#Ithaca Vernacular Abstraction

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #116

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #115

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #113 (DANVILLE PA EDITION)

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #108 (DANVILLE PA EDITION)

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #107 (DANVILLE PA EDITION)

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #106 (DANVILLE PA EDITION)

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #104 (BLOOMSBURG PA EDITION)

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #103

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #101

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20 QUESTIONS FOR: BRETT BARMBY

(image courtesy of the artist. From the Dibs series)

1.Name:

Brett Barmby.

2.Occupation(s):

Bike Messenger.

3.Where are you from and what is your education?

I’m from a small town outside of Calgary called Bragg Creek. I have my BFA from Emily Carr in Vancouver and my MFA from Concordia in Montreal.

4.Where do you live/work (neighbourhood/city/country)?

I live in Villeray, Montreal, and I work out of my studio in Ahunstic.

5.Does your location affect your practice?  

Absolutely. When I moved to Montreal my practice shifted completely since I ran out of source images. In Vancouver, I was mostly interested in the by-laws on graffiti and the half-assed attempts to cover it up, which could result in some accidental Rothko-esque compositions. In Montreal, this is a total non-issue, so I’ve moved my focus to Quebec’s (un)official moving day on July 1st, where people will throw together assemblages of furniture in order to save a parking spot in front of their apartment for the moving truck. Montreal’s downtown core is also filled with skyscrapers built mostly in the 80’s and 90’s with some very gaudy lobbies and monolithic marble reception desks, which inspired my Reception series of 3D prints.  

6.What is your favourite tool in the studio?

My brush holder, which is a scrap piece of 2x4 with some holes drilled in it (patent pending).

7.Where do you look for your source material?

Most of the things I find while at work. I ride my bike around the city 45 hours a week, so I’m constantly on the lookout for the subjects I paint. I’m most interested in things that look like art but are made totally by accident or unconsciously. I’m taking thousands of photos with my phone and treating that kind of like my sketchbook. Friends have even started supporting my obsession and will send me photos of things they find.

8.What is you daily art world read?

Instagram.

9.What is your daily non-art-world read?

Reddit, The Guardian, the trivia section on IMDB of whatever movie I just watched.

10.What role does writing play in your practice?

Writing usually comes after the paintings. It helps me to figure out exactly why I’m interested in the things I’m making, and what the work is supposed to mean or do. The writing will then inform the next set of paintings, which informs more writing, and so on.  

11.What role does research play in your practice?

Literary research usually comes with the writing and helps me make sense of what I’m trying to do. Most of the research I do is just browsing online looking at other painters and trying to understand how they handle their paint.

12.What role does collaboration play in your practice?

Pretty much none, although I’m open to it. Let’s do something together with your Vernacular Abstractions. [Ed. This will happen at some point.]

13.How does success affect your practice?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

14.How does failure affect your practice?

Failure gives me the motivation to work. If things are going wrong, or I’m getting bad feedback, it only makes me want to produce more work. During my BFA, I once made an entire solo show of 7-Eleven paintings because my professor said the first few weren’t very good.

15.What do you identify as the biggest challenge in your artistic process?

Networking, trying to get into shows, selling work, applying for grants, trying to schmooze with curators and gallerists. I’m incredibly shy and don’t go out to a lot of openings or talk to anyone there but my close friends.

16.Who are some historical artists you are thinking about?

Rene Magritte, Frans Hals, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Neil Jenney.

17.Who are some contemporary artists you are thinking about?

Josephine Halvorson, Andrew Grassie, Jesse Edwards, Charlie Sofo.

18.How do you describe what you are making now?

I’m mainly working on a series called Dibs,which are paintings of found sculptures made by ordinary people trying to save a parking spot. During a move, people will want to save a spot in front of their apartment to make things easier, but will often neglect to get traffic cones, so usually resort to using things like chairs, mops, brooms, rope, leftover construction materials, and sports equipment. There are strategies and rules that exist within this unwritten, unconsciously organized system, one that is somehow incredibly clear and efficient while at the same time devoid of language or any specificity beyond the space it occupies. There’s a certain level of complexity and creativity displayed by these people with no aesthetic goal in mind other than to simply occupy a space, and there are certain patterns or standard formats that emerge within this ambiguous system. I photograph these while riding by during my job, and later paint them isolated in an ambiguous space that could represent a galley, or a digital space reminiscent of SketchUp. The resulting paintings look like documentation shots of a certain brand of sculpture I particularly hate.

19.Who is an artist that you think deserves more attention?

Ed Bats.

20.How can we find out more about you (relevant links etc)?

My website, brettbarmby.com, 

My Instagram(s): @brettbarmby, @netscape_and_chill.

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ITHACA VERNACULAR ABSTRACTION #114 (DANVILLE PA EDITION)