Tintamarre: An Artist Podcast

Tintamarre is back with Season 2! Kicking the season off is a conversation with Florence based painter, Andrew Smaldone. We began our conversation discussing studio habits and we touched on the role of coaches and practicing. Born 1978 in Denver, Colorado, Andrew Smaldone has shown his work widely in Europe, the US and the UK. He completed an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, in London in 2005 and a BA in Fine Art from The George Washington University, in Washington D.C. in 2001. Smaldone’s recent works focus both on surface and space, a process he initiated in 2016 during his first sabbatical for scholarly research afforded him for winning a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant in 2015. In addition to his artistic practice, Smaldone began writing about art in 2005 when he co-founded artist-run magazine ArtSEEN Journal. He became professor of painting & drawing at Santa Reparata International School of Art in 2007 and the institution’s Academic Dean in 2012. 

Andrew Smaldone: https://www.andrewsmaldone.org

Support the podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/tintamarre

Music: https://soundcloud.com/onlyomme

During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, painters Julia Rooney and Maya Strauss continue to find ways of staying in touch at a distance by writing letters and sending each other works through the the mail. While graduate students at the Yale School of Art, Julia and Maya begin their correspondence on the occasion of a dual critique. During this evaluation, each artist presented her work in a shared critique space, but before jumping into the crit, the artists read a selection of the letters with which each slipped under their studio doors from the past month. This experiment has lead to further correspondences between the artists, allowing each to carve out a contemplative space for meandering within one’s own thoughts. In this conversation, we talk about running/walking, keeping a journal, graduate study, and the importance of touch within painting.

Julia Rooney at www.juliarooneystudio.com

Maya Strauss at www.mayastrauss.com & https://www.instagram.com/mstrawsy/

With a keen awareness of painting's material transformation, artist Leslie Martinez joins the podcast to speak about their work. Leslie was born in The Rio Grande Valley of the South Texas-Mexican border and raised in Dallas, Texas. They received an MFA from Yale School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut in 2018 and a BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City in 2008. Their work in material abstraction explores notions of self-determination, embodiment, and futurity through the language and processes of transformation and discovery. Leslie Martinez is represented by And Now in Dallas, Texas where they currently live and work. After spending over a decade on the east coast, Leslie talks about their return back to their hometown of Dallas, Texas and “starting over” their entire practice. This homecoming provided Leslie a deeper understanding of self-determination: how do you rely on vision through limitation? We also talk about Dallas' art community and their decision not to move to a bigger art hub like Los Angeles and New York. We discuss their vital need for bewilderment in the studio, the inherently queer aspects of abstraction, and the importance of artistic resourcefulness ala Dolly Parton.

http://www.leslie-martinez.com

Support the podcast at:

https://www.patreon.com/tintamarre

Based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, painters Marissa Graziano and Samuel Guy  each share their experiences of pursuing art and creating a project gallery space right in their New York apartment. Named after their neighborhood, Greene House Gallery threads various artist communities together through exhibitions and programming and extends itself as a meeting grounds for guest curators and friends. In this conversation, we talk about online exhibition workarounds during the pandemic, critical responses to putting work online, the low stakes of curating your own show, and doubt--all with the hopeful sentiment of "if you build it, they will come". 

You can find them at 

https://www.greenehousegallery.com/

http://samuelcguy.com/

http://www.marissagraziano.com/

Support the podcast at: 

https://www.patreon.com/tintamarre

Artists Africanus Okokon, José de Jesus Rodriguez, and Mariel Capanna join the podcast to hold a conversation about collective efforts on navigating collaboration through thematic dialogue, list-making, skillsets, and planned dinners. Each respected artist describes the decision to come together for a thesis exhibition, furthering their own investigations while students at the Yale School of Art. How do we create meaningful relationships among our creative peers? What environment fosters effective learning from colleagues? How do we create space for misalignment to happen within a group? All three artists share their thoughts on these questions while addressing the necessity and value of friendship.

In our conversation, I speak with Gerald Sheffield on his nomadic practice, occupying the margins, and giving in to facility in order to reach conceptual goals. Gerald’s work examines relationships to space, place, empathy, architecture, and nationalism. We talk about his time in the military, his decision to pursue art, and his work as Fulbright Fellow this past year. 

Amaryllis deJesus Moleski's paintings and installations explore liminal spaces made of light and symbolism. Through her usage of cartoons, Amaryllis creates spaces and geographies that birth new origin stories exploring resurrection, femme materiality, queerness, and alternative ways of existence. In this conversation, we discuss her early upbringing moving around often, her love for comics and cartoons, and how much doubt became a teacher for her practice.

With the sharp eye for painterly application and the tight hand of a draftsman, painter Alex Jackson challenges notions of perception, representation, and measurement. His comprehensive understanding of color allows his work to take on new understandings of space, touch, and categorization. In this first episode, we talk about creative freedom through occupying one's own imagination inside the studio. 

How to find space to belong to oneself during a time of uncertainty.