Interview with Harrison Haynes
Courtesy Branch Galleryq)Tell me something about yourself….What's your background…?
a)Dad's family: grandfather and uncle ran a girls' summer camp in the mountainsmom's family: grandfather and 4 uncles who hunted ducks in the everglades my parents were somewhat removed from each of these defining elements, and so set an example for individualism.
q)When growing what was the greatest force pushing you towards art?
a)My father. He taught film animation and the history of animation at the university in my hometown. He had an enormous art book collection and he was always showing me really disparate artists: Piero Della Francesca, and R. Crumb are a few that i remember being impressed by. My father had opinions and taste and instilled in me the idea that art and artists is/are important .
q)Were you inspired/encouraged by any one person to pursue your craft?
a)I didnt really begin painting until art school. prior to that I just made drawings. When I arrived at the Rhode Island school of design I was both intimidated and excited by the kind of painting going on there and, in turn it opened my eyes to the whole history of painting. I think I was generally inspired by the conviction I saw in older painting students, though sometimes it was more of a bravado. I had a hard time finding my own style or approach to painting then. I really became more focused after I finished school. so, in a way, I taught myself how to paint all over again.
q)How would you describe your art to someone who could not see it?
a)Narrative-based scenes of isolated (and often alienated) figures in the landscape
q)Are certains colours,shapes that you're drawn to?
a)I think a lot about color and I think a lot about the representation of natural light and how it relates to memory. I like to create light in paintings through manipulations of color intensity and through manipulations of color value and then juxtapose those two opposing techniques. Sometimes it causes a canceling out of light all together, a flattening of space; sometimes it causes the creation of a hybrid artificial feeling light. Shapes are less important to me. i work from photographs a lot, so I like to let the shapes get dictated by the idiosyncrasy of my own drawing ability.
Courtesy Branch Gallery
q)What other talent would you like most to have?
a)Eloquent oration
q)What's your favourite mediums to work in/on?
a)Watercolor, acrylic, collage, drumset
q)What artists influence or have influenced you(these need not be visual artists)and how have they done so?
a)Narrative influence: John Cheever, David Berman, Barry Hannah, Walker Percy, Somerset Maugham, Robert Graves, visual influence: Velasquez, David Hockney, Les Rogers, Peter Doig, El Greco, Caravaggio, Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, Wm. Eggleston, ChrisMarker, David Lynch, Mamma Anderson, Elizabeth Peyton, Terrance Malick sound influence: John Bonham, Clyde Stubblefield Jones, Ralph Molina, Art Blakey,
q)What non-visual art interest you and does this have an impact on your art?
a)Fiction writing, poetry, music- they all suggest spin-off moods and stories which I try to harness in my work
Courtesy Branch Gallery
q)What do you think about artists using the Internet as a forum for sharing their work?
a)Good idea
q)What is your favourite toy,game or other artefact from your youth(and do you still own it)?
a)Polaroids I took when I was 8 years old - they are decomposing
q)Got any new projects planned?
a)My paintings will be featured in 'somebody's garden', the japanese magazine, in June
q)What advice can you give to other artists to help them improve their chances of survival in this global village we call our home?
a)Work harder than you think you should show your work to more people than you think you should.
Courtesy Branch Gallery
q)Favourite books/authors?
a)See above
q)Favourite music?
a)Interests of late : Dory Previn, Band of Horses, Dead Child, Gilberto Gil, always: Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Neil Young, Brentan Wood, James Brown, Evergreen, Lcd Sondsystem, Silver Jews, Wire
q)What do you fear most?
Courtesy posted by Claudio Parentela | 8:52 AM
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