Interview with Arrington de Dionyso

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)I am Arrington de Dionyso. I live and work mostly in Olympia, Washington but I travel almost half of the year touring with my music performances, and sometimes doing art installations.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I like to find old and interesting kinds of paper, right now I am mostly using a combination of pen, brush, sumi ink, water colors and acrylic inks...

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)That is for other people to decide.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I show my work to anybody who is willing to look at it. I can't really call anything a "big break" but I have been getting a lot of help from Fabrica Fluxus in Bari, which is very nice.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Myth, mystery, beautiful women, pomegranates and the poetry of William Blake.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)I make records by hand with an antique record lathe, and each of the covers is painted by hand. You can watch a short documentary about the record lathe at this link- http://vimeo.com/14892109. I have also had the opportunity to work on some mural projects that have been very exciting- very large walls for me, it's kind of a new experience to be able to work in such a space.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)My work is synaesthetic, so my music and visual art are always linked together somehow- I will often be working on a painting by listening to recent recordings of music I am working on at the same time, this helps to create a more cohesive body of work.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)I have also made a hand-bound silkscreened book with Le Dernier Cri in Marseille, France during a residency there about two years ago. I have decided that I want to make more hand-bound books, but I do not own any screening or printing equipment. Today I started making books by hand, by taking paintings and sewing them together!

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Be nice to the people who like your art and thank them for their support.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)I'm going to be working more with Fabrica Fluxus, there may also be some small exhibits in Milan and Bologna because I contributed drawings for a book of Erotic Art published by Paper Resistance in March, and I will also have a new record being released in April with K Records in the US and Interbang in Italy.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)Most of the photos of new work will be found on facebook, but I need to try to create a more professional artist website. I don't really know anything about web design, so that is difficult for me to do by myself.

Interview with Bobby Neel Adams

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)My name is Bobby Neel Adams. I was born in Black Mountain, North

Carolina in the United States. Despite being born in the south my

family moved when I was six months old to a very small town in Kansas.

My family moved again when I was fourteen to Colorado where I went to

Jr. and Sr. Public High School. I then went to the east coast to

attend Goddard College. After graduating I lived in San Francisco for

eighteen years and then moved to New York in 1996 where I live to this

day

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I am a photographer and only use film. I bought a digital camera one

month ago but have yet to use it for a major project

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)All of my photo-montage work is hand made. I have never used

Photoshop, although, I have been accused of it, by other “blogger”

types.

q)How long have you been showing your work for?  Did you have a “big break?”

a)My first solo show happened in the late 1980’s. I wouldn’t say I have

ever had a “big break” only a strung out series of small breaks.

Rarely has making art been the greater part of my earnings per year,

yet I keep making artwork.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)I am inspired by all art. Writing, visual arts, film, and to a lesser

degree dance, theater, and music. I am inspired those people facing

hardships, with dignity.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)I have been working on a series of underwater photographs titled

DROWNED. These still life images are made in my studio. They are the

most composed, traditional photographs I have ever made.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work?  If so, would you

give some examples?

a)Sometimes when I am printing in a rental lab there is a background of

music. When I am photographing in my studio I listen to National

Public Radio. These are mostly news, talk, and public interest

stories.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily

related to your main body of work?

a)Yes, I have been writing non-fiction. I started my small writing

career (if I dare call it that) in my fifties. I had my first story

titled: How I Spent my Fifty-third birthday published in DAMn

Magazine, Brussels, several years ago. And my second story: Los

Algodones – The Disneyland of Tooth Decay, published in two separate

magazines last year. Luckily I have not suffered rejection. I

presently have eight other stories on my desk.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)I am a bad person to ask for advice on this count. All of the

exhibitions I have participated in have come to me out of the blue.

The phone rings or an email arrives with a proposition for a show. I

do think that for a photographer, in particular, it is a good thing to

have your work published and in the public view, this extends to the

web. I definitely believe that no publicity is bad publicity.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Barely, I may be in a group exhibition at the Koehler Center for the

Arts in 2011. New York has been hit hard by the recession. The gallery

I was working with closed their doors last winter.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)My website is: www.bobbyneeladams.com

There are many other blogs and websites that I show up on but none of

it is my doing.