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| John Seed with Kyle Staver's "Biker Triptych" at the exhibition "Honoring the Legacy of David Park," Santa Clara University 2017. Photo by Marie Cameron. |
When did you first recognize your passion for the arts?
I remember standing at the easel outside my kindergarten classroom painting a picture of a red airplane in poster paint that I showed to my teacher. So that is an early memory. Art was always there for me growing up and it took many different forms. I built model airplanes, drew cartoon characters and made puppets. Surprisingly, when I came home from college and told my parents that I wanted to major in art my parents were stunned because art did not seem like a career path to them. They had thought art was a hobby that I would grow out of.
For me, making art was just a natural continuation of the creative drive that had always been there. I had to be an artist: it was a done deal.
Were there any specific events that led you to your role as curator and art writer?
During my high school years I had excellent writing teachers that provided me with the kinds of skills that got me into a good college and helped me write essays and term papers. Still, I didn’t really connect writing and art until I had been teaching art and art history at a community college for about 15 years.
Then, when I helped start a group called EBSQ that was for artists who sold their art on eBay, I became the editor of an online zine which I sometimes wrote for. A few years later I had a health crisis in the form of testicular cancer and during my recovery from chemo I researched and wrote a magazine article about Arman Manookian, an Armenian American artist who had taken his own life at the age of 27 in 1931. A year after it was published the article was given a Society of Professional Journalist’s Award. That award woke me up to the idea that maybe I should keep writing about art.
My big opportunity came when I was given a blog by the HuffingtonPost Arts page in May of 2010. I dove in and wrote a blog a week for seven years, establishing myself as a writer and developing my own voice and inclinations. Although I wrote in a variety of formats, including reviews, profiles and satires, something I kept coming back to was writing about representational art and artists. That specialty made friends and brought me my first opportunities as a curator.
What do you feel is the ultimate purpose of art within our society?
Art gives us all something to talk about. The other day on Facebook an art collector I follow put up some information about an artist he has been collecting. I told him (in a friendly way) that I didn’t care for that artist’s work. He replied: “That’s fine,” and went on to say that knowing my taste he figures I would like about half of what he collects. That figure is a little low, but as our Facebook discussion continued I loved the way that we could have our opinions and it was all OK. We so need more of that in the world—the ability to respect each other when we see things differently or have different tastes—and art can provide that.
Art can give us a center, something to have in common even as we acknowledge our differences.
And of course, on a personal level, art satisfies my visual inclinations. I’m a visual person and remember that as a little kid I used to be found by people with my mouth open just staring at things. In our home I have a downstairs room, kind of a “Cultured Man Cave” just crammed with art that I have collected. I stare at it all day, one piece at a time and of course add new things and rotate the collection now and then. Having those works of art—some expensive, some inexpensive, some by friends, some by people I have never met—allows my eyes and imagination to roam and be satisfied. Each work of art takes me on a journey into the thoughts and experiences of the person who made it, offering me a connection with them.
Tell us a little about your book “Disrupted Realism: Paintings for a Distracted World”. What compelled you to compile and write about such artworks and what were some specific qualities of the artists you chose for this project?
While blogging for the HuffingtonPost I interviewed over 100 artists and many of them were, to some degree, realists. Over time I noticed a lot of variations and realized that many artists had things to say with their work that didn’t fall into any convenient or existing categories. After my friend F. Scott Hess gave a lecture on “Discombobulation” in art, which dealt with movement and visual complexity and confusion, I realized that I needed to keep exploring those ideas.
As I gathered artists for the book the most important thing was quality. I made an effort to choose art and artists that I responded to and felt were both serious and original. I was also looking for strong individuals who had moved away from Realism and had come up with a hybrid or personal style that said something that couldn’t be expressed any other way. I looked at the work of several hundred artists to choose 38 for the book.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764358014/
You offer artist critiques. What are some of the most common areas of improvement that artists should be aware of?
I often tell painters to ask themselves a few key questions. One of them is “Why does this need to be painted?” That question and all its implications is meant to get artists thinking about many things. One is that paint itself is a very flexible and expressive medium that each artist can find a way to vary his/her use of. Another is that subject matter is very important and should be worthy of an artist’s time and energies. And of course, I want to urge artists to be introspective and keep examining their own inner lives and motivations.
Another thing I urge artists to do is to make experimental work on the side. Many artists get very caught up in making that “body of work” that they can show to gallery owners or use to apply for an MFA program. In doing that, they can forget to simply have fun and keep exploring. You should make work for yourself, not just for the public.
How do you feel about the trending transition from brick and mortar galleries to online platforms?
Like many internet-related phenomena it cuts both ways. On the positive side it is very easy for artists to have their work be seen and sold. On the negative side, some art just doesn’t work well when reduced to a web image, so work that is bold and Instagram friendly is “winning” over more subtle work.
Also, I think dealers can be really important. Their vision and support can make an artist’s career and as more work is shown and sold online the role of dealers is being diminished. I know that there are and always will be dealers who are dishonest or incompetent, but the good ones are extremely valuable to artists and play a vital role.
Finally, there is so much work online that the sheer glut works against deep engagement and discernment. Immediacy rules the day. Work seen in person has more of a chance to let its complexity unfold and bloom.
What do you find most rewarding about the curation process?
Helping artists makes me happy. When I am able to give an artist wall space, award them a prize, or introduce their work to people who appreciate it I have done my job. I can be self-centered when I need to be (which is often) but curation gets me out of myself and puts me in a position to help other artists.
What do you find most challenging?
The challenges of actually gathering and assembling physical works of art can be daunting and shipping can be expensive and perilous. FedEx recently lost (and then found) three precious works headed for a show I organized in Michigan and that was nerve-wracking.
Do you have future plans for curatorial projects, beyond what you are doing today?
Writing is my main activity, but I curate when asked. I’m working on a “Disrupted Realism” themed group show for the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia that will open this fall, and another for a gallery in South Carolina that should open in 2022. As things open up more post-COVID I’m sure there will be other projects.
In the past few years my interest in Asian Art has increased and I have been doing research and writing for Arts of Asia magazine and Sotheby’s Asia.
I also find myself doing a lot of webinars. Here are some online talks I’ll be doing for the Winslow Art Center:
https://winslowartcenter.com/product-category/online-courses/lectures/
http://www.johnseed.com/
While blogging for the HuffingtonPost I interviewed over 100 artists and many of them were, to some degree, realists. Over time I noticed a lot of variations and realized that many artists had things to say with their work that didn’t fall into any convenient or existing categories. After my friend F. Scott Hess gave a lecture on “Discombobulation” in art, which dealt with movement and visual complexity and confusion, I realized that I needed to keep exploring those ideas.
As I gathered artists for the book the most important thing was quality. I made an effort to choose art and artists that I responded to and felt were both serious and original. I was also looking for strong individuals who had moved away from Realism and had come up with a hybrid or personal style that said something that couldn’t be expressed any other way. I looked at the work of several hundred artists to choose 38 for the book.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764358014/
You offer artist critiques. What are some of the most common areas of improvement that artists should be aware of?
I often tell painters to ask themselves a few key questions. One of them is “Why does this need to be painted?” That question and all its implications is meant to get artists thinking about many things. One is that paint itself is a very flexible and expressive medium that each artist can find a way to vary his/her use of. Another is that subject matter is very important and should be worthy of an artist’s time and energies. And of course, I want to urge artists to be introspective and keep examining their own inner lives and motivations.
Another thing I urge artists to do is to make experimental work on the side. Many artists get very caught up in making that “body of work” that they can show to gallery owners or use to apply for an MFA program. In doing that, they can forget to simply have fun and keep exploring. You should make work for yourself, not just for the public.
How do you feel about the trending transition from brick and mortar galleries to online platforms?
Like many internet-related phenomena it cuts both ways. On the positive side it is very easy for artists to have their work be seen and sold. On the negative side, some art just doesn’t work well when reduced to a web image, so work that is bold and Instagram friendly is “winning” over more subtle work.
Also, I think dealers can be really important. Their vision and support can make an artist’s career and as more work is shown and sold online the role of dealers is being diminished. I know that there are and always will be dealers who are dishonest or incompetent, but the good ones are extremely valuable to artists and play a vital role.
Finally, there is so much work online that the sheer glut works against deep engagement and discernment. Immediacy rules the day. Work seen in person has more of a chance to let its complexity unfold and bloom.
What do you find most rewarding about the curation process?
Helping artists makes me happy. When I am able to give an artist wall space, award them a prize, or introduce their work to people who appreciate it I have done my job. I can be self-centered when I need to be (which is often) but curation gets me out of myself and puts me in a position to help other artists.
What do you find most challenging?
The challenges of actually gathering and assembling physical works of art can be daunting and shipping can be expensive and perilous. FedEx recently lost (and then found) three precious works headed for a show I organized in Michigan and that was nerve-wracking.
Do you have future plans for curatorial projects, beyond what you are doing today?
Writing is my main activity, but I curate when asked. I’m working on a “Disrupted Realism” themed group show for the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia that will open this fall, and another for a gallery in South Carolina that should open in 2022. As things open up more post-COVID I’m sure there will be other projects.
In the past few years my interest in Asian Art has increased and I have been doing research and writing for Arts of Asia magazine and Sotheby’s Asia.
I also find myself doing a lot of webinars. Here are some online talks I’ll be doing for the Winslow Art Center:
https://winslowartcenter.com/product-category/online-courses/lectures/
http://www.johnseed.com/
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