Sometimes it's just not financially possible to spend a couple hundred dollars on a piece of art, we totally get it. That being said, we're more than happy to figure out a layaway plan that works for your budget. Shoot us an e-mail if you'd like to talk more about how art layaway works here at Compound.
Photos from the opening reception of our May show, Daydreamers featuring Stella Im Hultberg and Suite Charlie, are now online. Check out the photos here and see the art from the show online here. Come see the show in person before it comes down June 2nd!
Compound curator Molly Georgetta has been working with the TEDxPortland team and the University of Oregon's White Box Gallery the past few months on an art show/auction in conjunction with the 3rd annual TEDxPortland conference. What If? Art & Design Exhibition is being auctioned online through gracious support of the The Portland Mercury, benefiting the Children's Healing Art Project (CHAP).
We're so excited to be featuring Stella Im Hultberg at our upcoming show Daydreamers. Take a look at this brief interview we did with her.
Do you think your background in industrial design translates into the work you create now?
I don't think I get direct influence from having the design background. It helps when I have to make stuff (if I have to build my own frame or sculpture or other things)
or any other shop skills come in handy, but other than that it's not directly related at all, at least in my opinion. I do think though, in the beginning, I had to struggle to turn off the
designer-client mode of thinking, in order to get some of my real works out. I kept thinking of the "end product" or how the buyer or viewer that "end product", which was a very industrial design way of thinking. It took me a few years to shed that, if at all.
Your work has evolved incredibly since you first started, what made you veer into the direction you're going now?
I'm not sure if there's any specific thing or instance that makes me or my work evolve. It's kind of like when people asking about what i'm inspired by.
It's never one thing. Things I experience, hear about, read about in life just accumulate in my senses and mind and just flows out into my consciousness later on without revealing their sources, so it's nebulous to me too. For a while there's been a quiet struggle within me that stemmed from the difference between my sketchbook and my finished paintings. normally I would like that kind of differences, but it was feeling uncomfortable, where it made me think my works that I make to show the world weren't quite as genuine.
So in the past few years, if things looked a bit different, it's my own small efforts to ameliorate that gap - a reconciliation, so to speak.
Who are some artists you hail influence from?
I will never forget the first few exhibits I went to that blew me away - Egon Schiele retrospective at Neue Gallerie, Barry McGee show & Swoon show both at Deitch, and Basquiat retrospective at Brooklyn Museum, all in one year (2005). That was a mind-blowing year, the year I started putting a piece or two here and there, still confused a little bit at my accidental luck at having landed some gallery gigs. but seeing their works in life, in the massive amounts all together, made me realize it's all about hard work. they were all so prolific. Schiele, for example, only really worked as an artist for less than 10 years, having only lived till 27, but he had enough works to fill an entire museum. that's really amazing.
So if it's not technical or stylistic influence, I got influenced from many of my favorite artists to work hard.
Having grown up in 4 different countries, do you find that you get inspiration from those places?
I don't think so -it's all subconscious, if I do. as a person, I am definitely, without a doubt, influenced by all those cultures.
but as for work, maybe it's more that I draw from the personal, internal experience of having lived in different countries, than the actual physical places themselves.
The concept of those places or the concept of being a forever stranger not belonging anywhere (not even to the mother country).
In your biography at Thinkspace it reads "Her portraits of women are rendered in easy, flowing lines with soft hues that transcend the typical critiques of feminine beauty, inherent in today's self conscious society" How do you think your portraits transcend the typical critiques of female beauty? Could you elaborate?
First off, I didn't write that bio, so I'm not sure what they meant by it either. I don't offer my own intentions or meanings or "hidden messages", if there are even any, in my works to people, so it's refreshing to hear other people's interpretations. that being said, I have never once consciously thought of how to "transcend the typical critiques of feminine beauty", vis-à-vis today's or any other time's societal measures. if they see that in my works, that's great.
I paint figures of women (or "portraits", as many people call them) mostly as a vessel. not that they have no substance - maybe they're only substance, really.
The external "feminine beauty" part is just that, external. it's for my own aesthetic satisfaction. although it's slowly starting to change, I couldn't find any better way to slice a moment
of emotion or mood or ideas and express it, other than to show it with something familiar to me. if that makes sense at all.
We're so excited to be working with Katsuya Terada, who was just nominated for ComicCon's Best Painter/Multimedia Artist for his work in The Monkey King Vol. 2. Terada just had celebrated his 10 year retrospective exhibition at Kyoto Manga Museum. We've collaborated and created 2 large limited edition giclee prints of his recent work.
We're very excited for our May show Daydreamers, a two person show featuring the wonderful Stella Im Hultberg and the up & coming Suite Charlie. Suite was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for us and send over some shots of her studio. Meet Suite (& Stella!) in person at the opening reception May 2nd from 7 - 10 pm!
So this is your first gallery show - how are you feeling about it? Nervous, excited, like it's a long time coming? You have quite the online following!
Yes! And yes, I'm a big fuzzy ball of emotions right now, mainly nervous ones but also excited and overwhelmed by this amazing opportunity. (thanks to Stella and Molly :3 ). I must admit that it was quite a shock to me at first, I feel like I'm just now getting comfortable in my own style. But the chance to show with Stella is literally a dream come true for me so I couldn't let my insecurities get in the way!
You're a self taught artist, how did that come to be exactly? It's hard to believe you've only been experimenting for the past two years.
Well, when I first came back from Japan, I figured I needed to grow up and start seriously thinking about my future. I had always been a fairly creative person so I knew that I wanted to be involved with something creative if possible. My first choice was actually to become a special effects makeup artist. I love fantasy and sci-fi movies (LOTR geek here) and thought it would be really fun to be apart of the process. I began doing some research on the business and found out that having sculpting skills was a huge asset in the SFX industry. So I went to the art store, bought some clay and started experimenting. That led to doll making which in turn led to oil painting and I've been doing both ever since. Sculpting is definitely my first love, I really hope to shift more in that direction with my art in the future.
What made you decide to start getting serious about making art?
Are you experimenting with any other mediums aside from painting on wood?
I've been experimenting more with mixed media collage for this show. Actually, I stumbled upon a new technique that I'm very excited about just last week!. Also, on the side I have been working on a ball jointed doll project for around 3 years now. I hope to finally get a chance to finish it this summer.
We have new prints by Vivian Chen in the permanent gallery. Bear and Deer are prints of originals from Vivian's three person show this past January at Compound.
