Gail Factor
Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW personal connection to this kind of landscape that was very much a part of who she was as an artist.
It would seem that much of her work is designed to provoke an intellectual, nonnarrative response. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Do you see a potential narrative application of her work?
It was most important to my mother that people have their own personal response and experience when witnessing her work. She would not openly share her personal meaning or process unless asked directly. But she wanted others to formulate their own emotional reaction, and have it be significant to them.
Over these years Ms. Factor has exhibited in several occasions, including the recent show, Metamorphosis, A Retrospective recently exhibited with University of Southern California in Los Angeles. How did she consider the nature of the relationship of her art with her audience? In particular, could you describe the relationship she had with the gallery in terms of a collaboration when curating a show?
A very private person, my mother loved making art and her allegiance was first and foremost to herself and her art. Yet she was a very warm personable woman who cherished that others wanted to see her work, bask in her work, puzzle in her work, and delight in her work. To this end, she enormously respected collectors and viewers and felt it was a privilege as a professional artist to consider her audience. I think it took the form of her first making the work on her terms, then wanting to share it with others so they might have a visceral response, and finally proud that a work might find its way into someone’ s collection or home. Galleries were kind to her and she appreciated the efforts made by dedicated gallerists who believed in her work. Differing exhibitions called for flexibility. She knew when to be collaborative and when to step away and trust that a gallery or exhibition space would honor her work.
An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryder, curator landescape @ europe. com