An Interview in Small Multiples (Evolution of an Art Opening)

On the occasion of Field Guide — Evolution in Small Multiples, curator Artnome - Jason Bailey initiates a novel type of short form interview with the exhibition’s artists.

These exchanges took place over email in January of 2022.

When the pandemic hit and all exhibitions moved online for a brief period of time, it felt like we lost the opportunity to connect with the artists in real life as people. For this exhibition, I decided to create a rapid-fire interview through a series of short questions and answers to try and capture some of the “getting-to-know-you” banter that occurs after a glass (or three) of wine at a gallery opening.

The result is a short form interview intended to mirror the visual concept of small multiples in written form. Conceived of by Edward Tufte, small multiples display a set of images in close proximity to each other, in order to facilitate comparisons across the full group of images at a glance — a concept that features prominently in the exhibition. The idea here is to quickly provide some more background, insight, and color into who the artists participating in the show are as people. It’s meant to be lighthearted and fun and written in a format similar to what one might find in a field guide.

Hypothetically Micro by Iskra Velitchkova. Image courtesy of the artist and Feral File.

Specimens:

• Jared S Tarbell
• Iskra Velitchkova
• Sasha Belitskaja
• Ilya Shkipin
• Sofia Crespo

Preferred Habitat:

• Sasha: Somewhere on the coast
• Ilya: A ranch in the middle of nowhere amongst bright stars, goats, and donkeys
• Jared: Bi-location of desert and forest
• Iskra: Big and crowded cities
• Sofia: Ocean

Feeds On:

• Sasha: Spicy vegetarian food
• Ilya: Russian dumplings
• Jared: Beauty
• Iskra: Classic omnivorous menu
• Sofia: Lots of fruits & coffee

Inspired By:

• Sasha: Digital defaults
• Ilya: Contemporary art and human form
• Jared: Infinite possibilities of generative systems
• Iskra: Nature and music
• Sofia: The life cycle of a jellyfish

Listens To:

• Sasha: Russian pop
• Ilya: Underground post-punk, noise, lo-fi indie-pop from New Zealand
• Jared: Long-form space ambience
• Iskra: Songs like “Love’s a Stranger” by Warhaus — on loop for some time
• Sofia: The album Mother Earth's Plantasia by Mort Garson

Reads:

• Sasha: Sci-fi and fantasy
• Ilya: Richard Brautigan, Dostoevsky, Frank Herbert, Tolkien
• Jared: UFO case studies
• Iskra: Mostly biographies
• Sofia: Nonfiction audiobooks

Dislikes:

• Sasha: Repetitive work
• Ilya: Panic attacks and traffic
• Jared: Untidy desks
• Iskra: Indoors with white/cold light
• Sofia: Finding trash at the bottom of the sea

Toolbox Includes:

• Sasha: VR, AR, C4D, Zbrush
• Ilya: Canvases, variety of neural networks, digital tools such as Procreate and Photoshop
• Jared: Processing, Epilog laser cutter, micrometer, hammer
• Iskra: D3js, p5js, Processing, plotter, ink, paint, camera, and clay
• Sofia: Portable microscope

Favorite Quote:

• Sasha: “Success is the product of daily habits.” — James Clear
• Ilya: “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." — Cesar A. Cruz
• Jared: “I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success… such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.” — Nikola Tesla
• Iskra: “If you look for a meaning, you’ll miss everything that happens.” — Andrei Tarkovsky
• Sofia: “And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make good art. I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it's all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn't matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art. Make it on the bad days, make it on the good days too.” — Neil Gaiman

Favorite Movie (title or genre):

• Sasha: Horrors and thrillers
• Ilya: “9 Lives of Tomas Katz,” “Eraserhead,” “Lighthouse,” “Possession,” and many more
• Jared: John Carpenter’s “Big Trouble in Little China,” 1986
• Iskra: Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” 2003
• Sofia: “Planet Earth: Blue Planet II,” 2017

Favorite Possession:

• Sasha: VR and AR gadgets
• Ilya: Bass guitar
• Jared: My health
• Iskra: Restaurant tickets, wine corks, and other evidence of good times and charming places I’ve shared with people I love
• Sofia: RTX A6000

Surprising Fact:

• Sasha: I briefly worked as a pizza chef while traveling in Australia.
• Ilya: My art journey began with a desire to make generic pop fantasy art, which I still had to do many years later as a means to make a living.
• Jared: I practice remote viewing and believe in the precognitive nature of dreams.
• Iskra: I am an economist.
• Sofia: I once had a job picking kiwis in an orchard in New Zealand.

Thinks More People Should Know About…

• Sasha: NFTs
• Ilya: New Zealand’s lo-fi indie rock scene on the Flying Nun Label
• Jared: Cognitive biases
• Iskra: Rules can be redefined
• Sofia: The visual system of a peacock mantis shrimp