Interview with Charlotte Smith

Coraluscious, 2011, acrylic on canvas
photo by Paul Abbott, used with permission from Charlotte Smith

HC: I want to start by asking you about your new paintings.  I’ve seen the images of your show at Anya Tish Gallery and now in this catalog for your exhibition at Cris Worley Fine Arts.  It’s different, not quite as 3D with the dots, and as it says in the press release “…buoyant orbs have now evolved into glistening amorphous shapes that ask the viewer to experience the sublime curiosity of pure, unadulterated abstraction.”  So what else can you tell me about that?

CS: Actually, the first few layers are similar to the “dots” or layering, but I’ve added more layers on top of that with clear materials. So there’s actually still a lot of physical depth to them, so it’s almost like seeing back into the paintings to what I was doing, then there’s another layer on top that’s almost like a lace….glossy….so that’s another layer added to what I’ve already been doing. It’s not a 3 dimensional as say the ‘piles’ coming out, but it’s still a continuation, and that’s why we called the show “Push”. Because we felt like we were pushing it just another step…in a similar direction but it looks different. But it is still an additive process, and definitely an abstract.

Coraluscious detail
photo by Paul Abbott, used with permission from Charlotte Smith

HC: Your work has a lot to do with process.
CS: It’s very process driven because it’s…because the roots of my getting into art is more like therapy. I’m not interested in making an object that’s recognizable. I like playing with the materials. I’ve always enjoyed that more than trying to draw out a cute little scene or a flower or something like that. I just love working with the materials and seeing what they’ll do. And actually this latest process came out of the doing the paint as circle on circle, but as the paint got heavier it started to drooping in the middle, and I work horizontally (she held her arm at a slight angle to horizontal) and the paint started running a bit and they started to loose their circular forms and began to create these amorphous type shapes. They’re kinda oblong and amoeba looking. They started out round, but then they started creating their own shapes, which led to something new.

Serene Dream II, 2011, acrylic on canvas
photo by Paul Abbott, used with permission from Charlotte Smith

HC: So I caught up with you and your career after you’d gotten out of art school and you were still in 500X.  So my perception, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that you started exhibiting your art later in life - after you had a career in the airline industry. What inspired you to take up art and start painting?

CS: Well, I had studied art in the early 80’s but I wasn’t that interested.  I was going to school for architecture, I was more interested in architecture. In the mid to late 80’s my mom got really sick, and I spent a lot of time at the hospital. I bought myself some ‘how to paint’ books, water color books, and I was copying stuff out of those books because I spent hours at the hospital with her.  I started putting the pictures up on the wall and my mom really enjoyed that. So that’s where I kinda started painting a lot.  Then I decided to take some lessons, and I studied with a private artist for a while.  Her name is Jane Jones and she’s always been a really good mentor to me and a very talented teacher.  And then she encouraged me to go to North Texas and check out some classes out there.  So I signed up for a couple of graduate classes, not knowing that you had to actually apply to graduate school (she laughs) to get in.  And my first teacher was Vincent Falsetta and he suggested that I sign up and try to get in the program. And then I got accepted!  So I kinda went into it backwards, but it was a wonderful experience and I’m glad that it happened.

HC: And you and Vincent seem to still work together closely. I know that you exhibit together often.

CS: Yes, he’s always been a really great mentor, he was a great teacher to have, and he’s become a really good friend, and definitely has influenced my work a lot.

  

Dreamscape detail, 2011, acrylic on canvas
photo by Paul Abbott, used with permission from Charlotte Smith

HC: I tend to see the influences of his work in your work - though they’re not similar at all.  I see that they’re both paint, and they’re abstract, and it’s colorful if not always right in your face with color.

CS: Yeah, there are things about his paintings that I love to stare at and think about. And I wonder how I can get that kind of presence in my work.

HC: Besides Vincent, what other artists inform your work?

CS: When I was in graduate school, I enjoyed looking at and reading about Agnes Martin’s work. I was doing a lot of graphite drawings that were very simple line drawings.  And I like the idea of something that looked minimal but really wasn’t because it had that hand-made quality to it. And there’s times when I try to get that quality in my work, where it looks minimal but when you get up to it you realize there’s nothing minimal about it. Especially with my pieces that are diptychs with the piles in between, and maybe the surface of it will be painted just one color and all you see is this line in the middle.  From a distance it looks minimal then you get up close and you realize there’s all these drops of paint that are obviously hand done and there’s nothing minimal about it.  It’s a lot of hard work.  Eva Hess – I enjoyed reading about her work in graduate school and about the types of explorations with materials and processes.  I thought she and her work is really fascinating.

Curve Appeal detail, 2011, acrylic on wood panel
photo by Paul Abbott, used with permission from Charlotte Smith

HC: So what did you enjoy, or not enjoy, about being in the art collective 500X? There’s so many great artists that have come through that…

CS: Yes, it was a great experience and I think going from that into showing my work at commercial galleries, it kinda gives you an idea of how hard it is to run a commercial gallery. It’s a lot of frickin’ work. And I was the treasurer there, as well as making art, you have to learn how to curate shows, you have to learn how to physically hang the work, you have to light it, you have to do all the PR, you have to collect the money and you have to pay the bills, and it’s….I think knowing that part of it makes you work better with a commercial gallery.  It makes you appreciate what your gallerists are doing for you. And you don’t take them for granted because you know how hard it is. I also made some great friends out of there that we’re still friends today, and we support each other as artists.  Overall it was a really good experience with very few bad experiences.

Into You, 2011, acrylic on canvas
photo by Paul Abbott, used with permission from Charlotte Smith

HC: Great! So this will be your first solo show with Cris Worley Fine Arts

CS: Yeah

HC: Because this is actually her first anniversary, so congratulations for being the first anniversary show with her…

CS: yeah, and Fall Gallery Walk – that’s exciting

HC: absolutely! And this catalog Cris put together looks really good

CS: And Catherine Anspon wrote the essay.  She makes my work sound so sexy. I mean, it is lush and the show looks really great.  Cris’ space is great.  I was there earlier and Cris was there with a collector, which was nice, they were getting a preview. It looks good, I’m excited.

Into You detail 
 photo by Paul Abbott, used with permission from Charlotte Smith

HC: I love her space. I can’t wait to see your work there.

CS: And Cris Worley is one of the hardest working people in the world.

HC: I know it.

CS: I mean, that woman goes above and beyond for her artists. She truly is a force of nature, in my opinion.

HC: I totally agree.  What other shows have you had this year?

CS: I was in a show with the Assistance League in Houston in January, then I had a solo show with Anya Tish Gallery in March.  I did the “Derivatives” show at the GeometricMuseum of MADI Art , that was curated by Vincent. I’m doing this show with Cris.  Coming up, I’m in a group show at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas that’s opening September 24^th, and then I’m doing another solo show at Artspace 111 in Fort Worth in December, and then a big solo show at the Galveston Art Center in January, 2012.

HC: Great!

CS: Four solo shows in less than a year has been a lot.

HC: So different work at each of these?

CS: Yes, different work at each of the shows.  Well I’m not sure about the Galveston show yet.

HC: Is Clint Willour going to come up and curate out of your studio?

CS: I’m not sure, but he is coming up for a studio visit in the fall, so we’ll see where it goes after that.

HC: Well, thanks so much for your time today.  I’m looking forward to your show at Cris Worley Fine Art, and good luck with everything you have coming up over the next few months!

Interview with Simeen Farhat

Insceced, cast resin, 2011
photo used with permission from Simeen Farhat

I went to visit Simeen Farhat in her large apartment/studio.  She lives in one of those now-rare-in-Dallas early 20th century four-plex apartments that have high ceilings and reach far back into the lot providing for a number of large rooms.  Like most artists, her works in process were present from the front door to the back.  She was preparing for multiple upcoming exhibits both in Texas and abroad.

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Simeen in one of the rooms of her studio

Simeen started off by showing me around each room in which she performs her various processes separately.  In the room pictured above, she cuts the word or phrase shapes out of MDF and then creates latex molds.  She has molds for each word or small phrase for many of the different cluster sculpture and installations that she creates.  She pours resin in the molds in another room and allows them to set up in various rooms.  She also showed me a small pressure chamber that she uses to set the crystal and translucent resins which helps them retain clarity rather than becoming too cloudy.

detail of one element "most"

Simeen has been sculpting using painted wood forming words and phrases in Urdu.  She creates her own stylized fonts, though many of us in the States have not been able to pick out the words we see represented in her stylized Arabic script.  For her exhibitions at Anya Tish Gallery and Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Simeen has started to use English translations.  The picture above shows one of the word elements that she later combined into a cluster sculpture.  The word "most" is shown above in her own stylized font - see the "m" moving from the far left to the far right; the "o" and "s" overlap the middle bottom of the "m", and the "t" sticks up above the "m" as it rises out of the "o".  For these two exhibitions, Simeen has chosen Edward Fitzgerald's English translations of Omar Khayyam's poetry. 

Morphed, cast resin, 2011
photo used with permission from Simeen Farhat 

The translucent resin has allowed Simeen to add extra layers of conceptual meaning to her works.  The dark rich brown color of the elements in Morphed shown above call to mind both the henna dyes that women of the Sub-Continent adorn their skin as well as the glass bottles of Shiner Beer.  We see both sides of Simeen's past and present cultures coming together.  She also showed me icy blue resin pieces and smokey gray works as seen in "most" above.  Anya Tish's press release tells us this about the exhibition and Simeen's work:

"Anya Tish Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Word, Object, Motion, an exhibition of contemporary Islamic art, featuring the work of Dallas-based Pakistani artist Simeen Farhat, and Houston-based Iraqi artist Mohammed Al Shammarey. Both artists take inspiration from classical Persian and Urdu poetry, dealing with subjects of human struggle and emotions, freedom of thought and expression. Farhat’s sculptures, created from wood and/or cast resin, explode from the wall, forming three-dimensional manifestations of Urdu and Farsi poems. The sculptures’ compositions, sinuous Pashto calligraphy, present the viewer with many layers of meaning. The shadows cast by the intricately layered forms, bring to mind whispers, as if the words that cast them have just been spoken. Farhat’s work, both original and visually striking in execution, provides a fascinating commentary on present-day perceptions of Islamic culture."

 3 sculptures in her 2008 MAC exhibition

front Shroud of Silence

back left Body Language

back right We Won't Kill You (installation)
photo used with permission from Simeen Farhat

HC: How are your new works different from the exhibition you had at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary in September 2008?
SF: The MAC show was more political. This one is less so, and I want to see how people react. I call these speech bubbles, in a way, because they are like the bubble 'pops'. They are not my words, of course - I'm not a poet yet, maybe I don't want to do poetry - I'm a visual person.
HC: right, visual poetry
SF: this is visual. What I do is poetic dynamism into visual energy.
HC: ah, that is beautiful
SF: that's how I describe my work. It's not that you go read it right there, don't go try to read it. I mean, I will provide the reference and you can go read it. These are like music. When you hear a song, you know, there is poetry there, but what you're really attracted to, especially if it is very melodic and all, is the music, the sound of the lyrics.
HC: right
SF: and even some people reciting sounds so beautiful. You know if you just read something (she shrugs) but with some people even the reciting is so beautiful and it is really appealing. And from where I come, poetry and even philosophy also, and all the poets I use are philosophers, they're talking about life and all these things, and they are timeless. So I am also looking for some contemporary <music and poetry> that is timeless with a lot of philosophy. What I'm trying to get at also is questioning all these things happening in the world. That's how I started it out. In a way, questioning my own culture that I come from. And why is there all this chaos in the world. We are all just human beings, accept the differences and similarities, and be more open to other cultures. And why Sufi, I mean, Sufism had been part of the Islamic culture, and it was very passionate and loving and talking about humanity as opposed to what we see in YaNabi Islam.

Expulsion, fabric, painted-wood, wire, 2009, variable dimensions
photo used with permission from Simeen Farhat

HC: Your 2008 show at the MAC, as you said, was a bit more politically driven, but now you're moving into aspects of life and finding commonalities and relationships between the different peoples and how we're not that different.
SF: yeah, and now the work is becoming less political, it's still political in a way, but the political aspect has become less drastic, it has become more subtle. I mean, it's still there, and I'm making the smoke, I reference it to a lot of things happening, you know, like wild fires or mushroom clouds or something. Now it is more about humanity, like us being who we are, you know these kind of questions. And of course it's visual art. I'm not a politician or a diplomat, you know, I mean I can be a diplomat in the sense of artistic diplomacy. So enjoy it visually.

Smoldering, cast resin, 2011
photo used with permission from Simeen Farhat

HC: So you're going to have a piece up in a project space at Kirk Hopper Fine Art starting September 3 with opening reception on September 10th. And you're in a two person show at Anya Tish Gallery in Houston starting September 9th, the reception is that night also. And then you've got a solo show coming up at La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art in Bahrain...
SF: yeah, that show was supposed to be in March, but it got postponed because two weeks before the show was supposed to open, then all this revolution things started up there so it got postponed. Now it opens October 28th. Then I'm also in Abu Dhabi Art Fair and then Contemporary Istanbul art fair.
HC: Is someone taking your work to these art fairs, a gallery, or are you presenting in some type of artist project?
SF: XVA Dubai gallery is taking my work. My gallery in London, Xerxes Art, took my work last year, but they aren't participating this year. I had a solo show at Xerxes last year, too.

one of the works that exhibited in her solo show at Twelve Gates Art Gallery, Philadelphia PA, March 4 - April 30, 2011
photo used with permission from Simeen Farhat

HC: What is your greatest challenge with exhibiting your work outside of the US?
SF: One of the challenges for my art and these shows - shipping.  To make sure everything....especially with my work, oh my god, so that is one reason why also I switched from wood to these resin because they are more durable. They are more archival, and more professional, you know.  They're more forgiving, but also they are more playful to work.  I've been doing a lot of experimenting. I put them in the microwave, I do a lot of these things or maybe use a heat gun, and maybe getting all these twist shapes so they actually are giving me more flexibility.
SF: Since the show at the MAC two years ago, I haven't shown much locally.  I had a two person show at Anya Tish last year with Paul Booker.
HC: Oh, I bet your works looked good together.
SF:  yeah. Anya was perhaps the first gallery in Texas, like main stream galleries, who, you know, believed in my work.  And now Lillian at Kirk Hopper Fine Art is taking the chance and showing my work.

After my studio visit we went and ate at a Vietnamese Buffet a few blocks away.  She continued to tell me the history of Pakistan.  We compared similarities we find in the Muslim faith practice to those of Catholics and other Evangelical Christians - such as fasting for a month once a year, male only clerics, priests, and ministers, oppression of gays and other lesser societal roles for women in general.  I told Simeen that I find her to be a very brave woman and artist and I highly respect her art's message. Simeen has taken a leave from teaching at the University of Texas Arlington to afford her time to make art and to accommodate her extensive travel schedule from this fall into early spring 2012. Simeen is also scheduled to have a solo exhibition this fall at Art Chowk Gallery in her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan.