“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” -Rumi
How often to you truly experience the world around you, letting in the light and the sounds and the feelings they elicit, diving deep into the joy of existence? We are distracted now. There is much to divide our attention, much to occupy our minds, much to keep us from truly experiencing all that the world in its endless vibrancy has to offer. Remembering to look up, to take it in, to slow down and let time wash over you is all part of living a rich and balanced life. Perhaps we will never recapture the world as Rumi saw it, but we can certainly strive toward the goal.
Sam Lipp joined us at the end of June 2022 to discuss, among other things, his recent exhibition at Derosia Gallery in NYC. The work in this show was a culmination of six or seven years of thought followed by over a year of physical labor on the actual exhibition. The work involved a lot of complex thought, which, in turn, demanded complex technique to bring it into the world. All of the work is made on steel – many of them on found pieces of steel – giving them unusual surface effects. To hear more about this and other aspects of Sam Lipp’s art and more, listen to the complete interview.
Gregor Hildebrandt spoke to us in early July 2022 when his show, WAS GEHT UNS DIE SONNE AN (WHAT DOES THE SUN MATTER TO US), was running at Perrotin Gallery NYC. When initially offered this show, the gallery told him he could exhibit on the first floor. In Germany, where he is from, the first floor refers to what those in the U.S. consider the second floor. In fact, the show was slated for the ground floor, a much larger space than he initially anticipated when looking at the map. The change in size turned out to be good luck, allowing him to create a show about cinema using cassette cases to create each work. The title of the show references a quote by German film theorist Siegfried Kracauer. For more on this, listen to the complete interview.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket
Look around you and absorb the absolute wonder of the world.
Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews is here.
Books to Read
What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Sam Lipp discussed Frottage: Frictions of Intimacy Across the Black Diaspora by Keguro Macharia. The title of Gregor Hildebrandt’s show is derived from a quote by Sigfried Kracauer in his 1932 essay The Cinema on Münzstraße.
Deadlines:
Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA) is accepting applications for residency at their Winnipeg location. This residency is open to women, non-binary, trans and 2-Spirit women-identifying visual artists. Residency period lasts from 2-4 weeks and includes free accommodation while offering residents the chance to research, reflect, network and/or produce. For more information, visit the website. Deadine for applications is August 5.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists, most recently Making it in the Art World.