Interview with Mark G. Taber [mgtens] on Whohub

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What do you do? How do you define yourself as an artist?

I make drawings, paintings, and sculptures to investigate and express my point of view.

Your biography in four lines.

I was born in Cranston Rhode Island U.S.A. in 1972. I completed a 4 year Bachelor of Fine Arts with a sculpture major at Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. I live and work in New York City.

Do you upload your work to the web? If so, where could we see it?

http://www.exnihilostudio.com is my central webpage.

How is an idea born? For you, what is inspiration?

My ideas seem to come from nowhere. My studio is called “ex nihilo” which translates as “out of nothing” or “from nothing” because my creative moments seem to come from nowhere. I organize my life to make this happen as much as possible but mostly I wait and listen for them.

What role does technology play in your creative process?

The etymology of technology comes from the Greek “techni” which means craft. Using the right tool on the right medium the right way is vital to what I do and how I look at art. Any art object is its own special particular and the media and methods used to create it are essential to its particular character.

Art is anything fabricated by human beings.

When do you get your best ideas?

At the most unexpected moments. The trick is to accept them when they come.

How do you evaluate whether an idea is good or not?

I ask if the idea has an embodied history somewhere, and what that history is, and the current state of that history. I draw heavily on my own experience of looking at art for this.

When and how did you begin to see yourself as an artist?

When it came time to decide where to go to college I decided to attend art school, that’s when it became formal. I have always drawn and made things, which is typical for artists. The challenge is to continue to play as an adult. Art can be a kind of adult play.

Do you consider yourself postmodern?

Yes. I think that post-Modern means we are living in the age of Quantum Theory. Modern was pre-Quantum theory. I don’t think a good understanding of our Quantum age has been worked out. It could take a long time, centuries even.

How should a work of art be evaluated?

It should be evaluated in the context of the art history that it is a part of with the help of long experience on the part of the viewer.

Must an artist reinvent him/herself everyday?

Every day is precious and every day brings fresh opportunities. An artist should be willing to take new risks.

No creature on earth makes art like homo-sapiens, so it defines us. I don’t think it is a by-product of evolution, I think it’s the cutting edge of evolution.

Does it pain you to let go of a piece you have sold?

Is a work of art purchased, or is it better said, that it is the artist who is bought?

Whenever I am looking carefully at a work of art and I’m in a concentrated state of mind, I feel like someone is talking to me. I can sense things about the person behind it. I don’t hear words, but I get feelings from the work that tell me who is behind it, at least with contemporary art. I don’t mean simply understanding the ideas in the press release or the artist’s statement, but sensing an individual with strengths, weaknesses, wisdom, ignorance, and so on. This isn’t limited to the art found in galleries, I can feel it in the street or anywhere else art shows up. The best work gives me a strong feeling of an individual behind it, so in that sense if I bought the work then I’d be buying the artist too. In one way all galleries are created equal because they all have art loaded with individuals.

In art, there is no guide. How do you know what the next step is?

The next step is to try and not fear failure.

How do you feel about the fact that the pieces exhibited in contemporary art museums are often of artists already deceased?

It is good to look at old art because it can help show us where the bias is in our own time, and to show what is possible. Our own moment has its bias and we need a sense of history to think outside the bias of the moment.

Do you personally collect any items?

I own some original art that I picked up here and there, but it is not built on any theme or system. I’m a terrible collector. A good collection has structure. I have experienced the passion of collecting. I was a stamp collector when I was about 10-13 years old. I was obsessed, but I had almost no money to build my collection. Eventually the artist in me took over and I started designing and creating my own stamps. Making my own stamps was how I ultimately satisfied my stamp collecting obsession.

What advice would you give to those just beginning?

First, discover the rewards intrinsic to the practice. Then resolve not to quit no matter what, even if you have to repeat to yourself “I will not quit” every day several times a day.

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