Joe Guzman
Equinox Staff
On Wednesday, October 17, New Orleans based curator Andy Mister came to have a informal discussion about one of the works in the Thorne, named “Paint it black,” as well as his own life.
The discussion was held at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery.
Throughout the discussion, he hinted at different musical artists that have influenced him throughout his travels, currently and before he was even an art curator.
Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins and even Ghostface Killah from the iconic hip hop group Wu Tang Clan were a few he mentioned. Most of the bands were within the alternative rock realm/genre. He also went deeper into how platforms such as Instagram really gave him a boost in notoriety.
In terms of his purely artistic influences, Mister mentioned that, “The artists who have been most … the largest influence on my own work are Vija Celmins, Ed Ruscha, Llyn Foulkes, and Bruce Conner.”
He said Los Angeles is his favorite place to visit or travel to for art. When asked about new and upcoming artists that he enjoys, he explained, “I really love Erin Riley’s recent work, especially the way she uses autobiography and narrative in unexpected and exciting ways. Chris Oh is [also] an amazing painter […] constantly reinventing what a classical painting can be.”
Lastly, he was asked how curating influenced his taste in art, to which he replied: “Curating has forced me to look at and enjoy a wider range of art, in an attempt to put together shows that would be interesting to people other than me. It also helped me to meet and get to know a lot of artists, and through them, my ideas of what art is or can be have changed.”
During the actual talk itself, he went more in depth about “Paint it black.” He summed up the talk up by saying, “The Rolling Stones song ‘Paint It Black’ has never really had much significance for me. It is mentioned in the Big Star song ‘Thirteen,’ which is where the title of the show comes from. That song has been — always functioned — as a lens through which I remember my own adolescence.”
Joe Guzman can be contacted at
jguzman@kscequinox.com
