Tom Relth - Interview for Exhibition
Email: tom.relth@gmail.com
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Phones: Cell/GSM 1 360.561.4245
Facebook: Tom Relth at Facebook
Twitter: Tom Relth at twitter
LinkedIn: Tom Relth at Linkedin
Phones: Cell/GSM 1 360.561.4245
Interview with Tom Relth
February 2012 - Heaven & Earth, Passion and Penchant.
With Chama Lazrak, Gallery Director Les Ateliers Libres, Casablanca, Morocco
CL: The title of the exhibition is Heaven & Earth, Passion and Penchant. Tell me what this is about; why this title?
TR: The title encompasses the extremes of the works in the exhibition. The works are very different, ranging from the spiritual to the very physical. The Genesis works attempt to capture that creating-from-nothing event of the creation account. The work is the combination of the field, like air or space that is becoming tangible; the substance in the process of forming. On the other hand, the nudes are quite the opposite: a very earthly, physical form floating in a space of wonder. Of course there is the fleshiness of the female form and the passions of the woman, but the work attempts to depict a kind of pre-societal innocence,unconcerned with carnality.
CL: What is the main thrust of the work in this exhibition?
TR: The main focus is the use of color and space in the the large field without concern for the prearranged form. The new work attempts to be free of contrivance and is as straight to the canvas as possible. Of course, there is the influence of arts education and self-criticism but mainly that is after the fact. I endeavor to approach the work fresh each time and just make a painting.
CL
TR: The title encompasses the extremes of the works in the exhibition. The works are very different, ranging from the spiritual to the very physical. The Genesis works attempt to capture that creating-from-nothing event of the creation account. The work is the combination of the field, like air or space that is becoming tangible; the substance in the process of forming. On the other hand, the nudes are quite the opposite: a very earthly, physical form floating in a space of wonder. Of course there is the fleshiness of the female form and the passions of the woman, but the work attempts to depict a kind of pre-societal innocence,unconcerned with carnality.
CL: How long have you been an artist?
TR: I don’t know, maybe always. I know when I did not consider myself an artist: that was for 30 years while I was involved in commercial work. I suppose graphic design and advertising gave me a lot to draw from, but there was no joy.
I do remember drawing (essentially copying) matchbook art in the den closet when I was young so that no one would bother me. It was fun. My father taught me some when I was about 10, but he always discouraged me from taking art classes until I was in high school. He told me that I should wait and not let some over-zealous, misguided teacher give me wrong training. Now that I have returned to painting, those formative years fit in to my repertoire.
CL: What are the key historical influences on your work? Who are the most influential artists on your current work?
TR: When I was young, it was Dada, Pop Art, Arte Povera, Feminism, Minimalism and the Fluxus Manifesto. It was all quite “cool”.
Currently, I look for “hot” influences within the complex body of Abstract Expressionist painters by reading all those books from my college years. It has been exhausting. Even without finding many artists who really felt as though they were my “artistic ancestor,” I still felt that I better understood what they were doing. I especially like the work of Russian-born Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee, Clifford Still, Willem De Kooning and the more the obscure Swiss born Walter Bodmer. Currently I am enjoying the work of a Japanese painter in New York, Mako Fujimura (who combines abstract expressionism with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga), and have come to re-appreciate the work of abstract painters Helen Frankenthaler, Cy Twombly, and Francis Bacon. The wit and painterly skill of Wayne Thiebaud and the gutsy draughtsmanship of Rico Lebrun have also spoken to me as of late.
CL: Tell me about the nudes. Is it an historically European tradition or are you doing something different?
TR: Of course it has to be based upon the Western European concept of the beauty of the female form and the classics all the way back 2,500 years ago to Mesopotamia. As I have continued I have found that some people (even my American friends) have difficulty in separating “nude from naked.”
My work is not intended in any way to be provocative--dramatic maybe, but the form comes from a long history and I suppose I follow my training. Everyone asks, “Why nudes, and why now?” I can only say that I was inspired--the first ones were painted directly from memory. One might guess that obtaining a model in Morocco is tricky. So I had to call upon my prior education and my visual and physical memory to create these forms.
I believe that in art, the nude has always been depicted in images that are acceptable within the mores of or within certain specific settings of even a traditional culture. The work must be considered within that framework. I think my work is not different in this way.
The female form is beautiful, and we can all see the importance of the woman as the center of family, the importance of her sexuality and of birth. To respect this is key, and I think my work does this.
CL: You did not produce art between 1975 and 2003?
TR: I went into the graphics business in about 1975. Because of the politic and the work in the arts in the early 70’s, I decided that painting was no longer relevant and just abandoned it. By 1970, I was doing constructions and performance art. The work was very esoteric, ephemeral and elitist and certainly would not support someone who liked to eat, so I just stopped altogether and went into commerce.
I also quit teaching because I felt that having only recently graduated from university, what I had to say was limited to the ivory-tower university mentality. I decided to get away from it altogether and go work in the “real world” for what I thought at the time would be 10 years. It turned out to be 28.
CL: Why did you return to painting after so many years?
TR: When I returned to teaching part-time in Los Angeles, I was asked to exhibit. At the time, I was working on a memorial to the fallen in the Iraq war and built some memorial garden concept models. I was planning to do more for the exhibit, but it all seemed too morbid.
That is when I had this dream, which effectively changed everything. After making drawings, I built and completed a very large tableau based upon the dream, titled Abram’s Vision (oil on canvas, 132 x 66" (335 x168 cm). It was 2003. The piece was exhibited in 4 shows, and worked to helped me start painting again.
CL: What is the source of your inspiration for a work? Is it always a dream?
TR: Sometimes it’s from a dream or from a person or an encounter with nature or God. But often the inspiration comes after I just decide to start working. In my studio there is an encounter with the canvas. What I mean by this is that I can now approach the canvas with my tools and materials ready and start making marks without hesitation. Then I try to just build upon that step by step.
It is a lot more risky than the way that I used to work, which was very calculated. I suppose it can be a formula for failure, and that is always the challenge. I can sometimes stand there and just look at the work and say to myself, “Oh no, what a big waste.” More often lately, I am surprised and wonder who made this work--where does that come from? I suppose the work itself drives a kind of inspiration or life of its own. I like that exchange with the thing itself.
CL: How does this work differ from your work in the 70’s
TR: My work now versus my work 40 years ago is almost like the difference between life and death - In the 70’s I would think-think-think the work to death, so that the work when finished was exactly what I had preordained. It left no room for accident and no room for creative outburst. The work was completely in control and so very results-oriented that I now think I squeezed the life right out of the work.
Now, I am responding to the immediate circumstances: my students, the traffic, the land, living by the sea, and the hot and colorful culture here in Morocco. This is not to say that my work now is accidental; it is very deliberate, but deliberate in the sense of the stroke or marking. Within the structure of the painting my mark-making is certainly intentional, but it is also gestural and fluid. I am not so worried about the result during the process.
CL: Does teaching art effect your work or your approach to your work?
TR: Besides giving instruction and critique to younger artists, teaching causes us to rethink our own ideas that we sometimes hold as rules. It also forces us to re-evaluate the structures, meanings and values of our own influences. If a student asks you how to do something like mix a particular color or lay down a particular media, you better have it re-mastered yourself or otherwise one is only teaching a theory. It keeps you real, authentic. It keeps you on your game. In turn, this helps to make one more purposeful in the approach to one’s own work. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn. It is a gift from the Lord.
February 2012 - Heaven & Earth, Passion and Penchant.
With Chama Lazrak, Gallery Director Les Ateliers Libres, Casablanca, Morocco
CL: The title of the exhibition is Heaven & Earth, Passion and Penchant. Tell me what this is about; why this title?
TR: The title encompasses the extremes of the works in the exhibition. The works are very different, ranging from the spiritual to the very physical. The Genesis works attempt to capture that creating-from-nothing event of the creation account. The work is the combination of the field, like air or space that is becoming tangible; the substance in the process of forming. On the other hand, the nudes are quite the opposite: a very earthly, physical form floating in a space of wonder. Of course there is the fleshiness of the female form and the passions of the woman, but the work attempts to depict a kind of pre-societal innocence,unconcerned with carnality.
CL: What is the main thrust of the work in this exhibition?
TR: The main focus is the use of color and space in the the large field without concern for the prearranged form. The new work attempts to be free of contrivance and is as straight to the canvas as possible. Of course, there is the influence of arts education and self-criticism but mainly that is after the fact. I endeavor to approach the work fresh each time and just make a painting.
CL
TR: The title encompasses the extremes of the works in the exhibition. The works are very different, ranging from the spiritual to the very physical. The Genesis works attempt to capture that creating-from-nothing event of the creation account. The work is the combination of the field, like air or space that is becoming tangible; the substance in the process of forming. On the other hand, the nudes are quite the opposite: a very earthly, physical form floating in a space of wonder. Of course there is the fleshiness of the female form and the passions of the woman, but the work attempts to depict a kind of pre-societal innocence,unconcerned with carnality.
CL: How long have you been an artist?
TR: I don’t know, maybe always. I know when I did not consider myself an artist: that was for 30 years while I was involved in commercial work. I suppose graphic design and advertising gave me a lot to draw from, but there was no joy.
I do remember drawing (essentially copying) matchbook art in the den closet when I was young so that no one would bother me. It was fun. My father taught me some when I was about 10, but he always discouraged me from taking art classes until I was in high school. He told me that I should wait and not let some over-zealous, misguided teacher give me wrong training. Now that I have returned to painting, those formative years fit in to my repertoire.
CL: What are the key historical influences on your work? Who are the most influential artists on your current work?
TR: When I was young, it was Dada, Pop Art, Arte Povera, Feminism, Minimalism and the Fluxus Manifesto. It was all quite “cool”.
Currently, I look for “hot” influences within the complex body of Abstract Expressionist painters by reading all those books from my college years. It has been exhausting. Even without finding many artists who really felt as though they were my “artistic ancestor,” I still felt that I better understood what they were doing. I especially like the work of Russian-born Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee, Clifford Still, Willem De Kooning and the more the obscure Swiss born Walter Bodmer. Currently I am enjoying the work of a Japanese painter in New York, Mako Fujimura (who combines abstract expressionism with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga), and have come to re-appreciate the work of abstract painters Helen Frankenthaler, Cy Twombly, and Francis Bacon. The wit and painterly skill of Wayne Thiebaud and the gutsy draughtsmanship of Rico Lebrun have also spoken to me as of late.
CL: Tell me about the nudes. Is it an historically European tradition or are you doing something different?
TR: Of course it has to be based upon the Western European concept of the beauty of the female form and the classics all the way back 2,500 years ago to Mesopotamia. As I have continued I have found that some people (even my American friends) have difficulty in separating “nude from naked.”
My work is not intended in any way to be provocative--dramatic maybe, but the form comes from a long history and I suppose I follow my training. Everyone asks, “Why nudes, and why now?” I can only say that I was inspired--the first ones were painted directly from memory. One might guess that obtaining a model in Morocco is tricky. So I had to call upon my prior education and my visual and physical memory to create these forms.
I believe that in art, the nude has always been depicted in images that are acceptable within the mores of or within certain specific settings of even a traditional culture. The work must be considered within that framework. I think my work is not different in this way.
The female form is beautiful, and we can all see the importance of the woman as the center of family, the importance of her sexuality and of birth. To respect this is key, and I think my work does this.
CL: You did not produce art between 1975 and 2003?
TR: I went into the graphics business in about 1975. Because of the politic and the work in the arts in the early 70’s, I decided that painting was no longer relevant and just abandoned it. By 1970, I was doing constructions and performance art. The work was very esoteric, ephemeral and elitist and certainly would not support someone who liked to eat, so I just stopped altogether and went into commerce.
I also quit teaching because I felt that having only recently graduated from university, what I had to say was limited to the ivory-tower university mentality. I decided to get away from it altogether and go work in the “real world” for what I thought at the time would be 10 years. It turned out to be 28.
CL: Why did you return to painting after so many years?
TR: When I returned to teaching part-time in Los Angeles, I was asked to exhibit. At the time, I was working on a memorial to the fallen in the Iraq war and built some memorial garden concept models. I was planning to do more for the exhibit, but it all seemed too morbid.
That is when I had this dream, which effectively changed everything. After making drawings, I built and completed a very large tableau based upon the dream, titled Abram’s Vision (oil on canvas, 132 x 66" (335 x168 cm). It was 2003. The piece was exhibited in 4 shows, and worked to helped me start painting again.
CL: What is the source of your inspiration for a work? Is it always a dream?
TR: Sometimes it’s from a dream or from a person or an encounter with nature or God. But often the inspiration comes after I just decide to start working. In my studio there is an encounter with the canvas. What I mean by this is that I can now approach the canvas with my tools and materials ready and start making marks without hesitation. Then I try to just build upon that step by step.
It is a lot more risky than the way that I used to work, which was very calculated. I suppose it can be a formula for failure, and that is always the challenge. I can sometimes stand there and just look at the work and say to myself, “Oh no, what a big waste.” More often lately, I am surprised and wonder who made this work--where does that come from? I suppose the work itself drives a kind of inspiration or life of its own. I like that exchange with the thing itself.
CL: How does this work differ from your work in the 70’s
TR: My work now versus my work 40 years ago is almost like the difference between life and death - In the 70’s I would think-think-think the work to death, so that the work when finished was exactly what I had preordained. It left no room for accident and no room for creative outburst. The work was completely in control and so very results-oriented that I now think I squeezed the life right out of the work.
Now, I am responding to the immediate circumstances: my students, the traffic, the land, living by the sea, and the hot and colorful culture here in Morocco. This is not to say that my work now is accidental; it is very deliberate, but deliberate in the sense of the stroke or marking. Within the structure of the painting my mark-making is certainly intentional, but it is also gestural and fluid. I am not so worried about the result during the process.
CL: Does teaching art effect your work or your approach to your work?
TR: Besides giving instruction and critique to younger artists, teaching causes us to rethink our own ideas that we sometimes hold as rules. It also forces us to re-evaluate the structures, meanings and values of our own influences. If a student asks you how to do something like mix a particular color or lay down a particular media, you better have it re-mastered yourself or otherwise one is only teaching a theory. It keeps you real, authentic. It keeps you on your game. In turn, this helps to make one more purposeful in the approach to one’s own work. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn. It is a gift from the Lord.