Name: Alexandra
Machover
School: UW Madison
Major: B.S. in Art
School: UW Madison
Major: B.S. in Art
SM: What medium do you work with mainly?
AM: Acrylic paint, and some mixed media collage
SM: Why those materials?
AM: I started acrylic in 4th grade, it became the
medium I was fluent in and it has been part of my life for so long. I don’t
want to say I have mastered it, but I know I can accomplish what I want with
it. I physically like using acrylic more than drawing materials, something
about it feels good.
SM: What kind of artist do you consider yourself? Expressive
or communicative?
AM: A little bit of both. Can you define them?
SM: By expressive I mean abstract, material for material,
not trying to convey a message
AM: I am communicative I do not do abstract, there is always
a message that can be extracted in my work. There is always a message and its
not too literal and not too obvious. It is usually something personal, but I
never really show it. Some of my work is purely aesthetic, but it is also
communicative because it comes from a place of intent. All of my work is
expressive of my emotions or my style or what I find aesthetically pleasing.
SM: You did your undergrad a long way from home in New York,
do you think either city, Madison or New York has influenced your art? How?
AM: Definitely madison more, since I lived here as an adult
on my own. My work in high school was very “high school-y:”flat and all studies
and all skill based. Coming to Madison, my work changed drastically and for the
better. Art classes combined with art history classes changed my perception of
the world around me and changed my perception of what art is. I used to think
that art was always about skill and something wasn’t art unless it was really
well done. Art is not just about making a realistic painting.
SM: What artists inspire you? Is there anyone’s work that
has influenced your own work?
AM: I love Louis Nevelson, I have only done 2 installations
and would love to do more. Her work is about taking a bunch of objects, putting
them together and painting them one color. I love that she makes things
cohesive through one color. It makes it about color versus objects you see
texture under color. I love texture and monochromatics
Also Rauschenberg and interior designs. Not just artists
influence me, I love design as well.
right: Louis Nevelson, Dawn's Bedding
SM: What is the main message of your art for you? Is there a
message you hope you leave with your viewers? If not, what do you hope your art
does?
AM: My art is for myself. I have several styles: I love
painting animal skulls; I like the aesthetics and the quality of texture I
produce with the materials I use which is indicative of my style. I like to
show how it is elegant and sophisticated but kind of grungy because it is an animal
skull it is like New York vs. Madison.
Then I also have my collages (image to the left), they started off as wanting to
feel completely loose and out of control then adding control by adding imagery
later to some of them. I want the viewer to take this mess I made and take a
message from it. I never know what I am going to put at first. For the viewer,
I want them to draw their own conclusions. My work is vague enough that
everyone can relate and it is not telling them what to think. I am putting my
emotions on my panels in a way that is not too literal and that anyone can draw
a conclusion and make up their own narrative.
SM: Tell me about how you came to your style? Did you experiment with a lot of other media before you settled?
AM: My style developed over the last two years. In
fundamental classes it was all over the place and after having Josh as a
drawing teacher he loosened me up and by the end of my sophomore year I had a
feeling of where I could go with my art. By junior year it developed more
because of Fred Stonehouse. Fred made me calm down and control myself. I was
working really big and it was out of control, then I starting working on
smaller handmade paper and it allowed me to focus and control what I was doing
and that was what when I started doing the skulls. This blog thefashionhash.com is a blog; I met the girl who writes it, who has amazing
clothes and apartment. When I came home from her apartment I wanted to paint a
skull I saw in her room, I give her the credit because ever since then I
painted skulls. After seeing her apartment, I saw what design and art could be.
Collaging and other art became more purposeful after that. Instead of random
narratives I chose narratives in my life, and choose more imagery from what I
am trying to convey instead of waiting for them- I am purposefully trying.
SM: Describe your process for this piece "Untitled: Elephant"
AM: Step one. I get handmade paper or wood then I gesso on
it with white gesso, it is preferably thicker then I add texture with the
shitty paper towels in Humanities because they are the best for texture.
Then I continue adding texture gesso, paper towels, dry
brush etc. Once I feel like the texture of a bone has been achieved, I let it
dry. Then, I find an image of a skull I would like to use, the skulls I like
are: cow skulls, deer sometimes, and the elephant was random, but worked out
well. I trace the skulls; I do not draw because I don’t think it is necessary,
it’s not the point. The point is the painting quality. I trace from my computer
screen because I don’t have a printer! I draw on the back with charcoal and
transfer it to the surface. Then, I paint it with a limited and minimal color
palette. I think there is always a time to stop. I don’t want my stuff to look
over worked or over labored I paint until the moment it is finished, then I
know it is done.
SM: People who know your work know you skulls are analogous
to your signature, when did you start using them in your art?
AM: Junior year, first semester.
AM: They are aesthetically pleasing to me, which is part of
it. I like the cleanliness of them.
It can have a meaning, I am from New York, but I have spent
the last four years of my life in Wisconsin, which has become part of my
identity and cows are the animal of Wisconsin. It is a combination of my two identities;
sophisticated new york meets the Midwest.
SM: Have you worked with the skulls in other media?
AM: I did a photogram of a cow skull, I did a stencil in
cardboard which I thought was successful. I bought a fake taxidermy skull,
which I am covering in Swarovski crystals, another New York/WI mash-up of glam
and country. I would like to explore it in other media-maybe cardboard. It’s on
my list of things to do.
SM: Do you think the skulls are a phase of your art right
now?
AM: Yes, totally. I think every part of my art is a phase
and it will always be changing. You can do the same thing a million ways, but
why do that when you can keep pushing the envelope. Hopefully, I can keep doing
them and making them interesting, but I haven’t done them in a while now, the
last one was so much work I was like, “I can’t do them for a while now.”
SM: You also explore materials in your work, is there an intended
meaning with them? Do they stand for anything else or are they pure material
for you?
AM: Certain things are pure material, like when I use a
piece of canvas just to create texture. But when I use vintage National
Geographic’s, I am using them for their imagery and the reason why is I don’t
really enjoy painting people or scenes. In my head there are so many images in
this world, why should I create my own with art materials when I can extract
them from something that is already made. With the national geographic collages
I take images I find, and they express what I want to express and those are
more than just aesthetics.
AM: Nope, not anymore surprisingly. Its gotten to the point
where I am always coming up with ideas and I write them down because there are
so many things I want to do. I have a list in my phone of them, I think it
generates ideas. The reason I don’t struggle to come up with ideas is because
my method is waiting for the ideas to come to me and now they shoot at me like
wild fire. I hope I don’t jinx myself, but I the more creative things I do the
more ideas I get.
SM: Is there anything you want to say about your art that
people might not immediately see in it by just looking?
AM: I think that everything intend to put people can read, I
think my art is relatable and it is not too ambiguous. It is relatable to an
everyday viewer or an art viewer and there is nothing more I would say about
it.
SM: Did majoring in art benefit your work? How did it
influence you?
AM: It made me focus more on my art. I think I am the most
focused I have ever been. had I not been an art major it would have ended up as
a hobby and less as a lifestyle. It has become my life rather than something I
just like to do.
SM: What do you see as your personal goal with art? Do you
make it with hopes of being in a gallery, homes, public areas?
AM: Its almost like the same approach with art, where the
ideas come to me. I feel like whatever is going to happen will happen to me. I
am not going to force it. I am not going to force myself to work in a place
that is going to hinder my creativity. If something doesn’t happen which is possible,
I will figure it out, I would enjoy working on the business aspects of art.
AM: My blog originally started from a shitty summer. I kind
of was in an artistic and life slump. I didn’t get blogging and didn’t
understand it and I was sitting with a friend and he said he thought would be
good at blogging and he said it was like “something tangible to look back on.”
So then I started blogging. I think it has totally improved
everything about me as a person and an artist. It is both for myself, in that
it sparks my creativity more and it is always generating new ideas and it
causes me to see the world from a different angle. I am always thinking about
how I can incorporate this artistically in my blog I am always looking at the
world through the lens of an artist all because of my blog and I want to see
things and make them artistic. It is also because I want to share it with
people. I love sharing things I make and find interesting with others and I
like putting my art on there from time to time but it is mostly the progress, I
don’t just post my portfolio.
SM: Does having a blog help you explore different avenues in
your art?
AM: It doesn’t make my art different, it doesn’t directly
affect my art but the ideas that are coming to me.
SM: To me, the clothes and jewelry you alter, your photos
and your paintings all have a similar feel their simple use of color. Do you
think there is a theme or trend throughout what you make?
AM: Yes, I think that whatever I make is just my style and
who I am and it is not even on purpose. It is subconscious that everything I do
has the same style. It is just my taste; it permeates through everything I
make.
SM: Plans and goals
for your art, blog and other endeavors?
AM: I just like spreading it and I want to spread it as far as I can without forcing it. If people will value it and appreciate it that’s all I care about. For myself, I want to become better.
