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James Kaufmann What's so great about Iowa? Why don't you live in an exciting state like California, New York, Louisiana, Florida, or Canada? Your social studies will be very disappointed in you—Canada is not a state but a country (a nation!) to our north. (So take off, eh!) I don’t live in any of the cool states because I’m not a fun person and I wouldn’t fit in.Where does "Casa Maison Haus Von Collage" come from? That’s my first blog, one I started soon after I came back to art suddenly and surprisingly and energetically near the end of 2005. Clearly I wanted a blog name that was stupid and redundant and yet descriptive. I was making tons of collages and assemblages then and scanning and posting a majority of them. I still like making collages though these days I spend most of my time with art drawing.
How on earth would you describe your art? That’s always a tough question. My best explanation of how I draw is that it is very much like Harold and the Purple Crayon. I start drawing. Something happens. Then something else happens. And so it goes until it seems like the piece is done. I may begin with a shape of some kind but from that point on it is close to automatic.Where did your magical art journey begin? The return to art started the first weekend of November 2005 at the opening of a show of paintings by Gary Taxali at Ox-Op in Minneapolis. I love Taxali’s work, knew he was going to be there, and my wife and I went up for the weekend. We hung out with Gary, saw the show, loved the show, bought a painting, had a great time. Within a week of getting back I was getting up at 4 a.m. and making art until 7 a.m. and did that for the next 12-14 months almost never missing a day.Who are you planning on / wanting to vote for in the 2008 presidential election? I don’t know yet. I can say this: if the candidate in question is a democrat and has a pulse they will get my vote. The last 6-7 years have been the worst governing effort I have seen since I started paying attention to politics in the 1960s. No other administration has come within miles of being this incompetent.
What part of you does your art spring from? No clue and probably don’t want to know.What's the creepiest thing about you? You aren’t referring to that business about that event in the woods with the over-friendly bear, are you? None of it is true and the photographs have been photo shopped. I blame all of that on David Fullarton.What's the coolest thing about you? I don’t think there is anything cool about me. I’m from the stix, remember? How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man? Way, way, way too many.
What gets you energized to make art? I’m just about always ready to go, but if I happen to be a little flat then something like seeing an exhibition, reading a novel, listening to music, or just getting an email from a friend that shows their latest work will jumpstart me.What do you want people to remember you by? Someone who got lucky and found something he loved doing and did it.What is something you'd love to get done within the next ten years? Do you think you'll do it? I’ve been a professional writer for years and years and one of my big goals has been to write a good crime novel. If my life in art continues to be fulfilling, I won’t write that book. If the life in art doesn’t work out, I might.
What do you do to relax? Draw, listen to music, and take walks with my dog Bailey.What music do you listen to when you need a creative boost? I listen to all sorts of things: Here are the ten CDs I have in heavy rotation lately:Kevin Morgan O Come Look at the Burning Joe Zawinul Brown Street Gilberto Gil Luminoso Ray Lamontagne Trouble Bluesbreakers: John Mayall with Eric Clapton (1964) The Blasters: Complete Slash Recordings Rockpile Seconds of Pleasure Jimmie Vaughan Strange Pleasure Weather Report Sweetnighter Black Keys Magic Potion 
What sort of art would you like to create, but don't contain the talent or skill necessary to do it? I would like to learn how to make sculptures that somehow approximate (in 3-D) the figures I like to draw. My friend John Casey does this in his art. By which I guess I mean that his drawings inform his sculptures and vice versa (see his site www.bunnywax.com for examples). I may take a class in basic sculpting some day just to see if it’s for me.Were you a well-behaved child or a rowdy bastard? I got in trouble a lot, was often in the principal’s office, all that. Mostly it was like the assistant principal said: I was just hurting myself.What's the most defining moment of your life so far? If you mean personally, it would be the day I married Laurie Moore in July 1994, that followed closely by participating in the birth of my children. Professionally, I would have to say my finest moment occurred TAG Art Gallery in Nashville, TN, at the opening reception for the show Cut and Paste (collage artist group show), in March 2007. I guest curated the show, and to see all that great art up on the walls after so many months of work come together in one space was a great great feeling. The collage artists’ work took over the front gallery and the work of Josh Keyes and John Casey filled the back gallery. The crowds were huge and enthusiastic; many of the artists came. It was a magical weekend for me. Thanks for that go to the director of TAG, Jerry Dale McFadden, who took a chance on me.
Why do you like whales so much? I’ve always liked whales and I don’t know why other than that they are beautiful, smart, speak in languages all their own, and are among the most amazing mammals alive today. They also happen to work as the perfect kind of “container” for the kind of drawings I like to make.What are the two greatest nations on earth (of all time)? Tough one. The Mayan culture (not actually a nation, really) would be one. And the other? Maybe Iceland. It’s always fascinated me for some reason. I don’t know that that makes Iceland great. Only cool. Maybe if I lived there I’d be cool. Probably not, though. I’ll need to think about this one more.What response do you get most often when someone sees your works? I get two kinds of responses. With the first, people look at my work and wonder what the hell is going on and assume there is something grievously wrong with me (they could be right). The other viewers are drawn to the work right away. There is rarely any middle ground. I would say that most people who see my drawings are concerned for my well being.Do you know all of your times tables? I was a great math student. Know my gazintas, too, even better than Jethro Bodine.
What's the greatest question you know the answer to? The question before this one.Got any advice for the aspiring artists out there? Hmmm, well, I’m pretty far from established (and pretty much an aspiring and emerging artist myself) but the best advice I have ever received came from a drawing and painting professor at The University of Iowa, David Dunlap. I sat in on his class for a semester just as I was really getting serious about being back in art but at the same time wondering what the hell I thought I was doing diving into art so totally at the age of 55. David was endlessly supportive, always had the right thing to say, and the experience of being in his classroom meant and will always mean a lot to me. What he mainly told me when he pushed me out of the nest was that if I enjoyed what I was doing, and if I kept moving forward (which didn’t necessarily mean getting visibly better and better, but only that you kept working no matter what), then I would be ok. It was that simple and that complicated. It’s the best advice I’ve know and I follow it.What's your last word on you? I am lucky to have this passion for making of art and I appreciate my good fortune.<< Back To Artist Interviews |
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