Every second Thursday of the month, ELAB members and friends get together for a multidisciplinary critique, from 7-9 pm at 464 Gallery.
New faces are welcome and encourages: You can RSVP here.
We start with a featured presenter, and have a lively in-depth discussion about their work. We then mini-critique any work willing quests and members bring in: a piece of art, music, writing, video, etc by circulating and placing post-it note comments.
Through this process we gain encouragement, clarity, new sources of inspiration, and best of all: a network of creative types who support and encourage each other.
This month's Artlab Features the work of Phil Durgan
Thursday, February 10th, at 7 pm
464 Amherst Street, Buffalo NY
New faces are welcome and encourages: You can RSVP here.
We start with a featured presenter, and have a lively in-depth discussion about their work. We then mini-critique any work willing quests and members bring in: a piece of art, music, writing, video, etc by circulating and placing post-it note comments.
Through this process we gain encouragement, clarity, new sources of inspiration, and best of all: a network of creative types who support and encourage each other.
This month's Artlab Features the work of Phil Durgan
Thursday, February 10th, at 7 pm
464 Amherst Street, Buffalo NY
There is plenty of street parking and always room for new faces.
Come enjoy food and drink for both body and brain.
And now, a discussion with Phil Durgan:
Come enjoy food and drink for both body and brain.
And now, a discussion with Phil Durgan:
Interview by Tara Sasiadek
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Phil Durgan. I'm a fairly new transplant to Buffalo. Moved here from San Diego almost three years ago. I am a mechanic at Fuccillo Toyota and I paint stuff.
What are you hoping to get out of the critique this month?
I am still in awe of the stable of artists Marcus has put together at 464, so...if they even so much as "kinda" like my work....I'm good.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Phil Durgan. I'm a fairly new transplant to Buffalo. Moved here from San Diego almost three years ago. I am a mechanic at Fuccillo Toyota and I paint stuff.
What are you hoping to get out of the critique this month?
I am still in awe of the stable of artists Marcus has put together at 464, so...if they even so much as "kinda" like my work....I'm good.
If you had 5 minutes and could keep anything you could carry out of any art supply store in the area for free, where would you go and what would you grab?
I'd prolly dine and dash Hyatts on Main Street and stuff my pockets with oil sticks and acrylic tubes...with a crazy long roll of the triple gesso'd canvas fluttering behind me like a superhero cape.
Is your work planned or spontaneous? How do you approach planning or fitting in creative time?
The first coat is definitely spontaneous. There's usually wine or beer and an Ornette Coleman or Cecil Taylor cd backdropping everything and I'll kinda go nuts with the colors for a sense of depth beneath whatever I start to see later on. As far as timing goes....I generally like being alone with it, so late nights or early, early before my three yr old wakes up.
Let’s pretend it is nice outside: Favorite ice cream flavors?
Vanilla bean with Hershey's chocolate syrup! Even in the dead of winter.
What is the last piece you worked on?
The last piece I worked on is the same one that's minutes away from being cut away from the frame and put in the cat's litter box. Before this one, I had done a couple of five footers that I really enjoyed the space and freedom to roam on....then I stretch this three foot canvas and I suddenly felt I needed to proportion everything to make it fit and that sense of splash and sculpt became all sculpt. And I don't even own a cat.
Author's note: Does this mean you use the litter box?
Have any blogs or books in particular changed how you think about art or the art-making process?
I dig reading about the lives of artists...Basquiat, Pollock, De Kooning, Picasso....They make all of those wonderful human qualities: insecurity, addiction, mental illness, the need for other people's approval....seem so fun and desirable. Kidding. But when I look at their work and who they were....everything really begins to make sense why any of us create in the first place, even though none of us ever know if we're really good at it.
Prehensile tail or fully functioning wings?
Tails are either covering something up or explaining your mood. But wings'll get you somewhere else quicker. Wings.
If you had unlimited funds and 6 months free of all obligations, what project would you tackle?
I would turn every abandoned building in Buffalo into a ONE NIGHT ONLY gallery and show off that particular neighborhood's stuff with a big party and bright lights and amazing food and eclectic music. Yep.
Author's note: Sign ELAB up for this!
Favorite local art resource?
Seems like Facebook does a pretty good job at letting me know what's dropping in the Buffalo art scene. And Artvoice. Oh yeah, Buffalo Rising and Gusto.
Favorite color palate(s)?
Huge fan of mustard yellow and blueish-gray
Would you care to offer up some juicy blackmail material for us to use when you make it big time?
Sure. I was in San Diego...and there was a lot of drinking and a game of Pin the Tail on Something ...and then I "came to" in Buffalo...wearing nothing more than an ill-fitting diaper, sitting on a tricycle on Elmwood Avenue. I don't run with that crowd anymore.
Author's note: Ill-fitting diapers cause thousands of untimely deaths per year. Only you can prevent tricycle tragedies.
Where can we find more of your work?
I have stuff at the Grant Street Gallery and a few pieces at the Cosmopolitan Art Gallery as part of an abstract show which runs until February 19th.
I'd prolly dine and dash Hyatts on Main Street and stuff my pockets with oil sticks and acrylic tubes...with a crazy long roll of the triple gesso'd canvas fluttering behind me like a superhero cape.
Is your work planned or spontaneous? How do you approach planning or fitting in creative time?
The first coat is definitely spontaneous. There's usually wine or beer and an Ornette Coleman or Cecil Taylor cd backdropping everything and I'll kinda go nuts with the colors for a sense of depth beneath whatever I start to see later on. As far as timing goes....I generally like being alone with it, so late nights or early, early before my three yr old wakes up.
Let’s pretend it is nice outside: Favorite ice cream flavors?
Vanilla bean with Hershey's chocolate syrup! Even in the dead of winter.
What is the last piece you worked on?
The last piece I worked on is the same one that's minutes away from being cut away from the frame and put in the cat's litter box. Before this one, I had done a couple of five footers that I really enjoyed the space and freedom to roam on....then I stretch this three foot canvas and I suddenly felt I needed to proportion everything to make it fit and that sense of splash and sculpt became all sculpt. And I don't even own a cat.
Author's note: Does this mean you use the litter box?
Have any blogs or books in particular changed how you think about art or the art-making process?
I dig reading about the lives of artists...Basquiat, Pollock, De Kooning, Picasso....They make all of those wonderful human qualities: insecurity, addiction, mental illness, the need for other people's approval....seem so fun and desirable. Kidding. But when I look at their work and who they were....everything really begins to make sense why any of us create in the first place, even though none of us ever know if we're really good at it.
Prehensile tail or fully functioning wings?
Tails are either covering something up or explaining your mood. But wings'll get you somewhere else quicker. Wings.
If you had unlimited funds and 6 months free of all obligations, what project would you tackle?
I would turn every abandoned building in Buffalo into a ONE NIGHT ONLY gallery and show off that particular neighborhood's stuff with a big party and bright lights and amazing food and eclectic music. Yep.
Author's note: Sign ELAB up for this!
Favorite local art resource?
Seems like Facebook does a pretty good job at letting me know what's dropping in the Buffalo art scene. And Artvoice. Oh yeah, Buffalo Rising and Gusto.
Favorite color palate(s)?
Huge fan of mustard yellow and blueish-gray
Would you care to offer up some juicy blackmail material for us to use when you make it big time?
Sure. I was in San Diego...and there was a lot of drinking and a game of Pin the Tail on Something ...and then I "came to" in Buffalo...wearing nothing more than an ill-fitting diaper, sitting on a tricycle on Elmwood Avenue. I don't run with that crowd anymore.
Author's note: Ill-fitting diapers cause thousands of untimely deaths per year. Only you can prevent tricycle tragedies.
Where can we find more of your work?
I have stuff at the Grant Street Gallery and a few pieces at the Cosmopolitan Art Gallery as part of an abstract show which runs until February 19th.
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