Installation view of Ray Beldner's, Talk Radio. Photo: Catherine Clark Gallery
Q & A With Ray Beldner
Ray Beldner is exciting to write about because he's constantly working on new projects, whether it be evolving the formal and conceptual elements of his work or hosting forums for artists and the public to discuss art. Beldner has no schtick: his experimental and exploratory style (look at his website, you'll see what I mean) makes him a fun artist to follow and his work leaves his viewers with questions and ideas to consider. If you've been reading this blog you know that I have written about him on a number of posts, namely:
Street Dialogues: Art Inspired by Homeless Signs
The Soapbox Lectures: How Technology Transformed the Orgasm
Mistakes Were Made: Ray Beldner, Charles Gute, and Nina Katchadourian
His solo show The Word, currently on view (CHECK IT OUT!) at the Catherine Clark Gallery, explores the physical and symbolic presence of text in art and in our lives. My favorite piece is the window installation Talk Radio, where laser cut silhouttes of politically charged buzzwords taken from various talk radio shows cast light onto the gallery floor--it's a stunning presentation at first glance and even more fascinating once you recognize the words and what they mean.
Ray Beldner graciously agreed to respond to some questions I had about the show. Enjoy!
1) How did you decide upon the title for this show? What should viewers consider when viewing this body of work?
A lot of the text that I used for the show was taken either quotes from the bible or--like in the homeless sign--text written to appear to be biblical.
The title, "The Word" refers to John 1: "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God." Later in this passage, it is written that the "word became flesh." In a sense, what I was trying to do, is make word into flesh. To give language form.
2) You recently presented a lecture at the Catherine Clark Gallery discussing how mistakes become a part of the creative process. Can you briefly summarize how mistakes have led to the development of ideas for the work in this exhibition?
As I said in the lecture, I believe that all art is a series of mistakes that artists shape into something that appears to be intentional. Humor, chance, mistakes, happy accidents, surprises, are what I use to subvert my own expectations about what art is so I don't repeat myself or become stale--a prisoner of my own taste. For example, in this show, I purposely used mud to fill the piece "Perfect Storm" because I wanted the outcome to be a result of chance.
3) Your work carries a physical presence in the gallery, be it monolithic stacks of words, neon signage, or the reflection of words from the gallery windows. How does space and viewer participation factor into your work?
Sculpture is different from painting in that it is not a "window into the world" but a physical presence that has to be confronted with your body. I am conscious of that and so I often seek to create on a scale that is physically relateable. Depending on the effect I'm trying to have, I sometimes make work that imposes itself on the viewer. Like "Nobody's Coming," or the window piece, "Talk Radio." In those cases, I wanted the work to dominate.
4) Where do you seek inspiration?
I really don't seek it out, but it finds me in my everyday life--the Internet, talk radio, students, my kids, books and magazines, stuff on the street.
5) What's next for you?
I'm the opening show in a new gallery in Los Angeles next month. It's called the Charlie James Gallery and will open November 15th in Chinatown on Chungking Road. Next year, I'm in a fabulous group show at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery: "Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture"
6) Favorite things (movie, book, color, number...anything you want).
Everything is my favorite thing!
7) Given the moralistic undertone of the neon signage and window installation, what do you think is the artists' role in society?
I found many of the texts I used in this current show, yet the resulting works are very personal. They are my own gut/heart-felt response to the words. Words matter.
I don't know about the artist's role in society. I'm reluctant to say that an artist MUST address social and/or political issues. That being said, I believe that all art is political in some way and can't help but engage in the big social and moral questions of our time. Some say the function of art and artists is to hold a mirror up to reality and reflect what is going on. Others (Bertolt Brecht) say that art is a hammer with which to shape it. It can be both, but it doesn't have to be either.
Thanks again to Ray Beldner and be sure to check out the show at Catherine Clark Gallery through November 15:
150 Minna St.
Tuesday–Friday, 10:30am–5:30pm, and Saturday, 11am–5:30pm
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