Interview with John Henderson
q)Lets start with the basics; what’s your full name, where do you live, and how old are you?
q) Do you have any formal training?
a)I went to art school, but I don’t know if I would classify that as formal training.
q) Did the place you grew up in influence your image making?
a)Yes, of course.
q) How do you come up with your concepts?
a)For a while, I was making formal, painterly abstractions. They were quite colorful and thinly painted. Very slick. The paintings were built up in multiple layers and referenced modes of representation (portraiture, landscape.) After making a lot of these, I eventually stepped back and saw them for what they were- very aesthetic and very emptied of content, aside from the content of Painting itself. I decided that I wanted to make more than completely formal paintings. Recently, I have begun to look for ways of injecting psychology into the work. I have been using “Death in the Sickoom”, a painting by Edvard Munch, as a vehicle to do this. Munch’s painting is very much about Absence in Presence. There are people gathered in a room to mourne, yet none of them are actually interacting with one another. The way I paint is also very much about Absence in Presence. There are many signs of activity and expression in the gestures but only closer looks there is almost no paint, no texture. The paintings are full of marks but at the same time they feel very emptied out.
q) Describe your creations in a clear, concise and understandable sentence. What do you call them?
a)My work is uses painting to address metaphors of Absence and Presence as well as the viewer’s relationship to Painting- as both image and object.
q)What other mediums would you like to explore in your image making?
a)Digital Video.
q)What is the best time in the day for you to work on a project? Is there one, or is it more about the environment — maybe the right mood?
a)I work whenever I have the time, its more about working when I have the time, not about working at a certain time.
q) What are your artistic influences?…and …generally who or what influences you the most?
a)Whatever is going on around me. I’ve read quite a bit of Haruki Murakami in the last year, that probably influenced me somehow. He’s a great writer. Easy reading, but great.
q) Who are some of your favourite artists/designers/photographers?
a)Michael Krebber, Gaylen Gerber, Tyson Reeder, Sergej Jensen, Brian Fahlstrom, Laura Letinsky, Ann Lislegaard, Robert Gober, The Designers Republic
q) What is your next project?Exhibition?Collaboration?
a)I am curating a show entitled “Handcrafted Optimism” at Tony Wight / Bodybuilder and Sportsman Gallery in Chicago.
q)What are your plans for the future?
a)I am going Northwestern University for graduate school in the fall.
q)Are there some web sites that You would like to recomend? Artists, art communities, xxx,…!?
a) thedesignersrepublic.com
afterall.org
greengrassi.com
messhall.org
q)What sort of music do you listen to?
a)Nothing specific. Electronic music (Autechre, Boards of Canada, Matthew Dear…). However, lately, I’ve really been into semi-bad 80’s pop/rock. Really cheesy production, but great melodies, really easy to listen to. That’s maybe embarrasing or something…but oh well.
q)Do you collect anything?If so what?
a)Not really.
q)What do you do for fun?
a)I like to travel. I just went to Russia and Noway. Russia’s crazy. Norway’s great. If I could move to Norway for a while, I probably would.
q)Any advice you can pass onto aspiring artists/designers?
a)Enjoy yourself. Nothing really matters.
q)Your contacts…
a) www.johnthomashenderson.com
