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Artist Karen Marston Talks to Leah Oates
Karen Marston is a painter living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She also serves as the executive director of the non-profit contemporary art support organization, NURTUREart, and hosts their monthly art salon, Muse Fuse.
Karen Marston, Heart Stalk, 2005. Oil on Linen, 47 x 28 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Leah Oates: What are you working on currently in the studio?
Karen Marston: I’m
doing studies for a new series, small paintings on wood panels that I
approach more like drawings or sketches. I’m exploring a new form for
me, different but still part of the anatomical work I’ve been
developing for several years. I’ve recently become interested in the structures of the inner ear—the cochlea and the semicircular canals for hearing and equilibrium. They’re beautiful and mysteriously abstract out of context; I like that they are clearly of the body, but bones that aren’t so easily recognizable. They have so, so many interesting possibilities. I love that they are these elegant, intricate instruments that process so much sensory information. It’s so interesting that how we hear and how we balance are connected, and the core of it, these tiny spirals are a fundamental shape so often repeated in nature.LO: Your work deals with love, loss and the subliminal emotions that humans have. Please elaborate on these aspects of your work.
KM: The internal organs work on a number of layers of meaning and metaphor, sounding a variety of emotional notes. Hidden deep inside the body where we can’t actually see them, our hearts and lungs are our vital systems, we feel our heartbeat and breath slowing and quickening, not just pumping blood and processing air but signaling our changing emotional states. I’m interested in how literally thoughts and emotions are embodied in our physical being and the poetic possibilities these forms offer—particularly when combined with nature imagery like the water, whirlpools, trees, nests, etc. The water, for example, can be read as a total larger environment, or as a symbol for the body or the unconscious, conveying a feeling of nurturing and safety or drowning and suffocation, all at once. The nests are this profusion of entanglements, homes and armor, choking and protecting, built out of the veins growing from the heart and lungs, a self created natural environment, a whole world with a gamut of contradictory emotions inside the body.
LO: All art medias are unique in different ways. How is painting unique and why did you gravitate towards painting?
KM: I always loved to draw and it came very naturally and easily to me, when I got to the San Francisco Art Institute, I had to pick a major and as free and loose as the place was (no letter grades, a bare minimum of academics) drawing alone wasn’t an option, to draw you had to major in painting, which I was unthrilled about initially… one of my teachers said something simple that made it make sense for me: painting is drawing, it’s all one activity, the paintbrush is just another drawing tool. In fact painting eventually overtook drawing for me, the fluidity has become my language. The end of the handle of the paintbrush is about as far away as I’ve ever wanted to get from the work, I love the immediacy of painting, your touch is right there on it, nothing mechanical or mediated, no math to do, no gadgets to read an instruction manual for, no waiting to see the results later. Ultimately, I think image making, like story telling, dancing and music, will always be basic human urges for expression and communication and the particular tool choices and media inventions we use are just personal and stylistic preferences, less important than that we make things.
LO: You are a career artist and have been making art for a long time. How does being a lifetime artist change your approach to art making and to dealing with other artists? Some artists get more generous where as others get less generous. What are your thoughts on being an artist starting out in NY, and being one who has been working in studio for a while? What are your thoughts and advice?
KM: Yes, I’m in it for the long haul! I’ve always known that I want to be making art for my whole life whether I make money from it or not—I may be the last of a dying breed that was trained to be idealistically committed with no expectation of fame and fortune. My art school had career workshops on how to get a job in the restaurant business or how to drive a cab! So I approached it as a life choice that I needed to figure out how to make sustainable. It’s a Rubik’s Cube you keep turning, trying to get the perfect alignment of income versus studio time. Knock wood at the moment, I’ve got a balance that’s working! My advice for artists new to NYC? I don’t envy them in this real estate market; it’s so tough to find a remotely affordable studio. The key is to find a job that won’t drain you of all your time and energy so you can actually make art. Another big part of long term sustainability is having a sense of community, even though making art is a solitary activity for most of us, you don’t want to feel you’re living on a deserted island so you have to create relationships. Some people may have a misguided notion that they have to be selfish and cut throat to get ahead, but being generous brings a lot of rewards, the more you share and invest in your network the more it will support you.
LO: You are a very active person, particularly in the Williamsburg arts community. You organize a very popular event called Muse Fuse for NURTUREart. You are the director of NURTUREart and are involved with the Williamsburg Art Gallery Association. How long have you been in Williamsburg and how have you seen it change and grow?
KM: I first moved to Williamsburg, to the south side, right under the bridge, in 1989, back when cab drivers where scared to come over here! There was a car fire once a week under our windows in the summer, and I learned that “I hear gunshots” is the one thing the police would respond to quickly! So, I’ve seen lots of change and growth, some of it great and some not so much. Its exciting to get to witness and participate in Williamsburg evolving from a few upstart galleries to a big thriving art scene with dozens of spaces, and see the DIY artists’ ethic become its own tradition and carry on strongly in spite of luxury condo mania. We’re like tough little weeds in the cracks of the city, pull one out and three more pop up the next week! NURTUREart lost its first space to real estate developers, but we found an even better one like 10 blocks away on Grand St. just east of Bushwick Avenue. We love it, it’s twice the size, and gorgeous, and we have a lot of cool neighbors—there’s Tastes Like Chicken, 3rd Ward, Ad Hoc, Pocket Utopia, English Kills…
LO: How do you see Williamsburg being different from Chelsea or mid town galleries? I see it sometimes as strata of the art world that is somewhat artificial between the different art districts that has nothing to do with with the work. In my opinion, Brooklyn galleries showed the best work during Art Basel Miami 2007. I think they are taking more risks due to having a tighter artists-focused community. Also, many of the Williamsburg galleries are run by artists, and I think this can change [their] mission. What are your thoughts on all of this?
KM: I was surprised to learn when I started meeting and getting to know the Williamsburg gallerists, that most of them are now, or started out, as artists themselves, and I do think that makes for a special something in terms of risk taking, developing a strong personal vision, and the feeling of an accessible, real community in the neighborhood. Certainly not to say that there are no good galleries anywhere else, or everything being shown here is brilliant, but the gallerists here feel like kindred spirits that have the same zeal and diehard energy for their galleries as artists do for their work, and it shows.
LO: What do you have coming up in 2008/09?
KM: Coming off of two simultaneous solo shows last year—at Dam Stuhlatrager and the Cheryl McGinnis Gallery—now I’m just focusing on barricading myself in my studio and making new work!ïâ¬Âª
