5-50 Gallery is fortunate to work with many amazing artists. Featured below are interviews we conducted with a selected group of artists we work with:
BEN COWAN
Artist Ben Cowan lives and works in Brooklyn. Cowan’s paintings were featured in 5-50 Gallery’s exhibition GOTHAM GOTHIC in 2022 and most recently in our booth at Future Fair, NY, 2023 . Let’s dive a little deeper into his work!
We’ve shown multiple of your ‘gates’ paintings, we love the cityscapes and brooklyn architecture!
We're curious to hear more, what draws you to these gates?
I’ve always been interested in domestic places of passage and transition. Initially it was the change of light and observable spaces but those places have grown to be quite symbolic to me. When walking around the city I always love watching how a plant, gate, and building, move with my walking motion and then overlap, align, or obscure one another in these varied but shallow urban spaces. The iron gate and fence is one that represents several things to me. One, is it quite clearly differentiates a public and more private space, and the building behind is another layer of interiority and privacy. Second, I love the way plants grow around and through these twisting irons gates and I see the organic and architectural forms being intertwined in a sympathetic mimicking dance. There’s a tenderness and intimacy to this that one wouldn’t normally associate with iron and leaves but I use it in painting as a personification of my own relationships. Finally, I’m thinking of the compositions of altarpiece paintings when making the Gates series paintings. I see the foreground gate in the painting as the terrestrial plane and beyond it, an ethereal distant object that compliments or subverts.
In your artistic practice, we've noticed your preference for capturing tangible elements from the world around you. What draws you to the act of painting from reality, and how do you navigate the balance between representing the tangible and exploring more abstract concepts in your work?
I think that using familiar objects is a way for me to connect with others and tell stories. Taking a neutral subject and imbuing it with meaning is quite satisfying. Abstraction and structure are of deep concern for me and using these formal elements like space, shape, scale, and color, are the tools to construct a meaningful composition. When a piece of art is able to present the viewer with something familiar but in a way that causes it to be seen new, that changes the real world for the viewer. This is a powerful experience that I have had countless times and I strive to do with my own work.
How has your style changed over time?
I learned to paint in a pretty loose, allaprima, direct observation method. In grad school I went from being a strict observational painter to working primarily from imagination supplemented by drawings and photo collages. The imagination paintings had a lot of texture and color. After grad school and some college teaching I moved to NYC to work for Jeff Koons. Being in the Koons studio and visiting galleries everyday radically changed my expectation for finish and the power of a controlled composition and surface. I became interested in representing my Brooklyn neighborhood with simplified planar shapes, sharp edges and subtle color changes. Once the pace of my painting method slowed down the work became more psychological and I’ve continued to lean in to this careful intimate approach.
What role does the artist have in society, in your opinion?
For me making art is my whole life. Personally I think of being an artist as a sort of monastic calling. Painting is what I love and what I’m best at and can’t imagine trying to do anything else with my life. I do my best to get my work out there and do the hustle, but I’m most likely going to die in obscurity. That being said, I take heart in knowing that I’m participating in a tradition that was passed to me and that I will carry the torch and hopefully pass it on. I’m honored to have the privilege of trying to make beautiful things and share these with others.
Can you tell us something about a project you’ve been working on recently?
I recently finished a series of 14 paintings on panel that will be on view at St Ann & The Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn Heights for the season of lent and Easter and used for their Stations of the Cross. The paintings feature a single leaf in each panel framed by faux painted wood architecture back lit by a strong gradating color similar to the stained glass around the church. Beginning with the first panel and ending with the fourteenth, the leaf incrementally descends through each of the panels, representing Christ’s last moments on his way to crucifixion.
What do you plan on working on next, any exciting projects in the making?
At the moment I don’t have anything big on the calendar but I’ve been casting a variety of carved frames for my current paintings. The idea of making multiples and the recent finished falling leaf paintings for St Ann’s has me thinking about the possibilities for representing objects moving in sequence and tiling around a space. I’m excited about the possibilities of this, creating a large, space activating installation made from smaller intimate moments.
RAQUEL DA SILVA
Artist Raquel Da Silva lives and works between Toronto and New York City. Da Silva’s large paintings were included in 5-50 Gallery’s exhibition TWISTED TOONS.
What is currently influencing your practice the most?
I’d say just taking a step back and observing the events going on around me, no matter how important or insignificant they may be. I’m more interested in the idea of documentation and what stories or events we deem important to tell in the future as descriptors of our past.
Is there a specific song, movie, work of art, or book that is significant to you?
That’s hard because it changes so often, at the moment I’m really enjoying the book 'Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence' edited by Dan Nadel. And the sculpture ‘Andromeda and the Sea Monster’ by Domenico Guidi.
Are there any new elements in your visual arts practice you would like to share, anything new you’re exploring in the upcoming period?
I’m really interested in vases and different types of vessels and how they can tell stories, so right now I’m experimenting with how I would want to approach the idea of a vase and what materials I would want to use to make one. Still experimenting though!
ANTHONY PADILLA
Anthony Padilla is a painter and muralist based in Brooklyn, NY. We’ve exhibited his work multiple times, in the group show JUNGLE JINX in 2021 and most recently in our booth at Future Fair 2023:
Can you tell us about the process in your work?
Depending on what type of work I’m starting I have different approaches. If I’m doing a more floral work I’ll do a light sketch with a paint brush or pencil to get all the curves and basic outline of what the finished piece will look like. After the sketch I’ll do my first layer with a darker color than what the finished piece will end up being. I like to do a darker background so that I can use it as a negative space later when I lighten the work. Most of the deep blends and folds come during the second and third layer of the painting. For the jungle scenes I’ll have most of the painting drawn out from the beginning. These paintings require several coats of paint so I like to have the painting very planned out. I always leave some room for improvisation but for the most part I have the whole piece drawn out the first day.
How do you explore your own personal narrative in your work?
Having a Native American and Latino background I find myself focusing on these tropical and natural environments that almost feels inherent to who I am. I’ve never been able to determine why I’m so drawn to this style but I like to contribute it to my ancestry at an epigenetic level.
When is your favorite time of day to create?
For me the most important time of the day to work is when there natural light available. I prefer mornings and afternoons, natural light gives much more clarity when it comes to blending and mixing colors. In my studio I have ambient light that’s never too direct that really helps to focus on the colors and blends I’m trying to get. I do find that when the sun goes down I get a boost of energy to keep painting but I think that’s just my mind wanting to get a little more work done before the day is over.
Do your other interests influence your art?
My biggest influence contributing to my artistic creative and thought process would have to be skateboarding. I was introduced to skateboarding when I was 13 years old and 22 years later I find that the sport has impacted my life more than I could have ever imagined. Skateboarding is a very unique sport because not only is it physically demanding but it is also important to have a unique style to distinguish yourself as an individual. Teaching yourself how to skateboard has many parallels to teaching yourself how to paint. It’s a trial and error process and it has taught me not to be afraid of failure. The lessons you learn along the way when attempting a trick or completing a painting are extremely valuable regardless of the outcome. Eventually over time in both skating and painting you find yourself leaning into one direction, a style that you feel comfortable with that’s a specific obstacle you like to skate or a certain way of a painting you like to create. For me I go about both activities very methodically and thoughtfully with intent on what I want to accomplish.
How do the different places where you’ve lived and worked influence your art?
Growing up in the countryside of east Texas the landscape is very dense, lush, and green. I’ve always had an appreciation for nature and the natural world around us and I think that comes through in my work. I like the abstract qualities of the jungle and the underlying chaos that is always present. When walking through and observing tropical jungles and forests, specifically during my trips to Costa Rica, I find myself in awe of the natural chaotic order that they possess. When I create these jungle scenes I don’t use any references, just the memory of these experiences and I try to convey that feeling of orderly chaos inherent in nature.
CARRIE R
carrie R is a Philadelphia-based artist who works in sculpture, drawing, and digital media. Her work was included in 5-50 Gallery’s exhibition BEAM ME UP:
Can you tell us something about the process in your work?
Sometimes I start with a form in mind, and sometimes I begin totally off the cusp. Generally working on the floor with snips and wire, I construct a skeleton and give it an aqua veil skin for stability. This part is when I wish I had 6 hands, but the contraptions I make to hold things in place suffice for now. Then it’s layers of brushing and hand-smearing pigmented aquaresin and hydrostone. My favorite moment is when I step away and realize an angle or curve is off, and I have to smash or break areas to reshape them. The labor makes me feel like a mad surgeon meets archaeologist. The final move is coloring over it with various media, and sometimes a piece will sit for months before it fully comes to me.
What is currently influencing your practice the most?
Currently, my exhaustion. I’ve been feeling exceptionally tired lately, and my work in the studio is responding to this, along with my day-to-day environments. The forms generally come from the simple things around me and my moods, so there are some pieces in progress in the corner right now that look like they could use a nap.
What memorable responses have you had to your work?
I’ve been told several times that my sculptures remind people of the work of Delia Deetz from Beetlejuice, and until recently I actually hadn’t seen the full movie. I like the idea that my work might be compared to a fictitious artist. It makes sense to me—fiction is the world I’m currently most interested in. Other memorable responses… people want to see this stuff bigger, and I’m working on it.
ABBI KENNY
Let’s meet Abbi Kenny! Abbi Kenny is a painter living and working in Boston, MA. We’ve included her work in our virtual booth for the 2022 Future Fair Holiday Market. Definitely an artist to wacht!
What is currently influencing your practice the most?
Recently, I went a little wild on eBay, snatching up tons of vintage recipe cards and old cookbooks–it's a super slippery slope, you bid on a couple of sets of recipe cards, and then suddenly you win all the bids or have lowball offers accepted for hundreds of recipe cards. I managed to amass quite the collection: the complete Betty Crocker set, plastic case included, McCaul's Great American Recipe Collection, and Weight Watchers. I also have a bunch of cookbooks I have been looking at, specifically in conjunction with recipes my grandmother gave me a few years ago. The different ways of representation and history that come through the image choices and the genuinely downright wild photography has inspired a lot of my recent work in the studio. Translating these flat icons into large-scale paintings has been super exciting and challenging. I have also been recreating my grandmother's handwritten recipes as paintings which has been a profound process akin to a kind of mourning.
I recently started working at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, MA, as a cheesemonger, which has been infiltrating my thinking and has been a great learning experience.
What about your artistic practice challenges you the most?
In my practice, I like to treat each painting like a new challenge and each object within that painting individually and uniquely. This means I spend a lot of time testing things out materially and trying to recreate things with acrylic paint in new ways. The challenge is often trying to find the balance between material exploration or making unexpected moves with the painting and the tension with the source image. I am constantly trying to push my painting's materiality and possibilities and challenge myself each time. Coupled with the material exploration, I am thinking about the ways I can tell stories and narratives with groupings of paintings–finding the balance between chronicling and storytelling and my sort of ethnographic or historical research without being didactic or too mysterious.
Is there a specific song, movie, work of art, or book that is significant to you?
I love John Irving, specifically The World According to Garp and Cider House Rules. I usually listen to audiobooks or podcasts while I paint, I like music, but I tend to get a little too dancy to focus while in the studio. In the fall, I went on a bit of a John Irving binge and relistened to The World According to Garp and listened to a bunch of his other books too, and somehow each one made me laugh and become a bit teary.
DEBBI KENOTE
Debbi Kenote is a Brooklyn-based artist who makes paintings and works on paper. Her works have been included in 5-50 Gallery’s exhibitions SUMMER IDYLLE in 2021 and REARVIEW MIRROR in 2023:
Can you tell us more about all the exciting shapes of your canvasses? And your artistic process?
I started working with shapes while at the Vermont Studio Center in 2018. At the time I had recently completed my MFA in Sculpture, but I wanted to return to painting. I wasn’t inspired by the more common rectangular canvases, so I decided to try making my own. The last year or so I have been working with shaped canvases inspired by quilting blocks. I come from a family of quilters, and this is something I saw and lived with in my early life. I enjoy learning about the history of each quilting block I use, and I really enjoy the challenge of building the stretchers. I’m also interested in puzzles, and I like breaking down my larger shapes into multiple canvases that fit together.
Is there a specific environment or material that's integral to your work?
Materially, I’m interested in dye. I began dying clothing in 2020, and since then I have been exploring the medium with raw canvas. I’m attracted to the effects dye has on canvas, and once the paintings are stretched, I really enjoy working on top of the dye. Working this way creates more depth in my paintings and allows a push and pull with the painted surface and the dye underneath.
How has your style changed over time?
My style has become more and more playful. I think the newest work I’m creating now has a vulnerability to it as well. I’m choosing to leave more of the dye work exposed, which is exciting. I’m realizing that sometimes less is more. I’ve always been interested in color. The newest work is a bit brighter or more high key than the last body of work, which featured more pastels.
HANNAH ANTALEK
Hannah Antalek is an artist living in Queens, NY and working in Brooklyn, NY. Her works mainly consist of drawings and paintings. 5-50 Gallery has worked with Antalek many times, exhibiting her works in the exhibition JUNGLE JINX in 2021 and in our booth at the 2022 Future Fair:
We love the maquettes you build! Could you tell us more about them and the process in your work?
All of the drawings are based on sketches and photographs of these quite time-consuming dioramas I build. The dioramas themselves are built inside repurposed cardboard boxes and filled with mutated botanical forms that I sculpt out of an air-dry clay I make from cornstarch and Elmer's glue. The armature of the sculptures are usually made from bits of styrofoam or different plastic packaging that I haven't been able to recycle. I'll also use paper mache and dry plant clippings that can be composted once I'm done with them. I like creating the models because then I can physically move around them, rearrange them, and repurpose parts of them in other scenes. The physicality of the tangible maquettes lends an odd uncanniness to their translation in drawing.
What themes do you pursue?
I'm interested in imagining the future of the forest floor and the ways in which plants and fungi might evolve to thrive in reaction to a changing world.
Are there any new elements in your visual arts practice you would like to share, anything new you’re exploring in the upcoming period?
I've been working on some paintings! I've been interested in scaling up my work and experimenting with the different atmospheric effects you can achieve with oil paint.
Is there a specific song, movie, work of art, or book that is significant to you?
Too hard to pick just one but recently I've been thinking a lot about The Future is Fungi by Michael Lim and Yun Shu. They basically outline the medicinal, nutritional, and psychoactive value of different mushrooms and also talk about how many varieties can even aid in environmental remediation through the ability to absorb or digest toxins.