09-02-2010
Words with the Artist: Daniel Wiener, Part 1
I caught up Daniel Wiener, a Brooklyn-based artist known primarily for his intense and viscerally arresting sculptures, and asked him about his process. His exhibition Watercolors + Sculpture is on view at FXFOWLE's gallery through September 17th.
Jessica Pleasants: Can you tell me a little about your inspiration for the apoxie-sculpt pieces?
Daniel Wiener: Imagination is both the source and the subject of my work. While it seems obvious, many artists of the last 60 years have been focusing on other starting points. I'm fascinated by how humans are compelled to imagine. The involuntary impulse to conjure images and stories is both a blessing and a curse. This dual energy drives my work. Each invention in the studio, either accidental or purposeful, leads to another and yet another, combining towards an unexpected outcome.
"flowerglasstornhole" 15 x 8 x 8 inches, apoxie sculpt, glass
JP: Do you have the same inspiration for the watercolors?
DW: Many of the sources and methods for the watercolors are the same for the sculpture. However, I started the watercolors when I was in a creative quandary as a way to analyze, explore, and understand my influences. In the watercolors and the preparatory drawings, I riff on Tex Avery, creator of many Warner Brothers cartoons, the roof sculptures and turrets of Antonio Gaudi, and the worn and eroded shapes of Scholar's Rocks, to name a few. Since my influences are more apparent in the watercolors, they include depictions and illusionistic space, though I've composed them abstractly as I did the sculptures.
"flippingstickspond", 22 x 33 inches, watercolor, ink, pencil, gouache on paper
JP: How do these inspirations relate or differ in concept and material?
DW: Both media include accidents and improvisations overlaid with more elaborate and self-conscious patterns. The difference in control is starker in the watercolors. After creating the spills, drips, and splashes, I spend hours or days drawing different motifs that dovetail with a particular spill. Because I want to keep plenty of white space in the watercolors, I have one chance to do it right. The more I like a spill the greater the pressure for the addition to suit it. While there is never just one solution, making watercolors feels more like problem-solving. In contrast, making sculpture entails a more flowing conversation between intuitive improvisation and intellectual decision making.
JP: What is the process by which you create the pieces?
DW: Tinkering.
JP: How did this come about?
DW: I have accepted the fact that I am an intuitive, improvisatory artist—a tinkerer. I try one thing, then another thing, and another until something clicks, and then I keep making one mistake after another until a piece resolves into a satisfying, dense dissonance.
See a slide show of the evolution of Daniel's sculpture: Algorithm for a Crazy Vase.
Next, I will talk to Daniel about his materials, techniques, and color. Stay tuned.
by Jessica Pleasants
Jessica Pleasants: Can you tell me a little about your inspiration for the apoxie-sculpt pieces?
Daniel Wiener: Imagination is both the source and the subject of my work. While it seems obvious, many artists of the last 60 years have been focusing on other starting points. I'm fascinated by how humans are compelled to imagine. The involuntary impulse to conjure images and stories is both a blessing and a curse. This dual energy drives my work. Each invention in the studio, either accidental or purposeful, leads to another and yet another, combining towards an unexpected outcome.
"flowerglasstornhole" 15 x 8 x 8 inches, apoxie sculpt, glassJP: Do you have the same inspiration for the watercolors?
DW: Many of the sources and methods for the watercolors are the same for the sculpture. However, I started the watercolors when I was in a creative quandary as a way to analyze, explore, and understand my influences. In the watercolors and the preparatory drawings, I riff on Tex Avery, creator of many Warner Brothers cartoons, the roof sculptures and turrets of Antonio Gaudi, and the worn and eroded shapes of Scholar's Rocks, to name a few. Since my influences are more apparent in the watercolors, they include depictions and illusionistic space, though I've composed them abstractly as I did the sculptures.
"flippingstickspond", 22 x 33 inches, watercolor, ink, pencil, gouache on paperJP: How do these inspirations relate or differ in concept and material?
DW: Both media include accidents and improvisations overlaid with more elaborate and self-conscious patterns. The difference in control is starker in the watercolors. After creating the spills, drips, and splashes, I spend hours or days drawing different motifs that dovetail with a particular spill. Because I want to keep plenty of white space in the watercolors, I have one chance to do it right. The more I like a spill the greater the pressure for the addition to suit it. While there is never just one solution, making watercolors feels more like problem-solving. In contrast, making sculpture entails a more flowing conversation between intuitive improvisation and intellectual decision making.
JP: What is the process by which you create the pieces?
DW: Tinkering.
JP: How did this come about?
DW: I have accepted the fact that I am an intuitive, improvisatory artist—a tinkerer. I try one thing, then another thing, and another until something clicks, and then I keep making one mistake after another until a piece resolves into a satisfying, dense dissonance.
See a slide show of the evolution of Daniel's sculpture: Algorithm for a Crazy Vase.
Next, I will talk to Daniel about his materials, techniques, and color. Stay tuned.
by Jessica Pleasants