I saw a few of Justine Rivas's paintings at West Coast Craft last month, a selection of work being shown by Et Al gallery. Then I found out Justine was working in Alter Space's Jail Cell Residency space for her upcoming show, Memory Foam, opening January 9. The Jail Cell is located in the gallery's basement. That same night Alter Space will open a group exhibition, An Increasingly Desperate Man, curated by Quintessa Mantranga, and work by Haegen Crosby.
We were able to meet with Justine to look at her work in progress, talk about her process, and the Jail Cell AIR.
Read the interview and see more photos below.
SFACC: Can you talk about the title of your January show for the Alter Space Jail Cell AIR, "Memory Foam". How does this title relate to your works and your process with paint?
Justine Rivas: The title came to me in the middle of the night on a cross country road trip. This was before I knew I would be participating in the residency at Alter Space, but the title for the show came before the work. I never work thematically so a strong title for a show was a good foundation for me. Memories leave impressions, your body leaves an impressions on a foam mattress. It just seemed right. Sensitive but also not taking itself too seriously.
How do you usually start your paintings?
They usually start with a simple idea, shape, or narrative and then develop from there.
What has your experience working in the Jail Cell space been like? How has is been different than your previous work spaces and how does that reflect in your work?
Before I was making small paintings on a terrace attached to my room. I really enjoyed working outside in natural light but was really confined by the small space. Now I have more than enough room but no natural lighting. It was really different for me but I've been enjoying the solitude. Spending that much time alone has got me to do a lot of thinking, kind of like real jail. ha! I have a little radio down in the basement and sometimes I'll just dance down there. The space feels very wild and free.
Can you talk about your experience at SFAI, who you worked with, who's work were you exposed to that's left an impression on you, and the presence you felt there?
I majored in Printmaking at SFAI, it was a smaller more communal program. There's a real sense of family in that department and it's probably one of the prettiest parts of campus. I wanted to learn the trade of printmaking, but I was by no means a 'printmaker'. I figured I'll always paint and this was the time to do something different. One of my favorite professors to work with was Bruce McGaw, he has a real old school, formal approach that I appreciate. I also loved working with Keith Boadwee because he really challenged my work narratively. Both have pretty opposite approaches to art making but I feel like somewhere in the middle of the two worlds is where I want to be.
Painters such as Joan Brown and Jay Defeo have been influences on my work because they have such a presence at SFAI. When I first came to school and saw their work I felt like these woman are painting with conviction.
You brought up Jay DeFeo. Can you talk about her a bit more, how do you relate to her work? How does what she did translate to what you do?
My freshman year I saw the Bruce Conner film "The White Rose". This is probably a film that is shown in every first year class at SFAI. It wasn't until I saw the works in person at her SFMOMA retrospective that I understood these mythological paintings. While The Rose was magnificent in scale, it was this other painting called "The Annunciation" that I was haunted by. There's a sincerity in her work and that's something I'm always looking for. I would love to see those paintings again someday.
You've mentioned before using photos you take on your phone of what you see in the street to use as references and inspiration for compositions. Did you do some of that for the paintings in Memory Foam? Where else do you find inspiration from?
The two large portraits are of my two mothers and how these two woman feel to me. So no, I haven't been using photos for this show, but I am always taking pictures on my phone of colors or compositions I might want to borrow.
For the large portraits you had the idea of making them look like stain glass windows. Can you talk about that a bit more?
I've always been in love with stained glass, in old cathedrals or doorways of homes. I wanted big blocks of color and simple shapes but I also wanted the paintings to illuminate the way stained glass does. I guess this was a completely aesthetic choice.
You also write, and write poems, and write notes for titles of paintings. What do you write about?
Writing is really important to me. Mostly I've been journaling a lot during this residency to help me sort through somethings.
When we met you said, "I feel a lot of freedom not knowing the end result of the work". Is process emphasized then?
I don't think my work is just about the process. The process is a private thing but the end goal is to make something that someone can connect with, the way I've connected to paintings. What I meant by saying there is a lot of freedom in not knowing the end result is I never go into something knowing exactly what the result will be. The process is where the failures, frustrations and sometimes magic happen. A narrative might drive a painting, or a title or sometimes just a color. The method is that I guess I don't have a method, it's all intuitive. Each work has it's own story.
After your show in January, are there other projects or shows you'll be working on in 2016 that you can tell us about?
I'll be working with Et Al sometime in the near future doing a show with Johnny Bicos, which I'm really excited about because I admire his work and he was one of my first friends in San Francisco, and Tyler Cross who is as wonderful. I'm looking forward to seeing what they both have been working on and how the show will come together. I'll also be doing a two person show at this space called Pamela, sometime next month. This show will most likely will be collaborative works.
Big thank you to Justine for talking to SFACC about her work. Thank you to Kevin from Alter Space in helping to coordinate this interview. Follow Alter Space on Instagram for more updates @AlterSpace.
