Interview with Andy Jordan
A)I am Andrew Robert Jordan. I'm 27. I live in Brooklyn, New York and work in NYC doing freelance art, design, costume/fashion/theater work.I grew up in Akron, Ohio. I did my BFA studies in Columbus Ohio at the Columbus College of Art and Design and earned my MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills outside of Detroit,Michigan. In school I focused on photography and sculpture.
Q)How did you get started making art?
A)The first spark that I remember was when I was about 3 or 4 years oldat my Grandmother's house. We couldn't sleep one night so we sat at the kitchen table and drew together on paper towels. Grandma encouraged me and showed me that it was ok for grownups to doodle and dream.Art has basically been intuitive for me for as long as I can remember.
Q)How would you describe your art?
A)I consider what I do to be figurative sculpture. Curious, restless,experimental, sometimes psychological, sometimes metaphoric, body obsessed, cuddly yet slightly perverse, oh wait, I'm describing myself...
Q)Where do you get the inspiration for your art?
A)The ongoings, artifacts, and narratives of Planet Earth.
Q)What are you working on now?
A)I'm making an outfit for a friend and planning a group of wearable pieces based on crustaceans and mollusks. Right now exactly - I'm drawing an octopus.
Q) How do you approach the creation of a new piece... how does everything come together?
A)It depends on what I am doing. Most of the time I do lots of drawings.I like to think things out that way. Some reading and research if needed. Experiment with materials and then dive in. Often I try a new process and or materials so I have to learn as I go. I learned to crochet when I made a 22 foot gown out of polypropylene. I probably should have taught myself by making a scarf with yarn...nah, starting with inch think hooks and plastic twine is the best way to learn.
Q) What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?
A)I seem to always work with the figure... At the moment performance and photography are key. As for a specific medium I've always been drawn to materials that are synthetic - plastic, PVC, rubber, vinyl. There is something about them, a sterilized kink, that I enjoy.
Q) Do you collect anything?
A)Art books. Photographs - I always have a camera with me. Fabrics and miscellaneous materials.
Q) Is your work all hand done? Or do you use any computer tools to help out?
A)For some of my photography pieces I use the computer. Some are completely assembled from parts into digital collages.I'm a hands on type though, I like to get dirty and work with objects.
Q) What, in your opinion, are the best and worst places to exhibit artwork?
A)It's really subjective. Context is important. Different pieces require different exhibition spaces. At the moment, for me, galleries and stages seem too safe. I'm thinking about guerilla action and more experiments with the underground art scene... if there is one to be found...
Q) What are your artistic influences?
A)Skilled Costume Design - like English women's garments from the 19th century and earlier, and contemporary haute couture.Science Fiction / Cyberpunk Experiencing other peoples ideas and creativity always excites me.
Q) How are the reactions on your work in general?
A)I like viewer participation... or rather consider viewers participants. I think people enjoy this. And if you are in my life chances are I will incorporate you into something- dressing you up,asking you to perform, collaborate, pose... I like to think my friends appreciate the process and my assimilation of them.Also people tend to like fashion-esque things, even when they are bad.Some of my early figurative stuff was a tad dark and I still have an interest in "black beauty." That work brings the most obvious knee-jerk reactions.
Q) What are you doing when you are not creating art?
A)Running around the city, reading, playing on the internet (I'm addicted to Wikipedia and flickr.) I like movies. And I have a new kitten named Norman. We like spending time together.
Q)What are some of the greatest challenges that you think artists face today?
A)I think there is an overwhelming belief that creativity is dead... or rather that creativity is recycling with a new spin. I do not think these things are true.
Q) What is freedom to you as an artist?
A)A friend once asked me to list 5 things that represent the "goodlife.". I think they apply here in thinking about artistic freedom.
1- Self actualization
2- Having the opportunity and ability and perhaps encouragement to dream.
3- Not only dreaming but acting on, striving for, and attaining those dreams
4- Finding support in others, sharing dreams5- Maintaining momentum
Q) Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?
A)Yes. The pieces that seem to me to be break throughs, raw and unexpected.Some of my early photo-masks,The Polymorphous Perversity Suit,the 2Fashion body of work
Q) What it the coolest thing you have seen recently while wandering the streets?
A)Well it was actually on the subway. A few weeks back my roommate and I sat next to a young woman on the train wearing a unique black and white blouse and tight black pants. She had with her a large trunk.She opened it up and rummaged through it's contents, withdrawing a little tray with a mirror and makeup. She pulled her hair into pig tails. She began to apply the makeup - making her face completely white, with small red heart lips, some black eyeliner accents, and red dots on her checks. After a few stops she exited the subway as a mime.And the Halloween Parade was last week in NYC. That's always impressive. I think NYC is the goblin capital of the world.
Q) Do you carry a notebook? Do you draw in public?
A)Yes. I have a special book for subway drawings and random ideas that must be remembered. My camera is very important to me also.
Q) Who are your favourite artists & Your favourite galleries?
A)Artists:Hans Bellmer, Louise Bourgeois, Leigh Bowery, Rei Kawakubo, AlexanderMcQueen, Issey Miyake, Julie Taymor
Art Spaces:P.S.1 ( http://www.ps1.org/ ),Brooklyn Museum ( http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/ ),New Museum ( http://www.newmuseum.org/ ),Dia: Beacon and Chelsea ( http://www.diacenter.org/ ),The Met ( http://www.metmuseum.org/ )
Q) Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss yourwork when it is sold?
A)I try not to. I try to make as much stuff as possible so that there is no room in my mind or apartment to hold on too long.
Q)Your contacts..E-mail.links
A)andytoad@gmail.com
www.andyjordan.net
http://www.myspace.com/andytoad
posted by Claudio Parentela | 1:02 PM
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