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Q: What makes you just want to run back to the studio and start something new?
Untitled chromogenic print, 24″ x24″, edition of 5 A: I work in series, which means that one pastel painting generally leads into the next. Considerable thought goes into it before I ever begin, so it...
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Q: Why do you work in series?
The studio recently A: I don’t really have any choice in the matter. It’s more or less the way I have always worked so it feels natural. Art-making comes from a deep place. In keeping with the...
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Q: When you set up your figures to photograph, do you create a story?
“He Just Stood There Grinning,” soft pastel on sandpaper, ” 58″ x 38″ A: I always did so with my “Domestic Threats” paintings, but not with my current work. As I set up a group of figures to...
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Q: Your “Gods and Monsters” series consists of tableaux of Mexican and...
Untitled chromogenic print, 24″ x 24″, edition of 5 A: When I depict the Mexican and, more recently, Guatemalan figures in my pastel-on-sandpaper paintings, they are hard-edged, vibrant, and...
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Q: Your new work explores relationships to figures through the medium of soft...
A corner of the studio A: Actually it was the other way around. As I’ve mentioned, I was a maker of pastel-on-sandpaper paintings long before I became a photographer (1986 vs. 2002). However, the...
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Q: Have you ever worked outside?
Reproductions of “Cardinal Rule” (top) and “Blue Ego,” originals are soft pastel on sandpaper, 30″ x 38″ A: As a pastel artist I’ve never worked outside - with so many pastels, it’s just not practical...
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Pearls from artists* # 54
Pier 40, NYC * an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on. In the cemetery all the vultures...
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Q: Would you speak about the practical realities – time and expenses –...
Studio A: I have often said that this work is labor-intensive. In a good year I can complete five or six large (38″ x 58″) pastel paintings. In 2013 I am on track to make four, or, on average, one...
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Q: How do you select a photograph to use as reference material to make a...
Photograph, left, and work in progress A: Like everything else associated with my studio practice, my use of photographs from which to work has changed considerably. Beginning in the early 1990s all...
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Q: Can you discuss your process, including how you actually use Mexican and...
A corner of Barbara’s studio A: When I set up the figures to photograph for a painting, I work very intuitively, so how I actually cast them in an artwork is difficult to say. Looks count a lot – I...
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Q: Was there a defining moment, meeting, or event that convinced you to...
West 29th Street studio A: There was not a defining moment per se, but looking back now, I’d say that because the Navy assigned me to a series of boring office jobs instead of letting me fly, I became...
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Q: What does your creative process look like when you are ready to begin a...
Preliminary sketch A: My working methods have changed dramatically over the years with my current process being a much-simplified version of how I used to work. In other words as I pared down my...
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Q: Who is your favorite artist and why?
Catalogue of Matisse’s late work A: I admire the work of many artists, but if I have to choose only one then I’d say Matisse. Whenever there is a Matisse exhibition in New York, I try to see it at...
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Q: Can you talk a little bit about your process? What happens before you even...
Barbara in Bali (far right) A: My process is extremely slow and labor-intensive. First, there is foreign travel – often to Mexico, Guatemala or someplace in Asia – to find the cultural objects –...
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Q: Another interesting series of yours that has impressed me is your recent...
West 29th Street studio A: That is a great question! You are correct that my palette has darkened. It’s partly from having lived in New York for so long. This is a generally dark city. We famously...
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Q: In the “Black Paintings” you create a deep intellectual interaction and...
“The Storyteller,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 20″ x 26″ A: I’m sure you and other viewers will see all kinds of states of mind, like anguish, happiness, and everything in between. I think that’s...
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Q: Why do you call the small paintings in your “Domestic Threats” series,...
“Scene Thirteen: Bathroom,” 26″ x 20″, soft pastel on sandpaper “He Urged Her to Abdicate,” 58″ x 38,” soft pastel on sandpaper A: At first I didn’t know what to call them. I was looking for a word...
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Q: How do you know when a series has ended?
“A Promise, Meant to be Broken,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 58″ x 38″ A: I suppose it’s when there is nothing left to say within a particular body of work. The urgency to add something I haven’t...
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Pearls from artists* # 152
“Between,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 20″ x 26″ * an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on....
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Q: What is the one painting that you never want to sell?
“No Cure for Insomnia,” pastel on sandpaper, 58″ x 38″ A: There are two: “Myth Meets Dream” and “No Cure for Insomnia.” Both are part of my “Domestic Threats” series and were breakthroughs at the...
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