Resident Spotlight 2012: Jonathan Durham
August 16, 2012
Jonathan Durham is a New York City-based artist who currently serves as the Director of Visual Arts at Abrons Art Center/Hentry Street Settlement in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Now that the 2012 Residents have settled in to their awesome communal studio, we wanted to see if we could get a bit more of a sense of their studio practices, working habits, and their personalities. So, we asked each of them to answer a series of questions ranging from their artistic fantasies to their favorite foods. Here's what Jonathan had to say...
PS: What are you working on now?
JD: Some photo collage/constructions that will become inkjet prints. The idea for these is about the obstruction of vision, and - as this develops- the obstruction of all the senses. Also working on the logistics of a large sculpture.
PS: What is your experience so far?
JD: Experience so far is humid. Also feels kinda like time is frozen in the gallery. Midtown is so crowded and this feels removed from the pace of the city.
PS: If a celebrity were to play you in a movie, who would it be?
JD: Bill Murray.
PS: Early morning bird or night owl?
JD: Early Morning Owl.
PS: Tips on staying focused?
JD: Stay hungry.
PS: What is your favorite food?
JD: Salmon
PS: Preferred mode of transportation: taxi, bike, subway, foot?
JD: Bike
PS: If you couldn’t work in the arts/be an artist, what kind of work would you do?
JD: I would love to be an athlete. My parents made me take one of those aptitude tests after college and I scored evenly and highest for artist and truck driver. So I guess truck driver.
PS: What are your creative inspirations?
JD: Fiction, water, people who give their lives over to helping the poor and the mistreated.
PS: If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
JD: I would love to collaborate with musicians and architects that design concert spaces.
PS: If you could have lived as an artist in any time period, when would that be?
JD: It would have been interesting to be a sculptor during the Cycladic period...carving all those sleek forms in marble.
Check out Jonathan's website for more about him and his work: jonathandurham.net
Click here to read about Jonathan's professional life.
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