Matt Haffner

How long have you been in Atlanta? What brought you here?

I moved to Atlanta in '99 to be close to my son who was 9 at the time. I finished grad school a year earlier and Laura my wife was just finishing up. We then packed up and moved here with out jobs, knowing anyone or having any connections. For me though it was a much higher priority than moving to New York for a possible art career; Family always needs to come first.

Did you go to art school? Do you have any degrees?

I did. It was something that I needed to do, though I don't think it is important for everyone. I went to a big state school with a surprisingly good art program at the University of Akron in Ohio. I did grad school at the Tyler School in Philadelphia. These were 2 very different experiences. The first being very traditional photography education, with black and white documentary work and the other being very conceptual and with a lot of mixed media. 

Tell us how you got your start as a working artist.

I think it came when I moved to Atlanta and showed my portfolio to Kelly at Youngblood and she gave me my fist solo show in Atlanta. This was my first show outside of academia with work that was not guided by anyone. This show, little did I know at the time, launched me into the Atlanta scene very quickly. I was soon after nominated for and won the Forward Arts Foundation grant and show, had another major show at ArtSpot with Ann-Marie Manker, a studio at the contemporary, then a big public project for ACP a solo at MOCA and representation at Whitespace. All beginning with a casual meeting with a emerging art gallery that liked to show graffiti related works. 

What are you working on in your studio now?

I just finished a solo show at my gallery in Philly, Pentimenti and a large installation at the Columbus Museum. I just got the go ahead for a Mural in Virginia Highlands that I'll complete this summer and I'm also working on a large NEA funded installation that will be at Kennesaw State University in the Fall and will coincide with ACP.

What is it like to be an artist in Atlanta today? How can Atlanta improve?

I'm pretty comfortable here. I can do a lot of things on my own terms and I feel like I have a lot of respect for my work here. I also show in a lot of other places around the country, which is important for me. I like being a local artist and being part of the community where I live, but also have an exhibition presence elsewhere. If I were in New York or L.A. it think I might just be blending into the wood work because of the over-saturation of artists in those places. 

What is the role of an artist in society? How do you see your role in this way?

I'm not sure that I see us having to have a responsibility in the community. We create culture and make tastes and sometimes that is enough. I teach, so that is a way that I'm shaping ideas and attitudes about creativity in the world. Some artist need to have their work be political, some religious, some educational. For me, the work is not for the audience first like the ones I mentioned before, but it is for me then for the audience. I can't make work that follows trends. I'm just not wired that way. I can't help what comes out of me, I just have to follow my intuition. 

What is the job of Art?

The academic part of me would say that we create illusions that challenge the conventions of our thinking.  The artist part of me would say it has no job. Art only serves itself and its maker and that "art" should never be capitalized. Ultimately this is an impossible question to answer, there are far to many variables, and I'm most likely to feel different about it with the changing of the days. 

Does Atlanta have a specific role to play for Art/Artists?

Atlanta is a place that artists can do a lot and have a considerable amount of freedom.  What it's role is is a weird thing to think about. As an artist you can't rely on a place to do something for you. You have to make things happen for yourself. That being said, every city has a responsibility to its citizens to give them a rich cultural experience along with suitable living conditions and opportunities to grow. This happens in so many ways in so many different levels, from the emerging artist and underground art shows to the white cube of the museum, from coffee houses to contemporary art galleries, from backyards to public parks, culture is a hard thing to stop, even if there is not much public financial support. People will always create. 

Do you have any advice for younger artists?

If you are not loving what you do, get out and find what you love. If you are following trends or making work for someone else, get out. If you feel like what you are doing is a constant struggle and that it is difficult but rewarding, you are probably on the right path. If you are doing what you love, don't ever stop, no matter what others tell you, no matter if you are selling work or not, no matter if you are getting the representation or attention you think you deserve. Do it to satisfy yourself and no one else, exhibitions, sales, press are all just icing. 

Talking with Michi Meko last year, he compared making art to that of being a soul-surfer. It's only about the next great wave. 

matthaffner.com/

Nikita Gale

1. How long have you been in Atlanta? What brought you here? 
I was born in Anchorage, Alaska, but I’ve lived in Georgia since I was 9. I have a lot of family here and in parts of central Georgia around Macon. I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta and currently live in a suburb outside of Atlanta.


2. Did you go to art school? Do you have any degrees? 
I didn’t go to art school, but I always loved making art and coming up with new ways to express my ideas. I was always taking art classes throughout high school and knew it was something I loved doing, but I also had an interest in archaeology and anthropology since first or second grade. When I got to college, I decided that majoring in archaeology instead of art was the more realistic of the two subjects to pursue. I have a BA in Anthropological Studies with a specialization in Archaeological Studies from Yale University.

3. Tell us how you got your start as a working artist. 
It’s always hard for me to answer this question. I guess I started being “serious” about photography in 2009. I was shooting a lot of musicians and figuring out ways to sneak backstage or catch my favorite acts before or after their shows to get decent portraits. Eventually just creating straight photographs wasn’t enough, and I got into more mixed media and installation-based work. The first time I ever showed anything publicly or ever had anything on a gallery wall in Atlanta was at MINT Gallery’s Postcard Pin Up show at the end of 2009.


4. What are you working on in your studio now? 
Oh man… I don’t even know what’s happening in there right now. Maybe you could tell me! I’ve been listening to a lot of Kanye West and Sharon Van Etten while I work, so it’s kind of a shitshow which I’m totally okay with. I am really fascinated by the law of conservation of energy and the idea of energy in enclosed systems – space, the human body, language – and out of this, I’ve been working on some pieces that I’d consider very personal. I’ve been getting in my head a lot more lately, and the response to the work I’ve shared so far has been really positive. I think people enjoy work to which they can relate on a very basic, emotional level. I was really hesitant about making work like this at first because it always feels risky to do anything that may come off as melodramatic or too self-interested and mopey, but I’m really happy with how it’s progressing. I’m beginning to realize that cerebral, conceptual work and emotional work don’t necessarily have to be mutually exclusive.



5. What is it like to be an artist in Atlanta today? How can Atlanta improve? 
It’s exciting. Atlanta is a sexy city, and there’s a lot going on here in the arts right now. Atlanta is the perfect city for someone who wants to do something brand new and isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty. There are a lot of open spaces for experimentation and creation which is an advantage it has over other larger cities with larger and more complex infrastructures where a person can just show up and inject themselves into the system. Atlanta’s got a scrappiness to it, but it’s a kind of slick scrappiness – like a cute girl who wears heels but also knows how to use power tools and change a tire. Atlanta can improve by continuing to do what it’s doing – bringing more arts to the city, engaging the greater national and international art communities and developing its own artistic voice and creating programs to retain the good artists who are already here.


6. What is the role of an artist in society? How do you see your role in this way? 
I can’t answer this for every artist, but I can say that I think my role as an artist is to provide people with a new way of thinking about a subject. Sometimes it feels like I’m a scientist when I’m working in my studio – every series is a new study and each piece is some kind of trial. It’s like I’m building up a collection of empirical evidence to prove a theory for each series. I am always trying to answer the question, “What does it mean to be who I am right now in the world? What does it mean to be where I am right now in the world?” Being a Black, gay, female artist living in The South, in America, in a Democratic, capitalist society gives you a lot to think about. There’s a lot going on there, so incorporating personal identity is something I’ve been thinking about a lot more in my work.





7. What is the job of Art? 
Synthesis.


8. Does Atlanta have a specific role to play for Art/Artists? 
No, I think it’s quite the opposite. I think artists have a greater responsibility to the city than the city does to the artists if that makes sense. Artists are the arbiters of the character of a city. Art is one of the major ways in which people identify the character of a city be it through architecture or music or some other form of art. If I go much further into this answer it’s going to get circular fairly quickly, so I’ll stop here.





9. Do you have any advice for younger artists? 
Work hard. Be nice. Be curious. Be genuinely interested in people and what they have to say. Take care of your body. Figure out what you like. Invest in yourself. Don’t just look at the work of other visual artists for inspiration – listen to music, read poetry, read a good novel, read the news, just READ, exercise, play an instrument, make your brain work in different ways so you don’t get burned out. Remember that no one really knows what the hell they are doing, and always ALWAYS trust your intuition about everything.

http://www.nikitagale.com/

Seana Reilly

1. How long have you been in Atlanta? What brought you here?

2006. I came to Atlanta because my family is fairly close by. It was also time to leave California; I am an East Coast girl at heart - I couldn't take one more gloriously perfect sunny day. or the next 250 of them hot on its heals.

2. Did you go to art school? Do you have any degrees?

I did go to art school. Eventually. I went to architecture school first a long time ago. Then for a while I just took whatever interested me at the moment. But I decided to get a little more structured about it when I moved to Atlanta, so I now have a BFA from SCAD-Atlanta. I used my time there as a research opportunity to figure out what I should be making and to talk to people making a living as artists.

3. Tell us how you got your start as a working artist.

I only ever wanted to be two things in my life:  an artist or a race car driver, neither of which I knew how to make a living at. I could draw and I was good at math, so I became an architect. I turned 40 and realized my life was probably about half over and it was time to get on with what I really wanted to do all along. I dropped out of the 9-to-5, moved to Atlanta, and went back to school. So now I'm a studio artist. And I still drive fast. 

4. What are you working on in your studio now?

I'm making a liquid graphite painting for an upcoming auction at MOCA GA. I've also been really into making these tiny 1"x1" graphite paintings lately. The next big project may be some tall hanging things that I've been kicking around in my head - I've been researching hot air balloon fabric for it.

5. What is it like to be an artist in Atlanta today? How can Atlanta improve?

The artistic community here is incredibly supportive and there's a lot going on these days. Atlanta has lots of opportunities for temporary public works. It is also incredibly easy to get to know everyone from the artists working in their garage to the community arts leaders.

On the downside, Atlanta does not have a strong collector base so it's tough to feed yourself if you want to make a living through your work commercially. You'll need to find other places/cities to sell your work. I have a number of part time jobs to keep myself afloat. I'm avoiding anything that might take too much of my time. At this point in my life, time and energy are much more important than money. 

6. What is the role of an artist in society? How do you see your role in this way?

Artist are ultimately making work for themselves, but the byproduct is work that gives people in general some new object or perspective to consider, ideally slowing time for just a minute, stopping them, for even just a moment, from flailing through their lives while chasing the rabbit.

I think of my work as pointing to things - hey, have you ever noticed __? or, how would it be if things were __ instead? Of all the good things that have happen to me since becoming a working artist, my favorite was finding out that 8 little paintings I had in a show kicked off vigorous debates about the roll of women in the christian/catholic church between classrooms full of seminary students. It's about getting people to think. If they talk to others about what they're thinking, that's the cherry on top.

7. What is the job of Art?

Like I said, it points to stuff, usually without ulterior motives of the commercial sort. It's not saying buy Coca-Cola! It's saying why do we buy Coca-Cola? For me, art questions values and assumptions. 

8. Does Atlanta have a specific role to play for Art/Artists?

Atlanta is open. It affords us artistic-types the chance to try our hand at different things.... You're a painter. so what - do a proposal for FLUX anyway. Or go partner with a community organization to pull off some radical new thing. Atlanta is constantly reinventing itself so I think it's rather predisposed to accept that sort of movement and latitude. 

9. Do you have any advice for younger artists?

Your job is to be curious. Then to do something with what you find out. It's up to you how it manifests.

Remember that just because you've been sitting in a chair staring at something for 3 days, you're still working. Making art is mostly mental work. It's hard work.

Do what you wanted to do from the start. Every time you hedge your bets (architecture!) you're heart won't be in it and it costs you time and energy in the end. 

Stay focused and remember the larger goal is to make your work. Everything else on the planet will vie for your attention. Stay focused. Stay focused. Stay focused. Your life will race by you - and it goes faster the older you get, so pay attention to the choices you are making today. And stay focused. And continue making your work. 

Try your hand at any and everything that interests you artistically. I found my medium of choice on a fluke. I still go play with other things - I could stumble across one that suits me even better. 

On a practical note, keep your overhead as low as possible. The more you have to pay out, the more likely you'll have to find a paying job with more hours and/or responsibilities, and it  will take time and energy away from your work. Set your priorities early.

And this is really important -- don't be an artist panhandler; it's not about what people can do for you - it's the other way around. Offer up whatever talents you have to make this place a more interesting city to live in. You'll be amazed at what is offered in return if you make that first generous move. This has made the most difference (plus the Focus thing) in my career so far.

SReilly.com

Mark Leibert

1. How long have you been in Atlanta? What brought you here?
It has been almost 9 years since we moved here for a job opportunity. After 2 years in a small Virginia town, it was thrilling to sense all of the possibilities. I try to maintain that perspective.


2. Did you go to art school? Do you have any degrees?
I attended Berkeley for my undergraduate years and RIT for my graduate work.


3. Tell us how you got your start as a working artist.
I had my first studio in college - a live/work space in an old warehouse literally at the end of the tracks. This was the first taste I had of having a working studio. Over the years I have maintained some sort of work space, some better than others.

4. What are you working on in your studio now?
I have been working on a new body of paintings and drawings. The current work is exploring narrative elements that pull from current social concerns, bio-engineering, folktales, and mythology.


5. What is it like to be an artist in Atlanta today? How can Atlanta improve?
To be an artist anywhere is a challenge. It is a blessing and a curse to pursue my passion. Atlanta has given me more support than any other, yet at the same time I have concerns about the sustainability of a career here. We have an affordable city with the promise of travel to national or international venues and events. One unfortunate trait of this city is the lack of self confidence. For many collectors validation comes from other cities and institutions.


6. What is the role of an artist in society? How do you see your role in this way?
I don’t believe there is any one role for an artist. The current art world has become too corporate. For me personally I think the best way is to pursue one’s curiosity. I like to experiment with something new every day. The process is one of the most enjoyable parts of the practice. As for the role itself, I attempt to document and filter the world from the only vantage I have.

7. What is the job of Art?
I imagine my answer might change from year to year. Art can stimulate and agitate on a multi-sensory level. Art should help change one’s point of view.


8. Does Atlanta have a specific role to play for Art/ Artists?
It is hard to pinpoint what Atlanta is exactly. It is very easy to start things here, which allows for inspiring new projects and initiatives. In many ways the community is stronger than ever with a lively dialog, exhibition and event schedule. At the same time established galleries are closing. I’m hopeful - the next generation has energy and excitement.


9. Do you have any advice for younger artists?

Avoid taking on too much in the way of school loans. Think for yourself. One step at a time. Find a mentor. 

http://www.markleibert.com/

Craig Drennen

1. How long have you been in Atlanta? What brought you here?

I've been in Atlanta for almost 3 years.  I came here to accept a position at Georgia State University, but I had been looking for positions in Atlanta for a while.

2. Did you go to art school? Do you have any degrees?

I do have an MFA in painting and a masters degree in art history from Ohio University.  And before that I got a liberal arts degree in WV, where I grew up.

3. Tell us how you got your start as a working artist.

Well, I didn't have any role models for being an artist, but somehow I always knew that's what I would do.  I didn't get into the professional world of art until I left school.  I took a 1-year job out of school serving as a college gallery director in Lexington, KY.  Then after that ended I decided I was ready to move to New York.  I had all types of jobs there, but I ended up working in the museum and gallery world--including the Guggenheim--and teaching an evening class whenever I had a chance.

4. What are you working on in your studio now?

I've been working on paper a lot lately.  And I've been building props for performance pieces that I have on the horizon.

5. What is it like to be an artist in Atlanta today? How can Atlanta improve?

I think Atlanta is a very interesting city, and I like working as an artist here.  All of the cities that are not New York City or Los Angeles have the same issues.  Everyone wants more sophisticated criticism, more energetic collectors, and more innovative gallerists and curators.  Atlanta is growing all of those things I think.  The addition of BURNAWAY magazine has been a tremendous contribution to the art community, and a way to train and nurture new critical voices.  The Contemporary has always supported new art, and the High Museum seems to have sprung to life in an interesting way regarding local work.  I don't know the collecting community that well, but lately I have had some of the most interesting conversations I've ever had in Atlanta with local collectors.  So I'm hopeful.

6. What is the role of an artist in society? How do you see your role in this way?

Oh I think there are multiple roles.  And one artist may play multiple roles simultaneously.  Cynics may say that art is a microenvironment with late capitalism to test what can be bought or sold.  Old humanists might go back to the "canary in the coal mine" argument.  Venture capitalists might say art is the "research and develop" branch of the culture industry.  Marxists may prop up a fantasy of relevance by claiming that art is an agile interventionist tool against the armature of the state.  They might all be correct to some degree, but I don't dismiss art as the delivery system for a very particular type of pleasure.  

7. What is the job of Art?

Love and glory!

8. Does Atlanta have a specific role to play for Art/Artists?

It's tempting to say that the art community in Atlanta is responsible for itself to a large degree.  And yet in NYC it took a city zoning law to create a situation where the Soho art district could spring up.  In that sense, the city of Atlanta could be more helpful in helping to promote the growth of an arts community.  There have been moments in Atlanta where big injections of money have entered the system in targeted ways, but it's unclear how useful that is to a longterm art community.

9. Do you have any advice for younger artists?

The reason people don't have art careers is that they stop making art.  So if you really want a creative life and career, don't stop.

CRAIGDRENNEN.COM

Marcia Vaitsman

1. How long have you been in Atlanta? What brought you here? 

Since September 2009. I came initially for family reasons and when I visited the city for the first time in April 2009 I really liked it. During the summer 2009, visiting again, I was awarded the Francis Larkin McCommon artistic honors fellowship by SCAD to study photography. I had been working with photography since 2000 but never had the chance to really learn the craft and the history to be able to achieve the quality of imagery I wanted.

2. Did you go to art school? Do you have any degrees?

I finished my undergrad in Media 1998. In 1999 I was admitted at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in Cologne, Germany. This is a well known art school in Europe, where you could make films, videos, photography, computer programs, Web or computer art, holograms etc. That time they had great names of art teaching there and unbelievable resources and amenities.

Ten years later I went back to school to learn more about photography and how I could improve my video works using the photographic equipment and the photographic eye... I just delivered my thesis to SCAD in November: „Study of Strange Things: Complexities of Interdisciplinary Thoughts“ – after a solo show with the same name at Solomon Projects. It is quite normal when you work with technology that you need to go back to school, as a student or as a researcher.  The skills you learned 5 year ago are obsolete so you need to keep on learning. Resuming, I have now 2 final degrees in art.

3. Tell us how you got your start as a working artist.

I started in college. During my undergrad I was experimenting with video, audio, radio and TV transmission, with a group of friends at University of Sao Paulo. As a teenager I spent most of my productive time reading, going to drama classes and writing theater and film scripts – our currency had no value and any industrialized goods like cameras, films or tapes were too expensive. Pen & paper and theater were the obvious way to be able to do something creative. After a while I borrowed an orange typewriter from a friend. Nothing I wrote that time ever got filmed and only one play got performed so I see this all as a formative phase. In college the writing became more serious and the first non-linear narrative Non-authorized Biographies an audiovisual interactive computer program, in four volumes of 1.4 MB (you had to use ARJ to compress and divide the program in 4 floppy disks!). We still don’t have a good name for this kind of work... The work talked about these guys wandering through the night of São Paulo, meeting Nick Cave (the musician) in a bar etc. It was nominated to an art prize and shown at Maria Antônia, an iconic center in São Paulo, a symbol of the intellectual resistance from the days of the military dictatorship... yes, that was the start: 1996.

4. What are you working on in your studio now?

At the moment I am lucky to be able to dedicate all my professional time to my studio art activities so I have several parallel projects at the same time. First comes my research on proto-images, resulting in objects, photos and videos. Second is the research on how internal private imagery relates to the public and to art in public space, that includes my Studio 12 Encounters, a real/virtual “chat room” about art, with monthly meetings (www.marciavaitsman.com/studio12). It also included a large public intervention in Toronto, called Nocturnal Encounters (or Parkdale TV), a TV station in public space to debate TV as public space (www.marciavaitsman.com/nocturnal). Third, is my work in media art that includes photos and videos commenting media systems or reinventing some parts of these systems: lots of programing, fragmentation of image and time etc. All projects have overlapping characteristics.

5. What is it like to be an artist in Atlanta today? How can Atlanta improve?

Overall it is very comfortable. Just think about transit: in São Paulo sometimes you need 2 hours to drive 5 miles. The urban structure of Atlanta allows me to visit 2 or 3 shows in one evening, try to do that in São Paulo... There are amazing universities in town; you can go out every evening to a different cultural event, most of them for free. There are artists’ collectives providing amenities for printmaking, photography, metal etc. There is this fantastic area emerging right in the core of the city, the Goat Farm, very relaxed, flexible and based on inclusion.

The airport is the ultimate advantage for people who like or need to travel, it is quick to get there and you fly in and out so easily... If you get tired of Atlanta you can take a flight to Toronto and be there in 90 minutes. If you cannot, you can drive to Miami... or hitchhike to New Orleans? 

I do miss the unpredictability of public transportation; when you meet people random, observe different faces and behaviors etc. Two months ago in San Francisco, in the streetcar, I met a writer who was a finalist in a program of Nexus in Atlanta (10 or 15 years ago?). I do like these random chats... I don’t really use the bus or Marta here. The spaces I transit in Atlanta are too safe...

Generally, I tend to think less locally, I enjoy things I see. And I have met wonderful engaged artists and cultural agents. We could try to see the city more as part of the world and not only as the unique city of Atlanta – this might be more the job of tourism agents. I already live here; I feel it and I experience it. I do not need a definition of what the city is. Large local corporations based here are not worried about defining themselves as local business, they might be right about it. I imagine that Hartsfield Jackson is a sort of new harbor and then think of cities that were influenced by the comings and goings of their old harbors, such as Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Hamburg, San Francisco, Hong Kong etc. How do these places define their local? I believe that things happening here are somehow related to things happening in other places... It is just proportional to the size of the city. But of course we could have more funding and could have more spaces for more experimental and trans-disciplinary projects.

6. What is the role of an artist in society? How do you see your role in this way?

Artists, as all human beings, should have some role in society – it is hard to tell another person what s/he is supposed to be. There are ethical premises in all professions and this is not different in the arts. I do not see the artist as more special, more prepared or more capable to solve social problems than other professionals – there are less methodological restrains to come out with an idea, which can become a solution to a problem but this is not necessarily what an artist needs, wants or has to do. I think the majority of the artists today have the role to survive and feed their families in the harsh economic reality and lack of a professional perspective. This situation creates sometimes an unhealthy competition for grants, shows and visibility (not only here, and not only in the States) but especially in places where there is not enough for everybody. Fortunately, circumstances that got worse will eventually get better again.  Seriously, Atlanta is among the places I feel there is more collaboration among artists (this a mere personal opinion).

7. What is the job of Art?

What is the job of music? What is the job of dance? What is the job of theater? Do we all want to contribute to this larger soup of meanings? Do we need that to survive? Do we do that because we cannot do something else? Do we do that to connect with other people and so give meaning to our lives?

8. Does Atlanta have a specific role to play for Art/ Artists?

There is a lot of tolerance. Some people think it is lack of criteria - I don’t know. There is a chance to create the structures where art will be taught, seen, made etc. but we need to find ways to bring the general public to these arenas too. There are lots of challenges and possibilities out there. 

9. Do you have any advice for younger artists?

Just to the very very young ones: if you feel that you really have to do it, do it and never look back. If you feel oppressed by your doubts about family, vacation, health insurance, restaurants and clothes, consider applying your skills and creativity in other areas like visual communication, design, film industry, fashion etc. (these are also fantastic professions)

http://www.marciavaitsman.com/

Michi Meko

Is a current Artist in Resident at the world famous Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. 

1. How long have you been in Atlanta? What brought you here?

I gained my Independence from small town Alabama in 1999. There were a lot of people who believed in me so I to had to at least try to become an artist. Plus, there weren't many options for me in Alabama. I didn't want to have to wonder “ what if ” or work in factory. Now those jobs have moved to other countries.

2. Did you go to art school? Do you have any degrees?

I went to a four year University with a great art program. My goal was to go out west and snow board for the rest of my life. School was not in my plans. My folks couldn't afford art school and I had no idea about portfolios or scholarships. I did have a catalog from Atlanta College of Art that I would look through and dream about going. It didn't happen. My good friend Paul S. Benjamin is trying to get me to go for a MFA. I am all for education and learning. I do Masters level of research on my own he says, that’s why I need to go. The head of the Department at my University, Dr. Walters pulled me aside once and said she thought that I had the power and drive to get my Masters from Yale and that I could be Dr. Michi if I wanted to. I still might.

3. Tell us how you got your start as a working artist.

It was all a dream

I used to read Word Up magazine

Salt'n'Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine

Hangin' pictures on my wall

Every Saturday Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl

I let my tape rock 'til my tape popped..

I began working in church as a kid. Paper and pencil help me sit through church. My Mom would buy me big packs of copier paper for sketchbooks, so I always had materials. I did art in Middle School; I drew the lunch menus and did bulletin boards. I watched the TV show Good Times and that helped keep me interested in art. That was my intro to art history.


At the same time Hip-Hop was blowing up and I found myself writing my name on things around school and town. I take Hip Hop culture serious. I had heard of Jean Michel as a kid. My mom made sure I knew about things that related to my interest. In high school I took art even more serious. I turned my bedroom into this make shift studio using my dresser drawers for easels. I had the first-ever senior show in the library. My Mom brought me here to Atlanta once to see Matisse , but I spent my time picking apart the little Basquiat they have at the HIGH. We both sorta laughed at Matisse, but in a good way. We played a game to see who could touch the most Matisses. My first year of College I sold two big pieces of work at the local museum Kennedy Douglas Art Museum. I hung the check on my parent’s fridge for weeks. My Dad couldn't believe it. Making that amount of money as a 18 year old painting in his bedroom? From that moment, I never looked back.


I failed painting in college. Straight D’s. The professor was a Impressionist of sorts or that 60’s bullshit, I was more a hard line graphic type, product of “First Gen MTV ”. I wrote on canvases back then too. He said it’s too illustrative. He was not having it. I kick my easel over and told him to paint it if he didn't like it...The result D’s every year. I wrote a paper called “My Two Cents” It was about how I didn't feel challenged and I felt I wasn't learning. Professors hate that sort of thing. Guess I was a problem. That's when the head of the Department at my University, Dr. Walters, pulled me aside.

After failing, I was like, screw painting. I went hard into graphic design and ceramics. Art history became easy too. I didn't view ceramics as “craft” though.  Peter Voulkos and Don Rietz were my heroes. I admired the way they blurred the lines between craft and the fine art sculpture. Scale and Destruction is my jam and Voulkos had it. I can throw 10 to 50 lbs on a potters wheel no problem. A lot of my aesthetic choices came from him. He is still in my studio. That Professor gave me a lot of freedom and room to grow. I produced over 500 piece that semester. So from that to now. Well, that’s the nostalgic version, minus the ups and downs and rejection letters and crazy stunts I pulled when I got to Atlanta. Like once, I wrote Benjamin Jones name on my work. It was meant to be a graphic element like a shout out. You should have heard Marianne Lambert yelling, ”Who is signing my artist name!!!!”  -but from that I got a show.

4. What are you working on in your studio now?

I’m slowing down(not really)to focus more, right now. Really trying to understand my message and work. I was a gunslinger before just shooting bullets hoping for a kill, now i make my shots count. Sometimes I sit in my rocking chair and rock for 2 hours before I attempt anything. I may rock the stereo at top volume rock in my chair and go home. I'm just working within my history, developing my own philosophies, myths, and magic. I'm doing a lot of fishing and exploring how that relates to my practice. Which has driven me to think of nature as another possible work space. “Street art” has become to popular trendy like Internet one ups not thoughtful, and has lost its mystery. I'm on some I'm not Bruce Nauman type street heavy duty tough thought. My cotton machine will be done in the late summer in time for harvest. I made skillets float.

I don’t really know. I feel like we are out here alone, like orphans of an art world that doesn't care to look in our direction. Few will get adopted, most won’t. The Wild West, where there are no rules. Sometimes, I don't think the scene cares. Atlanta has the potential and talent to host its own biennials, but it’s to busy trying to by like something its not.

6. What is the role of an artist in society? How do you see your role in this way?

I just realized recently just how special artist are. The power of an idea is amazing. Just think we can exist inside someone’s idea. Like seeing a glimpse of their spirit, mental capacity and tasting their blood, sweat, and tears. This is some powerful shit. I think it changes our cells and hits our emotions. That's why I can’t get with artist who make work and remove themselves from the work. I think the artist role is to inspire, challenge, change, and question the world we live in. We need the space and freedom to invent. I want my work to challenge the viewer and effect culture.

7. What is the job of Art?

The Job of art is to just be. I don't think that it needs to be so specific. It’s like one of those simple philosophical questions that relies on the perspective of the viewer. Art might be one of the 99%

8. Does Atlanta have a specific role to play for Art/ Artists?

Atlanta is what it is. Looking at it historically its still the same. Even where people live in Zones when it was first developed. Atlanta could be seen in my exhibition title Comfort Kills Pursuit. Tradition and the idea of it is helpful and limiting at the same. I think this is some of what my work is about.

9. Do you have any advice for younger artists?

Want to exist in your creative process more than you want to breathe.
Basically, dedicating yourself to practice.

his website

http://michimeko.com/b