Jamie Baldridge interview 2012

B.C.: Tell us about your art, the mediums that you work with and how you like to work

J.B.: My artwork is always very personal. I am a surrealist, so there are times when even I have a difficult time interpreting my own work since it is driven by my subconscious and dreaming mind. I work only after sunset and prefer to work very late into the night. I always work with music...usually classical or ambient electronica.

 

B.C.: What motivates/inspires you to create? Do you ever get stuck? How do you become unstuck?

J.B.: I am inspired by dreams or other induced states of altered consciousness, literature, philosophy, politics and religion. And I am motivated by a deep need to participate in a different reality. Yes, I often get stuck! I become unstuck by indulging my mind in literature, films or looking at art. There have been time when I lamented that I may never create a new or interesting piece of art again and then, next thing I know I am sketching an intriguing idea. It seems that when I am most stuck is when I come up with my best work. As if it takes a great bit of force to break through the dam.

B.C.: What particular message (if any) are you trying to convey with these images, or are they no more than a reflection of the subject matter?

J.B.: I rarely am trying to convey any sort of political or social message, at least consciously. My greatest desire is for the viewer to get lost in an alternate reality for a time.

 

B.C.: Can you talk to us about your new series of works “Belle Epoque?

J.B.: Belle Epoque are a series of images which I imagine take place during a time of war. I suppose I am partially influenced in this pursuit by my own disappointment and distaste for my country's seemingly endless pursuit of war and conquest. It's as close as I will probably ever come to being political in my work.

 

B.C.: In which way do you express your dark side?

J.B.: Ha! I express my dark side in my art work and writings. There are times that I lament that the whole of my outlook is all "dark side".

 

B.C.: What are your limits in your expression of the dark side?

J.B.: There are no limits for me. If I need to express something then I do so. I never apologize for a disturbing image. Good art should sometimes be very challenging. That said, I always try to find the beauty in an otherwise dismal moment.

B.C.: What are the most fascinating and fun projects you have worked on?

J.B.: The most fascinating objects I have worked on are when I am recreating a specific time period-whcih is always. I enjoy researching costumes, architecture, and period specific design. Currently I am using reference images from the Musee D'Orsay to create a new work and I am having a great time with the challenge.

B.C.: You are also a teacher. How has this influenced your career as an artist?

J.B.: Teaching forces me, albeit gently, to keep pace with pop culture and the ever changing technologies available to the artist. This ensures that my work constantly evolves and it affords me a greater understanding of the frame of reference from which my students conceptualize. It is a wonderful calling and I awake every day looking forward to sharing my inspirations and knowledge with my students.

 

B.C.: Where will we see your art in the future? (events, exhibitions..)

J.B.: Yes! My newest book Almost Fiction will be published in June from Modernbook editions and I have a major show with Bernhard Burhman in May at Carbon 12 gallery in Dubai. I will also be showing in the next year in Madrid, San Francisco and Amsterdam. My work can often be seen on album covers and in art periodicals such as upcoming issues of El Duende, Silvershotz and American Oxford.

 

Jamie Baldridge interview 2012