Lara Dann, Eclectix Interview 31

Lara Dann

Born in Rochester, New York – Lara Dann has moved all over the US and various parts of California. A product of divorced parents and a struggling, single mother she experienced a good bit of uprooted change and transition. When Lara turned 12 years old, her mother remarried and she acquired a loving and supportive step-father that was influential in raising her to adulthood. About a move from California to Vermont she says- 

“Huge culture shock. It was 1985-86 and I was a part of the Madonna craze. I showed up to school with jelly shoes, arm full of black rubber bangles, shirt off the shoulder. The works. I was used to being the new girl, but this look was too much for the kids with flannel shirts and high tops. I was ridiculed by the girls and stared at by the boys, so making friends was always a challenge. I kept to myself and was very shy because I didn’t want conflict- but that just came off as bitchy.”

After finishing high school, Lara (now back in New York),  went into advertising design- a field she worked in for about 6 years before becoming disenchanted with the competitive nature of the work environment.

“I did a 180 and went to school full time to become a LMT (licensed massage therapist) and that experience has really enriched my life both creatively and personally.”

After 9/11 and the ensuing economic downturn in New York, a failed business venture and a short stint in Baltimore – Lara and her family got a job offer in Knoxville TN. They have been there for about 5 years, a small and safe place to raise a family. Lara is also introducing advertising back into her life as well as maintaining her therapist skills.

 

 

 

 

Eclectix first noticed Lara’s pretty and fashionable art a number of years ago and lately we’ve been impressed and excited by the direction it has taken. Her stronger imagery and style consists of  beautiful woven tapestries- gracefully layered with subtle hints – mixing fairy tale colors and darker mysteries. Decorative motifs and lacy patterns weave in and out, clouds of softly hued haze surround and swirl within the subjects. Victorian hair, trance-like,  emotive faces and mystic symbolism – all weave together to produce astounding dreamlike visions. There is a serene and hypnotic calm reflected in the eyes of her subjects, calling to us from the netherlands of the spiritual world.

 

 

 

 

My favorite art memory from my childhood is…  I was about 8 years old when I re-drew the menu from a Farrell’s Ice Cream parlor picture of a couple sharing a fountain soda with acute accuracy. A random couple saw it and offered me 20 dollars for it and told me I was going be someone special in art to watch one day, and they wanted my first artwork. That was the moment that I realized that drawing pictures wasn’t just for me. They don’t know it- but that gesture of payment made a huge impact on my outlook on art and it’s potential for me.

 

 My interest in art/painting started …  My interest in art started as a young child, except I didn’t see it as “art” until I was much older. For me, it was what I did to pacify and soothe myself. I didn’t have any interest in watching TV. I spent most of my time outdoors, exploring for hours, most of the time independently, but when I was indoors, I was always drawing. I can remember that it started around 3 years old, when my parents divorced.

 

 

 

I am often inspired and motivated by…. Vintage items, nostalgia. I pull most of my inspiration from nature, although I don’t paint or draw landscapes. Insects and human anatomy is very inspiring also, not just muscle and bone, but the neurology and physiology of our makeup and that of entomology. I draw a lot of inspiration from personal heartache, childhood experiences, and desire. None of these examples are ever “in your face” but I weave that energy and imagery into my work and I think subtle impressions of those things emerge.

 

 

 

 

If I could spend the day with any artist (dead or alive) it would be…

If it’s ANY artist- I would choose Ludwig Van Beethtoven. He was such a complex and intense individual. And we would…  I would love to just soak up some of the terror he experienced as an artist, and as a person, and observe how he translated that pain into something beautiful. That would take more than a day I suppose. Andy Warhol would be a choice as well. He was so influential, creative and prolific. I am not a musician, or a pop artist, but I am not interested in watching tutorials about how they created their work, I am interested in how they lived their life, and what defined them as artists through their own personal lens.

 

 

 

 

The tip or art technique (a specific tidbit of craft, advice or mechanical expertise) that has helped me the most is …. The most important advice I have- is to do whatever it is you want to develop- for at least 20 min everyday. No matter what. I really think the thing that helped me the most is experimenting. Just making a mess- and NOT creating for a finished result or product. When you take away all expectation, you have the freedom to get to know yourself through your imagery. Use uncommon objects in uncommon ways and paint, draw, or photograph it. You don’t make anything that makes any sense, and you don’t make anything you will show anyone, but you engage your creative brain, and become intimate with your process and your materials and eventually you create your own language through it.

 

 

 

 

If I could own one piece of art, out of the world’s collections, it would be …

I do appreciate and am able to distinguish fine, quality craftsmanship. However, I fear I don’t know enough about the world’s collections to answer this objectively- I mean- what if I say something like Klimt whom I adore- and then I’ve missed out on that ONE famous black velvet painting. Every piece has it’s place. I appreciate such a wide range of artwork that I cannot place a degree of importance on something on display in a museum, vs. something my own child created. If I were forced to choose one over the other, I would choose to be surrounded by my children’s creations.

 

 

My favorite piece of my own art is… (below), because…

Well, I am a bit partial of the drawing I did when I was 6 years old because it is so honest, innocent and unabashed. It’s a drawing I did after my mother explained where babies came from. I wanted to know exactly. Every detail and because she never lied to me, and was a bit too honest, she told me quite literally, how and where they came from. And then I drew it. Every detail. I showed it to her, and she giggled, as an appreciative mother would I suppose to such a drawing, and I immediately felt embarrassed, so I tried to scratch my name off of it. It still makes me laugh to this day. Of my current works, I would say “Dangerous Garden” (detail at top of post, entire image at bottom of post). Because it was about a dream I had that was very intense.

 

Lara's childhood drawing

 My ultimate project or fantasy is …  There are a few artists that I would like to collaborate with. There have been discussions, but it’s hard to get on the same page, especially with distance between you and projects that are so spontaneous on both ends, working out a time line, etc. Hopefully that will be something that can happen in the near future. A fantasy would be to become published, or a pro surfer. One can dream.

The last song I choose to listen to was…  I’m on a Rolling Stones kick lately. I’ll listen to that until my ears bleed, over and over until I can’t listen to it again for years. That’s like with everything I do. I do it to the extreme- and then move on.

 

 

 

 

The last book I couldn’t put down was …. “The Anatomy of Evil”  by Michael H. Stone, MD. For a bit of research on a project.

 

My favorite word is … I can’t think of a favorite word, as much as I can think of words I can’t stand to hear: “slacks” and “meal”. Shivers, right?

 

 

 

 

I can’t live without …  My children and my husband/partner, Todd. But bottled spring water is really up there on the list!

 

It’s not hip, but I really love ….  board games.

 

My favorite motto (or quote)  is….   “Fuck em if they can’t take a joke”

 

 

 

 

Your works have a foggy, mysterious dreamy style… do you work from a detailed rough?  Or do you improvise and let the image evolve as you paint? 

Thank you. Both. Until recently – I didn’t do a lot of pre-sketching or detailed roughs. I just went head on into it, and adjusted as I went. That suited a very good purpose when I was developing my style, but as I am fine tuning and defining it, I am becoming more disciplined about laying out my ideas beforehand. I became frustrated with getting too far along with a piece and it being too late to add something that I really wanted there, and since I work in visible layers, this is very important to hammer out in the beginning. However, I do allow myself to improvise, especially if I feel I’ve ruined a piece during stages. Often I let mistakes take center stage and adjust to them and I am always fascinated with the process of taking a back seat to the painting process, observing what emerges from it and not controlling it too much.

 

 

 

 

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?  Have you ever been somewhere that causes you to get a physical reaction? It’s similar to the feeling you get from being attracted to someone. You feel like the cells in your body are lining up, your heart beats a bit faster, your mind and senses open just a little more and you are rejuvenated. That is what I felt when I landed in London. I felt like I was home, but it was the first time I had been there. I would like to live in England. But, another place that I fell in love with is Kauai, an island of Hawaii. There is something raw and magical about that place. I would enjoy either of those, and for different reasons.

 

 

Upcoming shows:

June – group show at XL Gallery in Florida

In the fall –  the moon goddess show curated by Aunia Kahn,

http://www.moongoddessexhibit.com/artists.html

 

Link to Lara’s Website

Edward Walton Wilcox, Eclectix Interview 25

Edward Painting, 2011

“We are spiritual creatures that our lower animal is at constant odds with, or so it seems.”

Twilight Circus - Wilcox

Edward’s art is a spiritual experience, imagery with such luminous light and aura to it that it refuses to be captured in a photograph. His colors are sepias, ambers and the warmest golds of sunsets – against the dark, murky depth of  our world’s underbelly. Seeing his work in person hooked me – classical masterpieces of mood, physics and unearthly delights. Edward is not only a master painter but an accomplished sculptor as well – he shares some of his thoughts here with grateful Eclectix.

“Wilcox uses glazes, paint removers and a sepia palette to construct glossy memento moris such as substance-abusing young blonds and Neutras flambés. Playing off the lurid Gothic Romantic style, Wilcox says his works, like the movement he references, rebuke and seduce…”  from Mindy Farrabee, Los Angeles Times

I Keep the Devil in a Small House Just Outside of Town - Wilcox

My favorite art memory from my childhood is…  My first, most impressionable memory has to be my kindergarten art teacher – Mrs. Tatem demonstrating to me how when painting a portrait you must always begin with the eyes of the subject.  Then you simply fill the surrounding area with the rest of the figure!  I liken that strategy to my fathers equally fascinating advice for carving a wooden Indian.“Simply carve away anything that does not look like an Indian.”

Sleepwalker - Wilcox

 My interest in art/painting started …  It was probably my learning disabilities that led me to an interest in art.  As a small boy, my parents did a stellar job convincing me that I was a genius and that my severe dyslexia and slight autism were signs that my mind worked in special and mysterious ways. I had an acute grasp of creative processes probably due to the fact that by comparison I didn’t understand much else.

Monocle - Wilcox

I am often inspired and motivated by… things I do not understand, by that I mean emotional responses such as fear or dread, love and death, sentamentality and faith.  Concepts that we all experience yet are not always rational.  We are spiritual creatures that our lower animal is at constant odds with or so it seems.

The Tethered Beast - Wilcox

If I could spend the day with any artist (dead or alive) it would be…

 And we would…. Well actually, I already have. When I worked for a gallery on Palm Beach years ago I had the amazing opportunity to spend the day with Robert Raushenberg and John Chamberlin. I will never forget the scene of those two getting high in the back of the Mercedes and playing the harmonica all over town.  Robert had polished off half a bottle of Jack before noon,  he was like the Hemingway of painters.

The Roman Gibbet - Wilcox

 The tip or art technique (a specific tidbit of craft, advice or mechanical expertise) that has helped me the most is …. a lack of fear when approaching a new challenge, knowing that there is no wrong way in art!

Ivory Tower - Wilcox

If I could own one piece of art, out of the world’s collections, it would be …

Brueghel’s Winter, Return From the Hunt (below)

Brueghel

My favorite piece of my own art is… I would probably have to say the ”Adam and Eve Altarpiece”. (below), because…   It was an ambitious work of sculpture that took years of tinkering. The subject matter as well. The perfect metaphor for the plight of humanity. Man’s ability to choose, whether it’s right or wrong, everything has consequences.

Adam and Eve - Wilcox

My ultimate project or fantasy is … to build a totally functional High Gothic wind mill with living quarters.

Man Tinkling - Wilcox

The last song I choose to listen to was… Last Night by Moby

Salome - Wilcox

The last book I couldn’t put down was …. Complete Works of Breughel

The Secret I Keep in the Red River Grows - Wilcox

My favorite word is … Taciturn

Girl from Wiesbaden - Edward Walton Wilcox

I can’t live without … My beautiful Family

Der Blu Hare - Edward Walton Wilcox

 A lot has been written about your style and the vintage patina your works have. What is the best link about the technical process you go thru to attain it?

http://youtu.be/KusZFszRZwc

Laughing Stock - Edward Walton Wilcox

What inspired or led to this “look” to your works? How did it evolve?  My exposure to some of the mansions of Palm Beach as a child was perhaps the beginning of the journey.  Then several trips to Europe followed and sealed the deal.  I site the whole “beauty of decay” thing. Nostalgia, they say, is a denial of the present and its attributes.  Perhaps its a common myth that we all like to share, that the past was somehow better than things are now.  Da Vinci was accused, as I am, of being a bit of an antiquarian, in the sense of making things appear older than they are. I find comfort in the practice somehow.

Edward Walton Wilcox

Upcoming Exhbition: “Guns & Roses” , opens Nov. 12, 2011,  at Fabien Castanier Gallery, Studio City, CA

Edward’s Website Link

Der Sinkken Yacht - Wilcox

LINK to the current Eclectix website – art news & exhibit listings

Karyn Crisis, Eclectix Interview 24

Karyn Crisis, photo by Bonnie Rae Mills

Eclectix first became aqquainted with Karyn a couple of years ago, when she came into the gallery, hair swinging, toting some killer leather works – gothic purses and cuffs. They were obviously crafted by someone with an artist’s eye and a gypsy soul – offbeat, with beautiful quality and embracing the darkness of life. Karyn has a huge energy about her, a quick intelligence and the creative verve to let her freak flag fly.  A self-taught artist, she shared some of her paintings and professed that she wanted to concentrate more on them in the future. Luckily, she has been able to, cranking out some powerful Tarot works in her beloved oils, just this past year.

Karyn’s solo show “The Major Arcana” opens October 1st at SR2 Gallery in Berkeley, CA. ( thru Oct. 31st)

(Eclectix note: Many of the “Major Arcana” images below may not be the final image as Karyn was busy putting finishing touches on them. The “Major Arcana” pieces all have an MA after the title)

Magusi MA- Karyn Crisis

Could you give us a little about your background?  I’ve always felt out of time and place on this planet. I’ve been able to see and communicate with spirits since I was young- but  it scared me then and I’m able to embrace it now. I feel as if all my past lives are being remembered in this lifetime.  I don’t look back often, but when I do, I realize just how much I’ve done so far. Having left my touring metal band of 13 years (Crisis) in 2005, I started over as a painter, shaman, Reiki Master Teacher, clairvoyant. My favorite chapter of my life is the current one, with my creative and talented husband and our cat. Music and a Tuscan witch brought us together and keep us moving forward in a creative, magical lifestyle. I made a living selling my paintings and custom leather work a few years ago, until my husband gifted me an art studio and the time to paint for painting’s sake – to get my technical skills where I want them, and to decide what I want to paint without worrying about selling my work. My work now  is devoted to Witchcraft culture (European shamanism, healing modalities, and rituals).

Calling in the Four Quarters - Karyn Crisis

Can you tell us a little about your creative process?  I visualize a painting and the most important thing is to capture an action and decide the purpose of the painting. I see it in my mind’s eye, complete. I create her face, decide who she is, what her tools and colors will be and what exactly her intent or action is, then I draw it out with as much detail as possible. I then take a photo of myself for lighting reference and lines of hands, etc. From there, I often refer to fashion magazines or my favorite jewelry designers to use their clothing and jewelry pieces as inspiration. I also use a lot of my own ritual tools (changing them just a bit) and clothing. Then for the oil painting process, I build the canvas, draw the painting on, beginning with a burnt-sienna underpainting. From there, I paint the drawing in burnt umber, adding some shadows. Then I build with layers of greens, blacks and whites… it’s a bastardization of the Verdaccio technique. Throughout the process I get feedback from my husband. He knows what I’m trying to do without my having to say a word, and he’s got a talent for objectivity.  I can get overambitious or not know when to stop painting and he reels me back in.

Cecina - Karyn Crisis

My favorite art memory from my childhood is… floating, out of my body, above my mother and myself. I was sick, lying in bed in my favorite corduroy navy and flowered overalls. Another memory is making potions in our backyard with plants and dirt.

Shaman and Spirit Attachments - Karyn Crisis

My interest in art/painting started … I was little, watching my mom paint. I was always drawing. Always. And dreaming. She took my sister and I into Chicago often to the museums and galleries. The modern art wing was very dark, art-wise, it was very serious and it scared me. I was hooked.

The Witch and Her Guides - Karyn Crisis

I am often inspired and motivated by…  my struggles. My frustrations with myself become quite a force for transformation. I am my own worst enemy, and when I’m stuck or overrun by an emotion, I’m inspired to use energywork to undertand, to listen, to learn. These modalities give me almost more to see and experience than my waking eyes. And one of my spirit guides and I work together on visualizing my painting concepts.

Strength , MA - Karyn Crisis

If I could spend the day with any artist (dead or alive) it would be… Anselm Kiefer (below)   And we would…  make his giant tar books together.

Anselm Kiefer

The tip or art technique (a specific tidbit of craft, advice or mechanical expertise) that has helped me the most is …. ”verdaccio”. An artist described this technique in a magazine interview and it changed my understanding of painting dramatically. Also, while painting, I find myself asking “what do you see” constantly, looking more intently at my reference photo, and with each layer redefining my lightest and darkest points.

(Eclectix note:  ”Verdaccio” is an underpainting technique which came from the Italian fresco painters of the early Renaissance. Created traditionally from a mixture of Mars Black and Yellow Ochre pigments, Verdaccio was used to establish tonal values in fresco painting quickly, creating a soft greenish-gray for the shadows of flesh tones.)

The Fool, MA - Karyn Crisis

If I could own one piece of art, out of the world’s collections, it would be …I’ve never been one to covet “things“. I don’t put alot of energy towards having “things”, but maybe I should! I’m more about wanting to create, to do, to accomplish, and to experience. BUT, if I had the money, I’d pay a good amount of it for some antique Strega Grimoires. ( A book describing magical beliefs and practices, for a female witch)

Witch's Wands, MA - Karyn Crisis

My favorite piece of my own art is… Witch’s Wands (above)  because… I still can’t believe I painted it. In fact, my newer paintings feel like they paint themselves.

Blue Boat Ghosts - Karyn Crisis

My ultimate project or fantasy is …  to have my art in museums along with witchy installations, and to tour with my husband. The more we learn about legacies like Egypt, the Maya, etc, we learn all our ancestors had a spiritual system that helped them accomplish great things that they couldn’t have learned just on their own as a human. Call it religion, spirituality, shamanism, witchcraft, they’re culturally relevant systems deserve a visual voice.

Diana - Karyn Crisis

The last song I choose to listen to was…  a new one Davide is writing for Ephel Duath, and a new one for my solo album.

The last book I couldn’t put down was …. The Cauldron of Memory by Raven Grimassi.

The Emperor, MA - Karyn Crisis

My favorite word is… molto, fuck (you can use it in so many ways!)

I can’t live without …my husband

Justice, MA - Karyn Crisis

It’s not hip, but I really love …  to study pigments and their properties. I will research the history of pigments, what their updated versions are made of and what they do. I love to study systems of all sorts. I had a photography teacher who gave me some great advice while reeling in my experimental photography efforts: “learn how to do things properly and well, then you can do whatever you want with it.”

I’ve been someone to whom things “happen”…I want to paint and “poof”, it happens. I want to do something else and “poof” it comes easy. It’s getting the outcome to present itself with my standard of quality and intensity that is difficult. Being able to recreate that first intuitive magic had also been difficult, until I learned that there’s more to an experience than the “happening” of it, the “being”…which is the technique behind. Learn the technique, or the system, and you can navigate better. I used to think, to demand, that my expression should come naturally, that “poof” I should be able to create a perfect painting each time, and I snubbed my nose at learning technique. Now I’ve found that learning a technique, that I can understand, gives me the freedom to let the painting happen by getting my own bad habits out of the way!

The Empress, MA - Karyn Crisis

My favorite motto  is…  you must be certain of your power.

Link for Karyn’s website and portfolio

Dan Harding, Eclectix Interview 23

The artist, Dan Harding

” Textures play a big role in inspiring me. Whether it’s a piece of wood with some cool pattern to it or just the way dried out grass looks. “

Sunburn - Dan Harding

A New Jersey based artist, Dan’s art is scary, gooey and magnificent in all it’s gory details. The flesh on his creatures  melt and drip down their skeleton armature, while bones jut sharp through the transparent and sometimes frail, skin. Bodily fluids glisten and congeal with a masterful realism, flesh rots in a mottled, bruised and peeling despair and reptilian scales form in unexpected transformations. One can feel the creative and imaginative trance Dan must immerse himself in while working, luminous layers of color and radiation flow into his fantasy brain children.

Maw - Dan Harding

My favorite art memory from my childhood is… One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was to stay up late on Friday and Saturday to watch Fright Night and Chiller Theater. I would have a pad of paper so I could draw while I watched all of these great horror movies. I’d try to draw what I saw and at the same time was inspired to create my own monsters. That was a blast!

Untitled - Dan Harding

My interest in art started …. As far back as I can remember I always loved to draw. I always had some paper and a crayon, pencil or whatever. One of the first things I remember drawing were these little stick figure, battle scenes. I could go through an entire pad of paper in one sitting doing that !

Dan Harding

 I am often inspired and motivated by…. Aside from horror movies, textures play a big role in inspiring me. Whether it’s a piece of wood with some cool pattern to it or just the way dried out grass looks. I get a lot ideas from that and it definitely gets me excited to start sketching a bunch of concepts or jumping right into a painting.

Pestilence - Dan Harding

If I could spend the day with any artist (dead or alive) it would be… And we would….  It would have to be Frank Frazetta (below) and we would definitely sit down and paint. To watch him paint would be a dream come true! Plus a huge learning experience. I was lucky enough to visit his museum in East Stroudsburg, PA and see his work up close. The man was brilliant!!

The Snake's Hug - Frank Frazetta

The tip or art technique (a specific tidbit of craft, advice or mechanical expertise) that has helped me the most is ….  Don’t try to fix a mistake with more paint. Sounds funny but after I heard that things got a little easier (lol). I remember saying “all of this looks really cool except for this one spot” and instead of wiping out that section, I’d try to work it out with more paint and wind up ruining the whole damn piece! When I first started using oil paint, I did that a lot. It’s way less stressful and a lot cheaper to ” wipe it out”. I “wipe it out” by putting some thinner on a rag and gently scrub, removing the part I don’t like. Being careful not to use to much thinner so I don’t get drips on the parts I want left in there.   I can’t tell you how many pieces of canvas and masonite I’ve thrown away or painted over, before I discovered this. For me, it always killed the idea too.

 

Pickman's Model - Dan Harding

If I could own one piece of art, out of the world’s collections, it would be … Again, it would be a Frazetta. I know there is so much amazing art in the world but none of it had the affect on me the way Frazetta’s “Death Dealer” did. (below)   When I saw that for the first time I was so blown away! I knew then I wanted to become a better artist. Though, if I had that I’d get nothing done because I’d be staring at it all day (lol).

Death Dealer 1 - Frank Frazetta

My favorite piece of my own art is…, because… “Skull” (below) - because it was at that point I started to let go of what I thought I was supposed to be doing (to get a job doing art) and just start to paint what I wanted. I learned a lot doing that piece and it re-inspired me, after feeling frustrated with my art for a long time.

Skull - Dan Harding

 My ultimate project or fantasy is … Probably something in SPFX. (Special Effects) I’ve always loved creating creatures and to have an opportunity to do that – whether it’s concept drawing or sculpting – would be awesome!

End of the Line - Dan Harding

The last song I choose to listen to was… Sulfur from Slipknot.

Serpent - Dan Harding

The last book I couldn’t put down was ….

“Dispatch” from Bentley Little. Lots of really cool imagery in there.

Hey Man - Dan Harding

My favorite word is … Hey!

Famine - Dan Harding

I can’t live without …  Air… and cheeseburgers.

Meathead - Dan Harding

It’s not hip, but I really love … Smoking (lol)

Switch - Dan Harding

My favorite motto (or quote)  is….

“A man who limits his interests, limits his life”.  Vincent Price

Burnt - Dan Harding

Your “monsters” are some of the best out there, any insight into how they evolved?  I really just paint things that are fun or interesting to me and love doing it. Monsters have always been a part of my life and getting more creative with them over time is a natural progression for anyone I think. You get better the more you do something. I have a long way to go but I’m happy with the direction my art is heading.

Link to Dan’s Website  

LINK to the current Eclectix website – art news & exhibit listings