a+i interview: sarah amos

recently, art+interiors visited artist sarah amos to discuss her experiences and motivations. below are her brilliant responses:

 + amos in her studio

what is your most intriguing experience as an artist?

making a large scale work form soup to nuts and then having it take on a life force of its own is a chart topping experience.

+ dawn rain series 2 | collagraph 

what excites you to make your work?

i make my work in an effort to understand its meaning, shape and dimensionality, so when i find an image or idea that i become engaged with and feel that i could commit myself to it somehow in print then there is a level of excitement because of its multiple possibilities. another situation that can trigger elation is when i am printing an existing body of work and a totally new image will slowly come to the surface and present itself due to the multi layering system that i have developed over the years. i can still can be pleasantly surprised as though the work is offering you a small window into the next body of work.

+ works from amos' studio

what artists or movements have influenced your work?

antonio tapies, anselm keifer, gerhard richter, daniel richter, japanese woodblock prints, william kentridge, terry winters, arturo herrera, agnes martin, outsider art, persian miniatures, oceanic and african to mention but a few.

+ dawn rain series 1 collagraph

how do you balance art with the rest of your life?

i teach occasionally at dartmouth and williams colleges as an adjunct which is fun and engaging and gets me out of my studio. i also give master classes around the u.s. and australia which i love to do as i get to meet other printmakers and allows me to do my other great love travel to australia annually. i also make sure to do a residency in a country that i am interested in as it is not only a really good idea to make your work outside of your studio but a way to investigate a new surrounding that inevitably will find its way into a future body of work.

the interview

a+i welcome: eugene brodsky

art+interiors is pleased to welcome artist eugene brodsky! recently featured in the latest artnews magazine, below is a copy of brodsky's article, written by cynthia nadelamn, eloquently describing his most recent exhibition:

"i ramble and look for what nobody else cares about. and having collected my images i take them to my studio...and rework and refine and reverse and repeat them so that they are hopefully born again and given some new dignity and magic."

"i try to use whatever techniques and materials i can lay my hands on that don't dominate what i want to see. having grown up in a generation that rauschenburg and john's to refer to, i have the advantage (and disadvantage) of knowing everything is possible, anything can become art."

+ destiny | mixed media on panel

we are eager for brodsky's addition to the collective, confident his outstanding experience and ability will prove a brilliant success!

the welcome

a+i interview: jeanette fintz

recently, a+i spoke to artist jeanette fintz about her most recent work. below are her brilliant responses. enjoy!

what excites you to make your work?

i am excited by the first vision of a group of colors interacting that i feel drawn to working with at that particular time. sometimes in the vision there are types of shapes or patterns that hold the colors, sometime it’s just the feeing of the colors, from a memory of the visual world. since i painted from the landscape in my early years, colors often derive from a feeling i have about light or natural phenomena that i want to make for myself, like a world i want to live in. sometimes the color comes from things that made an impression on me from the material world of contemporary culture—two colors together that are like two notes that have a close tension that make me feel a resonance in my body. 

+ worldplay 2 | acrylic on canvas

please describe your process.

there is a feeling of adventure and challenge about using a process or form that i am exploring—i feel like a pioneer in a new territory or someone trying to find their way through a dreamscape recurring nightly! the complexity of color shape and pattern in my work initiates a long process of decision—making the painting process a real experience for me, with memories of struggle and resolution. 

+ bright flux1 | acrylic on canvas

how do you begin a painting?

the landscape gives me something real as a jumping off point from which i can create my own version. the abstract expressionist process of making a painting, which holds a lingering attraction for me, allows a freedom of self-exploration and spontaneity. the hexagonal circle grid now presents me an endless set of possibilities for shape, scale and pattern. landscape offers a kind of safety net, while i have the ability to choose to cut across a series of edges to forge a detour or make a composite shape, or simply follow the edges directly to make a symmetrical pattern. 

+ andalusian shards1 | acrylic on canvas

how do you finish a painting?

to produce something that i envisioned completed wouldn’t be worth the effort. i may have an ideal vision of a painting i want to create, but as i work on the painting, the piece displays a will of its own as well. the end product is not something i can predict, nor do i want to. 

the interview