011 STRUCTURED IMPROVISATION
LIVE CONVERSATION:
MARY CRENSHAW INTERVIEWS REBBY SHARP
recorded on
https://www.facebook.com/LOLWOWSOS/
May 13, 2020
In the post below, we are invited to follow painter Mary Crenshaw's interview with musician and visual artist Rebby Sharp, who lives and works in Virginia next to the Blue Ridge Mountains. We are thrilled to learn more about Rebby's colorful and lively paintings and her artistic practice.
LOL/WOW/SOS:
Hello, Mary in Milan, Italy. Hello, Rebby, in Waynesboro, Virginia, USA. How are you both doing today? We hope well. Thank you both for allowing us to follow your conversation here on LOL/WOW/SOS.
Mary Crenshaw: Hi, Liselott! It is great to be able to interview Rebby today.
Mary Crenshaw: Hello, Rebby! I am looking forward to learning about your recent paintings. The exciting online posts of your paintings during the quarantine piqued my interest. It looks like you are on fire! The work lined up on your piano tells it all; that these are paintings of a painter/musician.
Because I am familiar with your past work, I know you have been working abstractly for some time. Your paintings are so detailed, they appear very time consuming, yet you seem to create them quickly. A few of the images show how you begin with a drawing. Can you explain your process?
Has being forced to be inside affected your way of working at all?
Rebby Sharp: Hi, my process is to draw with permanent marker in a way that follows several rules allowing for ambiguous elements while alluding to organic objects and spacial relationships. This "style" has been developed by trial and error over hundreds of drawings. The color usage is based on my becoming familiar with bright colors, how they act with each other, and how they act with really muddy colors. I really enjoy making these paintings. I particularly enjoy knowing other people are responding positively to them in these difficult times. It is a coincidence that I was inspired to try a new medium, gouache, at the onset of this seclusion. Having my daily structure removed, I established art-making as a guiding, satisfying activity. Contact with folks online has been key.
Mary Crenshaw: This ambiguity you mention works quite successfully, letting us use our imagination. Because of how quickly and easily the paintings evolve, it is evident that you have honed this way of working and developed a unique and personal style. The contrast of bright versus drab hues gives your paintings a jewel-like quality, one that is reminiscent of stained glass. This seems like something difficult to achieve without layering, so obviously, you have developed an acute awareness and sensitivity to subtle color shifts. Are the images you have been posting made with gouache? It looks like you are comfortable with it as a medium.
It is apparent that you enjoy creating this work because it conveys your energy and wit. Also, you are posting daily pictures of records from your extensive collection. Does the rhythmic energy in your paintings come from the music you listen to while painting? Does music enter into your painting practice? If so, how?
Rebby Sharp: Good questions! I'll get back to you tomorrow. Thank you for your interest and thoughtful insight, Mary.
Rebby Sharp: Hello from rainy Virginia. My first set of gouache was more akin to acrylic than my second set, which is akin to watercolor. Both have taken some getting used to in the way they handle. It is very evident that I need to order a couple of better brushes. It is never fun when you are fighting your tools.
Listening to music while painting relieves the tedium of plodding through to finish after the initial creative burst of drawing is done. My mind is engaged in much the same way I would listen to the radio while house painting. Also, it helps to silence my inner critic. During the last flurry of activity in making a series of paintings, I used all the seasons of "House" on DVD from the library to occupy my mind.
Mary Crenshaw: Hello from rainy Milan! It looks like you are very comfortable with your materials because your paintings are meticulous. Having the right tools is important. Painting is hard enough without the little pleasures of favorite kinds of brushes and paints.
Silencing the inner critic, however possible, is imperative, and series binging sounds like a good way. Dr. House is a complex character with an artistic temperament. In the series, he plays the piano, doesn't he? Your paintings appear confident and seem to effortlessly flow from your fingertips, so not succumbing to your inner commentator works well.
Let's talk about your palette. How do you settle on colors? Do you work in groups using the same ones, or do you create one painting at a time?
Rebby Sharp: Ooh, I like this question. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Have a good day.
Rebby Sharp: My color choice is part of completing the puzzle as to which areas will be contrasting with their neighbors or blending-in. There are a few rules I follow, which include: use at least one primary color, better yet two; unite with color adjoining areas despite panel separation and watch out for three strong primaries next to each other. When I did a vast series with a limited palette/no blending using oil pastels, I found how colors play off each other. I thought about Rothko's investigations, and I thought about my experience with house painting. I had a huge color fan for paints that I used for 25 years in recommending room colors for clients. This showed me that colors resonate with people very differently, and I wanted to become familiar with combinations outside my inclinations. Avoiding blending was very helpful.
I work on one painting at a time. I have discarded a drawing as hopeless several times, applying color couldn't save it. I look forward to each completion to see how it "works." Sure enough, people react in a variety of ways I could not have anticipated. This is one reason posting the work has been so fun. The fact that some people want to have one in their home is very gratifying.
Mary Crenshaw: You describe color choice as "completing the puzzle," and your rule for this absorbing activity is selecting one or two primary colors but never three next to each other. Does that spell disaster for you? What happens?
Rothko's approach to color contrast as an influence makes perfect sense since color placement is also a key element in his work. Like Rothko, in using a framework for color combinations, you set up infinite options. It was brave to go beyond your personal preferences and think about exploring alternative solutions.
From recent images of your work, it is apparent that you are comfortable varying your tonal range and have put in the practice. It has been exciting to follow your social media posts and to see how the work develops over several days. Who knew we would end up confined for such a long time? People are responding positively and collecting your work, something you mention that was unanticipated. It is only fair that artists today can use the power of the web to be self-sufficient and market their own work. Any comments on that? Do you think that things might change post-quarantine, and the art market will become more "artist-friendly" rather than just championing an elite few?
When you first began posting the paintings with the white divisions, it was interesting to see because you mentioned that it was a new development. Can you talk about this evolution? Did you initially intend them as a way to reinforce the narrative quality your work possesses, or were they a compositional decision that returns to the way Rothko spaces his rectangles? The divisions also bring to mind Agnes Martin or Mondrian, who both relished a good grid.
Rebby Sharp: I divide the page into panels to serve as a compositional device for me and to provide a familiar format by which the viewer can enter the piece. It sparks the imagination in a way a single image can't.
The main point of this series is that there is no narrative. Fred McGann called these " the ever-expanding story that doesn't exist." Exactly. The need for narration is for some so fundamental that they supply one from their own imagination, not mine. I want to encourage this sort of participation by using almost literal images.
Primary colors have a strong impact, so when they are right next to each other, they evoke, for me, early childhood and the "first box of crayons." This is less interesting than color interplay using a variety of dull and vibrant dynamics.
I don't have experience with art marketing and collecting other than my early attempts at being a freelance artist doing outdoor shows, illustrations, and various exhibitions. I don't have the temperament or focus to pursue certain avenues of displaying or distributing my art. I have respect for those friends of mine who do, who have continued art-making throughout their lives, who have kept steady on course. They inspire me. My current activity using social media to reach my community is the most direct and rewarding of all my previous experiences.
Mary Crenshaw: Fred McGann keenly observes that your work is "the ever-expanding story that doesn't exist." His remark brings to mind surrealism. Have you been influenced by this movement or surrealist artists like Arp or Miró?
The multiple panel format you describe as familiar is recognizable to us because of graphic novels and comic books, a branch of the arts not considered fine art, even if some of the true greats from past years are/were comic book artists. Yet, you are making complex abstract paintings reminiscent of this genre and marketing the work in an egalitarian manner. Does this correlate to being a musician and how you share actual work, not reproductions of it, with your audience? Your mentioning not having the temperament to pursue certain avenues led me to this idea.
Italian art critic Angela Vettese said once that the artist's biggest creative challenge is discovering how to market one's work. That always rang true, because taking certain routes in the art world is not for everybody.
Now that we are on the topic and I have let the cat out of the bag, you are also an accomplished musician. Has this influenced your painting? There are elements of music in it, whole orchestrated symphonies, in fact, rhythm, high and low notes, harmony and dissonance, as well as vignettes that could be read as stage sets. Is that just my interpretation of the ambiguity you strive to generate?
Rebby Sharp: During my childhood and early adulthood, I was easily submerged in my dreaming/sleeping scenarios/images and the emotions and messages which arose. When people said they don't remember their dreams, I thought this so alien. When people asked, "do you write down your dreams," I consistently responded, "no, they threaten to overtake 'reality' as it is." As I became aware of the glue that held together the surrealists as a movement – the fascination with dream imagery, archetypes, and access to arcane knowledge – I was even more attracted to their work. Surrealism has infused my sensibility for so long that its influence is profound. In friends' mutual attraction to this movement, I became aware of poetry, writing, plays/performance, etc. and there was quite a bit of interest in all this with my peers in Richmond Artists Workshop (RAW). The emphasis on free improvisation music was inspiring, thrilling, and encouraging. I became interested and am still interested in the creative group process, the ineffable wordless exchange between musicians in the moment of creating, and the attending audience. So, there is a similarity in dynamics, ambiguity, and emphasis on inviting imagination with my writing, music, and visual art. I recently saw a filmed 2015 interview with Leonora Carrington. Here is an excerpt that is a succinct answer to the question of where her creative impulse/ability comes from: "I have no idea ... are you fixed on the idea of heredity ... it comes from someplace else ... you're trying to intellectualize it, desperately, and you're wasting your time." I love her response.
LOL/WOW/SOS: Rebby Sharp, thank you for sharing your thoughts on your artistic research and process. Thank you, Mary Crenshaw, for this insightful and thorough interview. It has been a joy and very inspiring to follow your conversation. Have a good day in art and in life!