Artists Interview Artists: Warren Craghead

Warren Craghead, an artist and blogger from Charlottesville, VA, participates in the Artists Interview Artists Project. Below Warren responds to another artist's five questions (John M. Adams from Arlington, VA). In order to participate, Warren had to provide me with five questions for some other artist to answer. The assigning of questions to artists is completely random.

I did see sky. (sneak, page 4)
digital print on paper, edition of 5
12" x 9"
2006

1. How has your life shaped the work you make, and of course how has your work altered your own life?

My work has always been mixed up in my life - from some early comics that featured my high school pals to more current things that reflect the landscape around me. Part of this is how I use drawing for all sorts of things - to make art (of course) but also to figure things out, record things, communicate things. An example - I keep a daily "visual diary" of things that happen to me. I also make a drawing a day of a certain little someone.

2. How is your artwork intertwined with the "human condition" or "human experience"?

I try to make things that aren't just seen but experienced - things that don't just represent the world, but compete with it. Beauty and bafflement, like the real world. It's a human experience to confront something in the world that is as alive as we are, and I try to make my work have mystery backed with a real sense of underlying structure, like something alive and squirming on the wall.

3. When encountering artwork, the viewer must contend with several entities: the object (or artifact of event), the experience or interaction between viewer and said object/artifact, the intention of the artist, and the viewer's own background. How does your artwork rely upon these elements of "the encounter"? Which elements do you feel have the most substantial impact on the way you make art, how or why?

All I can count on is what's on the wall. My intentions are meaningless if not made manifest in the work, and the viewer's response and background are far beyond my control or even knowledge. All I assume out of a viewer is that they'll look, and whatever content or intention I have in making the work needs to be embedded in the piece. In almost every case a wall text explaining a piece is for a failure.

4. How important is chronology within your work? In other words - is it necessary/helpful for a viewer to experience your work in a certain order or in the context of similar works in order to derive meaning or a valuable experience: why or why not?

Except for book projects which are bound together, sequence isn't necessary to my work. However, when a group of pieces are hung together a kind of friction happens among them. In my studio I jump from piece to piece and things start leaping from one piece to another - a tiny hand, a piece of text, a shape. At times I even use a cast of characters in my work. When seen in a group, these common chunks can set up a sometimes narrative relationship.

5. Artists are constantly asking themselves "what if?", and we have all missed opportunities or wish that we had done things differently - but to the contrary, describe one event or time period that has had such an impact, you wouldn't change it.

There's a lot that comes to mind - drawing with my Dad and brother as a kid, my time at VCU in the early 90s, being at Skowhegan.

I'll choose two:

There was a visiting critic who was a poet when I was in school in Austin and at an otherwise boring poetry reading I was struck by lightning that I could do comics and picture stories using images the way a poet uses words. I'm sure I'm not the only person to come up with it, but that thought has made a big difference to me.

The other one would be when I bought a small green sketchbook while living in Italy for the summer. I went crazy drawing in it; I seemed to see more, understand more by drawing all the things around me. That obsession has stayed with me.

images from "a maps little spell"
online project - www.amapslittlespell.com
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)
Remi Viger (questions by Brady Hegberg)
Fiona Ross (questions by Susan Constanse)
Susan Constanse (questions by Remi Viger)
Amie Oliver (questions by Christin Ciaccio Briggs)
Christin Ciaccio Briggs (questions by Dawn Whetzel)
Tara Krause (questions by Cathy Breslaw)
Dawn Whetzel (questions by Tara Krause)

Comments

[wwc]

I should add: Thanks to J.T. and John for patience - I've had these questions for a long time.

[John M. Adams]

No problem - Great answers Warren.