was younger I loved Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele... which to my surprise people are connecting more to my more recent paintings.

FP: Where is your work evolving to currently? Will you stay with portraiture?

KH: I think I'll always stay with portraiture... it's challenging and I will always have that attraction. People are too fascinating to me not to want to keep looking at them. The way in which my work will evolve feels endless. I've been wanting to pick up my 8mm camera again and film people during the moments between taking their pictures for my paintings. I'm looking forward to including other mediums in my work to expand my passion. I've learned that every medium I can embrace will make my paintings stronger.

FP: Thank you Kelsey!

http://www.lgoldwynfilms.com/
email: reply@goldwynfilms.com

FP: I think of you as an art chameleon; you've had many connected interests in art and fashion and obviously, you're from a film family dynasty-- from my own experience, I'm not keen on categorizing multi-talented artists, however I'm wondering what is the biggest muse for you at the moment?

LG: I don't have a specific muse- I quite like that I cannot be labeled into a tidy box– I feel most kindred to artists of the Renaissance period, who didn't always fit into specific categories, but experimented with various media depending on what subject matter they were exploring. I am always interested in history, sexuality, science and of course clothing/ textile– so my "muses" can come from anything I am thinking about, looking at, scoring at a vintage store or dreaming of...

FP: I was recently reminded of your filmmaking upon seeing your billboards around Los Angeles. The images are probably the first set of images I've seen in those digital billboards that really feel like they work there. The "Underwater Ballet" imagery is particularly striking. What led you to the Phantom Camera (captures action at 1000 frames per second–normal frame rate is 24 frames per second)? It is amazing to think that yours is the first film to experiment with this technique. How did you come up with the concept for the film? And have you ever considered using the digital billboards themselves as a medium for your art? I have yet to see that done.

LG: My recent short film Underwater Ballet came to me in a dream, in fact, and is closely linked to ideas I was exploring in my personal life. The feeling of alone-ness, floating in the universe, at the same time being connected to all the matter and stars which surround... Finding your place in the ballet of the galaxy... For me it is a mournful, meditative piece–a closure to one chapter and a moment of restlessness, the unknown that awaits...

I wanted to use the phantom camera because I liked the challenge of using such high tech equipment in combination with "low brow" old school vfx technique– the "stars" in the sky are in fact, Alka Seltzer in tanks! Also, when I am told something is not possible, technically or otherwise, I cannot stay away! I love to constantly push my learning curve...

Yes the collaboration with clear channel for the billboards in LA - and also the spectacolor board in Times Square was in fact, public art.

I had been offered a gallery show of the work but I feel strongly about bringing art to the streets/public in general and I felt it was a better avenue to beautify my city in a small way.... I am not interested in making things only a select few can enjoy–I am very happy to be able to reach people that may not have access to or feel comfortable going to a gallery or museum– Art is for the people! **Download Press Release for Times Square PDF

FP: I noticed in your Diary on your site, http://www.lgoldwynfilms.com, you have an entry in regards to the merging of humans with machines. I am wondering if you have ever heard of Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto, on the feminist principal of the same idea. Are you interested in the ideas of future technology and the artist?

LG: I don't know that manifesto. I am always interested in developments in technology, science and virtual reality. A teacher in high school gave me the William Gibson novel Neuromancer to read which helped foster this obsession– I was struck by how a punk poet like Gibson could conceptualize virtual reality without having a computer...

Perhaps it shows that anything is possible! There are no limits to the human imagination!

FP: I first became a fan of your work with the documentary "Pretty Things"--your documentary on the last generation of American 'Burlesque Queens.' It has often been said that unfortunately burlesque is a lost art in a time of instant gratification and celebrity. Although there is a retro homage with artists like Dita von Teese, what do you consider to be our modern equivalent of the burlesque?

LG: Dita is a great friend of mine and I think she does an incredible job of holding the burlesque torch- and with her costumes and stage shows, brings a new level of sophistication to the medium– I also like the work of Trixie Minx, Ava Garter, Immodesty Blaise, Narcissister, the 90s incarnation of the Velvet Hammer– gosh– so many– But remember, the true root of the word burlesque has nothing to do with striptease– the Latin "burlare" implies satire, and so a modern burlesque could quite open to interpretation– from Saturday Night Live to youtube parody...

FP: You have mentioned that your interest in burlesque began when you discovered vintage burlesque costumes in NY...and your work has a sensitivity to fashion and costume. Can you talk a bit about this and whether or not you have ever considered designing clothes?

LG: I make jewelry but I love clothes and admire the craft too much to want to design myself! I have done some limited edition t-shirts for charity. Am currently working on one for LENY icons www.leny-icons.com. The net proceeds from the sales of the Fashion Icon products will be forwarded to Al Gore's The Climate Project.
I would really like to have my own lingerie line though! Bras, stockings, panties, bedroom slippers, gowns and robes– the works!

FP: That would be amazing, I would love to see that line...Who are your greatest influences?

LG: my family my friends my dreams conversations with interesting people keeping an open mind and continuing to learn whatever I can– life is constantly influencing!

FP: What are you currently working on?

LG: a huge multi-media installation in Paris which opens in August - October 2009!

FP: Thank you so much! I can't wait to see what you do next!

http://beccamidwood.com/
contact: becca2323@sbcglobal.net


FP: There are so few female wild post/graffiti/street artists in > LA...at least none that I know of; you are the only one I could name...why do you think that is?

becca: I'm guessing it's because I was the only girl out there?

FP: Guerrilla artist Robbie Conal is a close friend of mine...have the two of you ever met? You should collaborate...

becca: I've never had an opportunity to meet Mr. Conal in person or anything like that, but we have collaborated on the street. I certainly would love the chance to work with him in a more formal manner.

FP: Generally how long does it take you to complete a piece, and then consequently how long will last at any given public space? Do you spend much time sketching and preparing before a work goes up, and then what is your process? Do you have to work at night? Have you ever been challenged while midway through a piece?

becca: I can put together a piece in one to two days, anything longer that, that get on my nerves. My process involves paper, paint, wood and glue. My biggest thrill is when I can't stand a painting I'm working on then last minute I get it figured out. II work when I work. I try to work on something (framing, painting, research, etc..) everyday.

FP: Have you ever documented the process via video? I think that would be cool to see... Do you keep photographic records of everything you've done?

becca: No, no video. I did appear on the " nihilist corner" several years back. I'm really camera shy.

FP: How long did it take for legitimate galleries/collectors to notice the street work and start giving you credit?

becca: Quite a while. I started when I was 19 in Richmond, VA and Washington DC. Then went on to get my Masters at SFAI (they failed me, of course).
I did finally get my diploma from them.

FP: And are you still doing the street installation or have you now shifted away from that?

becca: I'm not too interested in the streets anymore. I used the streets for practice and self-promotion. Each piece I put up was a one-of-a-kind painting. No Xeroxes or posse, just me and my painting. I certainly don't see myself crawling and scrawing, as I put it. I did the streets for 20 years, now I take care of my mum (full time) and paint for shows or commissions.

FP: It's often the female form that makes your work so angelic and magical; there is a vulnerability that mixes with the roughness of the street surroundings...how did you first gravitate to painting girls? Content-wise a lot of it has a verbal edge that takes the piece to a different place; can you talk about that? How do your ideas come to you? Are they inspired by current events or feminist ideas?

becca: I like painting girls, ladies and women. When I do paint a guy he looks like a lady, so... ?

FP: Who are your influences?

becca: Vuillard, Basquiat, Colette Miller and me mum.

FP: Where are you currently living and what are you now working on?

becca: I live in Austin. I'm preparing for a big solo show in San Francisco at the White Walls Gallery. Opening night is Saturday July 11th.

FP: Thanks Becca!

www.kategilmore.com
contact: kategilmore@earthlink.net

FP: I love your video work because they always represent to me the tireless WORK and sometimes fatigue of the feminist movement. But still the willingness to keep fighting. And sometimes not just that but the personal as well, fighting for love, self, etc. Where does the fight come from within you?

KG: Fight, struggle, conflict--these are pretty universal concepts. I think most people understand these simple human predicaments. The videos, of course, have a very strong female perspective in them, but I would also hope that they speak to a larger group as well. In response to the question, "Where does the fight come from within me", I would have to say that I was just born kind of pissed off. I am actually a pretty nice and a relatively sane individual, but I have a temper and I have always been very physically inclined. So, the combination of the two is, I guess, where the art comes in!

FP: Your new videos are unexpectedly close to my heart as my father was an architect and I grew up in an always-being-renovated Victorian in San Francisco...drywall showing, the sound of it being knocked down, the smell of the plaster. It's invigorating tearing down walls isn't it? (Which I know is part of your brilliant theme...)

KG: I am happy I can conjure up some good memories for you! Breaking "stuff" in general is always a pleasurable experience... That said, while I do enjoy breaking things, I really try to use destruction as a way of making something new. Taking a relatively uncontrolled form of physical activity and transforming it into a new entity, something unforeseen.

FP: It seems like such a timely work...everyone in the country right now has both their hopeful face on but yet also their most industrial hat on too, work needs to be done. Especially on the feminist front. Can you comment on the timeliness of it?

KG: Work needs to be done (period). The world is a mess. As we have seen in our recent election, new ways need to be constructed in order to change things-- make the world a better place! People don't fit into the same models they did 10, 20, 30 years ago. People need to make their own space.

FP: Let's talk about your choice of costume in "Walk This Way." I am quoting the NY Times:

"She wears a demure dark-gray dress with heels...Ms. Gilmore makes a point of dressing like a lady, color-coordination included, in all her short, methodical videos. Then she goes against type, parodying the task-oriented, implicitly macho Process Art pieces and performances of the early 1970s..." It's funny because this state of dress reminded me so much of the much-to-do-about-her-overspent-wardrobe matchy-matchy style of dressing of Sarah Palin. Which in one way was celebratory for a woman to be on the ticket, for women politicians who have struggled and paved the way for that ...and then on the other hand here is this non-starter woman who went against all of that. I see almost see both parts of that in "Walk This Way." On the same note, in "Between A Hard Place," the goal seems to be to break on through to get to the yellow wall that matches your yellow shoes...and particularly in "Higher Horse," In "Higher Horse," created in Rome, she appears atop a pyramid of white plaster blocks wearing a black skirt, pink top, and high heels. Two men dressed in manual-labor-appropriate dark jeans and white undershirts begin to strike the blocks deftly with sledgehammers, and almost immediately, the pyramid crumbles and the artist tumbles down with it, losing a shoe. She climbs back to the top of the rubble, where she mostly stands idle as her footing literally gives out from under her; it’s as if the trappings of modern femininity — the skirt, the heels — prevent her from either helping the men with their task, or, as they come closer with their sledgehammers, defending herself. " (–Artinfo.com, by By Kris Wilton, January 16, 2009)

It just feels so perfectly Palin to me again! Can you tell us a little about your choices of clothing and color, what they represent, and how you go about selecting them for the videos?

KG: I hate Sarah Palin and want nothing to do with that woman what so ever-- Hillary, on the other hand!!!

Color, form, structure--- all that formal stuff--- is really important to me. I make work with a strong aesthetic consideration. Usually, the clothing that I choose is picked out to match or to be in contrast with the installations so that I become a part of the sculpture. The sculpture is as active as the main character in the videos. Clearly, I am attracted to "girlish" colors like pink and yellow, but as I have gotten older, I seem to be moving into a lot of greys and blacks. These days, I am thinking more about a "generic" woman as a opposed to a specific character.

FP: Where do you think feminist art is at this time in history?

KG: I don't think we can make art about one thing. For me, I make work about my experiences in the world. I am a woman, so my work reflects that. I am also loud, uncouth, a bit obnoxious, big, kind of strange, etc., so I make work about that as well. I am interested in artists who are looking outwards-- using themselves as a reflection to what is going on in the world.

FP: Has extreme physical endurance always been a theme of yours, and what brought you to that? Did you ever play sports? And are you ever fearful that you'll get injured while performing? (Has that ever happened?) Or had a moment of panic or is each performance choreographed?

KG: Nothing is choreographed-- that would be to much like acting (and I am a horrible actress). I have always been very physical, naturally extremely strong, aggressive, etc. Growing up, this wasn't always seen as a good thing! That said, I have learned to use my body as a tool--like someone would use a drill or a saw. I know what my body can do, its power, its weaknesses, and I try and make work with all that in mind. When I go about creating these "difficult" environments in which the videos take place, I always assume that I will be able to accomplish the goal or task that is involved in the piece. I am not always correct in my assumptions, but I go about making my videos thinking that I will be successful in them. Luckily, I have only gotten a couple cuts and bruises. I am actually really careful-- I don't want to get hurt!

FP: How long does it take you to build each video, from conception to finished product?

KG: If I am lucky, I make 4 or 5 good videos a year. (Some are not so good and they do not get exhibited). I am slow. In order to invest physically in a piece, I have to be pretty convinced it is worth it.

FP: What are you working on next?

KG: I am doing a show in Turin, Italy at Franco Soffiantino Arte Contemporanea in February. There will be videos from 2007 and 2008 and I will be doing a new piece as well. It is a combo climbing/
breaking piece. Still working out some logistics!

FP: Thank you!

KG: Thank you!