The work by Los Angeles artist Sarah Cromarty is an incredible combination of intellect and kitsch - by no means an easy task. In the LA Weekly critic Doug Harvey said that, "her double-glazed confections somehow combine the irresistible sublime of Caspar David Friedrich with the unhinged Hallmark sentiment of 'Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy.'" Cromarty's work involves de-construction and re-construction of materials (generally prints, vintage books, and record covers) that are mounted onto heavy panels and then adorned with a range of materials such as feathers, resin, oil paint, and bizarre little finds. It would be appropriate to call her pieces "sculptural paintings" as they truly displace traditional notions of figure/ground relationships, the authentic and the copy, as well as the singular ideas of painting and sculpture.
Sarah Cromarty received her BFA (with distinction) from the Art Center School of Design in 2005. The same year she was included in the first annual L.A.Weekly Biennial State of Emergence: Unsuspected Cracks in the Art World Infrastructure curated by Doug Harvey and was selected as an Artist in Residence for the Cultural Service of the Consulate General of France. She is also one of my artists and her work can currently be seen in The Books and Records Show at sixspace (through February 17).
Links: Sarah Cromarty and sixspace.
Caryn Coleman:Your work takes items, de-constructs them, and combines them with other materials (such as resin, glitter, oil). Can you walk us through your process a bit? (how you decide what to cut out, remove, what to add, how you cut them, etc.)
Sarah Cromarty:I find an image that interests me (rivers, resorts, bull-riders, etc)...I figure out how the picture would look if I actually was standing in front of it. I take out what parts I don't need to make the image whole, and eliminate them. Then the image gets cut up and glued on to different thicknesses of cardboard. These pieces get cut out on a scroll saw. Once all of this is done, the pieces are glued back together and onto a wood frame. The wood frame makes up the background, with the different depth levels of the picture popping out off of the frame.
Then the magic is created with chiseling and painting....the rest of this process is indescribable.
CC:I've seen the amazing archive of books and records that you've acquired for your art work. How do you go about choosing your prints, albums, books? What sort of look are you looking for?
SC:It used to be that I would spend a lot of time going to thrift stores and flea markets..... When I'm looking for source material for paintings, the internet has become an easier way to shop. With the internet I can find what I need a lot quicker. You can't depend on thrift stores and flea markets as a staple for your craft. Sometimes there are gems... sometimes there is nothing.
Books and records are a different story. I get the books (almost always vintage interior decorating) from used book stores. It is best to get the records from thrift stores. They are cheap and you don't have to pay for shipping. Since the idea of working with records is brand new, I don't always know what I want. I look for anything that jumps out at me from the racks. I usually buy way more than I need. I take them home and stare at them for long periods.
CC:The prints, albums, and books that you do use have a humorous quality to them (for instance the "Real Red Fox" record or gaudy interiors from the 1970s). How do you want to utilize humor and why does the aesthetic from the 70s appeal to you?
SC:The prints I pick out for the paintings are all brand new. I've been making them for a while now, so I really know what I want and how to find it. I usually search by genre. Right now I'm thinking a lot about rodeos. So I search for rodeo imagery. Before that I couldn't stop thinking about tropical scenes. So I went to sites where I could find beach and pool posters.
The records are a different story. Most of the records I come across at the thrift stores are older. So I just take whatever pops out at me.... The period the album was made isn't important to me, as long as the image is strong.
The books are a bit different. Home decor books from the sixties through the eighties offer a lot of possibilities to play with. There are a lot of weird details like strange accent rugs, or weird statues that Ethan Allen books lack. A greater risk was taken back then...leaving behind a surplus of things to cut up and change.
CC:You often use songs as titles for your work such as "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" and "Afternoon Delight." Now with using the record covers, I wonder how music might influence you.
SC:I've never been good at expressing myself in written form. Sometimes I do an o.k. job... but I generally like to leave titles up to the experts.
Music influences everything. I once had a teacher ask me "What kind of music would accompany your paintings?" I listed a few indie bands... and he said that "the Carpenters was probably a better choice." I thought about it for a while and realized he was really right on. So I usually listen to them [the Carpenters] before starting a new series. They get me in the mood to make something beautiful and dark, with a heavy dose of kitsch.
CC:Throughout your work you've always been interested in playing with ideas of formal relationships, particularly toying with the figure/ground relationship. How does that extend into your new series uses album covers where something very traditionally flat not becomes very three-dimensional?
SC:Whether it's records, books, or paintings, taking two dimensional images and making them three dimensional, in a rather flat footed way is at the core of my practice. Whatever is in the foreground (trees, shrubs, blankets etc) should pop out the most from the frame. It gives the viewer a peek into how the image is constructed, simultaneously breaking it down. Nothing is seamless.
CC:Los Angeles is such an exciting place to be working as a young artist. What artists and things going on in LA are exciting to you?
SC:L.A. feels so spread out... and I rarely leave my home. I find that most days I go to work and then come home and make my own work. That is not to say that there aren't exciting things out there...lots of great and supportive galleries, and some decent museum shows. There are a lot of really great artists - young and old - and too many to mention. It's also cool to see new galleries popping up here and there. My friend John Knuth is opening up a gallery "Circus." Its first exhibition opens in late March...it should be awesome!
Also, I'm doing a two person show with my boyfriend Salvatore Salamone in June at sixspace. He's an amazing artist...and an art outsider. When we met he was making all of this amazing work for his personal pleasure. I was blown away. The work was too good for him not to share it with other people. We share a studio now, and I think our show will reflect our partnership [such as] the way we relate to each other and the effect it has on creative process.
SG Member: sixspacecaryn
Sarah Cromarty received her BFA (with distinction) from the Art Center School of Design in 2005. The same year she was included in the first annual L.A.Weekly Biennial State of Emergence: Unsuspected Cracks in the Art World Infrastructure curated by Doug Harvey and was selected as an Artist in Residence for the Cultural Service of the Consulate General of France. She is also one of my artists and her work can currently be seen in The Books and Records Show at sixspace (through February 17).
Links: Sarah Cromarty and sixspace.
Caryn Coleman:Your work takes items, de-constructs them, and combines them with other materials (such as resin, glitter, oil). Can you walk us through your process a bit? (how you decide what to cut out, remove, what to add, how you cut them, etc.)
Sarah Cromarty:I find an image that interests me (rivers, resorts, bull-riders, etc)...I figure out how the picture would look if I actually was standing in front of it. I take out what parts I don't need to make the image whole, and eliminate them. Then the image gets cut up and glued on to different thicknesses of cardboard. These pieces get cut out on a scroll saw. Once all of this is done, the pieces are glued back together and onto a wood frame. The wood frame makes up the background, with the different depth levels of the picture popping out off of the frame.
Then the magic is created with chiseling and painting....the rest of this process is indescribable.
CC:I've seen the amazing archive of books and records that you've acquired for your art work. How do you go about choosing your prints, albums, books? What sort of look are you looking for?
SC:It used to be that I would spend a lot of time going to thrift stores and flea markets..... When I'm looking for source material for paintings, the internet has become an easier way to shop. With the internet I can find what I need a lot quicker. You can't depend on thrift stores and flea markets as a staple for your craft. Sometimes there are gems... sometimes there is nothing.
Books and records are a different story. I get the books (almost always vintage interior decorating) from used book stores. It is best to get the records from thrift stores. They are cheap and you don't have to pay for shipping. Since the idea of working with records is brand new, I don't always know what I want. I look for anything that jumps out at me from the racks. I usually buy way more than I need. I take them home and stare at them for long periods.
CC:The prints, albums, and books that you do use have a humorous quality to them (for instance the "Real Red Fox" record or gaudy interiors from the 1970s). How do you want to utilize humor and why does the aesthetic from the 70s appeal to you?
SC:The prints I pick out for the paintings are all brand new. I've been making them for a while now, so I really know what I want and how to find it. I usually search by genre. Right now I'm thinking a lot about rodeos. So I search for rodeo imagery. Before that I couldn't stop thinking about tropical scenes. So I went to sites where I could find beach and pool posters.
The records are a different story. Most of the records I come across at the thrift stores are older. So I just take whatever pops out at me.... The period the album was made isn't important to me, as long as the image is strong.
The books are a bit different. Home decor books from the sixties through the eighties offer a lot of possibilities to play with. There are a lot of weird details like strange accent rugs, or weird statues that Ethan Allen books lack. A greater risk was taken back then...leaving behind a surplus of things to cut up and change.
CC:You often use songs as titles for your work such as "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" and "Afternoon Delight." Now with using the record covers, I wonder how music might influence you.
SC:I've never been good at expressing myself in written form. Sometimes I do an o.k. job... but I generally like to leave titles up to the experts.
Music influences everything. I once had a teacher ask me "What kind of music would accompany your paintings?" I listed a few indie bands... and he said that "the Carpenters was probably a better choice." I thought about it for a while and realized he was really right on. So I usually listen to them [the Carpenters] before starting a new series. They get me in the mood to make something beautiful and dark, with a heavy dose of kitsch.
CC:Throughout your work you've always been interested in playing with ideas of formal relationships, particularly toying with the figure/ground relationship. How does that extend into your new series uses album covers where something very traditionally flat not becomes very three-dimensional?
SC:Whether it's records, books, or paintings, taking two dimensional images and making them three dimensional, in a rather flat footed way is at the core of my practice. Whatever is in the foreground (trees, shrubs, blankets etc) should pop out the most from the frame. It gives the viewer a peek into how the image is constructed, simultaneously breaking it down. Nothing is seamless.
CC:Los Angeles is such an exciting place to be working as a young artist. What artists and things going on in LA are exciting to you?
SC:L.A. feels so spread out... and I rarely leave my home. I find that most days I go to work and then come home and make my own work. That is not to say that there aren't exciting things out there...lots of great and supportive galleries, and some decent museum shows. There are a lot of really great artists - young and old - and too many to mention. It's also cool to see new galleries popping up here and there. My friend John Knuth is opening up a gallery "Circus." Its first exhibition opens in late March...it should be awesome!
Also, I'm doing a two person show with my boyfriend Salvatore Salamone in June at sixspace. He's an amazing artist...and an art outsider. When we met he was making all of this amazing work for his personal pleasure. I was blown away. The work was too good for him not to share it with other people. We share a studio now, and I think our show will reflect our partnership [such as] the way we relate to each other and the effect it has on creative process.
SG Member: sixspacecaryn
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
solaris:
if she's mocking john denver i'll get her!
seanbonner:
Her stuff is definitely bad ass, in person it's breathtaking!