Latest / philly has heART / PMA Contemporary Craft Show Series: Galen Gibson-Cornell

Transcript

PMA Contemporary Craft Show Series: Galen Gibson-Cornell · philly has heART

0:17
How many Barry's classes did you go to? Last
0:19
week? Yeah. I hope everybody knows that if you
0:23
are a guest on the pod, you will probably get
0:26
invited to a Barry's class. For free? Yes. Do
0:31
you see Dominique went with me tonight? Yes.
0:33
You're starting a cult. Not wrong. I went to
0:38
four classes consecutive last week. And in other
0:41
news, I think I found my limit for consecutive
0:44
classes. Okay. How many classes did you go to?
0:49
Just one. Do you want to tell us about it? Oh,
0:53
yeah. It was really good. They just opened the
0:56
Ardmore Barry's. And let me tell you, they weren't
1:00
giving anybody a break. It was hard. It was hard.
1:03
It was so hard. Also, I think they... We're double
1:05
floor divas. Down to double floor. I think what
1:10
we ended up taking... They ended up doing the
1:13
whole preview week of full body. So usually on
1:18
a Wednesday night, which is when we went, you'd
1:20
get chest and back. So a lot of chest presses,
1:25
a lot of rows. We were getting everything. I
1:28
was disappointed that there was no fuel bar,
1:31
aka the shake station. Okay. Holding a squat
1:35
during a Nicole class where there is no shake
1:38
on the other side is a special ring of hell that
1:41
I have no intention of visiting again. Noted.
1:45
Always plan for a brunch after Barry's when Lucinda
1:48
makes it out to Artmore. True. What were the
1:51
kids for Halloween? I walked around the neighborhood
1:55
with a very independent dolphin and a not -so
1:58
-independent fox. I don't know what kids you
2:00
speak of. What were you for Halloween? Gaius
2:05
Julius Caesar. Naturally. No arts notes here,
2:09
though. Shall we move to our conversation with
2:11
Galen Gibson -Cornell? This is a great one. This
2:27
is Robert Marsh, and you're listening to Philly
2:29
Has Heart podcast. In this podcast, we sit down
2:32
with the artists, gallerists, educators, curators,
2:35
and other creatives who comprise the Philadelphia
2:37
art world to discuss upcoming performances, exhibits,
2:40
and other events and initiatives that are not
2:42
to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia is
2:46
so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider this
2:48
your weekend cultural recommendation. With me
2:52
always is my producer, Lucinda Dagerland. Bonjour.
2:55
And today we have Galen Gibson -Curnell, artist,
3:00
paper wizard, whatever. We'll get into it. And
3:05
so thank you for joining us today. Yeah, thanks
3:08
for having me. Galen, please take us through
3:10
your journey that brought you to the visual arts.
3:14
What moments, both big and small, directed you
3:17
to where you are today? Yeah, well, I grew up
3:21
in a family that... is basically classical musicians.
3:24
My parents are both classical music educators,
3:27
and my mom especially taught, focused on kids,
3:31
taught violin and viola lessons in the community.
3:35
So she would always have students coming in and
3:37
out of the house, whatever. And so her three
3:39
kids then, me and my two brothers, started playing
3:42
string instruments when we were two and three
3:44
years old. So I kind of grew up in a music family,
3:49
right, with Beethoven and Bach playing all the
3:51
time. And then I played music every day of my
3:55
life, basically. You know, we practiced every
3:57
day. They used to give me little trophies for
3:59
like each thousand days or whatever. Every thousand
4:04
days? Wow. Three years. Until, you know, until
4:09
I went away for college, I probably practiced
4:11
every day. Even when we were on vacation, we
4:13
would do exercises or something. So, okay, I
4:16
learned diligence, let's say. Yes, you did. But
4:19
also, A very clear message that if let's say
4:24
if you're if you're like learning a piece of
4:26
music and it's a long, complicated piece of music
4:28
and you're looking at it like, how am I going
4:29
to ever learn this? I learned from pretty early
4:32
on that with a bunch of time and work and, you
4:35
know, bit by bit, you can do something very complicated.
4:39
Didn't have to really learn that on my own. I
4:41
was just I was presented in a scenario where
4:43
I could learn that. Right. So that I think is
4:45
really important. I thought, yes, 100 percent,
4:48
because then I realized that. Difficult tasks,
4:50
you just start on them, and they get done eventually.
4:53
And I had the confidence that that would happen
4:55
because I'd seen it. Yes. So that, I think, those
4:58
are, like, incredibly important. That's a beautiful
5:01
foundational development. Great foundation. Just
5:05
a sidebar, were you guys taking the Suzuki method?
5:09
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know about that?
5:11
Or are your kids? We've tried. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
5:15
They're not practicing every day? I think we're
5:18
going more athletics. Okay. My mom was a Suzuki
5:22
teacher, so that was the method for all the students.
5:25
For those who are listening, can you give us
5:28
an elevator pitch for Suzuki method? Yeah, it's
5:31
this brilliant Japanese dude, Shinichi Suzuki.
5:36
I guess the methodology behind it is that kids
5:39
can do amazing things and can learn complicated
5:41
music from an early age, but you've got to include...
5:44
group learning and memorization and there's like
5:48
a whole body element to it like there's like
5:50
you have a foot chart to where you have to stand
5:51
you have like these postures and you learn to
5:54
count in japanese and stuff wow you know there's
5:57
books that increase in difficulty and you learn
6:00
each 10 pieces in each book and you have to you
6:03
have to perform them in a recital from memory
6:06
so there's a bit of memorization there's a bit
6:08
of pressure you go up on stage The boys did not
6:11
get that far. All right. Excellent. Excellent.
6:17
Well, but I just think just to sew up the, because
6:19
you initially asked like the full journey into
6:21
like going away from that into visual arts. At
6:24
some point, I realized that I liked playing music
6:28
a lot, but I didn't like the work of it, you
6:30
know, like the practice. But when I started taking
6:33
art classes and I was doing drawings, I realized
6:36
I liked the work of that a lot better. So I enjoyed
6:39
the process better. And then the end result,
6:42
when I was doing really realistic drawings before,
6:44
and when I finished something and it really popped
6:46
and it looked amazing, that feeling was better
6:48
than anything. So I was like, oh, that's what
6:51
I'm doing. Put that in an age range for us. About
6:55
what time was that in your life where you kind
6:57
of made that switch to visual art? Middle school,
7:00
I probably realized that the art was more, it
7:03
had a higher ceiling for me. But, I mean, I kept
7:08
playing. I mean, I had a music scholarship to
7:11
college also to play in the orchestra. So, I
7:13
mean, that's always been a part of my life still.
7:15
But the art was more like, that's what I'm doing,
7:18
yeah. And were you tied to having to study a
7:21
certain, take a certain amount of semester hours
7:24
in music? Or was it just orchestra? I just had
7:27
to play in the orchestra. Yeah, which was. Where'd
7:30
you go to school? So, I went to Truman State
7:32
University in Missouri. It's like a really nice
7:35
liberal arts college. Okay. Part of the liberal
7:38
arts credo is that you study, like, all 12 of
7:42
them. Do all of everything. Yeah. So that took
7:45
care of my music stuff, you know. And so you
7:47
got to balance art in college as well? Visual
7:50
art. Yeah. So that was my major from the beginning
7:53
of college was visual art. Gotcha. Yeah. Did
7:56
they make you choose an emphasis on a certain
8:00
medium? So I was just painting. And then. I was
8:06
planning on doing painting and ceramics. But
8:09
then when I, the first semester of maybe, because
8:14
we did foundation classes for two years. And
8:16
then the third year, I got to the, it was like
8:19
the night before classes. And I realized that
8:21
orchestra eclipsed the ceramics class. And I
8:26
had to be in the orchestra or else I would lose
8:28
my scholarship money. So I freaked out and I
8:30
had to find a new class right away. And the class
8:34
that was open was printmaking. And I didn't know
8:36
what that really meant. And so I took that class
8:39
instead. And then that just overwhelmed me. I
8:41
loved it. So that became my emphasis, actually.
8:44
Oh, okay. You know, so this fortuitous moment.
8:47
Oh, my gosh. Isn't it funny how those things
8:49
work? Yeah. That is insane. It's cosmic. I know,
8:52
right? Yeah, kismet. And it was the strings the
8:56
whole time. Yeah, yeah, right, right, right.
8:57
They were moving me around. Yeah, yeah. Yes.
9:00
And giving you the... The options that you then
9:05
had at that school. Yeah, it was so cool. Wow.
9:08
I love it. Love it. Love it. So then we're off
9:13
to grad school. Yeah. Did you go to grad school
9:16
immediately after undergrad or did you take any
9:18
time off? This is an interesting tangent we should
9:20
take anyway. But in the middle of undergraduate,
9:23
I did a study abroad in France, in Angers. I
9:26
had been doing, you know, printmaking and loving
9:28
it, including lithography. printing from stones
9:31
you know drawing on limestone and printing from
9:33
those really beautiful historic project the process
9:36
and then i studied abroad in france wait can
9:39
you share oh yeah about that process yeah it's
9:41
incredible yeah yes okay 1796 in germany yes
9:50
yes um well it's they they basically were in
9:54
need of printing things quickly and cost effectively
9:57
and the best process for that at the time was
9:59
etching metal plate etching and this guy there
10:02
was a guy named senefelder that was a poet and
10:04
he was trying to write he was trying to produce
10:06
his own you know poems and plays and stuff and
10:09
etching is just too costly too time intensive
10:11
and i guess people had limestone laying around
10:14
a lot you know for some reason but he took a
10:18
wax pencil and drew like wrote a laundry list
10:20
on a limestone and then it got wet later stone
10:23
holds both water and the markings of a grease
10:27
pencil and he realized that that the water beaded
10:30
up around the drawing so essentially the drawing
10:33
stayed dry because oil repels water and so you
10:37
could make a drawing on a limestone with oil
10:39
substance or wax substance and then the water
10:42
creates a perfect separation around it little
10:44
islands of grease drawing so then he started
10:48
thinking well if you lock in that grease with
10:51
some acids and some other stuff then you have
10:54
basically a perfect separation of inked area
10:57
and non -inked area so if you draw with a grease
11:00
pencil get it wet you can roll a greasy roller
11:03
a roller charge with greasy ink over the surface
11:05
and that ink doesn't sit down where it's wet
11:08
but it does sit down on top of the drawing so
11:11
you can ink up a drawing perfectly print it on
11:15
the paper and you have it's it's like you drew
11:17
it on the paper except backwards magic Picasso
11:21
loved it right away. Goya loved it right away.
11:24
So then they started, like, artists immediately
11:26
started doing it. You can paint, you can draw,
11:28
you can print different colors with different
11:30
stones. I mean, fast forward to now, that's how
11:32
newspapers are printed. That's how cereal boxes
11:34
are printed. That's all. Just they use it with
11:36
big machines now, offset lithography, but it's
11:39
the same principle. So that took over, you know.
11:44
That was a big deal. Yeah. Okay. So, I mean,
11:46
already I was in love with that. So you're studying
11:48
abroad. I was in love with that process, right?
11:50
And then I studied abroad in this town and was
11:53
just studying French, but then found there was
11:55
like an open studios day in the town. I just
11:59
went to this match factory in the outskirts of
12:01
town, and there was a lady in there that had
12:02
a lithography studio with all the stones, with
12:05
all the old wooden presses that like Picasso
12:08
would have been using or whatever. Wow. I just
12:11
was, I was like, oh my God, this is cool. And
12:13
also the, it's so romantic, you know, like the
12:15
old abandoned factory with like in the fall time,
12:18
she had like a fire going with chestnuts and
12:19
stuff. Yes. Yes. Right? Great. This is the best
12:24
thing ever. Isn't it cool? These bitches would
12:27
go gaga over that. Yeah. Yeah. Pumpkin spice.
12:30
Let's go. Yeah. But then I basically just worked
12:37
out with her that. Since I knew some things,
12:39
I could help her out, and then she'd give me
12:40
a key to the space. So I just got to work there
12:43
at night for a semester, basically, and made
12:46
some prints and stuff. But that also made me
12:49
realize that you can do things in the world,
12:51
I guess, is the lesson. Also, that printmaking
12:54
sort of knowledge or that kind of group community,
12:58
art community, you need a studio, a shared studio.
13:00
So that community was exportable. That was actually
13:05
a passport to other places. And I used that knowledge
13:10
a lot later. Basically, that study abroad was
13:13
super important. And I also, I was doing, well,
13:17
this will come into, I think we'll touch back
13:19
on this topic later because there's something
13:20
that relates to that. For now. Because I did
13:25
that study abroad, I was delayed a semester in
13:26
graduating. So I graduated in the fall. And then
13:29
basically the next year I went to grad school.
13:33
Let's talk about your Fulbright scholarship.
13:36
You are the first podcast guest. That we know
13:38
of. Yes, who has been granted one. What was that
13:42
process of application like? And what about your
13:46
application do you think made it stand out? Yeah,
13:49
so, I mean, that was the coolest year of my life
13:53
probably. But, I mean, it's basically you end
13:58
up being a low -level ambassador is what that
14:01
project is. At its roots, it's like a – It's
14:05
low -level propaganda. They want a very friendly
14:10
and nice American to show up in other places
14:12
in the world. And then for that person then to,
14:15
you know, have met a bunch of lovely, in my case,
14:17
Hungarians. And then that builds a bit of, you
14:20
know, because now I'm here talking to you about
14:21
how cool Hungary is. Right. And then they're
14:24
all like, oh, remember that? Remember that American
14:27
that likes the booze too much? In its roots,
14:35
that's what it is. Interesting. I've never heard
14:37
of that perspective before. I mean, it's a lovely,
14:40
like it's the coolest program. You know, what
14:44
they want really is, I mean, they need people
14:47
that have really been demonstrated an interest
14:49
in travel. So that study abroad was really important.
14:52
that i had done that right and that also you
14:55
know i can that you can survive in a place you
14:57
know they can they can dump somebody off and
14:59
they do all right you're gonna be okay yeah but
15:02
but you had to you know you had to establish
15:05
connections there already so i mean i i had a
15:08
bunch of sponsors one of them was a university
15:11
that i mean i just finished my master's so but
15:13
i They accepted me as a student into the school
15:17
so I could take a couple of classes with a professor
15:19
or have a studio and learn Hungarian lessons
15:21
and stuff. So I had that kind of academic foundation
15:24
there. But then there was also a lithographer's
15:27
union that had a studio that I'd met when I was
15:30
there before. And they wrote me a letter. saying
15:33
that I can work there. And then there was a screen
15:35
printing slash coffee house slash design boutique.
15:38
Yes! That I volunteered at, you know, so there's
15:41
a lot going on. Whatever they can make work.
15:45
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it sounded like you
15:49
had a community there before you were even there.
15:51
That's kind of the point, isn't it? I mean, if
15:53
you can demonstrate that, then they're like,
15:55
oh, yeah, we can trust you with this. And, I
15:57
mean, the crux of my application was that there
16:00
are... walls here that are fascinating and i
16:03
wanted to look i wanted to focus on walls because
16:05
walls are places that hold you know advertisement
16:08
printed posters you know they they support the
16:12
skin of the city and budapest has a beautiful
16:15
skin let's say a lot of history with with posters
16:19
for all these different like soviet times and
16:21
there's a lot of history there on those walls
16:23
the walls mean things and there's interesting
16:26
things happening now because at that time there
16:28
were There was a political election coming up
16:31
and they do a thing. They don't anymore, but
16:34
they used to do a thing that I'd never seen anywhere,
16:36
which is that they would build plywood boxes
16:38
around stop signs on like every street corner.
16:41
And those would be for campaign posters. So Senate
16:44
seat candidates would, a bidding war, like one
16:48
team would pull up, you know, Mr. Horvath. And
16:52
then the next one would. tag up Mrs. Runa Sekine.
16:55
And so, like, you know, it would build on top
16:57
of each other. And then, obviously, surrealist
17:00
games come into play because somebody rips the
17:02
face off of one of them and then the other face
17:04
shows up underneath. Or people write curse words
17:07
or, you know, draw body parts on their faces.
17:11
That's why we can never have a trash can with
17:14
our face on it, Robert. Yeah, that is true. Were
17:16
you trying to? Any day now. Rip that poster off.
17:24
Put it in your work. I love it. Sorry, back to
17:30
you, back to you. Okay. You were talking about
17:32
posters getting ripped off. Well, and we're also,
17:34
we're on our propaganda tour, ripping down propaganda.
17:37
Oh, yeah. On our tour. This is layering itself.
17:41
Let's go. Yes. Well, so that was. I knew that
17:46
that was happening, and basically that was my
17:48
application, is that it needs to be, I'm the
17:50
guy for this, and I need to do this right now,
17:52
and this is going to generate interesting artwork,
17:55
which it certainly did. And so I started just,
17:59
basically at first I was photographing all those,
18:01
because I didn't want to go around ripping down
18:03
their propaganda at the moment. Try that in North
18:08
Korea. Yeah, unfortunately. I wasn't worried
18:13
so much about that there. But yeah, I was photographing
18:16
them, and I was just making other artworks that
18:17
way. I was making lithographs. And through this
18:18
application, though, you are like, Hungary's
18:21
where I want to go. Yeah. Everything has to be
18:23
super specific. Excellent. Okay. Exactly this
18:26
place, exactly right now. Right. These are the
18:28
people that are going to help me do it. Wow.
18:30
Yeah. And they don't care so much if you actually
18:31
do it. They just want you to have been the type
18:33
of person who can sell an idea like that. Yes.
18:36
Do you have to have a certain amount of deliverables
18:38
that you promise and can deliver? You have to
18:42
do a report mid -grant about what you've been
18:45
up to, but they know that things go weird. The
18:48
lithography union that I was going to work with
18:49
folded right away, so I didn't even go there.
18:52
But it didn't matter. I just made other artwork.
18:57
Yeah, it was the coolest thing. We're building
18:59
here. I love this. Was it there that you started
19:02
pulling? Street posters. And what inspired you
19:09
to weave those together? I first started pulling
19:12
the posters there, but I didn't weave them yet.
19:16
Well, and the reason why is part of this story.
19:20
You know, like I mentioned, I was kind of photographing
19:22
those political ones because I made a book basically.
19:24
Like I call it a typology, but it's like the
19:27
same structure. But look at all the ways that
19:29
could rip or tear or somebody could write on
19:31
it. So you have like this paging through book
19:33
and you're like, oh, all the. It's like a close
19:35
-up shot of each picture. But then also I started
19:38
doing, I would find these concert posters put
19:42
up all around the city. And I tried to collect
19:45
every one of those. I tried to go down and, like,
19:47
take them all down. Because then I installed
19:50
them on the wall in a grid. But then also, you
19:54
know, they don't pull off, they don't rip. I
19:56
mean, well, they rip. And so you don't get the
19:58
full rectangle every time. You end up having
20:01
all these gaps in the grid because of what was
20:03
left behind. So there's technically there's like
20:06
a second version of that grid still on the city
20:09
with like a corner. So I was doing projects like
20:11
that that involve, you know, some idea walking
20:14
around the city, taking posters, putting them
20:16
somewhere else, thinking about it. But that generated
20:18
really big artworks all the time. And I didn't
20:21
want to keep doing that. And so in the years
20:25
after that, I started to weave them together,
20:28
cut them up and weave them together. Initially
20:31
as an idea of making smaller artworks. How's
20:36
that working out? Backfire. For anyone who was
20:48
wondering what we're talking about and listening,
20:50
I am linking Galen's online shop in the show
20:54
notes and you can see the scale of the work that
20:59
he currently has for sale. Be in awe. Be in total
21:03
awe. Total awe. This is why Robert's giggling.
21:08
And it also, you know, you've also gone from
21:12
what seems like framed work to now work that
21:16
is thrown up magnetically. Right. Can you kind
21:20
of talk through, like, what were the pivots and
21:24
the changes and why? Yeah. I think the frame
21:28
was something that I just took for granted at
21:30
first. If you're working in printmaking, you
21:34
put it in a frame. Part of what grad school was
21:37
about was ripping down preconceptions, let's
21:40
say. A little too much in some cases. Everybody
21:43
in art school was like, I'll never use a frame
21:45
again. So there was a bit of a weird rebellion,
21:48
which I'm over now. And then your third client's
21:51
like, can you mount this for me? Right, right.
21:54
I want to keep this safe. I have kids running
21:57
around. Yeah, that's what the grad school students
22:00
don't understand. It's like, don't you want money
22:03
to keep doing this? They're like, no. Well, and
22:08
also, I mean, I had a scholarship to go to grad
22:10
school, and then I got the Fulbright scholarship
22:12
afterwards. So I kind of was like, this will
22:14
keep going. I'll be fine. Someone's going to
22:21
give me money. This will pay for itself. No problem
22:25
here. No, but, well, I mean, actually when you're
22:30
– magnets are a thing that are pretty – in photo
22:34
studios or printmaking studios because you put
22:37
two nails in the wall, you put your print up
22:39
there, and you put little magnets on the outside,
22:41
and that's what holds up your print. So we always
22:44
had magnets around in the studios. Everybody,
22:46
printmakers, would just always have magnets around.
22:49
But the thing that we worked on with my gallerist
22:52
that we ended up solving is that we can put magnets
22:55
on the back of the artwork and then use invisible
22:59
magnetic posts behind that. the work clicks up
23:03
to. And so that was, we went through a bunch
23:05
of iterations on how to do that best. But in
23:07
the end, yeah, we figured out a system for that
23:10
to work. And kind of what it does is it's kind
23:13
of the perfect thing. It's a floating piece.
23:15
It's off the wall about two inches. There's a
23:17
shadow behind it. That's the right aesthetic
23:19
for those things. There's a huge difference if
23:22
they're just like stuck on the wall versus out
23:25
of it. That matters tremendously. But also as
23:29
a side effect, they're really, Fun and satisfying.
23:32
You know, now I'm in the, like basically the
23:36
videos I make of installing the artworks become
23:39
an ASMR sort of thing. So now I'm in the like
23:42
satisfying video business. People love a snap.
23:46
It's a click. Yeah. It's a bunch of clicks. Yeah.
23:51
So necessity drives invention, that sort of thing.
23:54
You know, with your art, you're also now consistently
23:58
having to, go out and find the materials in the
24:03
world. How has that helped shape your art, but
24:08
then also helped you explore the world in different
24:12
ways? Yeah. Or has it been a challenge and not
24:15
helped you at all? Yeah. Oh, no, it's, well,
24:17
it was baked in to begin with. I mean, well,
24:21
but the traveling was already infused with my
24:24
artwork practice from the very beginning, from
24:26
that study abroad experience. The French one.
24:29
Yeah. That was the thing that I realized right
24:31
away was that, well, I can combine my interests.
24:34
Yeah. Whoa. That wasn't clear to me at the beginning.
24:37
I love this. We love this. Yeah. So like, wow,
24:41
I can, not only can I, so I realized that I could
24:45
do the printmaking that I was learning, but I
24:47
could also do it in a match factory in France.
24:49
Yes, you could. Then go to Fulbright and then
24:53
beyond, you know, I realized that, well, not
24:56
only, can I make the artwork wherever, but that
24:59
could be part of the process. And also, I mean,
25:02
my home, my hometown in Missouri is not a place
25:05
where you would find posters. It's just not right.
25:08
Every wall belongs clearly to someone. Then that's
25:11
pivotal because I think when I would go in Europe,
25:13
there would be, you know, a pretty standard street
25:17
would have an exterior wall to a big apartment
25:20
building, but the exterior wall is not clearly
25:23
belonging to anyone. It's a bit of a, gray area,
25:26
and so could more easily have a poster on the
25:29
outside of it. Some places like Berlin are covered
25:33
in posters. I mean, they're on electrical boxes,
25:35
they're on most walls, they're on, you know,
25:38
bridges. I'm like, that's a really interesting
25:42
scenario. And I'll take Berlin, for example,
25:46
the wall means something especially interesting
25:49
in Berlin. And I think that, you know, in other
25:52
cities in Germany, there aren't so many posters.
25:55
But Berlin has this special identity of they
25:57
need to express themselves on walls for obvious
26:00
maybe reasons, you know. So all of a sudden it
26:03
just really some things click when you think
26:06
about what that means to people, what these posters
26:08
mean. Yeah. And so obviously then I got really
26:13
interested in, you know, what does it mean to
26:15
go to Berlin and collect posters? Or what does
26:17
it mean to go to Paris or Stockholm or anywhere?
26:21
In Stockholm, for instance, they don't use glue.
26:23
They use tape. To put up posters. Maybe they're
26:26
like trying to be conscious or something. I'm
26:29
not sure why, but it's just clear tape everywhere.
26:33
And then an interesting side effect is when it
26:36
rains, the posters get wet and they slip out
26:38
of the tape and they fall down on the ground.
26:41
And then people will clean them up from the ground.
26:43
But for a moment, you have wet wall, empty tape
26:48
rectangle, dry wall behind where the poster was,
26:51
wet rectangle on the ground where the poster
26:54
fell. Right? And no poster. If that's not magic,
26:59
I don't know what is. That's amazing. That's
27:03
incredible. So it kind of gave me, basically
27:06
then it became, you know, well, I need to go.
27:09
I have to travel to work. Poor me. And then it's
27:13
a cycle that keeps moving. How do you transport
27:15
them back? Are you letting them dry? Are you
27:19
putting them in a portfolio? And you're carrying
27:23
it on, right? Obviously. Well, I mean, I didn't
27:26
need to treat them well, necessarily, because
27:28
I was going to cut them anyway. So a lot of times
27:30
they just got folded up and rolled and jammed
27:33
into suitcases or mailed back. I was cleaning
27:37
out my studio yesterday, and I found a bunch
27:39
of, like, Deutsche Post big, like, 20 -kilo boxes
27:44
that I mailed back at different points, you know?
27:46
Yes. The yellow boxes. It's cool. Yeah, yeah.
27:50
So, yeah, I would just get them home however
27:51
I could. Suitcase, tube, box mailed. Shop, like,
27:55
garbage bags sometimes. All right, all right.
27:58
Do you declare it at customs? I don't know what
28:01
to declare there, you know? How much is it worth
28:03
at that point? I mean, it's going to be worth
28:06
a lot. It's going to be worth a lot, but they
28:08
don't know that. No taxes. Look at his store.
28:13
You'll get it. Yes, yes. Oh, yeah. What's the
28:19
most insane place? Where we either found a poster
28:22
or where the poster was or how we had to acquire
28:26
the poster. Yeah, there is a particular story.
28:30
In Novi Sad in Serbia, I was walking around and
28:36
pulling some posters and photographing. And I
28:38
could tell that this was a political poster just
28:43
by the language of it and the colors and everything.
28:46
In Serbia, it's Cyrillic. Not the alphabet. It's
28:50
written in, well, whatever. I couldn't read them
28:52
anyway. But, you know, it's pretty clear that
28:55
this is a political poster, but there was just
28:58
these images of this guy everywhere. And so I
29:00
photographed them and took a bunch. And there
29:02
was a building that was covered in these posters,
29:05
just like the outside of it was wall to wall,
29:07
you know, covered. And I started taking some
29:10
posters from there and photographing it. And
29:11
a man came out and started yelling really meanly
29:14
at me. I kind of got out of there quick. But
29:19
I realized later on, once I researched that those
29:23
were political posters and it's this guy that
29:27
was in prison. Well, before trial, he was waiting
29:32
for trial in the Hague for a UN trial for potential
29:38
participation in the war crimes of the 90s. But
29:41
he was still a functioning figurehead of a political
29:43
party. And so he was the one on the election
29:46
campaign posters. Do you remember his name? Yeah.
29:49
I don't even know how to spell it. There's accents,
29:55
but it's could be S E S E L J. And interesting
30:03
guy. He went to the university of Michigan. Yeah.
30:06
That guy. So then he, I mean, somehow I have
30:09
like convicted were criminal. Yeah. Convicted.
30:13
But he was just very obstinate. He would go on
30:16
hunger strikes instead of testifying and all
30:18
this other stuff. Anyway, pretty interesting.
30:20
But that ended up being my Master of Fine Arts
30:22
show. It was a big wall. I took these photos
30:25
and then made lithographs of them and then installed
30:28
them on a huge wall in Wisconsin. Wow. But I
30:32
was interested in the triangle of Novi Sad, Wisconsin,
30:37
and, you know, like... Maybe that's not a triangle.
30:41
That's two places. That's a line. But just basically
30:43
making the sort of, what would you call that,
30:46
like geographical geometry? Uh -huh. Well, me
30:49
going to Berlin, going back to Wisconsin, going
30:52
somewhere else, showing it in New York. Yeah.
30:55
All these mental geometries that happen. Pretty
30:59
interesting. And then when I got into the weaving,
31:02
that becomes multiplied because now you're jamming
31:05
those into the same space. You're combining,
31:07
you're flattening space. combining, making a
31:11
soup out of, you know. Right. And as these are
31:13
getting larger, though, too, are you incorporating
31:17
more different types of imagery? Yeah, different
31:21
types of imagery and posters, but also trying
31:24
to now have to find more, right, to then be able
31:26
to pull those colors together, to pull those
31:28
images together. Finding more has never been
31:30
a problem. Okay. Because, I mean, I can go to
31:33
New York and fill a minivan and come back in
31:35
a day, you know. So, yeah. I'll never have, Not
31:38
enough. But obviously like every city is very
31:45
different. I mean, I mentioned Stockholm sort
31:46
of different, but I've been going to South America
31:49
and Mexico City recently. And Buenos Aires, the
31:52
paper is different. They use a different printing
31:54
process. So there's like Bende dots. Gotcha.
31:57
Instead of a more flat digital image like you
32:00
would find in New York. So even the printed image
32:03
is different in different places. Mexico City,
32:06
the posters are all thin. one ply, you know,
32:08
but New York, they're multiple ply or Berlin
32:12
also different cities have different. So it's
32:15
all pretty different material as well as different
32:17
colors and textures and images in New York. The
32:21
substructure of all the posters is female beauty
32:25
basically, or in Soho or wherever you're finding
32:29
them. It's like, it's fashion. And in Berlin,
32:32
you won't find that there's no, you don't use
32:34
female beauty as the prime motivator of things.
32:36
Amen. It's something else, but it could be weird
32:39
dance parties. It's other things. It's technical.
32:44
Right. So that's an interesting cultural, visual
32:49
culture kind of thing. In your series, are you
32:52
taking them from one city at a time and then
32:56
creating the art from there? Or are you blending
32:58
that New York poster and that Berlin poster?
33:02
I do both of those things. Sometimes it makes
33:04
sense to just keep... material from one place
33:07
together. Because a few different times my idea
33:10
has been to, you know, like take Berlin, let's
33:13
make a blending, let's mulch Berlin, you know,
33:16
let's blend it all together and see what that
33:18
gives us. Because a lot of times that gives a
33:20
certain look when you blend it. So that's an
33:23
interesting idea. Or if sometimes, you know,
33:25
two big images look really interesting together,
33:27
they go together. That can be one city. But then
33:30
a lot of the times, like some of my bigger works
33:32
especially, it's just a blending of everything.
33:35
So it's, And I don't mean to connect these five
33:38
cities for a certain reason, but it's just that.
33:42
Aesthetically, it makes sense. Philadelphia,
33:44
Berlin, Buenos Aires, Bratislava, whatever. Wow.
33:49
I've been to a lot of places with B, but I have
33:51
always wanted to combine the Bs. Yes. Yes. That'd
33:57
be so good. Boston. Yes. Your newer work involves
34:00
vintage World War I imagery, both in drawing
34:04
and in posters. And what inspired that direction?
34:07
Yeah. This touches back on what I was talking
34:10
about in my study abroad experience in France.
34:14
Because at that time, I was interested in art
34:18
history. I'm always interested in art history.
34:20
But I was focused on, I just had this idea that
34:22
I wanted to know what it was like to be an artist
34:25
in... in, let's say, a really censored environment.
34:29
Because I was reading about World War II, occupied
34:33
France. There were a lot of famous artists were
34:37
living there at that time and trying to make
34:39
artwork, but there were censorship issues. I
34:41
mean, Picasso was there, Chagall, and all these
34:43
other painters were there. And what they ended
34:47
up doing, I read a book about, was that they
34:49
would use red, white, and blue colors, or they
34:51
would use symbolism to basically create a code.
34:55
or let's say a resistance anthem in their in
34:58
their in their artwork wow right so i was just
35:01
interested in the idea of like well wow what
35:03
happens if you're in that scenario and what do
35:05
you do what do you make yeah and so i was researching
35:07
and i found myself in the archives of this town
35:11
that i was in and i found photographs um at that
35:14
time of you know people ripping down propaganda
35:17
posters as like it was i think on the liberation
35:21
day you know it was like an emancipation wow
35:24
move. And that was pretty powerful, you know?
35:27
And well, the other thing that I always tell
35:29
the story, but the, the wall that I found in
35:33
one of those photographs is a wall that I know
35:35
today, you know, it still exists and it has,
35:38
you know, posters on it today, Beyonce posters
35:41
on it. Wow. So that looking at that history,
35:45
that kind of art, what anthropology is fascinating
35:49
to me, that kind of like archeology, let's say
35:52
that historical research, I kind of moved past
35:56
because I just got interested in the walls themselves.
35:59
But it occurred to me recently that I wanted
36:01
to go back and think more about that history.
36:03
And I was able to look, you know, I found on
36:07
like eBay and some other places, I found people
36:09
selling historical posters from World War I,
36:13
World War II, et cetera. And I collected a few
36:16
of them. And I've been weaving those. I started
36:20
with the World War I posters, but I've been weaving
36:22
those posters together with. contemporary ones
36:25
wow so it's over a hundred years of history combined
36:30
flattened Beyonce to Beyonce plus right wow by
36:34
war bonds yeah that's just a fascinating juxtaposition
36:38
that's incredible it feels powerful yeah it feels
36:41
and it also feels like I have to be very careful
36:44
because there's I mean I'm destroying a thing
36:46
I'm destroying a thing with historical value
36:48
but if it's done right there's an alchemy there
36:51
where that becomes something much more powerful
36:52
yeah And that's the game. And you're sharing
36:56
that story of the wall. Yeah. The wall itself.
36:58
Totally. Through time. Totally. You know, I mentioned
37:00
earlier that I, you know, the weaving is a way
37:02
of condensing space. Yeah. But now we're adding
37:05
another axis. We're condensing time as well.
37:08
Right. And it just, that's a rich sauce. And
37:11
being able to move that story and take that wall
37:16
story and share it. Yeah. With the world. Yeah.
37:20
Wow. Galen, we first met you at the PMA Contemporary
37:25
Craft Show. This year they're celebrating their
37:27
50th anniversary. What is next for you, or what
37:32
are you sharing then with that craft show this
37:35
year? Yeah, so I'm really excited to be back
37:37
in that show, and especially for the 50th anniversary.
37:39
That seems kind of symbolic and important. But
37:42
yeah, I'm going to have a bunch of things. I'll
37:44
have actually the debut of some of these World
37:48
War I poster weavings. So I have those. Those
37:51
ones are framed. They can't be loose. But I've
37:57
had them online for a while, but that'll be the
37:59
first time I'm actually showing those in person.
38:00
I'm really excited about that. And then also
38:03
just another selection of different types of
38:06
weavings. And then also I did some pencil drawings.
38:10
I went back to my roots of realistic drawing
38:12
also and made drawings of generals from World
38:15
War I. So it's kind of like if you could have
38:19
a beer with the general commander of the Allied
38:25
forces in World War I. If you could dip his mustache
38:30
in a frothy lager, what would that be like? Yes.
38:36
Love that. Love that. Yeah, so it's a mixture
38:39
of things. Excellent. Galen, where can our audience
38:42
find you online and in real life? Yeah, so I
38:45
have my website, which is galengibsoncornell
38:48
.com. And then my Instagram is galengibsoncornell
38:51
also. So pretty simple. But those are the two.
38:55
Yes. Perfect. So yeah, but website and Instagram
38:59
is where everything goes. Excellent. Instagram,
39:01
you can see videos and all kinds of other things
39:03
in the website. Yes. Get your ASMR fix in. Galen,
39:10
thank you so much for sharing your story and
39:11
your time with us today. We'll be right back
39:13
with Rapid Fire Questions. And we're back with
39:19
Rapid Fire Questions. If you could work in any
39:23
other artistic medium, be it a different visual
39:26
media or something in the performing arts, and
39:29
achieve the same success, what would it be? I've
39:33
always wanted to make music in like a... dj sort
39:36
of way like mix like produce beats and stuff
39:38
i would like to do that excellent excellent that'd
39:41
be fun speaking of music is there certain music
39:45
or reality show background noise or podcasts
39:48
you listen to when you're making work yeah all
39:52
of it i guess there's certain i have like playlists
39:54
and then but also sometimes i'll get into like
39:56
historical podcasts or i don't know Almost anything.
40:01
Like an audio book. Yeah, yeah. Right, right.
40:04
Could be anything. Nice. I've been re -watching
40:06
Game of Thrones. That's been so fun. So good.
40:10
You're liable to hear anything in there. Yes.
40:14
If you could collaborate with any artist dead
40:17
or alive, who would it be? Yeah, there's this
40:20
guy, Gabriel Orozco, that I love, and I would
40:23
love to collaborate with that dude. He just,
40:27
I mean, there's a million different things that
40:28
he does, but some of the things that I really
40:30
liked about him were these, like he's from Mexico
40:33
city and he had this Citroen like a motorcycle,
40:37
like yellow, like cool motorcycle with like the,
40:39
you know, the front plate and whatever. And he
40:42
has a series of photographs where he put, he
40:46
found a hundred other ones in the city, the same
40:49
type of motorcycle. And he parked his next to
40:52
it and then took a photograph. So he did this
40:54
like twinning. exploring series, whatever, you
40:57
know, that sort of thing. So I'd like to do that
40:59
stuff with that guy. Nice. That'd be dope. Yes.
41:04
Philadelphia art scene in one word. I don't know.
41:08
Hardworking or something. I mean, yeah, I think
41:11
it's just a lot of people pushing hard. I don't
41:14
know. It's cool. It's productive. Okay, I'll
41:19
ask. Okay, a round of F. Mary Kill. Brita Calho,
41:24
Georgia O 'Keeffe, Yui Kusama. Whoa. Well, so
41:32
if I were to marry Kusama, I have to live in
41:35
the insane asylum with her? Well, I mean, I think
41:37
she's dead now. Well, we can kill her then. It's
41:41
a cost -free kill there. All right, yeah. Kill
41:44
her. I guess we're... I started drafting this
41:46
early, didn't I? Yes. Well, I mean, Georgia O
41:50
'Keeffe. They're all dead, but... I guess since
41:54
she's so fixated on, you know... sex organs anyway.
41:57
We probably need to F her. And then we can marry
42:01
Frida Kahlo because I've been to her little part
42:04
of Mexico City, that house there, which is pretty
42:07
dope. Right. So I'll live in Mexico City with
42:09
Frida Kahlo. And you have your own space there.
42:11
I know. And studio. Yeah. It worked for Diego
42:14
Rivera, so that's cool. Can't be all bad. Are
42:16
you sure you don't want to play this game, Robert?
42:18
We'll see. One day. Land the plane. Thank you
42:24
so much again, Galen. And everybody, check out
42:27
Galen's work at the upcoming PMA Contemporary
42:30
Craft Show, as well as online or anywhere you
42:34
find Amazing Art. PMA Contemporary Craft Show
42:51
is coming up this weekend, and we will be at
42:54
the Thursday preview party. Robert, you may remember
42:58
I was running into a minor mentee bee this time
43:01
last year, and I didn't make it. But you did.
43:04
Three words to describe what I can look forward
43:07
to? Oh, I've been so excited for this. And as
43:11
the listeners, you should also be super excited
43:14
as we've readied this buildup with the kind of
43:17
best of the craft show. So you should be excited
43:21
to see unique pieces of art, great individuals
43:26
to speak to about their art and what inspires
43:29
them the most. as well as, in PMA fashion, an
43:35
awesome collection curated by some of our most
43:40
important volunteers in art in the city. Well,
43:45
that was much more than three words, but I'll
43:47
take it. Other things this weekend. Gruesome
43:52
Playground Injuries is running through November
43:55
15th at Theatre Exile. Philadelphia Chamber Music
43:59
Society presents Justin Austing, baritone, Howard
44:05
Watkins on piano on November 6th at the Kimmel
44:09
Center Pearlman Theater. Yannick leads Mahler
44:13
9 on November 8th at the Kimmel Center Marian
44:16
Anderson Hall. Yannick, join us on the podcast.
44:20
Big fans here. Campaign for Yannick on the podcast
44:23
starts now. Actually started a few weeks ago.
44:26
Signing off. Philly has heart. And aren't. Into
45:05
Philly has heart. Don't forget to follow, share,
45:07
and spread the love.