Off The Wall

Meet Artist Amy Casey

this image taken by Lou Muenz

After ages in the drafts file, we finally managed to meet up with the very busy Amy.

RD: Hey, it's great to meet you.

Sorry I did not get back to you earlier, the weeks just got sucked away by a painting that just would not finish! Frustrating!

RD: No probs☋, could you tell us where your from and what training you've had please.

I am from Erie Pennsylvania originally and have been in Cleveland, OH for most of the time since 1994, with about a year and a half in Chicago.

In terms of art training, I went to the Cleveland Institute of Art where I got a BFA in painting and also spent a summer at the Yale Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk.

RD: What materials do you use for you work and fill us in on the "dream inspiration".

The actual paintings are just acrylic paint and matte medium on paper or claybord panels.

The dream inspiration is a bit of a misunderstanding in a way. I was having a fairly sweaty end of the world dream that kept repeating over a number of years and I began my artists statement by comparing my paintings to the dreams, and most people take away that the paintings are dream inspired, which strictly speaking, they are not. I am positive my dreams influenced my work but more at a subconscious level:I don't recall ever starting a painting thinking about my dreams.. It just seemed like a graspable comparison at the time, that my anxiety about the world was causing these dreams, and in a similar way, my anxiety was feeding these paintings. I don't know if everybody who doesn't make art can get how your anxiety can feed into your work, but I am sure that most everyone has anxiety feed into their dreams from time to time. However, a lot of my imagery can be kind of dreamlike (sometimes nightmare-like I guess) so I understand why people run with the idea. I think now I am moving more towards an interest in building, rebuilding, community and city planning, but I haven't had time to write a new statement. I think the old statement still brings understanding to what I am doing, but I think I am feeling more positive generally now. I am not sure if everyone gets that from the paintings, but hey, we all have a point of view.

RD: What music are you into and do you find music stimulates your artistic out-put?

I am not into one particular sort of music, I love all kinds of stuff. My favorites at the moment are Tom Waits, Sam Cooke, Rhymefest, The Mountain Goats, and Clipse among other things, but that's probably because I have a lot of their music on my mp3 player right now. I wouldn't say exactly that music stimulates my art output, but it does sometimes keep me awake and feeling more positive, which is helpful in the studio. Other times though, music can make me nostalgic though and distracts me a little. Lately I listen to a lot of audio books while I work.

RD: Do you feel your art and painting technique has evolved since your earlier stuff in 2005?

I think my work is always evolving, sometimes more slowly than other times.. I think my work has changed a lot in the last 10 years and I 'm sure in 10 more years it will be different from what it is now. I believe a lot of artists think they are changing more than they really are though, because we are so close to the work and I am no different. For instance I dont know if the casual observer would see the difference in my attention to detail and surface, but I would say my attitude towards it has undergone a great change since 2005. I think my thinking has undergone changes like I mentioned earlier-- to simplify- I used to focus on about how things fall apart, and now I would say I think about how things come together. It's maybe not a huge distinction, but it makes a difference to me. Generally throughout my life of painting- I can trace fairly easily how one thing led to another, and its pretty fluid, in my brain. I don't tend to make huge jumps but rather see where a painting takes me, what bits interest me , what comes next and what if's (what if that were a bit different, etc). Obviously I have been focused on city landscape imagery- buildings, houses, streets,etc, for awhile now, and probably will stick with it until it leads me to something else.

RD: Give us a run down on what you have coming up.

I am in a group show curated by Maya Brym in Vaudeville Park in Brooklyn right now until April 30th.
Right now I am most focused on a solo in June at Zg Gallery in Chicago.
I really want to get back to making etchings, but just havent had time to get to the print studio, I am looking forward to doing some more prints this spring.
I know Michael Rosenthal Gallery who I work with in San Francisco is doing some art fairs this fall, but I am not sure which ones off hand.

RD: Ketchup or Mayo?

I still prefer Miracle Whip even though it is a bit cloyingly sweet.

Ha ha..it was well worth the wait to meet you Amy, thanks.

Go see more of Amy C