Suspect Terrain
by Heide Fasnacht
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What is the essence of the art that you make knowing that it varies in mediums and choices of presentation?
I do not believe there is one nugget, one essential thing that my work can be boiled down to, rather after 50+ years of making art it has become very synthesized and layered. What have been the defining themes of 2019 from an artist’s perspective? While the defining theme overall has been the criminality of the GOP and the Trump presidency, I have to say that I am not engaging this in any direct, conceptual way in my work. I am certainly engaging in activism outside of the studio. |
Photo credit: Lisa Kahane |
I would add that chaos and uncertainty are in the air we breathe now. It lands in the work whether you make an effort to put it there or not. It is certainly in my work. The jumbled and convoluted space is at one and the same time exhilarating and terrifying.
Congrats on being named one of the Anonymous Was A Woman Award Recipients. How does recognition of this sort affect your work, if at all?
I felt encouraged that someone tapped me on the shoulder. I don’t know who nominated me but I guess I have guardian angels out there.
Do you have a set routine you follow every day? What advice would you give emerging artists?
I am consumed with my work at all times whether I have a paint brush in my hand or not. I work most of the day starting early in the morning. Having said that, I try not to be unnecessarily earnest.
I tell young artists, and I remind myself, about Keat’s idea of Negative Capability. That is, the ability to tolerate the ambiguity of incompletion, and to not disperse that tension with compulsive actions or intellectualizing. It’s hard to do.
How do you summarize your journey as an artist?
The most important thing to tell you is that I made enormous changes three years ago at age 66.
Do you feel that you’ve continuously made a conscious decision of “pushing boundaries” even when it did not seem like the easiest way to go?
What boundaries?
What inspired your large-scale public sculpture titled Suspect Terrain?
In Suspect Terrain I was interested in creating the physical experience of the ground fracturing beneath one in a way that was heady but also fun. Kids raced around it, picking up speed, and flew off of it like a springboard with such intensity it’s a miracle there were no broken bones. The combination of risk and danger and fun has always existed and here participants actively engaged that.
One guy was explaining to his boy how the unstable ground and sinking house were like America today.
Can you share with us any details about projects you are currently working on?
I am making a series of paintings which take their cues from amusement parks, rides and playgrounds. They are very painterly and colorful. They are topsy turvy, very alive and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.
What are your definitions of strange, lost, and suspect?
Well, it might be a complete sentence, non? “Strange suspects were lost”. Seriously though, I am interested in the off kilter experience we all have of the world. Particularly today, when we all are set about like spinning tops by the impulsive insanity coming out of D.C. But even without that, life is truly a wild ride.
What is your favorite word you haven’t used enough recently?
Sehnsucht. The longing for something that never existed anyways. The Germans come up with the best words for things we never knew existed before.
It would be awesome to share your thoughts about one or both of our ongoing campaigns included below:
#BeatTheBlues
Being an artist involves a lot of doubt. We are always in a state of incompletion. Best not to get too upset about that but rather use it to your advantage. Oh, and find a good therapist.
#WhatMatters
I just want to be in the studio, that’s about it. And I want to cause the GOP pain in 2020.
Congrats on being named one of the Anonymous Was A Woman Award Recipients. How does recognition of this sort affect your work, if at all?
I felt encouraged that someone tapped me on the shoulder. I don’t know who nominated me but I guess I have guardian angels out there.
Do you have a set routine you follow every day? What advice would you give emerging artists?
I am consumed with my work at all times whether I have a paint brush in my hand or not. I work most of the day starting early in the morning. Having said that, I try not to be unnecessarily earnest.
I tell young artists, and I remind myself, about Keat’s idea of Negative Capability. That is, the ability to tolerate the ambiguity of incompletion, and to not disperse that tension with compulsive actions or intellectualizing. It’s hard to do.
How do you summarize your journey as an artist?
The most important thing to tell you is that I made enormous changes three years ago at age 66.
Do you feel that you’ve continuously made a conscious decision of “pushing boundaries” even when it did not seem like the easiest way to go?
What boundaries?
What inspired your large-scale public sculpture titled Suspect Terrain?
In Suspect Terrain I was interested in creating the physical experience of the ground fracturing beneath one in a way that was heady but also fun. Kids raced around it, picking up speed, and flew off of it like a springboard with such intensity it’s a miracle there were no broken bones. The combination of risk and danger and fun has always existed and here participants actively engaged that.
One guy was explaining to his boy how the unstable ground and sinking house were like America today.
Can you share with us any details about projects you are currently working on?
I am making a series of paintings which take their cues from amusement parks, rides and playgrounds. They are very painterly and colorful. They are topsy turvy, very alive and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.
What are your definitions of strange, lost, and suspect?
Well, it might be a complete sentence, non? “Strange suspects were lost”. Seriously though, I am interested in the off kilter experience we all have of the world. Particularly today, when we all are set about like spinning tops by the impulsive insanity coming out of D.C. But even without that, life is truly a wild ride.
What is your favorite word you haven’t used enough recently?
Sehnsucht. The longing for something that never existed anyways. The Germans come up with the best words for things we never knew existed before.
It would be awesome to share your thoughts about one or both of our ongoing campaigns included below:
#BeatTheBlues
Being an artist involves a lot of doubt. We are always in a state of incompletion. Best not to get too upset about that but rather use it to your advantage. Oh, and find a good therapist.
#WhatMatters
I just want to be in the studio, that’s about it. And I want to cause the GOP pain in 2020.
