Remi Viger, an artist from Brooklyn, MI, participates in the Artists Interview Artists Project. Below Remi responds to another artist's five questions (Brady Hegberg from Minneapolis, MN). In order to participate, Remi 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.
Come back To Me
Mixed media
20" x 30"
2005
1. What is your primary source(s) of inspiration? Both normally and when having a creative drought.
I tend to make what's in my head - what I'm feeling - as opposed to what I see ... my inspiration is nearly always internally focused and I'm usually trying to convey a state of mind rather than a physical atmosphere or event. What is happening in my life on the emotional level, and how I perceive it at that time, are usually my inspiration ... in times of plenty and times of drought.
2. If you could be any animal then what is your favorite colored food to eat while answering the real question I'm getting at which is: Do you believe in being secretive and obfuscatory or clear and outspoken about your artistic process and artistic meaning?
No. Maybe, sometimes. It really all depends. Yes, but only during a full moon.
Actually, I'm not overly subtle and I think my artistic process and meaning are usually fairly clear. Too, I think art can often be self portraiture on some level for the artist, but also "self portraiture" for the viewer. I think we can tend to selectively see what we personally relate to in art, and art acts as a mirror in this way. One person may see something totally different from another. I could say exactly what my art means to me and why, but talking a great deal of what this or that means may be entirely irrelevant to a viewer. I guess I like giving the viewer the freedom to decide what the art means to them. As well, I've painted the same basic elements over many years, but they rarely mean the same thing more than once.
OK, yeah, secret and obfuscatory, that's me.
3. Do you like children's art? Your own art as a child? Does it figure in your art ever?
Children's art is fabulous. I enjoy it very much and have done research projects on the development of children's art at university. It's fascinating that every child of normal development, regardless of where they are born or if they're using Crayola markers or a stick in the dirt, will go through the very same stages of drawing ... and, even more exciting, perhaps even stages of "seeing."
Art is what saved me as a child. It was something acceptable for a girl to be good at ... building things and catching frogs were quite frowned upon, even in the 70s (and probably still are). I had a wonderful first grade teacher, Mrs. Hudson, who taught me how to mix colors and to use chalk pastels and who encouraged me to draw every day.
I think childhood in general figures very heavily in my art.
4. Do you prefer calm or passion in your art?
How about calm passion? The comment I most often hear is how "quiet" my art is and what a "quiet" person I must be ... But really, the emotions in what I'm painting are quite passionate ... almost overwhelming, which is why I have to paint them.
5. Does art have to be noticed in order to have a purpose?
I'm not entirely sure of the definition of being "noticed." Does a work being purchased count as being noticed? Must it be displayed in a particular venue or seen by a certain number of people?
I don't think art needs to be seen or purchased or shared in any way to serve its purpose to the maker. There is the making of art and the viewing of art and the two are entirely separate actions, at least to me. I make art because I want to or need to, and for no other reason. The process can be exhilarating, frustrating, healing, and/or revelatory, among other things. But the act of making is, for me, a complete act. Even if I'm working on a commission, the process and experience of making is the purpose. Of course, art serves a purpose to those who see it or otherwise interact with it, and that can certainly add another dimension to the experience of creating ... but it's not necessary for art to have purpose.
I do love sharing my art with others, and rarely keep a piece for more than a few weeks, but to me the doing and the sharing are essentially unrelated.
Sailing to Europa
Mixed media
30" x 40"
2006
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)
Candy Keegan (questions by Warren Craghead)
Robert Walton (questions by Candy Keegan)
John M. Adams (questions by Richard Kooyman)
Prescott Moore Lassman (questions by Mary Addison Hackett)
Mary Addison Hackett (questions by Prescott Moore Lassman)
Andrew Wodzianski (questions by Nathan Manuel & D.Billy)
Nathan Manuel & D.Billy (questions by Andrew Wodzianski)
Michael Janis (questions by Scott Listfield)
Scott Listfield (questions by Michael Janis)
F. Lennox Campello (questions by Sean Hennessy)
Matt Andrade (questions by Adrian Parsons)
Sean Hennessy (questions by F. Lennox Campello)
George Wayne (questions by Michelle McAuliffe)
Eridanus Sellen (questions by Anabela Jevtovic)
Anabela Jevtovic (questions by Eridanus Sellen)
Marianela de la Hoz (questions by A.B. Miner)
Martin Henry (questions by Barbara Johnson-Gresser)
A.B. Miner (questions by George Wayne)
Barbara Johnson-Gresser (questions by Martin Henry)
Adrian Parsons (questions by Matt Andrade)
Heather Schmaedeke (questions by Patricia Hartnett)
Anthony Easton (questions by Melissa Kennedy)
Roz Leibowitz (questions by Anthony Easton)
Melissa Kennedy (questions by Tracy Lee)
Michelle McAuliffe (questions by Marianela de la Hoz)
Tim Folzenlogen (questions by Jason Hanasik)
Rob Willms (questions by Dott Schneider)
Marsha Stein (questions by Gregg Chadwick)
Jason Hanasik (questions by Tim Folzenlogen)
John LeKay (questions by Rosa Naparstek)
Brock Neilson (questions by Richard Vosseller)
Rosa Naparstek (questions by Howard Salmon)
Patricia Hartnett (questions by Verta Reyes)
William Andrews (questions by Bean Gilsdorf)
Howard Salmon (questions by John LeKay)
Corey Amaro (questions by Jason Dean and Matt Nash)
Michael Grayeagle (questions by Chris Ashley)
Marion Boddy-Evans (questions by Deborah Fisher)
Richard Vosseller (questions by Brock Neilson)
Deborah Fisher (questions by Corey Amaro)
Eileen Wold (questions by Michael Grayeagle)
Rob Myers (questions by William Andrews)
Gregg Chadwick (questions by Marsha Stein)
Chris Ashley (questions by Eileen Wold)
Verta Reyes (questions by Heather Schmaedeke)
Jason Dean & Matt Nash (questions by Rob Myers)
Mary Taitt (questions by Adriane Giberson)
Adriane Giberson (questions by Peter Ferko)
Peter Ferko (questions by Amethyst Begley)
Susan Schwake-Larochelle (questions by Jean Hutter)
Jean Hutter (questions by Mary Stebbins Taitt)
Amethyst Begley (questions by Kimberley Lindsley)
Kimberley Lindsley (questions by Susan Schwake-Larochelle)
Prem Singh (questions by Alison Rose)
Erin Antognoli (questions by Karen Winters)
Denis Peterson (questions by Andrea Pratt)
Jennifer Seymour (questions by Erin Antognoli)
Imants Ozers (questions by Denis Peterson)
Mark Malmgren (quesntions by Fiona Ross)
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