Art-Rats Interview

Check out this short interview with me for the blog Art Rats:



jennifer bakalar
Posted on 2011/09/03 by emmahazen
new york

materials?

I usually have multiple projects going on in different mediums but more often than not i am doing some form of painting in either oil or acrylic. I use spray enamel and 3-dimensional fabric paint as well as cut and collaged papers. The piñatas are made with traditional paper mache: newspapers and flour paste. they are decorated with colored tissue paper.

influences?

My influences range from music and fashion to philosophy and religion. I really like house music and the culture of electronic music. the fashion world also influences my palette and textures. as a female artist i like to embrace the decorative and visually seductive as a statement about gender roles.

what inspires you to make art?

My family friends and experiences inspire me to make art. My personal life has had its ups and downs and i know those emotions are relatable to others. I like to make art as a way to connect to other people and show without words that i’ve been there, i know how it feels and that good or bad you can make something out of it.

what do you do when you aren’t making art?

When I’m not in my studio I am usually at work. I work as a fit model for a clothing import company in the garment district. i like to run and do yoga. i also cook and do community dinners with recovered food and the group In Our Hearts. and somehow i find time to go out dancing on the weekends!

favorite film?

A scary one: its called Ravenous and is a thriller that came out in the late 90s.











You can see the blog here: http://artrats.wordpress.com/

Recent Work: "Floating Clusters" at Sapphire Lounge, NYC

The installation “Floating Clusters” is an installation/performance piece comprised of a dozen or more multi-colored piñatas which I will create myself and destroy in front of an audience. The concept originated as I searched for a project that I would be able to immerse myself in as I coped with the extreme personal disillusionment caused by a failed marriage.
I was also forced to take time off from large-scale oil painting when I moved into a small room without windows and paper mache proved a much less-toxic alternative to oils.

Also important to me is the idea of creating something out of nothing. Each piñata is crafted from paper mache made from found newspapers and flour glue. As the pieces are made to ultimately be destroyed, I am mindful of using recycled materials to create the works so I am not producing more waste, and instead making something out of what was once considered waste.
By using a cheap and accessible medium I am able to make as many pieces as possible without restrictions posed by cost of materials.

I begin each piñata with the idea that they are abstract, amoeba-like forms. Their structure is organic and so is the overall composition of the installation, always leaving room for more. In making the piñatas I usually listen to music and allow myself to surrender to the physical process of layering paper and glue over balloons, then layering cup forms over that which create uniform protrusions from the balloon form. The final step to creating the piñatas is to cut and layer different colors of tissue paper that I find in the 99 cent stores close to my Brooklyn apartment.
The bright, saturated color combinations vary in unpredictable ways and when the piñatas are grouped together in clusters it is hard to distinguish where one begins and another ends. This visual phenomenon is the effect I aim for and represents a sense of cohesion that I strive for in my paintings.

The piece has been previewed, but still will not be complete until the piñatas are smashed open and destroyed. The ideal space to complete the project would be a large, white room. The forms are still empty as filling them with candy or anything else would make them too heavy to transport, but I wish them to be filled with candy as well as more colored tissue, mini lighters, condoms, glow-sticks, etc.
I hope for the audience and participants of this work to share in my cathartic release of months of work and coming to terms with life, love and ultimately the notion that we are all alone together, and why not make a party of it?

Mixes

Hey there... dont know if anyone still knows about this blog but I thought it was about time I pick it back up. Updates from my srudio will be posted as soon as i find my camera, which is lost somewhere in my apartment.
I guess i can fill yo uall in for now on some of the changes that have happened over the past year in my personal life. I moved back from europe, and now live in Brooklyn, NY. Bratislava was amazing and i was sad to leave but all good things must come to an end and i have found myself a great life here in nyc! I jsut recently found a job as a fit model for a clothing import company based out of manhattan. who'd of thought that this dream job even existed? i literally try on clothes all day and pose for buyers in the showroom. awesome.
this new job pays my bills as well as affords me enough free time to be working on my many projects. i have been teaching myself to spin and mix and have come up with my own DJ style which you can see on soundcloud uner the name of "DJ Bombshell."
more mixes will get posted soon : )
and in terms of painting... well i have occupied with an installation project that is made of mutliple units, rather time consuming. so i have just started some new work on paintings and hope to have both of these projects finished and ready to go for
August 25th
Sapphire Loungs, NYC
7pm-10pm

my first ny opening!
this show will only be up for a few days, but the opening night will be a super fun party. i have some surprises already in the works so i know it will be special... hope to see everyone there!

work from 2009:

latest 2/13/10

This show was a fun warehouse party hosted by Lost in Sound. It was lots of fun, a good way for me to say goodbye to the states before I headed off to Europe. On that note I will try to keep up this blog a little more often with news from Slovakia, etc.

ART PARTY ON THE 30TH

When: August 30th, 7-10 PM
Where: The Talking Stick: 1411 Lincoln blvd, Venice, CA
Price: $5
Community Pool is BACK!

What is Community Pool?
Community Pool is an art party put on every month by the Ahimsa Collective- a performing arts organization devoted to spreading non-violence through art. Musicians, visual artists, dancers, clowns, poets, dj's, performance artists, circus acts, and more come together under one roof to create one awesome, crazy night. Come party.


WHO IS GOING TO BE THERE:
The Voodoo Fix (music)
Emma Harris (Dance)
Younger Statesmen (Improv)
Everybody Nose Clowns
Andrew Heringer (Music)
Magza C. Creature (music)
Carly Nykanen (Stand up)
Darcy Prevost (circus act),
BaulPointPen (music/comedy),
Benefit Friends (DJ)
Vince Mckelvie (Visual installation Game)

Visual Artists showing/Creating LIVE at the event:
Jenn Bakalar (FEATURED), Dane Svenningson, Sasha Harris, Cassandra Cohen, Alyssa York, Carlos Flores, Brianna Johnson, Star Foreman, Michael Rivera, 3, and more!

ALSO!
Live interactive screenprinting, Tarot Card readings, Energy consultations, interactive art making, Trivia Challenges, Massages, Lego's, AND SO MUCH MORE.


ALL FOR FIVE DOLLARS? YOU MUST BE KIDDING. YOU'RE NOT KIDDING? THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

Be there. it is your support that helps us continue this community of new, boundary-pushing, rock-your-shirt-off art.

THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT. GET THERE EARLY.

WWW.AHIMSACOLLECTIVE.COM