While it may
not look like it this weekend, Spring is back. And with it comes the open house
showings at Poor Yorick Studios.
--- Only twice in the year when they open the
doors and allow people to come in and see their wide array of artists, which
happens this Friday and Saturday down in South Salt Lake. Its been a year since
I last interviewed Brad Slaugh, so I decided to check in with him again to see
what he has on tap for this event and catch up on his thoughts of the art
scene.
Brad Slaugh
http://www.pooryorickstudios.com/
Gavin: Hey Brad, how have you been and what have you been up to?
Brad: Hi Gavin. I've been good. Super busy with a line of
commissions, mostly from people who've been waiting way too long for their
paintings, but I guess it takes as long as it takes. Also started a
series of small night paintings from this crazy carnival in
Gavin: Poor Yorick is doing another open house. What has the place been
up to over the past six months?
Brad: Well, we actually are finally legal over here, having jumped
through every hoop
Gavin: I know some people have left since last time. Who departed during
that time?
Brad: You know, it's kinda hard to keep track. People come, people
go, and a few people have moved on since last time like they usually do.
We've got fifty artists over here and people like to move around a lot
these days, it seems. Would be hard to give you a list here as I'm in the
usual pre-crunch period before the show right now, complicated by our spring
break trip last week.
Gavin: Are there any new artists who took their place?
Brad: You bet. We almost never have vacant studios over here, and
every space is filled. We have probably four or five new artists since
the fall show, including photographers David DeAustin and Barrett Doran,
painters Karen Fazekas, Darin Jones, Hal Hogan and environmental artist
Margaret Tarampi. Might have missed someone there. Apologies in
advance.
Gavin: Who are the featured artists you have on-hand this time?
Brad: Tony Smith is back this time as an invited artist with a bunch of
new work that I can't wait to see. We are extremely psyched to have Lenka
Konopasek and Mark England joining us, as well as John Erickson and Steve
Larson. Evan Smith is back with some more of his groovy little bird
paintings that are so popular, as well as Travis Tanner, Patricia Okleberry,
newcomer to the
Gavin: What live acts can we expect to see this time around?
Brad: Okay, so we talked and talked about this, and it turns out that
our front little space was really not working out so well for having a band, as
it created this real bottleneck and made it difficult for the artists in that
front area to actually hear or talk with anyone coming into their spaces, so
this time we're actually not hosting a musical act for the first time, just to
see how it goes. The folks over at Studio 195 and Spectrum Studios right
next door have told me they will have a band, however I don't know who it is at
this point.
Gavin: You also have the website in full swing since we last chatted.
What can people find on there?
Brad: Well, full swing is such a strong phrase. Truth is that I
was hoping we would have some more features on there by now but things are
still developing a bit. For now we have an up to date listing of all the
artists as well as a studio map, some links to press articles about us, and
contact info. Soon there will be artist images and info that can be
accessed by studio on the front page, and links to other cool studio projects
in
Gavin: Its been a year since the last interview we did, so I have to
ask. What are your thoughts on the local art scene since then, both good and
bad?
Brad: Coming back from those big East Coast art scenes, it's a bit of a
readjustment of the head, though I have to say that although there is a
tremendous amount of new work being exhibited in Chi Chi Chelsea and SoHo
galleries, I personally find very little of it very compelling. Of course
I'm coming from a painter's perspective, but I find most of that PoMo stuff
pretty tired at this point. The truth is that there is a really strong
painting scene here which if anything suffers from a bit of an inbreeding problem,
as artists around here sometimes tend to quote each other (or flat out rip each
other off) too much. There's a great big old world out there to rip off
ideas from; why are you imitating the artist who lives down the street? I
think we could be more plugged in to the larger scene, but it's important not
to buy into the idea that what's hot in
Brad: The
Brad: We have a new group at the helm of the Art Center now that seem very
cool and really appear to be reaching out to the local artists, and I'm hopeful
that there will be more of a respiration between outside and local work than
there has been in the past, which is very important. Still, we have our
strengths and we shouldn't feel any sense of inferiority. I would like
there to be even more of a dialogue with other artists but we're all busy folks
I guess and it's hard to fit more stuff in there.
Gavin: Any special events or artists you recommend people check out?
Brad: I think this show of Bill Lee's work at Tanner Frames looks very
interesting. Amy Caron's Waves of Mu seems to be dealing with some
interesting ideas that are pretty out of the box, though I've not personally
seen her perform it. Seems to have a bit of a buzz though.
Gavin: Aside from the obvious, is there anything you'd like to plug or
promote?
Brad: Yes. Thursday night before our show Bishop Allen is playing
at