Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/749295
268 culturedmag.com DANIELLE DEAN, 34 @danielleadean Danielle Dean's films may speak in the language of television soap operas and advertisements, but they end up providing clever critiques of culture sifted through her unique filter. She's preparing to open a solo show in L.A. on January 22 at Commonwealth & Council. What teacher did you learn the most from in school? Charles Gaines. He was my mentor at CalArts. He taught me how to make engaging, critical artwork. How do you find inspiration? I like to read a lot of theory and history. But I also watch soap operas. I'm addicted to a soap opera made in England called EastEnders. The monologues that they have are just unbelievable. If you could trade with anyone, who would it be? It would be Adrian Piper. Do you have any unrealized projects? Some of them I'm working on now, and others will probably never be realized. I wrote a narrative for a show at Storm King in New York where I proposed that the sculptures in the park be flooded so that everything was underwater, and you'd have to swim down to see them from different perspectives. How did you fund your first works? I made work using things that I bought from the 99 Cents store, and I made a video using a Flip camera. It didn't really cost that much, so I funded it out of my own money. ORION MARTIN, 28 @orionmartin Orion Martin's playful paintings depict friends, fruit, well-hung mythical creatures and flora in a colorfully kitschy way that is also crispy and chic— all with a dose of humorous irreverence. The artist is currently working on paintings for Bodega's booth at NADA Miami Beach. How do you know a work you've made is good? When you're away from it for a while, then you feel good about it. When I first finish a painting I end up hating it, because I spend a long time with it, and then it's a traumatic relationship, but a little bit of distance makes you grow fonder. How do you find inspiration? I save things on my phone a lot. Looking around you see a sign that looks like it would be a good painting, then you make a painting that tries to look like that sign. If you could trade with anyone, who would it be? I would probably trade with Jim Nutt. But I don't know if he would want my paintings. Do they have to want the painting? Because he was my teacher, and I don't know if he liked my paintings. But I like his a lot. In your practice, what comes naturally to you and what do you have to force? I would say painting comes naturally. But painting in a weird room for 12 hours a day is a bleak existence. MAX HOOPER SCHNEIDER, 34 @max_hooper_schneider Max Hooper Schneider works with ecosystems (emphasis on the "systems"). His odd vitrines almost always have something strange in them (crocodile appendages, electric eels), and more often than not they harbor some inner secret. He is currently in the process of "acquiring an abandoned shopping mall in Ohio and setting parameters that allow it to be succeeded as a botanical garden/wildlife refuge." How do you find inspiration? In matter itself. In the language surrounding nonhuman taxa. Here's an example: Despite the catastrophic nature of the recent Hurricane Matthew, manatees in Florida have learned to exploit the fleeting floodplains left in its wake and graze on submerged suburban lawns. This fills me with so much inspiration I could burst. If you could trade a work with anyone, who would it be? My longings change all the time. Today I would like a teahouse by the architect Terunobu Fujimori. What is the best piece of advice you've received? John Kricfalusi, the creator of the generation-improving cartoon Ren & Stimpy, advised me to 'enforce anality at every turn' when I was 14. Do you have any unrealized projects? Even when my works are 'complete' I feel they are unrealized; they are not autonomous objects. This is a very old notion. They are embedded in a multiverse of situations that will host their permutation in some way or another, be it language, market, maintenance, moisture content and so on. This may sound quite literal, but in this way, all of them. Schneider's odd vitrines always have something strange in them, and they often harbor some inner secret. "When I finish a painting I end up hating it, because I spend a long time with it. But, a little bit of distance makes you grow fonder." JEFF VESPA; JORGE ELBRECHT