White Elephant On Wheels: “Heroes” a group exhibit created by Julie Torres at Small Black Door Gallery.

http://julietorres.weebly.com/

An online interview conducted by Eliot Markell.

Julie Torres follows her collaborative instincts with Heroes, a well construed if slightly (but pleasantly) scattered collection of offbeat objects, sculptures, and flat art ensconced in the semi subterranean confines of Small Black Door.

Mz Torres prefaces this diverse group of artists as collectively contributing to support the larger community of visual artists by their dedication to blogging, running galleries, and generally promoting the welfare of creative types other than themselves.

This altruistic premise lends a compelling notion to Heroes; can/will the art world respond to pay-it-forward karma in this era of GO Brooklyn career contests?

Indeed Mz Torres is a genuinely gregarious proponent of art making as a shared group activity. Her proclivity for extended hour art events such as the Camel Art Space “48 Hour Art Making Marathon” and her artwork “My 12 Hours With Austin Thomas” seem to celebrate the social networking nature of art for fun’s sake.

EM: Julie, do you see your curator role as more about revealing personal artistic interactions and process, rather than the traditional presentation of art objects as a means to an end?

JT: Hi Eliot, thanks for writing! Gosh, I don’t know. I guess there are both perspectives in there. I did intend to highlight some cool relationships between several artists’ work, and their distinct ways of working—but also to simply show the work with limited interference. I think that artists who curate other artists’ work typically do wind up revealing a lot about themselves in the process, and I think there is a lot of me and my own process in there.

EM: Well put, Heroes is your creation if not your art.

Could you describe any exhibition strategy you had for the art you wanted for the show? Were the artists given any parameters for what to contribute?

JT: That part was funny! I did find that most artists had very specific ideas about what they intended to show, but I shut that down right away! I was more interested in exploring their studios and really digging through things— one of my greatest pleasures. You learn so much about a person that way. I did a fair share of arm-twisting to show work that was perhaps a little unexpected from their point of view—work that is very personal, that they have never shown, that they perhaps never intended to show. That was the stuff I gravitated to, and it was exciting!

EM: What I find intriguing about your choices in this show are not only the personnel, but also the personal nature of what’s exhibited. Looking at Austin Thomas’s little sketchbook on a shelf reminded me of a diary, could you tell me more about it?

JT: Yes, it IS a diary! Austin made that beautiful little piece, Small Black Book, specifically for the show. It’s an intimate time capsule chronicling the period between her opening of Pocket Utopia on Flushing Ave in 2007, and her current space on the Lower East Side. All the shows, friends, work, gatherings—there is a lot of love in there. It’s one of my favorites.

EM: I also found James Prez’s work reminiscent of Joseph Cornell (with out the box), his intimate and intricate constructions using common looking materials and objects seem freighted with a monkish isolation. What is his role as a “Hero” in the art world? Did you have a specific intent with his art (or any other artist) to anchor the exhibition’s theme?

JT: Jim is probably one of the lesser-known heroes, at least around these parts. Artists in Brooklyn and Queens know him as the guy they see at all the shows, but most folks I talked to weren’t aware that he makes his own work! However, when you enter his home—it’s like an art factory! You can barely move around in there—it’s just work piled floor to ceiling. So he’s a social guy who goes to all the openings, but a very private artist. He’s a talented private curator, an art champion, and a personal hero of mine. Watch out for this guy.

EM: Lars Kremer’s State Snacks really caught my eye. As an art trucker I’m on the road quite a bit and collect those little state refrigerator magnets. I got a chuckle out of those, what were your thoughts about including them?

JT: Lars is particularly playful in his work— he can be fairly ‘punny’ actually. He recently showed a sculptural piece at Lesley Heller using the letters H-I-D-E, but cutting them off in the middle, so that they disappear into the ceiling. I love the humor that his State Snacks bring to the show, and I have heard quite a few chuckles coming from that area.

EM: Getting back to the idea of an anchor it seems clear to me that Chris Harding steals the show. The way he combines a family narrative and macho construction materials with a delicate perch on the floor, ends up delineating a precarious looking comfort zone.

Did you consider his piece as fundamental to the show; has he made other sculpture in this vein?

JT: I love Chris’s piece. That was a case in which I left it entirely up to him about what he’d show. He’s a very physical guy and I was thrilled that he was building something specifically for HEROES, and that it was centered around this idea of family, gathering—this nurturing yet hard object. He texted me progress shots along the way and I could tell that it was going to be a knockout. He is the coolest, nicest guy—and a doting father, so the piece is just perfect. He said he’s going to use the structure for future cookouts in the courtyard at English Kills—it’s fully functional! I can’t wait.

EM: I also found Rob de Oude’s wall piece to be visually compelling. I’m not usually tuned in to tight geometrics, but the curvilinear optical oscillation derived from his linear hard edge's transcends the notion of straight (the thermostat adds a witty aside).

Was presenting architectural design elements part of your scheme?

JT: The only scheme I had was that I wanted one of Rob’s murals! It almost didn’t happen because Rob is a very busy guy. He’s got 3 shows coming up, he had another opening in New Jersey the same night as ours—and during the day he cares for his twin 4-year-olds! But he showed up the night of our install with a bag full of tape, and he was pretty psyched to play with this idea of showing the tape itself, as the actual mural. Usually, he’ll use the tape to create lines, paint over it, and then peel the tape off. So this was the first time he left the tape layer and simply showed that—It was a great idea, and also a smart way of addressing our time limitations. He finished the tape layer at 1am. I’m so glad he decided to leave it just as it is, because it’s a beautiful showstopper!

EM: Mike Olin’s painting got my attention. I love all the little gestures and textures. I can’t imagine he was reticent about showing this was he?

BTW, Pioneers Of Inspiration mission’s statement rang true (excerpt):

“POI members also include philosophers, musicians, scientists and moonshiners.”

It never ceases to amaze me how much grassroots action there is going on under the (or at least my) radar.

JT: No, Mike and Joy Curtis (they’re married) were both very open to what I was thinking. I spent a good amount of time walking between their studios in their apartment, and Mike helped me carry some of his larger paintings in and out of Joy’s studio so I could eyeball them. I knew I wanted to show their work together, and that I wanted to create an intimate conversation between the pieces. It wasn’t hard because their work naturally relates and speaks to each other. They are both brilliant artists—I love Joy’s Hydrocal pieces and her drawings, and Mike is one of my favorite painters around.

EM: I liked Ellen Letcher’s pink taped collages. Sometimes artists get too precious hanging unframed works on paper. I'd be tempted to steal the pink tape approach.

What has she been up to since Famous Accountants closed?

JT: Ellen has been quite busy in her studio! The space that Famous Accountants inhabited was actually Ellen’s studio, and for the entire time the gallery was running, Ellen worked in a very small room in the back. So the silver lining for all of us now that they gallery’s not there is—Ellen has her big, beautiful studio back! And you can really tell. Her work is stronger than ever—I was very inspired being in her space and sifting through literally hundreds of pieces. Ellen recently had an exquisite solo show at Austin Thomas’s Pocket Utopia on the Lower East Side. So she’s been busy.

EM: Matthew Mahler’s grouping is quite striking (the founder of Small Black Door, along with Jonathan Terranova). The jailhouse technique of using burned carbon deposits from matches seems to conjure up a tribal iconography with a comic book vibe. Did he create these as a group?

JT: I was over the moon to show these brand new pieces of Matt’s—They are amazing, aren’t they?? He just recently began experimenting with these smoking and burning elements, creating lines and forms right in the wood. It’s so smart and the result is mesmerizing, almost mystical. These are some of the first he’s made of this new series, and I’m sure he’ll be making more. I feel really lucky to have shown them.

EM: How did you end up doing Heroes at SBD? Do you have any future plans for putting together a show?

JT: Having the show at Small Black Door was a dream—it couldn’t have worked out better. It’s one of my favorite spaces. I was sitting in a coffee shop when I first had the idea, and sketched out the basic concept on a napkin. Then I immediately called Fred Valentine because I knew his space was empty (it was August). But Fred wanted to keep his space empty so he could get his own work done, and my next call was to Matt. Matt’s response was, ‘Sounds great. How about September?’ And that was that.

As for future plans…….. I try not to make them. But sometimes they make themselves!

We will have mimosas at the gallery this Sunday, Sept 23, 1 - 6pm

EM: Thanks for all your great work on this interview Julie. Sorry I couldn’t get to everyone in the show, all the work is deserving of mention. Hope to see you for mimosas on Sun!