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| Kate Bowen: "It's easy to become a slave to your artist statement. I think it is just as important to chase mystery & see where it takes you." |
1.
When did you first get involved with the art world?
I got
involved in the arts in college. I
started with the intent of being pre-med and I took classes in the art and
theater departments because I had heard that a diverse education would make me
a more desirable applicant when it came time to apply to medical school. Secretly, I just wanted to continue taking
art and theater classes after high school and “diversifying my education” was
an excuse to do so. I grew up in Eagle,
Idaho and everyone in my family is an engineer so a career in the arts wasn’t
really on my radar. I bounced around a
lot before I gave in and became a full time art student. I basically tried to quadruple major in
photo, print-making, drawing and art history.
One of my professors had to tell me that it was time to graduate and
move on to bigger things.
I was
really involved with the arts community in Idaho, but the “art world” seemed
really distant until I moved to Chicago.
I went to Columbia College for grad school and worked for the Museum of
Contemporary Photography as a curatorial assistant, which is when I started to
have a broader understanding of what the term “art world” meant.
2.
What is your preferred medium?
I hold
a BFA and MFA in photography, so it’s safe to say I’m partial to the medium of
photography. I use photography, video
and performance in my work most often.
3. How
would you describe your work?
I am motivated by a
deep curiosity about the way people attempt to understand and articulate their own
desires. The obsessive and relentless
qualities present in the concepts of desire and longing that gets addressed in
a number of different ways in my work.
My current project, Almost Always Getting it Right, is situated in my hometown of
Eagle, Idaho and centered on longing
for perfection, which is absorbing and as such, oppressive. This year marks the 10th
anniversary of the perfect season of football at my high school, which is the
only perfect season played by any team in the conference to date. Perfection, in this place, is found in broken
records and physical ability. Beauty is
a long run to the end zone or a perfectly executed routine. Sensuality is a pom pom that runs the length
of the thigh and is followed by ahead flip when it reaches its destination. All of which is surrounded by a wide-open
landscape that meets mountain ranges that hold you in, and protect these ideals
and values. When I am making work I am looking for the things and people that
are still in a process of becoming, or moving on. I like to think about the optimism of a
cheerleading routine and the frustration of attempting to recapture
greatness.
4.
What upcoming projects are you working on?
Almost Always Getting it Right is a relatively new project and
I plan to continue working on it for a while longer. I particularly like to continue working with
the cheerleaders, they are really wonderful to watch, and I want to work with
some of the other football stars from my high school. I have also renewed my fascination with
sports aphorisms and clichés in general while working on this project, which is
where several of my titles come from.
It’s a way of soothing ones own disappointment with a security blanket
of words, so I might try to work with some of these phrases more.
5.
Where do you see your art going after you receive your MFA?
I
received my MFA this last May. The
working process for the post MFA period is a strange one. It feels very exciting, energetic and lonely
at the same time. One of the more surprising
things that I have discovered after grad school is that it feels good not to
have all the answers, all the time.
Depending on your program, you get used to talking about your work at
length and being able to answer every possible question that may come up about
your work. While I do believe this is
good practice, it is easy to become a slave to your artist statement. I think it is just as important to chase
mystery and see where it takes you.
Don't forget to check out Almost Always Getting it Right TOMORROW from 4-8 PM.
Amanda B.
