An Interview with Leontine Greenberg
Interviewer: Saki Waki
SW: Tell us a little bit about what you do.
LG: I make watercolor paintings of the beasties that live in my head. There’s a desolate but cheerful post-human landscape in there, populated mostly by birds and rabbits and oddly functioning technology.
SW: What was the worst critique/review/feedback you were ever given and how did it make you feel?
LG: It happened in art school. I was a sculpture major, and I was trying to make objects that told fictional and fantastical stories…not so different from the kind of paintings I do now. I was absolutely delighted with these things I had put together for the crit - sort of a melodramatic chapel of improvised saints made out of found objects and butcher paper and plaster casts of my roommate’s beatific, madonna-like face. And I got smacked down SO hard. The head of the department said, basically, that if I was interested in using narrative and language, drawing and telling stories, then it was time to transfer to the illustration department. They thought there was a huge impermeable wall between ”commercial” art and “fine” art, and that I belonged on the commercial side of it.
SW: How did that experience change or not change the way you feel/felt about your art?
LG: It caused an enormous amount of angst, of course. But eventually I came around and realized that people who tell other people that they’re doing art wrong are evil assholes and must be ignored. And that illustration and fine art (and graffiti and design) all bleed into and inform each other, which is much more exciting than if they didn’t.
SW: What did you do about it?
LG: I tried really hard to stop agonizing about whether the kind of things I was making were the right kind of things or not. And I looked for people who were interested in what I was doing and who were able to help me do it better. I want to give a shout out to my friend Ahn Behrens, who has since passed away. She was endlessly supportive, and she gave me a job and let me show my paintings at her gallery in Jersey City.
SW: I read that you’ve only recently began your watercolor adventures. What did you do before this?
I’ve had a lot of different jobs, but I’ve always made art for money. When I was in my twenties, if someone was willing to pay me to draw or paint something, I’d do it. I did custom leather jackets, murals in people’s apartments, portraits, postcards for shows, wedding invitations, comics, editorial illustration…you name it. The most epic of my early works was a four-foot-long portrait of a Harley Davidson with a wall of flames behind it, gently parting to reveal the silhouette of the Verrazano Narrows bridge. I think it’s hanging over a fireplace on Staten Island now.
In retrospect, I think doing all those different kinds of work let me get a lot better at drawing and painting without angsting too much about content and concept and “meaning”. By the time I started making the things I’m making now, I didn’t have to worry too much about the technical stuff.
SW: With the previous question in mind, are you classically trained, or self-taught?
LG: I went to art school, but most of the technical skills I have are things I taught myself or picked up from other artists.
SW: Your characters are so whimsical and classy, where do you draw your inspiration from?
LG: I love the phrase “whimsical and classy”. Can I have it on my gravestone?
A lot of writers talk about reaching a point in a book or story where the characters kind of start writing themselves, and they almost become a conduit for the story rather than it’s creator. I think that’s started to happen with my paintings. I start out with a basic idea, like “a bird on a boat”, but once I start drawing it takes on it’s own internal logic, which I try to follow. What results is definitely informed by all the stuff I put in my head: books, photos, fashion, other artists’ work…but I try not to force it.
SW: Who are some of your favorite artists? Living and/or deceased.
LG: Ray Caesar is a genius and once sent me an extremely encouraging email. Tessa Farmer makes delightfully creepy installations with dead insects (and rats!). Judith Schaecter is an amazing stained-glass artist. Shaun Tan, Adam Rex, and Peter de Seve are incredible illustrators. Molly Crabapple is great, and plans wonderful, inspiring events that I love to go to. Miss Mindy’s drawings make me very happy. Allison Sommers’s paintings disturb me in a very good way. I could keep going forever. The world is full of excellent art.
SW: What other projects are you working on and where else can we see your works in the near future?
LG: I’ll have a few pieces in the upcoming Ladies’ Night show at myplasticheart NYC, and next summer I’ll have a solo show with Gallery 1988. I’ll also have work in a couple of pop up shows that Ally Takeuchi is planning in Los Angeles. I want to experiment with acrylics and with working in 3D, and I think her shows are going to give me a chance to do that. The best way to find out what I’m up to is to follow me on Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leontine-Greenberg/194847696362?ref=ts) or
Twitter (http://twitter.com/leontinemay)
SW: And the last question: What would you like to say to the other underdogs out there?
LG: Criticism is only worth listening to if it makes you excited to go out and make more art. If it fills you with despair or makes you question yourself, ignore it! Also, read Brigitte Coovert’s advice at the end of her A Bad Crit interview. She’s right on, no matter what kind of artist you are.
