Artists Interview Artists: Candace Keegan

Candace (Candy) Keegan, a D.C. based artist, participates in the Artists Interview Artists Project. Below Candy responds to another artist's five questions (Warren Craghead from Charlottesville, VA). In order to participate, Candy had to provide me with five questions for some other artist to answer. The assigning of questions to artists is completely random. If you're an artist and interested in participating, let me know.

1. Do you plan out a piece or do you wing it?

I always plan them out before hand. I usually begin with rough sketches, then take digital photographs myself or have someone else take them; then sometimes there are more sketches. After that, I do a drawing on the canvas and try to work out as many problems as I can before putting paint to canvas. I am a planner by nature, so the process works well for me.

Do you think either way is better?

For me, planning is definitely better. For some people, I am sure a more spontaneous approach is more effective. For abstract painters or artists working in a genre that focuses more on free association and the unconscious, a more spontaneous protocol might work for them. Because I work in a tighter, more realist style, early planning helps me to avoid greater problems and headaches later on, especially as I approach the final layer of a painting.

If you wing it, how do you understand what the piece is afterwards?

It is interesting to note that even though I often feel I have a clear concept or idea in mind when I begin a painting; many times other ideas and different levels of meaning surface after the fact.

If you plan it, how do you keep it from being dead?

This is a very good question and one I admit to sometimes struggling with. This is probably one of the reasons why I have such a large stack of unfinished paintings!

One way I try to keep my paintings alive and fresh is by experimenting with different
palettes and color combinations, especially when painting the flesh. I also experiment with different mediums. For the initial photos, I play around with various light sources and compositions.

2. What are your work habits? Please be specific.

Hmmm. This is another tough one to describe. I work in spurts. Some days are very productive, while others are spent simply looking and looking and looking. I like to work on several paintings at once, so that when I am feeling particularly productive, I can move from one painting to the next. Going back and forth between paintings is another strategy that keeps them fresh for me.

3. Picasso vs. Duchamp, who wins a wrestling match? Would someone else beat them both?

I have given this a lot of thought. In a literal wrestling match I would have to say Picasso. Even though he was not a particularly physically large guy, he was more overtly aggressive than Duchamp. In a metaphorically intellectual wrestling match, however, I put my money on Duchamp. He was quite the clever fellow.

If the literal wrestling match were in a bar, I say Pollock beats the pants off of them both. Of course there’s Diego Rivera….he was a mighty big fella!

If it is a metaphorically emotional wrestling match, one of the Futurists could take them both down.

4. Why are you making these things?

Because it is more challenging and rewarding than making widgets. Sorry, getting goofy. Actually, I ask myself this questions all the time. I suppose the main reason is simply that I keep feeling compelled to do so. I paint, and then I ask myself: Is it a need to somehow communicate with the rest of the world from the inside out? Is it a search to find some deeper connection and share in the common human experience? Is it an attempt to address personal and emotional issues in a productive way? Is it to make a social and political statement? Is it to feel connected to artists of the past and to create my own mark on the world? Is it simply to be heard?? I guess it is a little bit of all of these and more, depending on the exact time at which I am engaging in the creative process.

5. Are there any questions you'd want to ask your audience? The audience of this blog?

Who are some artists whose work stir your soul and why? Why aren’t there more restaurants that serve meat in a cup and why isn’t there more blue food? (Ok, I admit I am getting a little punchy now!)

Previous Interviews:
Juno Doran (questions by James W. Bailey)
Josh Feldman (questions by Joseph Barbaccia)
Lisa Stephenson (questions by Whitney Lynn)
Joseph Barbaccia (questions by Josh Feldman)
James W. Bailey (questions by Matt Hollis)
Matt Hollis (questions by Juno Doran)
Carol Es (questions by James Leonard)
Alexandra Silverthorne (questions by Ami Lahoff)
Christine Buckton Tillman (questions by Carol Es)
Douglas Witmer (questions by Alexandra Silverthorne)
Sky Pape (questions by Douglas Witmer)
Whitney Lynn (questions by Lisa Stephenson)
Heather Levy (questions by Joanne Greenbaum)
Heather Lowe (questions by Samantha Wolov)
Samantha Wolov (questions by Heather Levy)
Timothy McClellan (questions by Heather Lowe)
James Leonard (questions by Sky Pape)
Joanne Greenbaum (questions by Timothy McClellan)
Richard Kooyman (questions by Robert Walton)

Comments

[wwc]

Great answers!

I would say great questions but I wrote them...

[sam wolov]

duchamp always struck me as a biter. or at least a dirty fighter. he's have fun with it. picasso would just be bored with it. i can see it now....picasso thinks he's too cool for a fight, he turns and walks away, and duchamp just pounces and laughs at him. i heard michaelangelo was a big guy. hairy too. i'd say i'd like to imagine a fight between him and rivera, but don't think it would be a fair fight--kahlo would probably want to join in the fun too.

i think too much about these things. fun though.

[Candy Keegan]

Thanks for the comments! I also had fun thinking about it!