To understand a little more about "Neptunes Daughter" and the artist himself, Gabe agreed to participate is a VCF Q&A exclusive! Please take some time to read about this thoughtful artist's journey:
Hi, Gabe! Thank you for agreeing to this interview! Thank you more for allowing VCF to use "Neptune's Daughter" as the face of the festival.
Q1.) Please tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and how did you become an artist.
A1.) I’m 35 years old - a child of the 1970’s born and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My mom is a retired school teacher and my dad is a structural engineer. My older brother was a big influence both in terms of the music that he exposed me too as well as skateboarding. Although he didn’t express any aspirations in "doing" art – he was really creative. It was my father and his co-workers who encouraged me to study Architecture at Virginia Tech. In the beginning of college, my art endeavors were relatively private and I worked only in sketchbooks experimenting with watercolor and collage. When I traveled throughout Europe in 1995, I ended up in more art museums rather than at the architectural sites. While working in the architecture profession, I allocated more and more time to painting. It wasn’t until we moved from NewYork City to Fredericksburg that both my wife and I took what we were doing to the next level. Our studio at LibertyTown Arts Workshop and my affiliation with Art First Gallery was the starting point of our new career trajectory.
Q2.) Why did you come to Fredericksburg?
A2.) Scarlett’s family is here and we wanted to raise our children close to family. In a sense, both Scarlett and I wanted to flip our schedules and turn our day jobs into what we really loved doing – and that was painting and ceramics. New York City is great, but we knew our lives would be much better off working in a smaller community.
Q3.) Where did the idea of Ponshop originate?
A3.) In 2004 we took a small business class workshop (Workshops In Business Opportunities WIBO) in Harlem, NY and that helped us formulate a strategy to this next step. PONSHOP as the name goes, came to mind, and it fit – we’re a family business that offers up a variety of eclectic art in different forms.
Q4.) "Neptune's Daughter" is a strong image, and we're proud to use it as our official emblem! How did you come to make this piece?
A4.) Actually, it was made earlier in 2010 for a portraiture themed show at Art First Gallery. I’ve always enjoyed portraits that seemed to stare back at you and I wanted to project a sense of hypnosis when one gazes at it. I love the "Pixies" album Doolittle, and one of their lyrics mentions Neptune’s daughter and that evoked in me an image of a sea goddess - so I just went with it.
Q5.) Explain your technique. (Please include a brief mention of materials involved, thank you.)
A5.) I keep a library of collage materials at my studio and go through it to generate ideas. I usually start by developing a figure in pencil drawings that later become stencils mad from heavy paper. Coincidentally, I’ll be building collages or casually painting with acrylics on several canvases. Once my stencils are drawn and cut, I’ll finalize my background and use spray paint to apply the stencil design. After that, if I’m happy I stop, if not, I’ll attack it until I am.
Q6.) You mentioned that The Pixies' song "Mr. Grieves" inspired "Neptune's Daughter," so we ask: generally, what inspires your artwork?
A6.) I get a lot of my inspiration from music and film. Albums and their artwork that I grew up with (Iron Maiden, Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy) influenced my aesthetic. These days, I’ve been taking a lot of historic icons and reinterpret them.
Q7.) As a skateboard devotee, how does your skateboarding culture play into your art?
A7.) Skateboarders are really perceptive to the built environment – we have a different way of evaluating everything from stairs, curbs, benches, and loading docks. A skateboarder experiences a city street in an entirely different way – turning the mundane into something monumental. The parallel between design and skateboarding, to me, was pretty explicit even back when we were in architecture school. Skateboarding can be very technical and requires a lot of concentration and guts. When you make a mistake, you’ll pay for it with your body. It’s that kind of attitude that sets skaters apart – you soon realize that you’re responsible for your actions, but the gratification is that much bigger when you take risks. Likewise with design, you have to be willing to keep practicing, and build upon the fundamentals that you’ve mastered. Once you do that, the opportunity for creativity and improvisation increases ten fold. Skateboarders are comfortable suspending fear and I think that’s a quality which would benefit any artist.
Q8.) Your methods speak to this culture not only in style, but also in the application of materials. There appears to be an external (possibly illusive) freedom to your approach. Can you speak more to this?
A8.) I am actually a bit obsessive compulsive when it comes to making art. For instance, I’ll spend hours doing hand drawing development sketches and even more time on the computer designing a stencil, but at the same time, be painting casually, or having fun with paper and glue. There’s a dual-sided methodology to my work where I have to "construct" something with precision and at the same time destroy a piece with paper, water, and paint to bring it to the next level.
Q9.) In your work, there's an obvious building and adaptation of materials to a central idea, much like the practice of architecture. In past series, there are even physical references to classical, stately forms of architecture, like columns and pagodas--for what it's worth, a far cry from "Neptune's Daughter". Can you tell us how your education and professional work experience in architecture influences your work, even when the piece doesn't reference classical architecture as we know it?
A9.) In terms of architecture I’m actually a modernist at heart - but over the past years, I’ve been referencing classical models in an effort to relay a sense of otherworldliness with the spaces I’m showing. My experiences studying architecture overseas during college affected me greatly, and it wasn’t until I was working for an architecture firm in New York City (we did a residential project which included remodeling an upper east side townhouse with classical interiors) that I really appreciated the discipline of classical architecture. I learned a lot about proportion and giving a proper sense of scale and publicity to a space and that indirectly affected my approach to painting. The process of architectural design is one of reflection and immersion. By that I mean that one has to surround themselves with all the issues: structure, space, form, environment, in order to develop a strong design. After you immerse yourself in all the issues, you step back and let things "simmer". When you return the project, hopefully you’ll be able to see even a better solution. Likewise painting for me is that activity of intense activity that presents potential. When I return to work, I approach it hopefully with a better understanding of what it could be.
Q10.) One more question about inspiration, and this one is for the Romantics out there: Both you and your wife decided that Ponshop should be a place of education as well as a studio and retail space. Your wife and partner Scarlett appears frequently in your work. How does living, working, learning, and growing with your wife everyday make its mark on your work?
A10.) In a sense, we’re inherently connected to each other’s work now more than ever. Honestly, I attribute Scarlett as the one who truly propelled me into painting. It wasn’t until I met her that I was so motivated to commit to art. In fact, in the summer of 1995, I started a collage book which chronicles a lot of what we experienced during our first years together as a couple. Being both architecture students, we had a mutual respect for one another’s work ethic. Scarlett’s love for ceramics was evident even during her third year of college. We’ve been approaching landmarks in our lives (Weddings, Holidays) as extensions to our artistic lives – from designing our own invitations to creating Halloween costumes for the family. Our 4-1/2 year old son Diego is testament to this. He’s making things on a daily basis, and in a lot of ways reminds us of the freedom and joy of art.
Q11.) Once inspired, how do you start a piece?
A11.) I actually do a bit of research, either online or in the library. For instance, when I did the Neptune’s Daughter piece, I poured over stacks of national geographic magazines looking for images of fish swarming in circles or simply for different color values of blue to work from.
Q12.) Do you know where your work is going once you begin, and do you leave room for impulse?
A12.) In some respects, I have an element, usually a figure or face that has be resolved formally, but other than that I think the best paintings are ones that seem somewhat effortless in their construction. The stenciled paintings obviously are heavily planned, but once I start painting, I can resume experimenting with color and composition.
Q13.) As mentioned, some work features identifiable, classical structures as a focus, but the pictorial framework and atmosphere is sometimes seemingly cataclysmic and apocalyptical. Do you consider your work a conversation or commentary on something, or do the images you make stand alone and encourage personal interpretation?
A13.) I do think about and enjoy futuristic visions of a landscape that is in a "beautiful" ruin. For instance, I think visiting archaeological sites is fascinating in the sense that we’re still trying to piece together the story of what happened to bring to ruin such a great civilization. Perhaps thousands of years (or even ten years) from now, there will be people picking through our wrecked world wondering what happened.
Q14.) Back to the Via Colori® festival: Is pastel a new medium to you? Do you have a plan for re-creating "Neptune's Daughter" onto pavement, or must we wait to see? (Spray paint is forbidden, my friend.)
A14.) I started using oil pastels in collage while I was in college, but honestly, I haven’t touched them in years. I’ve been meaning to break then out soon, and I guess the Via Colori project is going to motivate me to do just that. I have been strategizing to recreate the image and it may take doing a full-size stencil template of some sort. In a way, I look at it as a great opportunity to take an idea which was initially executed using a street art technique (stencils and spray paint) and then bring it back full circle where it actually will be a piece of art scaled to the pedestrian public.
[END.]
http://www.ponshopstudio.com/about.htm/
http://ponshopstudio.blogspot.com/
Official PONSHOP Facebook Page
http://www.redbubble.com/people/ponshop (Work available for purchase)
"Neptune's Daughter" exhibited at Art First Gallery in February 2010 in the group show, Portraits. This mixed media work is one of a series (in fact, the one used for Via Colori is "Neptunes’s Daughter #2") and is available for purchase at PONSHOP for $375.
PONSHOP Studio:
712 Caroline St. Fredericksburg, VA 22401
(540)656-2215
shop@ponshopstudio.com
THANKS, GABE!
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