Over these years you have exhibited in several occasions , including your recent show Big Ideas in Small Packages , at the Blue Door Gallery , Yonkers . One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers , so before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience . Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process , in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context ?
I don ’ t believe that an artist should make work based on how they believe people will perceive or react it . That will only stifle creativity . Feedback from viewers and peers ; how they feel or what they think about when they look at a new piece , informs my own ideas about the meaning of it . I think of audience reception as more of a conversation with my work , rather than an important aspect in the preliminary decision making of the piece . After seeing what the audience responds to , I will take it into consideration and respond to it in a later piece . Everything can eventually come in to play – I don ’ t like to count anything out .
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts , Stefanie . Finally , would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects ? How do you see your work evolving ?
Thank you so much for taking your time to talk to me . For the future , I would love to continue making more collages like the one I based “ Antarticus ” on . I think I have a lot more to say with this process .
Something that I have been exploring in my work recently is the night sky . I ’ ve been captivated by the night sky , the cosmos , and folklore that surrounds it for quite some time now . I ’ ve been producing a lot of images of the moon – trying to capture its mesmerizing beauty through different mediums .
Recently , I have been working on a smaller scale . I ’ ve been working on a new piece , which is currently untitled , that I ’ m very excited about . It ’ s an edition of linocuts , about 4 inches by 5 inches each , these will be used as sort of building blocks to create a larger piece when displayed . I plan to continuing exploring this kind of tile-like format . What I ’ m most excited about with this new project is the freedom it affords , the small pieces can be displayed to fit any setting . It will be like augmenting the setting to become a part of the work itself , in a way , abstracting the real world .
An interview by Katherine Williams , curator and Josh Ryder , curator landescape @ europe . com