Interview With The Artist* Part III

ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT YOUR SHOW AT JANE SAUER'S GALLERY? I'm showing with one of the best galleries in the country! To be showing with Jane is such an honor. She works with some of the most innovative and interesting artists from around the United States. Yes-I'm pretty excited about this show and the variety of work that will be in it.

ARE YOU A PRINT MAKER? No, BUT I love to draw...In making prints, my challenge is to combine various materials to create an interesting image. This print is made up of a vellum sheet grommeted to a 1985 topography map of China that I found . The grommets hold the two pieces of paper together. I had a stamp made on the Internet. In red it has the title of the print with my name. I used a red cord on the top. (I am trying to make one print a year).Beijing Xiexie is the second print that I've made.

When I was in Beijing I thought I would see thousands of bicycles, but in fact, there weren't that many. I took a picture of a bike leaning against a wall and used it for this image. But the other thing that struck me while in China was how difficult it was to really understand and get know the people. My feeling was that they would say something to me but be thinking something completely different. I realized that it was about many layers of meanings and such a long history of cultural influences that I could never just 'stop' by to learn about China.

SO YOUR SHOW AT JANE SAUER'S GALLERY IS QUITE DIVERSE, RIGHT? Yes, I'm lucky that Jane is open to having a wide variety of work for the show. With my other galleries, some wanted only animals, others just wanted figures, and only my San Francisco gallery would show the drawings on plywood.Here is a drawing called Lignin, black ink pen on plywood, with a splash of whiteout. I love the rawness of the drawings on birch plywood.

So, for my show, I will be designing an installation of the small Beijing drawings. The digital print is a part of that group.

I've also made the figures in the boat and the two on the wall. When you see them in person they have an intensity. I guess its the rusted stuff hanging off of them and the stained wood. I hope they feel like some curious artifact that has been unearthed, maybe from a past culture. Are they toys-or something more ritualistic?

There will be a grouping of what I am calling 'prosperity' birds, they are all living out in this marsh, building nests and looking for food. Some of them are flying and one is walking in the marsh.

One wall will be have a large family of squirrels. They look really cool in a gallery setting. They are so scruffy but the gallery is so pristine. And I've built a small series of bird heads, kind of like studies for larger pieces.

A grouping of dogs will also be in the show. I think of these dogs as being pretty feral, like the dogs you run into in the villages in Mexico. They are a breed, but one that its impossible to figure out-a little of this, a little of that... And these dogs are not the type to fetch a stick for you, unless there's a rabbit on the end of it.


WOW, A LOT WORK. Its not work, its more like play...