This blog post was quite exiting for me, as I had the opportunity to interview one of my favourite artists, John Casey!
From Oakland, CA, the best way to describe his works is dark and humorous.
On his website statement he exclaims ” I tap into my subconscious and psychological brain space, to conjure loose metaphors and symbols, and weave them into compelling characters.” My favourite works from Casey being a series of sculptures consisting of pairs of jeans with different objects/subject matters for the head, together, they make a bold, simplistic, yet, surrealist image (and a great decoration for your fireplace).
Q: who are some of your favourite artists? – whats your favourite piece of art?
A: Wow, there are so many interesting artists out in the world today. I have new favs daily. I recently went to a show of Urs Fischer (http://www.ursfischer.com/) at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor (https://legionofhonor.famsf.org) museum where is truly playful, oddball, surreal sculptures were dispersed throughout the museum’s permanent collection of Medieval through Impressionist works. Such a cool juxtaposition of contemporary and traditional. There’s a new exhibition at the same location and concept with contemporary works by Sarah Lucas interspersed throughout the museum that I have yet to see but it looks pretty cool. I am very lucky to live in a very art-rich environment in the Bat Area. Oakland is probably home to more artists per capita than any major city in the world.
Q: How did you develop your style?
A: I have been drawing my whole life. I love working mostly in black and white with occasional forays into colour. When I was in art school at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, I majored in oil painting but I rarely worked with a traditional approach to process and materials. I did a lot of drawing and painted sculpture. At that time in the 1980s, the emphasis was avoid developing a “style” per se. Ideally you would just make a lot of art that was as honest as you could make it, and a recognisable look and feel would emerge organically from the practice. I still think that approach has value for young artists but nowadays, with social media and the internet making visual arts exposure open to everyone, having a defined style early on seems important. My style has developed over many years of working in the studio and exhibiting. I’ve never been in a big rush to be recognised but it’s probably very different for young artists today.
Q: What is your creative process, do you collect photographs, have sketchbook? etc.
A: I work in sketchbooks but not as much as I probably should. I mostly start on paper or panel from scratch with a few very vague ideas in mind and let my subconscious guide me. The idea might be a few keywords or a gesture of a figure or a shape. If I need to I might use a projector and some photo reference for proportion but I am quick to distort the image just by the act of loosely tracing. I really try to make a series of wrong, or not so obvious choices when sketching out the initial figure or figures in a work. And I may erase out or paint out whole sections. For sculpting I usually plan a bit more, but I try to leave room for big changes. I may even take an electric saw to a fairly rendered sculpture and behead the figure or remove and reattach limbs.
Q: Francis Bacon once said that he didn’t go to art school because he didn’t want it to effect his style. What is your opinion on the educational system on creative subjects?
A: I personally think I benefited from getting my BFA at art school. The experience exposed me to so much more of the art world that I would have missed. Of course this was pre-internet. But having art history and critiques are pretty valuable. When Bacon was a young creative, most art schools taught traditional methods. Now that we live in post-modern times, teaching is much more open and expressive. But debt from higher education is a big consideration in the US so I don’t blame kids for skipping art school. Almost better to apprentice with an artist you dig, and learn directly from that person.
Q: I am currently writing an article on the effects the growth of modern technology has on the Art world, do you have any opinions on this? do you think that technology has had a good impact on art or a bad impact?
A: I’m of two minds on tech in art. Firstly, a tool is a tool. You can use internet reference or laser cutters or 3D printing or whatever to make what you will make. As long as you make sure it has your hand visible in the process. Don’t let the tool dictate the total outcome of any given work. That said, secondly, I am a big proponent of making stuff by hand. Drawing, painting, sculpting allow the brain to exercise the fundamentals or creativity. There’s really not tech that push your harder creatively than making shit by hand.
Q: If you could have a dinner party with five artists, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
A: Most of my friends are artists so I’d say I got that covered. And I’ve met many of the artists that inspire me who may or may not be famous. Many are cool but some are jerks. Sometimes allowing your heroes to be mysterious in your mind is better. They can disappoint you for sure. But I’ve also met and befriended many cool artists who are genuinely good folks. I’m sure it’s the same with all professions.
Q: You say in your bio that your art is inspired by people you know, any interesting stories behind a piece of art?
A: I met this collector who was divorced. His three sons lived with their mom and would visit him a couple of times a month. He was very permissive with his boys, allowing them to run roughshod over his house and property because he wanted to be a fun dad. I’m sure many divorced parents, especially dads, experience this. One day he hadn’t seen the kids for a couple of hours. He went to investigate and way out back (he has a large property) the boys had torn the white pickets of his boundary fence and were battling each other with the pickets as swords. I loved the image of this chaos especially because I am one of three brothers close in age and I got into plenty of mischief as a kid. I created a painted wood cutout installation I titled “Picket Fencing” that showed various fantasy characters battling with pickets. A good example of art reflecting life, and vice versa.
I hope you have enjoyed my first “Artist Feature”, hopefully this is the first of many, I will probably be digressing from the focus on article-esque blog post for now while I concentrate on finishing my short story “Infatuation with the End” ( a slight hint/ teaser there) and a new project I am a part of (more information on this will be revealed soon!) though I do have a few poems to keep you occupied until the story is finished.
~ AmyLavernia
references:
AmyLavernia 
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