Ursula Gullow
Ursula Gullow Lives in Asheville, North Carolina you can check out her website here www.ursulagullow.com and also her blog www.artseenasheville.blogspot.com
So Ursula, before we jump into the art questions, do you have any other interests?
Everything relates back to the art I make. I’m fascinated by ideas like the collective conscious, the dreaming world, animal super powers, mysticism, magic, history, cyber communication, electronics, plant propagation. Issues like competitive sports, war and the stock market hold a different inspiration for me.
As a painter, what can you tell us about your work…
My paintings are an exploration of the spaces occupied by almost-formed narratives and the awkward uncertainties of in-betweens. Politics, people and nature all provide source imagery. The paintings, in oil on canvas, are created in fluid layers, with fragments of under painting showing through the finished surface, figures painted just enough to catch the essential gesture, character and movement. The backgrounds and foregrounds shift energetically as paint fields overlap at the edges of a form, resolving into a kind of illustrative expressionism. The approach maintains an economy of detail; stripes may be painted on the shirt of a small figure, but the features of the face left off. The goal is an awareness of something unresolved in both the paint surfaces and the scenarios they reflect, as if an animated storyline has been momentarily paused. The subjects are fragments of narratives, which describe situations we don’t quite know, can’t quite pin down, each a moment so specific as to be universal.
Is there a reason for you becoming an Artist?
It’s the thing I found that makes the most sense to me and suits my lifestyle the best. I need flexibility, community and a minimal budget to live the fullest life possible. Making art in a small city like Asheville affords me all those things.
How did you get into art?
I just have always been into making things. I didn’t go to school for art but surrounded myself with creative types. I was involved with a ceramic artist and started drawing on his pots, then started making tiles, and gradually gathered enough confidence to show my paintings publicly.
Have you always been interested in art?
I wasn’t interested in aesthetics until I decided to try my hand at graphic design about 10 years ago. I wasn’t interested in the art world until I began showing my paintings six years ago. I was always creative, but I didn’t know what I wanted to paint until I turned 30.
What did you do before becoming an artist?
I’ve had a million food service jobs, cleaning jobs and production jobs. I spent my twenties trying out a lot of things – from illustration to glassblowing – I also spent my twenties moving around a lot.
What is your earliest memory of art?
I was in a museum in Washington DC probably when I was 13 and I reached out to touch a painting – it was huge and had big globs of paint that I wanted to bite off. Instantly a security guard stepped forward and reprimanded me. I was really embarrassed and felt like a country bumpkin for not knowing the proper art appreciation etiquette. I’ve always been terrified of people in uniforms.
Was art a “thing” that was encouraged in your family?
Music was a huge thing. My mother made sure every one of her 6 kids played an instrument. I played piano for 6 months and was terrible. I played violin for 10 years and really liked playing in orchestras and chamber groups. We grew up with a lot of classical music and opera. My mother is a deeply creative and passionate person and she contributed a magical element to everything when I was growing up – she still does.
Did the place where you grew up have an influence?
I grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York. The land and seasons were beautiful, but the emotional dissociation that is necessary to operate a functioning dairy farm is heartbreaking. I think about the concepts of good and evil a lot and the exploitive properties inherent to agrarian societies.
What or who inspires your art?
Everything. I like being in the know. I like to keep abreast of trends and celebrities. I like to feel what the collective conscious is feeling. This doesn’t necessarily inspire my art but it inspires me, and to some extent my aesthetic choices. I’ve always been drawn towards meeting all types of people – I’m not that sort of quiet, anti-social pained artist you read about or see in the movies.
How important is art for you?
Everything is art. So it’s not even a question of being important. My social life revolves around it. Art happenings and art openings are celebrations of humanity and I love that – the same is true for graffiti and dance parties and political movements.
What caused you to choose the medium you currently work in?
I really believe economics plays a big role in this. I chose painting because it is cheap, accessible and saleable. That sounds disgusting, but I think it’s true. I wanted to work with metals when I was in college but the lab fee was too expensive for me. I don’t think I’d want to work with a medium that I need big and dangerous equipment for. On the other hand, painting chose me too. I could be drawing for all the reasons I’ve stated but I like the luscious quality of paint.
How important do you think craftsmanship is to artistic creation?
The concept should be fabricated as well as it needs to be, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be well crafted in order to have the concept communicated.
What has been a turning point in your career thus far and why?
My first showing of paintings in Seattle was so well received that I continued on. That was the turning point in my life I think.
All artists seem to have struggles, tell us about any you have had.
The biggest struggle for me is the will to continue and maintain inspiration and fresh ideas. Too many rejection letters in one month can be draining.
Do you keep an Art Journal or Visual Diary of some kind?
No. I have tried but it always feels forced for me. I keep a notebook near my bed to write my dreams in. The thing with me is that really I am painting whenever I have a moment so that is like my journal. When traveling I occasionally do sketches, and I have a blog which is a great device for communicating ideas.
Do you hope the viewer will “get” what you are trying to communicate or do you feel compelled to spell it out to them?
I am continually amazed at people’s responses to my work. Most often it is not in line with what I was thinking when I made the piece but I value their perspective.
How important is it to you that your work communicates something to the viewer?
It will always communicate something and I can’t force the viewer to see what I see. I’m happy if they take time to notice it and comment on it. At best a discussion will be provoked. A man recently saw a piece I did that had kids throwing rocks and he was completely disgusted by it.
What can you say about your work that might not be evident to the viewer?
A lot of people think my work is funny and quirky, and that’s probably because they’re funny and quirky. There is a real seriousness I have when I’m creating it. In my mind it’s a recreation of the sublime beauty of struggle and the human condition and debunking myths of hierarchy and good vs. evil.
What can you tell us about your creative development process?
I didn’t receive a formal education in art and I often wonder how things would be for me if I had. Maybe I would hash out concepts and ideas more. I tend to have a bit of attention deficit regarding my work as it is always changing in scale, subject matter, color schemes etc. I might paint small tight narratives one week and large organic landscapes the next. I let myself experiment and then return to my comfort zone with fresh perspective.
Art is about entertainment, experiment, inventiveness or shock for you?
All of those words mean the same thing to me, and yes, art is about all of that as well as celebration and community. Creating art and living a creative life within a dominant paradigm that does not value art (such as in the United States) is the most revolutionary aspect inherent to art. It is the beginning of social empathy and transformation.
If you stopped doing art right now would you miss it?
Yes. But there is no way I would stop being creative unless I really wanted to. Even if I was blind and deaf and had no use of my limbs. I’d probably smear my face around in mud at that point. Or make brilliant spit bubbles. Or sing. Or go insane - which is its own creative form.
Is motivation to work an issue for you and how do you overcome it?
Sometimes I have no motivation to make paintings. I usually find a different creative outlet like video or blogging. But the creative process is cyclical and at this point I know my patterns enough to not get too freaked out if I’m not producing work. If I don’t feel like painting that month I might put my energy into researching grants and galleries, applying to shows, networking or just taking care of my emotional and physical health.
Do you have a challenge knowing when a work is finished?
It’s just something I intuitively feel when the piece is complete. I usually sign it when I know it’s almost done, and finish it up shortly thereafter.
Are their special aspects to the making of your work that you want to share?
I just really want to avoid being formulaic. I think I know when that’s happening, and then I’ll play tricks on myself like maybe removing a particular color from my palette – or adding a new one I’ve never worked with before.
You know you have “made it as an artist” when
When you stop asking yourself if you’ve made it as an artist.
The business side of art how does it work for you?
The business or marketing side of Art can be a challenge to some, what are your thoughts? Approach it like you approach your art. If you’re slow and methodical that will pay off, and if your bombastic and manic that will pay off. Either way, marketing is an art in itself so have fun with it. Artists are some of the most entrepreneurial people I know. We have to be! I mean, mostly we’re totally self-possessed and don’t trust anyone to run our business but ourselves. This whole idea of the “flaky artist” is an urban myth – or at least one that preceded the cyber era.
What is the most unexpected response you’ve received from a viewer of your work?
One time a woman came to a studio sale I was having and had to leave because she felt like my materials were too toxic and giving her a headache. Sometimes I don’t know how to deal with the complaint that my materials are not eco friendly, or that as an artist I am just creating more “stuff” in this already over commodified world.
Tell us about getting caught in a creative “slump” and how you got out of it?
I just hunker down and wait it out. It passes. Everything changes. If you’re slumping now you won’t be doing it forever. It’s part of the process to be dormant. There is always a fear of becoming dissociated with the work during a slump but gaining perspective on it helps – the slump is part of the work ultimately.
Metaphors, analogies, symbols, stories, how important are they to your work?
They seem to become more important after the work is made. I don’t think about it while I’m making it as much. Later things take on meaning to me.
Is your art, “art for art sake…” or a matter of “art for commercial viability?”
I have a hard time separating those two. I usually make a piece based on what I want to make, and hope its cool enough aesthetically that someone will want to live with it or hang it in their gallery, or write a review about it.
Name a book or books, which may have inspired your work as an artist?
I often get my titles for my paintings from piecing together sentences I randomly select out of books. Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration” by David Wojnarowicz is my bible for titles. “In the City of Shy Hunters” by Tom Spanbauer is another one. Both are tremendous books written by tremendous men that have inspired my worldview and thus my art.
If someone says to you “Oh your work is decorative and lacks any meaning…” your response would be…?
If that’s what they see and how they respond I can’t tell them they’re wrong. I can handle most criticism as long as the person isn’t mean. Ultimately there is truly no “right” and “wrong” way of critiquing art, and if they think its pretty and lacks meaning — well the beauty is the meaning.
What is one thing you need to have in your studio before you work?
Daylight and coffee.
What moves you most in life, either to inspire or upset you?
The interconnectedness of beings and our short sightedness in this matter.
Which is more important to you, the subject of your painting, or the way it is executed?
The execution is as important as the subject matter, and in fact becomes the subject matter in the best works of art.
How do you think art can change people or their perceptions?
I think the creative process has a real rehabilitative effect on people, whether its creating a painting or a garden. It is also a useful device for mediation. If George Bush is making any art, I’d love to know about it, because maybe that’s something he and I could connect on. Maybe his art could alter my perception and vice versa. Maybe that would be a good thing.
What do you love/hate about being an artist?
A friend of mine once said you can’t take it personally if someone doesn’t like your work, and you can’t take it personally if they do. For me, the attention I get surrounding my art can be like a drug – the more I get the more I want. There should be a 12 step program for ego maniacs.
What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?
Just keep making art, exploring your personal technique and your personal vision. Try to be as honest as possible and be open to critique but filter it. Critique from your mother is different than critique from a gallery director – one knows you, the other is in a business relationship with you.
I think it’s also important to maintain a balance of work and play when it comes to art but that is something that takes years to hone. I’m still working on doing that.
What do you think sets you apart from other artists in your approach to work etc.
Well, I know I’m not the only artist that does this, but I think about titles a lot. I want the title of a piece to be as poetic as the piece itself, probably because I’m creating visual narratives. In a literal world, the title communicates as much as the piece and is not separate of it. So I craft my titles with the same intention as I craft a piece.
Do you have questions for the Artist? Go to the comments section at the bottom of this post and ask away.
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[...] Steve wrote an interesting post today onUrsual GullowHere’s a quick excerptThe thing with me is that really I am painting whenever I have a moment so that is like my journal. When traveling I occasionally do sketches, and I have a blog which is a great device for communicating ideas. … [...]
[...] can read more of Ursula’s interview here… November 19, 2008 | Filed Under [...]