Quick Draw Artist Interview #11: Meghann Snow
Quick Draw Artist Interviews is a new series of interviews conducted by Otino Corsano using Facebook's IM Chat feature. Spontaneous conversations with international artists are recorded and documented specifically for publication on this blog.
Quick: wish. Pack up; Lay off; I’ll stay the same. And wait! wrong lyrics. This one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruQ0O44CB38 - boys candles blown out. Then - better than imagination. Who could’ve thought to ask for… your destructive fun?; desire to break me, my newly purchased furnishings and now this is getting all too ridiculous. just real and raw. Draw: art about art.
Meghann Snow was born and raised from Cleveland, Ohio and is currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Snow received her BFA from The University of Akron, Myers School of Art in 2006 and her MFA from Parsons The New School for Design in 2008. Her work stems from a multidiscipline back performance background incorporating: figuring skating, classical ballet and abstract expressionist painting. Her work also is largely conceptual based open with collaborative participation. Meghann also is the Project Coordinator at The New York Studio Residency Program and was a Visiting Artist at Hillsborough Community, Dance Department.
Today
Clear Chat History
6:09pm
Otino
I’m watching you:
“DUSTY DANCE”
Is our interview still on for 8pm?
I'm almost finished the research.
6:10pm
Meghann
Yep.
6:10pm
Otino
k
talk l8r
6:10pm
Meghann
I’m at home, about to muster up some dinner.
###
8:02pm
Otino
nervous?
8:02pm
Meghann
nah, not nervous, ready as ever.
8:05pm
Otino
How was supper?
8:06pm
Meghann
lazy, re-heated leftovers and having my last beer that I have.
and yours?
8:07pm
Otino
tasty.
I'm wondering if we can start with your name?
8:07pm
Meghann
Sounds good.
8:07pm
Otino
Meghann is one of those names with a million renditions.
It drives moniker-challenged people like me crazy.
Seems like your version is specifically built to torture me.
I imagine the extra “n” is for "ann"?
8:09pm
Meghann
Really? How do you get torture?
My name: my Mom is an artist and she wanted my name to be different.
My brothers each have double letters in their names so it only made sense I would have a double letter too: NN.
8:10pm
Otino
Can I call you "Double N"?
8:10pm
Meghann
Most people just call me SNOW.
8:10pm
Otino
As in Michael?
It is interesting you have heard of the Canadian Art icon yet are not familiar with the contemporary Swedish band called “Miike Snow”?
8:12pm
Meghann
I guess I should explore music more.
8:12pm
Otino
How about we explore your art.
This year (2010) you've been in 8 solo shows and 5 group shows so far and the number is growing.
It appears you are a tad busy these days.
8:14pm
Meghann
Yep, so far, it has been a busy year. Right now I am just focusing on my solo show in Cleveland, (my hometown) at Legation Gallery in January 2011.
8:15pm
Otino
You have returned to your hometown before to critical acclaim.
It must be nice to be seen as the hero artist who is making it big…
sorta like Drew Carey.
8:19pm
Meghann
I returned to Cleveland at the tail end of summer for INGENUITY.
INGENUITY is considered the largest arts and technology festival in Cleveland. I brought home two older works: one "born" and the other "premiered." These works have gone through many restagings - previously performed a number of times in New York.
The one nice thing about my work is that it's very impromptu.
The work allows for organic change to happen each time it's performed.
Cleveland is a difficult city to receive critical acceptance for new work.
I am very lucky to have Legation Gallery's support.
You would think Cleveland would be excited about my return...
getting press for INGENUITY was like pulling teeth.
You would think the fact I try to test boundaries and exhibit in NYC would be enough - but I'm not sure it is.
Then what is?
Yah, know?
I'm not sure I come across as a "hero" in Cleveland.
I would say Dana Schultz owns the Cleveland title.
8:24pm
Otino
You are not exactly a fan of Dana now are you?
8:25pm
Meghann
(Sigh) It's not that - I'm not a big fan! You probably read the ARTINFO article where they asked me about who I thought was an over rated artist... Dana's name came up in my mind and I was honest. We all have honest opinions of other artists’ work.
8:26pm
Otino
Your most recognizable works are your performances involving the creation of homemade ballet slippers - made of bubble wrap and packing tape.
Then you “dance” on canvas spreading raw pigment or paint around with your feet in ballet or figure skating movements.
Fair description?
8:26pm
Meghann
Yes, you are right about my work.
8:27pm
Otino
So I watched every single one of your videos available online...
I think I have a few opinions.
8:28pm
Meghann
hahaha, and....
share them.
I haven't had them critiqued for a very long time. Maybe you can give me some fresh feedback. Something I haven't heard. Please do share a few.
8:29pm
Otino
I really think the vids with the camera strapped to your body while you are “dancing”/“painting” are really powerful.
Whereas, I see the ones recorded from an audience view as more documentations of the performance. They offer less of a dynamic perspective.
8:30pm
Meghann
Noted.... Thank you. I have a good time creating those videos, with the camera attached to me.
8:30pm
Otino
I think you could do well with presenting these videos as artworks in their own right.
The view is perpendicular to the action just as a painting stands upright on an easel or wall.
8:31pm
Meghann
Good thinking. I'm starting to think of ideas to experiment with.
8:31pm
Otino
The video with the camera strapped to your waist is particularly mesmerizing.
8:32pm
Meghann
Yeah, how so?
8:32pm
Otino
It is as if you are giving birth to your work.
Your rubber legs appear to float
in fish-eye perspective.
It’s serious stuff Meghann.
8:33pm
Meghann
Wow, I never thought of it like that. That is the only video I made using that view.
Well, I would also have to agree with you there - it is important but I haven't had any other feedback on that work.
Thank you.
8:33pm
Otino
I also think your early vids are perfect entries for the "so bad it’s good" category of video art.
I hope you see it as a compliment.
8:34pm
Meghann
hahaha...
I do...
Those videos works got me into many arguments in graduate school.
8:35pm
Otino
I like "Snow Drive" as it is a take on your name + it seems to reference, in a subtle way, the movement occurring in your other performances. Dance motion. Figure Skating motion. Snow motion.
8:36pm
Meghann
I shot the footage while sitting in the back of my Mom’s car last winter. I love using the camera in such a way.
I love video cameras because when you record fast movements the camera can't really catch everything it is seeing - so it improvises.
8:39pm
Otino
Your work touches on many interdisciplinary paradigms.
First there is the myth building inherent to your performance work - located somewhere between the live and the documented.
Like Chris Burden:
there are the relics...
used slippers.
8:41pm
Meghann
Yep.
8:41pm
Otino
the resulting canvas.
8:41pm
Meghann
It's about "process" and exposing it. That is what I am interested in.
8:41pm
Otino
This is textbook material to stardom or at least underground fame.
See Matthew Barney page 1996.
8:42pm
Meghann
hahaha.... could be.
I’m not doing that on purpose though.
8:42pm
Otino
Is your process, as a collage of performance tropes, a honed marketing strategy?
8:44pm
Meghann
It is my work. So I guess it is my marketing strategy. I talk about my work in that way. You get to see the act of my performance, see the relics and the paintings. I think the paintings now have more of a finished look to them that they did when I first started this work in 2007 at Parsons during the middle of my MFA.
I would say observing and looking is a big strategy as well to the work.
8:45pm
Otino
And you are not hesitating to sell it on a reality television show.
8:45pm
Meghann
That was from last season...
8:45pm
Otino
right.
8:47pm
Meghann
right.
8:47pm
Otino
Can we talk about the ballet slippers?
8:47pm
Meghann
Sure. What would you like to know?
8:47pm
Otino
They seem "pathetic" in the art term sense:
"poor",
even sad,
a tad ridiculous when worn,
like a Paul McCarthy prop.
You could have used real ballet slippers.
And even sold the used slippers as sculpture -
like you do with the bubble wrap and tape versions.
8:49pm
Meghann
That would be boring. Why would I want to do that? Then they wouldn't be mine.
8:49pm
Otino
So it is about authorship?
signature?
authenticity?
8:49pm
Meghann
Those are far more interesting then using already made ones. Yes, I would say it is. It is my signature.
It's my speech. I allow the materials to speak like John Cage on stage.
8:50pm
Otino
Speak like an artist mostly known for silence?
You must admit they are kinda funny looking.
And you dance so gracefully
in perfect concentration.
8:50pm
Meghann
It's about the sound, it's about the way I use the materials. I like the materials. They look phallic overall.
Concentration is the main focus, or component to my work. It allows me to cut the audience out of my mind.
8:51pm
Otino
Several times in your project description you raise the issue of anxiety as a factor in your work. This was surprising to me as a viewer since it is nowhere apparent in your choreographed pieces. Care to explain?
8:50pm
Meghann
You mentioned in private you see I internalize a lot. Well, as a performer, there’s always some sort of "performance anxiety". For everyone it's always different with the way one handles it. For me, keeping my hands and mind busy creating an object - well, that’s my way of dealing with my anxiety. The making of the ballet shoes help me distract my mind of actually performing. Making the ballet shoes and recording the sound is the performance. It is what I have to say about my work. Hearing the bubble wrap and tape during the performance becomes what I would call my public announcement about the work.
8:51pm
Otino
How about your collaborations with Frank Castanien?
I find the "Stretching X 2" gimmicky
like a one liner
the audience has to sit through to get.
8:53pm
Meghann
Yeah, so?
I think it's a great way to combine both of the works.
In a way, I find it funny, yet convincing.
I'm showing the excitement of being an artist. Showing the pre-show before the show. How I get ready for a show, or get ready to work. (sarcasm)
8:54pm
Otino
It seems you do not shy away from putting your life out there for others to view.
8:54pm
Meghann
No I don't.
8:54pm
Otino
Is it a quality of your generation or would you say you are an extrovert?
8:55pm
Meghann
What's there to hide?
I would say it has to do with both.
8:55pm
Otino
Is there a rush associated with every performance?
8:57pm
Meghann
There’s a DIY feeling to the performance.
Really, in New York, a lot of different performance art happens.
Lets take Bushwick at Surreal Estate: Performancy Forum's... to me they are very informal. Whereas at HATCH, where I perform, not only is it informal, being situated in a dance atmosphere makes the feeling different. Most of the time it's about figuring out the space at the time of the show.
8:57pm
Otino
Yves Klein
Anthropometries,
Carolee Schneemann
Janine Antoni
Adrian Piper
who you have worked with.
8:58pm
Meghann
All artists that admire!
I did work on a piece of Adrian Pipers:
CREATIVE TIME: “Six Actions for NYC” back in 2007.
I did a collaboration with Adrian Piper on a work called,
"Everything Will be Taken Away, #10".
I performed in this work.
8:59pm
Otino
Do you think you will be/are progressing this history in new ways?
8:59pm
Meghann
Yves Klein is also one of my favorite artists.
8:59pm
Otino
How can I tell?
9:01pm
Meghann
I admire the way Klein approaches his work with drive and passion. Believing in the work and its purpose, being open to experimentation and showing the human process in delineating what is real and has existence and presence.
I would hope that my work is progressing this history.
I felt the most artistic progress after my Visiting Artist Residency in Tampa at Hillsborough Community College.
I think my work grew significantly in Cleveland as well in collaboration with Frank Castanien.
9:03pm
Otino
I seems obvious to me you are bound to find notoriety.
9:04pm
Meghann
The work I made in Tampa I would have to say is "epic" - like CAPS EPIC.
One day, I will. Maybe.
9:04pm
Otino
I get the same feeling from your work as I experienced after watching Yak Films for first time.
9:04pm
Meghann
Which is?
9:04pm
Otino
Ambition meeting Potential.
I hope you gain the right fame through the right channels.
9:05pm
Meghann
Me too.
Like everything –right - it takes time...
Something I am hoping to do is - wait....
"The Idea of Being Present" was created at my first visit to Tampa.
Eleven dancers helped me create the work. I directed it. Still, so much of the collaboration worked. It had ballet references, and my own references…
My work escaped to Florida for the time... haha
9:08pm
Otino
I want to stay and watch you shift circles so carefully - yet you have to let me go.
Or do you have another future show to promote?
9:09pm
Meghann
I have no idea what is in store for me at the moment....
I am at the point of digesting recent work and seeing where everything fits...
I am not sure where I will end up.
I am in New York City for the time being - this year it will mark my seventh year here. Honestly, I have no idea right now what will happen.
I have obligations in the city I cannot leave, yet we will see...
taking one day at a time.
9:12pm
Otino
Brace. After the wave drops I hope you'll still remember this set
As buoyant sincerity.
Thanks Meghann
"Double N"
9:13pm
Meghann
My pleasure.
HA!!!
B/C that makes me so badass.
just kidding.
or not.
9:13pm
Otino
The new "Snow".
That is badass.
posted by Otino Corsano at 11:41 PM
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