Interview with Carol Es

1) So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?
1)I am Carol Es. I have 38 years alive and behind me. I was born in Los Angeles to religiously and culturally opposing parents. My mother is Jewish (1st generation American), half Hungarian and Inuit. My father was Mennonite (like Amish with electricity) probably German. I mostly grew up in North Hollywood, but I moved a lot. I also lived in Florida and Pennsylvania. I left home by 14 and lived all over LA. Now I live down by the LA Harbor. I’ve travelled a lot too, especially when I was in a band (I played drums) and we went all over the US and Canada I spent some time in northern Italy too, but not with the band. I did that alone.

2) How did you get started making art?
2)I’ve always made art since I can remember. The culprit may have begun with coloring books and Peanuts comics.

3) How would you describe your art?
3)I wouldn’t.

4) Where do you get the inspiration for your art?
4)I’m not sure. Life is beautiful and sad. I have visions in my sleep, or when I’m nearly asleep. They must come from my emotional self, my pain, my past, my hope to change psychologically, my childhood, my humor and sarcasm.

5) What are you working on now?
5)I am supposed to be working on a body of work for my next solo show, but instead I’ve been working on a new artist book of little illustrated, autobiographical stories. I am doing drawings and watercolors in it, and also copper plate etchings, dry point and solarplate prints. As for my paintings, they are in a battle right now: the adult and the child are having it out and I don’t know who’s winning yet. I have a large pattern painting going that is still unfinished (pattern shapes and oil paint), and another piece that looks more like my older work - kind of like cartoons. I am always having anxiety about these 2 styles competing with each other.

6) Are there some web sites that you would like to recommend? Artists, art communities, xxx,...!?
6)Some artists I’ve been into lately are:
Michael Phillips http://inkpoems.com/
Scott Teplin http://www.teplin.com/
Venessa Davis http://www.spanielrage.com/
Miriam Libicki http://www.realgonegirl.com/
Amy Sillman http://sikkemajenkinsco.com/amysillman_works.html/
Reuben Sorensen http://reubensorensen.com/
Rita Ackermann http://www.andrearosengallery.com/artists/rita-ackermann/

7) What programs / materials / tools do you use to create your pieces?
7)I use thick manila pattern paper that is used in making garments in manufacturing. I used to work in this industry, so use all the old hand tools: large cutting shears, notchers, staplers, hole punchers, etc. I cut my own pattern shapes and sometimes paste them onto canvases or panels. I paint over them with oils, or into them with watercolor, pencil, ink, pinholes, and sometimes I sew into them with a needle and thread through the canvas. I’ll use sewing pins too, as drawings, or in paintings because they stick out and make interesting shadows depending on the light. Lately I have been doing a lot more drawing than painting though.

8) What advice would you give to younger up and coming artist?
8)Be your own artist and totally commit yourself to it. Ignore all other noise, especially the critics.

9) What is your personal definition of life and art and everything else in between?
9)I see life as both beautiful and horrifying, with a beginning and an end. Art is my solution to this amazing mess, and everything else in between is just bullshit and filler.

10) Do you think that art is a universal language - transcending all the different languages, cultures and religions etc?
10)Without a doubt.

11) What are your artistic influences?
11)Primitive, African, Aboriginal, Saami/Lapp and Inuit art. I get a lot from nature: color, plants, sky, water, botany, scientific mysteries, genetics, atoms, DNA, cells, etc. I also like Outsider art, modern and contemporary abstract paintings, some Pop art and Dada. Graphic novels and arial photos also influence some of my paintings.

12) How are the reactions on your work in general?
12)My work is not for everyone, but those that relate seem to react with a lot of emotion and thank me for inspiration. Some feel empowered to get through something traumatic or unsettling. Sometimes people’s reactions to my work fill me up and make me cry, and make me wish I could do this for myself.

13) Do you have many connections in the underground scene?
13)Not really. I mean, I don’t know. I’m not really connected to anything, especially to the ground, let alone underneath it.

14) Tell us about a recent dream you had.
14)I had sex with someone and it didn’t go too well.

15) What is freedom to you as an artist?
15)Freedom is a kind of endless room situated in the middle of nothingness. In this room you can direct your own movie, feel your feelings, and drive with purpose at any speed in any direction, even in directions not yet invented.I suppose my life is full of freedom. I am an artist for the reason of freedom. There isn’t anything more important or precious. If I could not make art I would be trapped and I would die quickly.

16) Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?
16)Probably this installation of journal drawings: http://esart.com/projects/journal/maywall1.jpg

17) Last Books you read?
17)Dive by Lisa Teasley, The Sketchbook of Thomas Blue Eagle by Gay Matthaei, Jewel Grutman, and Adam Cvijanovic.

18) Last records you bought?
18)Radiohead, Aimee Mann

19) Who are your favourite artists & Your favourite galleries?
19)Artists:
Paul Klee
Vincent Van Gogh
Charlotte Salomon
Bill Traylor
Cy Twombly
Louise Bourgeois
Jean Michele Basquait
Mark Rothko
Kara Walker

LA Galleries:
George Billis Gallery
Gallery 825
I-5 Gallery
Susanne Vielmetter Projects
Carl Berg Gallery
Richard Heller Gallery

20)Your contacts….E-mail…Links
20)My website is: http://esart.com