An Interview with Featured Artist Bask

By Andi Tomassi and Bask

Andi Tomassi (TROn): Here’s the thing, Bask; Every time I go to a show and see your work, I am immediately drawn in. The part of your aesthetic that I respond to the most is the fact that the developed piece in its finished state is “imperfect” – an aesthetic I know you work toward. I also find that, no matter how busy your pieces get, you demonstrate so much control of composition and balance while maintaining the spontaneous energy of the piece. So, process. Would you say that much of the piece is planned out ahead of time in your mind, or is it something that develops intuitively as you move forward throughout the piece? In that same vein, have any of the finished pieces ever surprised you, or veered away from your original intention?

Bask: Most of my work has a heavily distressed look. Part of that is due to the salvaged material that I paint on, and my goal is for whatever I paint on it for it to look like it belongs there. As though the image suffered the same bumps and bruises as the panel when I found it. The other part is simply because I like distressed images. It makes you focus and look at an image a little longer, as though you were filling in the missing lines. And thus making you connect with it a little deeper.

I almost never sketch out my work before I start a painting. But I do have to have a general vision of the piece and how the layout will be in my head before I can start. Sometimes I stare at a blank piece for days until the layout hits me. But after I start, it usually shifts and I paint on impulse and add or subtract whatever elements are there too much or not enough. I imagine it’s much like being a chef. And as you cook, you add ingredients until you get something you feel is worth tasting. In my case, worth looking at.

AT: A major theme throughout your work is Thoughtcrime, which you define on your website as “an idea or belief that defies the norms of the status quo.” Obviously this is an Orwellian reference, which I love, and it begs two questions: How old were you when you first read 1984, and what would you say is your most truly nonconformist belief?

Bask: I have connected quite a bit with George Orwell’s 1984. But on a level which is overwhelmed with coincidence and overlap. I immigrated to the United States in 1984 from the oppressive communist system that ruled over my home land of, then Czechoslovakia, now Czech Rep. My parents escaped with me and my sister at their side. The day we escaped my dad’s sister, my aunt, was murdered and we lived in an Austrian refugee camp for six months before getting a sponsor to emigrate. It was a very traumatic and difficult time. But thanks to the strength of my parents, we made it, and my sister and I got a chance at freedom. I didn’t read the book until my late teens. I was familiar with Animal Farm, which I love, too, but 1984 changed my life. Both the book and the actual year.

As for Thoughtcrimes and nonconformist beliefs, it’s not a single one that I can identify. It’s more of a general way to walk through life. Question authority, follow your bliss, and pursue the dreams and happiness you feel entitled to. Once you open up to that, then all of your thoughts become Thoughtcrimes. Once you stop living for other people’s expectations, be that consumer-based or peer-pressure, and start living and thinking your own way, there’s a path where you get to discover who you are and what your purpose is.

AT: Which authors/philosophies would you say are under your skin these days?

Bask: Orwell of course, Joseph Campbell, Allan Watts, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Charles Bukowski, and even The Art Of War by Sun Tzu.

AT: You’ve said that your family immigrated to the States in 1984. Do you remember much of that experience? I know many artists/authors attempt to address their parents’ experience, but I was wondering if you could speak a little more to the impact it made on you as a person and maybe relay to our readers any ideas that you had at a young age of “America” that might have been influenced by either propaganda or mass media.

Bask: I remember the experience vividly. I’m certain that the experience is deeply imbedded in me and affects all aspects of my life. It’s why I’m skeptical of every “new great thing” that comes to the consumer market. It all reminds me of the same brainwashing propaganda I got growing up in Europe. And it’s not just the persistent influence. My family experienced first-hand what can happen if you don’t submit and go with the flow. Similar pressures are pushed by media and brands every day. It’s why the term, “Keeping up with the Joneses” exists. Pressure by society fueled by marketing to live a certain way, even if it has no actual benefit to our everyday life.

AT: I’ve heard some say that ad men are the gods of our time. How do you feel about that, and where do you fit into this equation, as a creative artist using/reusing popular iconography?

Bask: I have a love-hate relationship with ad men. I hate how their work controls and influences society, but I love how smart and effective some of it is. Just like the effectiveness of propaganda art, but better. It’s work that tugs at your heart and can actually feel inspiring if done right. Since advertising is everywhere and most of it is just garbage and eye pollution, I really appreciate when I see or hear it done right. But again, I hate how effective it can be and almost resent when I feel moved by something that is just trying to sell me a pair of shoes, for example.

AT: So, most people who are interested in street art have probably come across Banksy’s decision to use stencils while hiding from the police under a car (or so the story goes.) What do you think are the current stereotypes that surround graffiti/street artists? On a personal note, is most of your work commissioned, or do you have any stories of your own that you’d like to share with us?

Bask: My favorite stereotype about graffiti and street art is that companies think they can buy street-cred when adopting it into their advertising. And at face value, they are, and the artists they use get paid very well most of the time, but real graffiti and real street art is gnarly and rugged around the edges and is completely unusable to sell anything apart from the image or tag or bomb the artist uses it for or what it is defacing. Like doing a huge tag with a fire extinguisher full of paint. Whenever street art or graffiti start to get too commercial, it has a wonderful self-balancing agent naturally imbedded into it that will always bring it back to the gully side where it came from. It’s called youth and rebellion.
As for me, I spend most of my days in studios or permission murals that let me experiment with images and techniques beyond the adrenalin thrill of doing illegal street art. I like to play with my medium and see how far I can take certain images. I still get up once in a while but it’s more for the nostalgia of what I used to do more often. It’s something that will always be in part of me. If I have a marker in my pocket there is a 100% probability that I will draw or tag on something I’m not supposed to.

AT: So many artists have had problems with appropriation. Shep Fairey’s efforts with the Obama campaign poster/ subsequent trouble with AP is old news now, Roy Lichtenstein’s appropriation of Picasso . . . who was appropriating from—everyone?—even older news. Still, appropriation itself is as current as ever. What in your opinion makes an image free game (or are there any that are off-limits)? Do you ever worry about the use of popular iconography in your own work?

Bask: To me it’s all free game. Pop culture is all around us, and it’s part of our lives. I constantly incorporate brands and images that are not my own into my art. But it’s up to the artist to do more with them than just plagiarize. I feel like a DJ mixing a set when in the studio. I bring in samples but layer them between my own images and out comes something unique and original. Yes, there may be an image of Mickey Mouse, but I guarantee it’s like nothing you’ve seen before and in a manner that Disney would never portray him.

But this question is as old as pop art. Warhol was constantly getting sued by brands that didn’t want him using their trademarked images. But legally, if you alter an image at least 20% then legally it no longer is the official trademarked brand. That may be different for the use of licensed photographs, but I know I can use the Pepsi logo all day long if I tweak it enough.

AT: Roy Lichtenstein felt he finally had to paint a Picasso to rid himself of Picasso’s influence. Are there any artists/themes that you feel you have not been able to exorcise or that you see returning to your work again and again?

Bask: Not really. I have so many creative influences but value the impact they have on my art. I am self-taught, so I was never over-exposed to anything I didn’t want to be. So all of my influences have a welcome place in my brain.

AT: And in a 2008 article with Redefine magazine you said, “Street art is becoming so mainstream that the figurative pond is becoming muddied up. But like everything else, time will sift out the true from the rest.”

Have your feelings changed at all in the past four years? And what, in your opinion, is the definitive mark of the “true” street artist? Who would you enlist among them?

Bask: I still stand by that. And I feel like since that article was written, I have only been proven right. In the past few years, there has been a huge influx of incredible artists doing things in the street. Mind-blowing things. Artists like Barry Mcgee, Revok, Os Gemeos, Roa, How and Nosm, Rime, Retna, and countless others are doing incredible work. Both in and off the streets.

AT: In terms of visual art, do you ever feel that there are certain works that have been exhausted or so attached to their original brand/another street artist, that you’ve decided not to use them? (As I’m writing this, I’m thinking of Che Gueverra, the Mona Lisa . . . Not to say they are used-up, but the question remains.)

Bask: Yes, of course, and the examples you’ve given are perfect. Some iconic images have just been beaten to death and there is nothing original in their appropriation anymore. Just like with any art, you have to constantly search for the path not taken. I am immediately turned off from using an image or slogan in my work if I even catch a glimpse of someone else using it. I just don’t go there if I see someone else has already set up camp, so to speak.

AT: Conversely, the fact that these images are used and reused shows us the power of the hook. (And the power of the Pop Art movement.) What would you say is your most powerful visual hook. Which one do you find your audience the most attached to, and why do you think this is the case?

Bask: In the Thoughtcrime series, I use and reuse a series of images that play into what that word means to me. The guy smiling while holding the explosive and oversized grenade. Or the ant carrying a large light bulb on its back. These images are metaphors for what a Thoughtcrime symbolizes to me. I reuse these images time and again for exactly their repetitive nature. But that is hopefully offset with the diversity of my overall portfolio.

AT: What do you have in the works now?

Bask: I’m getting ready for the release of a certain Marvel film which I did a lot of work for last year. I can’t really say much more about it until May when it comes out. But otherwise a tour of group shows from New Jersey to Denver. I will also be part of the Sunset Film Festival in St. Petersburg this April.

Also, I just finished “Love Hope Strength” for the Black Book Gallery in Denver Co. and a Cancer benefit they are hosting this April. All of the proceeds from the sale my work will go to the “Love Hope Strength Foundation” in memory of my friend Thomas Horne’s twin brother who died of leukemia last year.

AT: What if our viewers want more of Bask? Where can they find your work?

Bask: The usual places of social media. Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and my website, knownasBask.com.

“I just finished it for a Black Book Gallery http://www.theblackbookgallery.com/ in Denver Co. and a Cancer benefit they are hosting this April. All of the proceeds from the sale my work will go to the "Love Hope Strength Foundation" http://lovehopestrength.org/ in memory of my friend Thomas Horne's twin brother who died of leukemia last year.”

 Love Hope Strength

NotoriousNotorious

Das Monster

 Das Monster

99

99

Road to Hell

Road To Hell

Quality Sized Meat MattersQuality Sized Meat Matters

There's a Thin Line Between a Social Drinker and a Drunk

There’s a Thin Line Between a Social Drinker and a Drunk

Thought Crime Installation

Thought Crime Installation

Kind of a Big Deal

Kind of a Big Deal

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now

ThoughtCrime Installation

ThoughtCrime Installation

We the People, Yes We Can

 We the People, Yes We Can

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BaskBask is the moniker of one Ales Bask Hostomsky, who along with his parents emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Florida and began to soak up America’s popular iconic imagery along with the sun. He quickly began to notice similarities between the communistic iconic propaganda from his youth and the consumer advertising of his teens. Bask soon discovered that they were simply two sides of the same coin, each vying for our short-lived attention spans, all the while selling us (or telling us?) anything and everything from Marxism to McDonalds. Seeking conspiracies – and finding them embedded in the popular iconography of the mass media – Bask began painting bold, media-critical broadsides to assuage his fear of being manipulated. A fear cultivated in a repressive regime had now returned, but to the most unlikely and safest of places – The American living room.

Andi Tomassi graduated from the University of South Florida with a dual-major BA in Visual & Performing Arts and Art Education. She is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Tampa.

An Interview with Featured Artist Deon Blackwell

By Andi Tomassi and Deon Blackwell

Salt: A Study of Decay and Stasis

TROn: Would you please talk a little bit about the conception of the chandelier pieces, and also about the process that you go through to make them?

Deon Blackwell: The chandeliers came during my first years of grad school.  At that time, I lost several members of my family to cancer and suicide within a few months of each other.  I was fascinated by the process of cancer and chemotherapy and what they do to the body.  My aunt had lung cancer and I watched her hair fall out and skin change colors, but her hair came back softer and more fine than before.
Their bodies were eroding and changing and people that I had known all of my life were changed dramatically in front of my eyes.  I experimented with many mediums to try to find something that could be used to replicate that experience in my art work.  I came across salt as a material.  Salt was very destructive to my tools, to [my work] environment, and especially to me.  It was difficult to work with and painful most of the time.  I was also working with ceramics in my practices and found a common ground.  Each chandelier is based on body parts or the process of a person breaking down.  But in that destructive process is a sort of rebirth.  Salt destroys the ceramic structure but also grows beautiful crystals in the process.
TROn: I know that there was a lot of experimenting in terms of creating each piece (salt concentration, application of color). What would you say made the biggest impact on you, or surprised you the most?
Deon: Each piece is completely different in how it responds to the process.  I believe that it mimics the way people deal with adversity as well:  I can watch the pieces dying over several weeks or months but each regrow in a unique way.  It helped me to understand what was happening to the members of my family.
TROn: One of the things I love about these chandeliers is that they are the perfect visual metaphor for your concept. The chandeliers are both beautiful and delicate, and they become even more so as the salt begins to deteriorate the clay body.  What do you do with one of these pieces as it begins to deteriorate? And do you record the changes throughout as time passes?
Deon: At first I felt too awkward to document anything within the process.  Imagine taking photos of your aunt losing weight on chemotherapy.  But after time, I realized that it is very beneficial to be able to document the process and see what you are too emotionally attached to at the time of the process.  If that makes sense.  I go back to images and remember the time that I spent with each piece and that gives me more of an appreciation.
TROn: What is the average life span of your chandeliers and what factors contribute to either their health or more rapid deterioration?
Deon: Average life span is about a year.  I can’t control exactly what will happen, but I really don’t want to either.  I can speed up the process by salting more often, being more aggressive with it, or I can slow it down to grow larger crystals, but either way, once the process starts there will be an end.
TROn: When I heard you speak about these, you mentioned trying to save one by flushing it with water. Can you describe that experience to our readers and tell us a little about the outcome of that process and your reaction to it?
Deon: My original chandelier always felt more precious to me than some of the others in the beginning, so I decided to try to save it.  I would wash the ceramic clean every day for about six months, but to no avail.  The salt was so saturated in the clay that every day the salt would recrystallize on the surface for me to try to remove again.  I think that is the point of the entire body of work.  We try so hard to stop these things when they are happening that we don’t just slow down and try to appreciate the time we have with them.  In the end, it is out of your hands.
TROn: I appreciate the catharsis that is inherent in any creation process. Your project may be even more cathartic than most, as it is simultaneously a building up and a breaking down of the medium. Can you tell our readers about your experience and personal journey that this process and these chandeliers have ultimately taken you on?
Deon: It has really taken about seven years to get to the point that I am at now, where I can look back with a critical eye as an artist.  The works feel different now, and they touch on different topics that I hadn’t even worried about while I was creating some of them. Time heals most wounds, but not all.  I constantly find myself seeking the purity of moments that I shared with the Chandeliers that I made around the time of the deaths. I seem to be trying to relive some of those moments, but in a very self-serving way. The work was charged, powerful, and from an exact point.  I sometimes catch myself trying to control too much.  But I think that is the evolution of dealing with death.  I mean, after all, the process will eventually catch everyone.
White Chandelier
White Chandelier
Red Chandelier
Red Chandelier
Esophagus Chandelier

Esophagus Chandelier

Medusa Chandelier
Medusa Chandelier

Installation View
Installation View

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Deon Blackwell is an artist and teacher currently working and living in Tampa Florida. Blackwell received his undergrad degree in Painting from Delta State University in Mississippi. He then moved to Florida and studied mixed media sculpture and ceramics at the University of South Florida where he received his MFA in studio art. He has taught Art Foundations at USF since 2007. His private studio is in Lutz, FL and his work can be seen at deonblackwell.com.

Andi Tomassi graduated from the University of South Florida with a dual-major BA in Visual & Performing Arts and Art Education. She is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Tampa.

An Interview with Featured Artist Jon Rodriguez

By Andi Tomassi and Jon Rodriguez

Tampa Review Online: How long have you been a working artist? What caused you to move in this direction?
Jon Rodriguez: I’ve been a working artist for about seven years now. Classic Disney animation, comic books, and films were a huge inspiration for me growing up.
TROn: I know you are an Art Director at Dunn&Co. What’s that like? And do you feel it has influenced your fine art process in any way?
JR: Working for Dunn&Co. is a great experience. I enjoy the process of conceptualizing and executing ad campaigns in a collaborative environment, and being surrounded by talented people. I feel that working in the advertising industry helps me as a creative on multiple levels. Advertising has a story element that strives to connect people on a personal level through various forms of mediums. Connecting to one another is a powerful human desire. I’m grateful that I create connections for a living.
TROn: How would you describe your studio process? What are your rituals?
JR: I usually start with a basic idea and try to break down the meaning to its core. After deconstructing my concept, I try to think of new ways to experience it—a different point of view that’s refreshing and unique. Concept dictates design. When I’m happy with the main idea, I use its concept as a roadmap to the final design. This process is always different, but I try to work within these parameters.
TROn: Jon, in regards to fine art, you have been working in the same style for quite a while now, using characters that are all seemingly tragic. Can you give us a little insight into how these characters evolved and also how they connect to you personally?
JR: Since these characters reflect different attributes of myself, they are evolving with me constantly. Each character has their own distinct traits that reflect different aspects that mirror where I’m currently at in life. Some are hopeful and some are tragic. These characters act as a way to share a deep truth about myself, in hopes of helping people see a truth in them.
TROn: You’ve told me that Edward Gorey had a big influence on you. What would you say are your other influences?
JR: Other influences include shamanism, eastern philosophy, symbolism, and ice cream.
TROn: Which is your personal favorite piece?
JR: My favorite piece is “The Sleepy Slave.” It’s one of the largest pieces I’ve made and the most time-consuming. I worked on it continuously for over a month and put a lot of sweat into it.
TROn: What if our viewers want more of Jon Rodriguez? Where can they find your work?
JR: They can see my work at jon-rodriguez.com.

AscensionAscension

Necromancer

Necromancer

Greedy Ghouls

Greedy Ghouls

Sleepy Slave

Sleepy Slave

The Keepers

The Keepers

Dreary Drone

Dreary Drone

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Jon RodriguezJon Rodriguez is an art director, graphic designer, and illustrator living and working in the Tampa Bay area. He’s been an artist for most of his life and has exhibited in galleries across the U.S. He has also worked on campaigns for local businesses, as well as large brands, and everything in between. Some of his experience includes Toyota, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tampa Bay Lightning, Shoe Carnival, Buffalo Wild Wings, Costa Rica Tourism, and Baskin Robbins. He strives to be highly conceptual and produce eye-catching visuals that will capture the attention of all audiences.

Andi Tomassi graduated from the University of South Florida with a dual-major BA in Visual & Performing Arts and Art Education. She is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Tampa.

An Interview with Featured Artist Calan Ree

By Andi Tomassi and Calan Ree

Tampa Review Online: How long have you been a working artist? What caused you to move in this direction?
Calan Ree: I feel like I have always been an artist and every path and direction I’ve ever taken has ended me up here…making art…where I’m supposed to be.  If you want to know how long I’ve been selling art, well I think the first ‘show’ was in my front yard with play-doh pinch pots and figurines when I was around 7.  It wasn’t a very successful show.  I believe I had one sympathy sale from a neighbor and a few ‘tips’ like, “you should try selling lemonade.”
TROn: How would you describe your studio process? What are your rituals?
CR: Sometimes I sketch first, just enough to have a vague idea of the direction I want to go in.  Sometimes I gather bits of nature and rusty debris I’ve gathered on walks.  I usually have a vague idea of what I want to create, but with clay you have to also listen and look and see where it leads you.  Often it’s not where I might have expected to go, but I’m pleasantly surprised at where it takes me.
I work in my home studio, aka my kitchen.  The kitchen table holds works in progress and there are some shelves for clay work that is drying or awaiting finishing. The atmosphere is hardly ever silent.  The ipod is updated weekly with various podcasts – mostly story telling, some science and weird news  (This American Life, Snap Judgment, Strangers,  Mysterious Universe, Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Home Town Tales, etc.)  If I’m not listening to podcasts I’m playing music  (Amanda Palmer, Dresden Dolls, Dead Can Dance, She Wants Revenge, New Order, Cure, Interpol, Portishead, etc.)  I work when the Muse strikes which can be any time of day.
TROn: Can you boil down your artist philosophy into a few sentences for our readers?
CR: Sure. How about, ‘Just do it.”  Original, right?  Seriously, just make art, play music, write, whatever.  Stop worrying about what anyone thinks or whether it will sell or whether it’s good enough and just do it.  The times in my life when I was only thinking about or stressing about making art and not actually finding the time to allow myself to create coincide with some of the worst times in my life.  I think this is correlation and not coincidence.
TROn: What came first, the chicken or the egg (materials vrs. concept)?
CR: Concept because I can come up with an initial idea and then choose to execute it in clay or ink or pixels or paint…but with clay it often feels like the material is leading me to the concept….but usually there is an initial idea sparking the desire to start playing with the clay so I’m back to concept…ugh.  Yeah, I’ll just go with concept on that one.
TROn: Which is your personal favorite piece?
CR: That changes all the time.  Typically, it’s whatever I’m currently working on.  I seriously have had little relationships with each piece I’ve ever sold and at times it’s been hard to see them go.  I really loved Muse and Mister Moon was another fave but both went to super cool collectors so it felt good to release them.  Oh gosh, now I’m remembering some others…there was this finger puppet I called Mister Ouch, he had these vintage rusty removable tacks…and these surprised eyes and O shaped mouth…. oh, boy there were a few others as well….I’m going to stop thinking about them before I want them all back.
TROn: What do you have in the works now?
CR: I’m working on slightly larger than life wall hanging with a vintage circus theme.   This summer I’ll be making pieces to show in this year’s annual For the Love of Clay – A Juried Exhibition which will take place at the Studio@620 [in St. Petersburg, FL] in November.  I’m also working on a very exciting illustration project – more details later this summer.
TROn: What if our viewers want more of Calan Ree? Where can they find your work?
CR: CalanRee.com has the blog and links to online shops and galleries.  I’m also easy to friend and keep up with on Facebook.
Elusia and DreamSeed
Elusia and DreamSeed
Forest Folk
Forest Folk
Love Endures
Love Endures
Mr Moon
Mr Moon
Muse
Muse
Past Bedtime
Past Bedtime

The Tourist
The Tourist

 

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Calan ReeOriginally from New York, Calan Ree has called St. Petersburg, FL home for over a decade. Her work can be found in local galleries and boutiques and ranges from her Burtonesque GingerDead greeting cards to her figurative ceramic and mixed media sculptures and hand-built illustrated pottery. Ree explains that in all of her work, whether it’s a bit macabre or sad or silly, there is a conscious effort made to find a way into the viewer’s heartstrings and give a gentle tug.

Andi Tomassi graduated from the University of South Florida with a dual-major BA in Visual & Performing Arts and Art Education. She is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Tampa.