THE BROTHERWISE DISPATCH vs Gustave Blache III

THE BROTHERWISE DISPATCH, VOL.2, ISSUE#20, JUNE-AUGUST/2016

Gustave Blache III is a contemporary visual Artist whose recent work illuminates particularities of the human condition as socio-historically situated within the occupational rigors, exploitative connotations, and ontological weight of daily labor experienced by everyday people. The Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture acquired one work from Blache's Leah Chase Series of paintings, as well as one of Blache's self-portraits. Another painting from his Leah Chase Series was also acquired by The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

Brotherwise Dispatch - How would you describe your own realization and decision to be an Artist?

Gustave Blache III - It's weird. I'm not sure if I chose Art or if Art chose me. I started drawing and painting at such a young age that I'm unsure if it was a conscious decision. I did though make the conscious decision to continue the pursuit of being an Artist around the age of 14. At that time I just became a student at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (N.O.C.C.A), I remember having the inclination that this was my career path. That year I quit my baseball team and didn't pursue playing organized football anymore, partly because I stopped growing and all the other guys who were still playing were mammoth, but that's besides the point, and after 6 years I quit taking piano lessons to solely pursue Art. I was all in and it was time to see where this would take me.

BD - As an Artist, how do you relate to commonly held notions of ‘Art for Art’s Sake’, or ideas that ascribe an inherently social function to Art?

GBIII - Well, I believe Art should always be for "art for art's sake" unless you're a commercial artist. Unfortunately, I think now the commercial art market is now fueling fine artists inspiration to make Art, not to mention the sudden fame that social media has now injected into the Art world recently. Between the gazillion Art Fairs we have now and Instagram, Facebook, etc. I think most of these factors have created a dynamic that most Artists are commercial artists now.

Now if you're question is geared more towards the idea that Art should have a social function, and only exist on a plane that causes social change, then that is a entirely different dynamic. Maybe you can elaborate a bit more on the "social" aspect you're referring to.

BD – Sure, my point is that Art can ‘only exist on a plane’ of qualitative spiritual autonomy, which as an aesthetic horizon makes ‘causing social change’ possible, and yet such an aesthetic horizon could just as easily be appropriated towards diminishing possibilities for social change. As such, because of this inherent social ambiguity with regards to Art, I am always curious about the perspective of Artists themselves. What I mean is that being an Artist implies a particular relation to the world around you. A world that is not only ‘social’ in the sense of interpersonal experiences, but ‘social’ in the sense of being informed by cultural traditions, historical reality, and established power. So I was curious as to how you see yourself as an Artist in relation to the world?

GBIII - Ok, I don't think Art can "only exist on a plane of qualitative spiritual autonomy". I think Art can serve many purposes, social change being one of them, but many more than just solely social change. I think that for most, or maybe I should dial it back, for some, art serves as personal expression. Like all music isn't created to cause a social reaction or social change, but a lot of times created for people to simply enjoy. Music is created to change how we hear: it's all sensory. Personally, I think the enjoyment of Art is being lost at a rapid pace. The beauty of seeing things in its simplicity is not being reinforced by Art Schools, Artists, media, social media, curators, etc. I feel that visual Art is less visual now and more political, more shock, more commerce, and even more divisive than ever before, actually it's more narcissistic. Where music can exist in the beauty of only a sound, void of words, the visual arts seems to be losing that hum. The visual arts seem to mostly be relying on words, and literally only words, go to an opening now, and there is like a 20 page explanation of what the Art is, or what the exhibition is about. The visual content of the Art doesn't even offer the viewer a chance to visually understand what the Artist is doing. That's the single purpose of the visual artist, right? It's like a magician handing out a description of the routine to the audience and then just standing on stage and not performing. Sorry for going off on a tangent, but it's because I think Art has become overly socially conscious, and socially conscious in a way that the visual clues are often lost. Don't get me wrong, I'm down with making people socially aware by using visual art, but let's remember the visual art part too. I think a lot of contemporary Artists would be better served if they were just writers or activists in that way. I think Art has the power to evoke, bring about calm, transcend time, and bring about change through awareness. It's funny, in terms of how we see ourselves as Artists or really how I see myself as an Artist. For instance, how I saw myself at twenty years of age as an Artist, is different than how I saw myself at thirty years old, and so on and so on. I now think it's how the world see's me as an Artist in the present, and hopefully when I'm the past. I really think the public, in large, defines our impact as an Artist, if there is an impact to be felt. To answer your question, I paint because I enjoy it. It's really that simple, a simple conquest, I enjoy the chase, the challenge; no different than a person who runs a marathon enjoys the pain of the final steps before the finish line. I enjoy finding unique people with unique professions that I love to share through my painting with the public. I hope that the public gains a greater appreciation for the subjects and tasks of those I choose to share through my work. Is what I do meant to bring about social change? I don't know. If society changes as a result of my paintings then I hope it's for the better, but I don't think about it formulaically from the outset. I think Artists fit in the world like anyone else who has thoughts and a way to express them. No matter what the discipline though, an Artist has to be dedicated to the craft, otherwise, without that dedication, in my opinion, you're just a person doing a craft, not crafting or creating what we deem as Art.

BD – Indeed, so how then would you break down the aesthetic trajectory of your current work?

GBIII - Interesting question. I would hope that the trajectory of my newest paintings always trend forward. With each series I approach, I set up different fundamental challenges that I hope push me further as an Artist, or at least my understanding as an Artist. One series may be entirely devoted to light, or even just shadow, while another series could be about space and atmosphere. My hope with each series is to create a set of inherent challenges that then ultimately challenges me to be more well rounded in solving pictorial questions. It's funny how many times a past series I’ve worked on informs the newer one I may be working on. That newest work may have pictorial problems I may have devoted a whole series in solving. Hopefully it then becomes muscle memory in a certain aspect. I'm currently in the fourth year of the series I'm working on now even though I technically started it in 2008 or 2009. I took a three year break from that series to work on the Leah Chase project. Once that was complete I returned to it, and hopefully returned to it a more well rounded Artist.

BD - Being originally from New Orleans, in what sense does the oppressive Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina factor into your work and influence your understanding of artistic responsibility?

GBIII - New Orleans is a unique city. Being a New Orleanian comes with inherent responsibilities. One being that you always say good morning to strangers in passing, and another is to protect and spread the culture indigenous to us. A lot people don't know this, but when I took on the Leah Chase project I was working on a New York themed show in 2008 or 2009, it's actually the project I'm working on now. But when presented with the idea of documenting Leah Chase in her kitchen, I felt a responsibility to document her and share her day to day activities to the public. Her restaurant was affected heavily by Katrina and was closed to the public, with the exception of take out service, for quite some time. Her recovery is emblematic of the recovery that still continues for our city. Me and my family were displaced by Katrina so I even felt more of a responsibility. My wife at the time and 6 month old daughter were living in New Orleans when Katrina hit, and while were evacuated in a small town in western Louisiana, I received a job offer to return to New York while getting supplies in a nearby Walmart. Not knowing what we would be returning too, I took the position and we moved directly back to New York with only a few belongings, that being two suitcases. We returned to see our apartment, for the first time, two months later when the city was finally reopened, but had officially moved back to New York by that time. So I guess to answer your question, yes, I feel tons of responsibility to my city and the people of New Orleans. I can't speak to others experience and the responsibility they feel to their cities but I know how much home matters to me.

BD - In a postmodern era thoroughly dominated by installation pieces, and an Art industry which fetishizes non-figurative Art, what guides and informs your continued insistence on oil painting and impressionistic loyalty to the human figure?

GBIII - Funny how representational figurative Art is now avant-garde. Artists like myself are now in the minority. Most of the Art that garners a lot of press now, in my opinion, is 'shock art', whether it be figurative or not. It's a race to be provocative. There are plenty of talented artists in a variety of genres that go unrecognized as a result of the 'shock art' culture that is taking over the art world now. Most of it contains no aesthetic value and is mostly geared toward social media "shares", "likes", etc. I could understand this more in the gallery world because their interest is geared toward the selling of artwork, but it seems to be spilling over into the museum world too. It seems that scholarly approach to curating is being lost in the shuffle in the effort to have exhibitions that are more provocative and more social media conscious. The game has changed. I remember when all museum curators had Ph.d's but that isn't always the case anymore. Social media has completely changed the game. Heck, some curators are becoming rock stars now, who would have thunk it? It's like having "celebrity chefs" now on every network. In essence, there's no quality control at the restaurant as a result. It's a systemic fail on a variety of levels. I do think the majority of contemporary curators who have taken the scholarly approach manage to still hold the visual content of an Artist in high regard. Hopefully that helps, but right now there's a lot of cowboy curating going on so who knows. I may be the dinosaur in this changing environment so my point of view could be Jurassic too.

I’m afraid Hip Hop and visual art are parallels. Pop Culture took it over, and it's lost its purity as a whole. No different than how the Art Fairs are taking over the visual art world. I'm afraid the visual art world has been falling into that same worm hole. Spaghettified art becomes the product. Like Hip Hop, the sh*t that is playing on the radio now is horrible, and stupefying, and made for an audience that doesn't require more thought behind the product. Visual art is no different. The public just accepts it, the social media curators just post it or repost it, without any understanding of how the Artwork functions visually, only that it's relevant because others think it's relevant. Herd like in my opinion. I have the capacity to like non-figurative art and installations, but how does it function visually? How does it set itself apart visually from its environment or become apart of the environment visually? That's always the question for me. Non-figurative art and installation art still has to function visually in a space, not just exist. If not, than that sh*t is no different than a tree, and trust me, if I had a choice I’d rather look at a tree than some of what passes as Art these days.

I think fighting for the tradition of figurative painting is one thought, but I personally am just trying to make good and honest paintings. Hopefully it's received that way and those traditions I possess are continued. Like a recipe passed down from chef to chef, or from mother to son, but is altered to the tendencies of the new generation without losing the spirit of what the traditional meal was from the beginning. Documenting the stories of others also pushes me, their stories are all unique and I enjoy trying to translate those stories to a larger audience. The labor and processes of others fascinate me, and for some reason I think it fascinates others too. Constantly challenging myself as an Artist and painter helps continues the push too.

This has been another one of our BROTHERWISE FIVE interview series, during which THE BROTHERWISE DISPATCH interrogates intellectuals, artists and activists with five probing questions to the delight of our readers.

On behalf of Gustave Blache III and THE BROTHERWISE DISPATCH,

Peace.

-A. Shahid Stover

(this interview of Gustav Blache III for THE BROTHERWISE DISPATCH was conducted by A. Shahid Stover through email correspondence from January 24th – May 7th of 2016)