Judith Schaechter at work in the studio.
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What are you working on?
Judith Schaechter: My work just builds on what interests me always, so I don’t see anything as a discreet body of work. I like the big themes such as love, loss, and anything starting with the prefix “trans.” I’m a very hands-on person — and I have trouble pinning down when “inspiration” itself actually happens. Sometimes it’s the doodled head, sometimes it’s when the piece is entirely finished. Perhaps this is sort of blatantly evident, but I’m interested in feelings and find using my own to be not only a reliable source of creative motivation but also something many people can relate to, which is quite important to me.
I don’t really “get an idea” and then make it — I let the work develop organically from images I doodle (of faces usually) into bodies, then scenes. So I don’t know what the piece will look like, nor what its “about,” until I am finished. Things are subject to sweeping changes — I made one piece in the show, The Cold Genius (see photo below) four times — with three separate figure/ground resolutions because I wasn’t satisfied with what was going on. There’s only one challenge for me, and that’s to develop beyond what I think I am capable of — conceptually, design-wise, and technically. I’m always trying to make the faces seem “alive” and full of contradictory feelings — the challenge is to step up the level a notch. Also, because at this point I’ve covered a lot of ground in terms of the medium — it’s quite a challenge to keep it fresh and exciting, and to find new things it can do. Ultimately I thought I really nailed it with The Cold Genius (2009) — the head seems alive when you see it in person and the colors? Well they blow my dress up, if you will.
Judith Schaechter, The Cold Genius, 2009. Stained glass. H 25, W (bottom edge) 35, W (top edge) 43 in.
Despite what I said about this not being a separate body of work, there seemed to be certain trends I noticed when working the past year — there’s more images of men, including a bull. That’s different. The contexts the figures exist in seem to be exploring a more abstract type of space than the figures themselves. Until about a year ago, I worked really linearly. I would make one piece from cradle to grave and then move on to the next. This time I started about eight at once and worked on them in a more integrated way. This resulted in a lot of cross pollinating and interbreeding etc. — which was very inspiring to me!
GLASS: What artwork have you experienced recently that has moved you, and got you thinking about your own work?
Judith: Artwork … that’s a tough one! Mostly I look at work on the Internet, now that my hermit tendencies are in full blossom. I tend to like a single artwork by a vast number of artists as opposed to a lot of works that span the career of an artist — very rarely do I like a single artist’s entire oeuvre.
I’m really into the stained glass reconstructions necessitated by Cromwell’s smashing of most English Church stained glass. These “jumble windows” run the gamut from amazingly creative, humorous and bizarre to just crap — but mostly I love them. I’m a big fan of a young painter named Leopold Rabus — although I don’t know anything about him. And of course Le Petit Journal is a source of constant amuse/amazement.
I have a vast, vast image collection and collect things by historical period, or theme. They are not necessarily art works, by the way. Some of my themes are (in case anyone wishes to contribute images for my archive): “Beached Whales”, “People Riding Crocodiles” (I will accept alligators too), “Floaty Hands”, “People on Their Own Personal Planets”, “People with Nests on Their Heads”, “Night Terrors”, “Raptor Attacks”, “Scapegoats and Sacrificial Lambs”, “Vomiting Unicorns”, “Wild Hairy Men”, “Veiled Heads”, “Towers of Babel”, “The Green Man”, “Cephalore”, “Frog Battles” “Piles of People”, “Our Lady of Sorrows”, “Night Time Aerial Views of Lights”, Old star maps, botanicals, representations of time, anatomy charts, any sort of old allegorical weirdness, esoterica, emblemata, obelisks, totem poles, labyrinths the list goes ON and ON and ON!
GLASS: Do you have any upcoming exhibitions where we might see your work?
Judith: I have a one-person show at Claire Oliver Gallery opening on May 22nd from 6 PM – 8 PM in New York. It runs through June 26th, 2010. And I’ll be publishing a blurb book, too. Does that count?