opening this saturday at giant robot in LA is susie ghahremani's 5th solo show, the wild life. w/ promises of an interactive installation and a haiku contest it sounds like it's going to be a hoot, a holler and a heck of a good time. susie recently answered some q's for me about the upcoming show. she talks about the show, her inspirations behind it and her latest creative endeavors. i hope you guys enjoy it...and if you are in the LA area i would get on over, sounds like a show not to be missed.
what
i love most about your work is how you depict animals. your color
palette and the environment in which you create for your subjects
really speaks to how passionately you feel about animals. what it is
about animals that make them your primary subject?
thank
you! aside from being an animal lover in general, i feel like animals
are universally relate-able which is a big reason why i paint them so
much -- they can be seen and understood independent of distinction of
race, gender, etc. and the animal kingdom is so diverse i never feel
like i run out of subjects and possibilities. plus, i'm around animals
a lot (i have five birds and a cat and volunteer as a wildlife
rehabilitator) -- probably more so than most people -- so they seep into my
work naturally.
your volunteer job as a wildlife rehabilitator heavily influenced the show. can you tell us about how you were inspired?
the
place where i volunteer has a strict "no bunny hugging" policy (that
means: no treating wild animals like they're pets) -- basically,
endeavoring to keep the animals in their care 'wild', making sure they
do NOT get used to being around humans so they can survive
independently in the wild following release. this got me thinking
about the irony of things like birdhouses, and how weird it is that
humans try to coax wild animals like birds into habitats outdoors that
resemble their own. birdhouses look like human houses, but that's not a
natural environment for a wild animal at all -- sort of funny, don't
you think?
so, i focused on that for this
collection of work really pushing and exaggerating a ridiculously
domesticated life for these animals -- sleeping in beds, eating at
tables, owning furniture! -- and many of the animals in my show (owls
and hummingbirds, skunks and opossums, squirrels and rabbits) are
animals i myself have handled while volunteering. plus, i feel such
affection for animals, and since i'm not allowed to cuddle them at my
volunteer job, painting them in such detail while humanizing them kind
of balances out the professionalism i maintain while volunteering!
there will be a 3-d installation at the show. there are tantalizing hints on the press release that visitors will be able "to physically experience the world she creates in her paintings for the first time". can you give us any more hints about this? it sounds so exciting!
i'm
hoping to transform the space of the gallery with this site specific
installation so viewers, while at the show, are truly enveloped in the
world of the artwork. a big part of this includes the hanging
installation -- suspended from the ceiling and comprised of over 100
3-dimensional parts! i'm also planning a mural that i'll be painting
on site. basically, the show will have a lot of different layers so
it'll be so much more than an art-on-the-wall type show :) i've never
not done an art-on-the-wall type show before, so i'm nervous and
excited for the outcome!
a haiku contest is part of your show as well. haiku is so awesome. was this your idea for the show?
it
was! there are literally hundreds of miniature paintings in the show,
and the visual effect of my shows can be sometimes overwhelming just from
the sheer quantity and insane detail of my work, so i thought it'd be
fun to add a little creativity and invite participation with the haiku
contest! one reason i thought it'd be cool is that it would be a
reason for viewers to connect with individual pieces from the show
instead of the show as a whole. plus, painting is such a solitary
activity, i feel like it'll be fun for everybody to see the varying
responses to the work.
and haiku is so clever! we'll be hanging up the
haikus the audience writes as part of the installation and giving
awesome prizes to the top three, judged by giant robot and i!
you've
got an amazing range of products from eco-friendly tote bags (which i
own and LOVE) to jewelry, what are some of your most recent products
and/or projects you are especially excited about?
thank
you! hands down, my new products with chronicle books are the most
exciting for me! i feel like chronicle can make anything happen -- i
just love all their gift and stationery items so it's not only a career
highlight for me to have collaborated with them, but the final products
(a full color journal, a set of note cards, a set of sticky notepads and
more to come in the future!) are something i'm truly proud of and enjoy
using!
i recently also illustrated the sets for a series of bank of america commercials , which was pretty different than any project i've ever done, and was very exciting!
you have been extremely busy so far this year. what else do you have coming up?
i have a line of autumn-inspired tote bags made in collaboration with the
ever-amazing bungalow 360 bag company and a collection of baby clothing
coming out with a new company called spark baby apparel. both of those
are to be released within the next few weeks. i hope to participate in
the amazing & juried LA crafty shopping event called felt club in november, got a few more group art shows before the year is through,
working on a limited-edition letterpress collaboration with paper stories letterpress, and um.... who knows what else?? whatever comes
my way!
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