Interview - Tahnee Lonsdale
pt. 2: Interview
Dad taught me to tie knots, mum, the names of flowers
Tahnee Lonsdale
Showing through March 6, 2020
1523b Webster St.
Oakland, CA 94612
info@part2gallery.com
Often beginning with photos of discarded furniture she’s encountered on the street, Tahnee Lonsdale (b. 1982, England) uses her brush to deconstruct and reshape the photographed images into anthropomorphic paintings of genderless human-like forms in domestic settings or semi-erotically engaged. Using bright yet gentle colors in oil paint and aerosol, Lonsdale explores gender roles and sexuality, employing domestic context and furniture both as metaphor and as literal extensions of the figures. While the inclusion in some of the works of a vase of flowers is a direct reference to Lonsdale’s mother it also acts as a visual link to the traditional still-life or genre scene, deftly subverted by the strength and power of Lonsdale’s mark. Lonsdale graduated from Byam Shaw School of Art at University of the Arts London and has shown throughout Europe and the US including with Dellasposa in London, Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA and with Saatchi Art in Los Angeles. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
-pt. 2:
(Left)
“Whipped”
Oil and Aerosol on Canvas
74.8 x 82.6 inches
2019
(Right)
“We Kneel”
Oil and Spray Paint on Canvas
64 x 70 Inches
2019
pt. 2: -In writing about your work you discuss “the gender watermarks familial experiences can leave on future relationships” do you think that art can help to disrupt this cycle?
Tahnee Lonsdale: -I think the process of making the work has brought a certain awareness. I’ve been able to look at my work and understand what’s going on in my head. Sometimes that’s what it takes, things don’t always seem clear without hindsight. And in my awareness, changes occur, and in that respect, there is disruption.
You’ve said that your paintings are extremely autobiographical, in part, working to untangle “the duality of the ambiguous roles occupied by a 21st century mother and artist.” Do you feel that there is more space now than in the past for the coexistence of motherhood and an art career? Do you consider your decision to include this personal detail in your statement to be an act of defiance?
When I returned to the studio after my first son had been born I was not only terrified that I would no longer be able to paint, but also that my work would no longer be taken seriously. I felt motherhood had weakened my practice, and I for sure wasn’t going to start honestly painting about my experience, that would be vacuous and way too “female”! I resisted the urge to respond to all these amazing new emotions. Just as you become invisible when you become a new mother, I felt my work would also lose its identity. It seems pretty sad looking back on it.Things did get better though and an equilibrium formed between my two lives, although there’s always a struggle to merge them. It’s strange because being a mother has been so integral to my work, it’s where all my stories begin.
Are there ways in which you feel that your work engages in a familial or cultural lineage?
Yeah, I’m really interested in the idea of familial lineage. Traces of the collective family passed from generation to generation, collecting momentum, gaining embellishments. Stories repeated and knowledge shared. There is beauty in this, but on the flip side it’s dangerous. We learn everything from our parents; the good, the bad, and the ugly. If the thread isn’t broken then it will keep traveling down the line. I’m interested in this learned behavior.
(Left)
“Paradise”
Oil and Aerosol on Canvas
60 x 48 Inches
2019
(Right)
“Laid”
Oil and Aerosol on Canvas
60 x 48 Inches
2019
You’ve mentioned that your process often begins with a photograph of discarded furniture. What is it about a particular piece of furniture that catches your eye? When you set out to begin a painting do you follow a plan or do you work more intuitively? Can you tell us more specifically about your process?
Process has become very important to my practice. When I moved to LA four and a half years ago I was still making art very much intuitively. But I was also feeling pretty unsettled. I didn’t have a studio and was taking care of my two young kids. So, I started making 2D relief sculptures of my living room out of all the packing boxes from our move. It felt safe and grounding to be building observational work. These sculptures became the ground for a series of abstract paintings. I didn’t really care what I painted as the work had roots in something tangible, it was very freeing. Continuing in the vain of domesticity, I started making sculptures out of dolls house furniture, photographing them and translating them into abstract figurative paintings of female nudes, often with a child. This led to me finding my ready-made sculptures of furniture assemblages on the streets. I tackled these in much the same way as the sculptures I made myself. I came to discover that there is a huge amount of dumped furniture in LA, and that it is quite beautiful and often human in its gestures. They made me feel as though I had stumbled upon an intimate moment and in photographing them I was some kind of pervert voyeur. The softer, more disheveled the furniture, the better. I favored the stacked, leaned or piled items. Suggestive of an orgy rather than the frigid armchairs set far apart from one another.
In your show Dad taught me to tie knots, mum, the names of flowers (pt. 2: Oakland Feb. / March. 2020) you use a combination of brightly colored oil paint and aerosol. Do you think that your medium serves the finished work in ways that other materials may not? Do you select materials based on your concept or does your choice of materials drive the process/finished work.
I used to work solely in acrylics but always had the nagging feeling that I wasn’t going to be taken seriously until I changed to oils, so that’s what I did. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to adjust but I now prefer oils and would never go back. They are so much more flexible and easier to manipulate. Spray paint is a new material for me, I like to draw the initial composition with it, it’s stops me being so anal about the forms, especially the figures which I like to be more ambiguous.
(Left)
“Knotted”
Oil and Aerosol on Canvas
63 x 67 Inches
2019
(Right)
“Untitled #2”
Oil and Aerosol on Canvas
55 x 50 Inches
2019
Where is your studio? How does your physical space affect the way you work (if at all)?
Downtown LA. It's a small space but I love it. I share a building with about 8 other artists, some are live work, so there are always people there, which is really nice. I’ve worked from home a lot, and although that is super convenient it’s also very insular and I would get major cabin fever and spend way too much time staring into the fridge and doing laundry.
What do you like to listen to in the studio?
KCRW, classical piano music and the occasional podcast. Joe Rogan does some really interesting interviews. I just listened to one about the advantages of psychedelics for mental health.
How has your work changed over the course of your career thus far? Do you find your approach or process different than it once was?
It's changed so much. I sometimes feel that I can’t settle on a style, to my detriment. I feel like I’m always stumbling upon new palettes, new influences and new processes and I don’t want to not explore them. So, for now, things will just keep changing.
(Left)
“Twosome”
Oil and Oil Stick on Canvas
11 x 14 Inches
2019
(Right)
“Botanist”
Oil and Aerosol on Canvas
55 x 50 inches
2019
Are there other concepts you want to explore further down the line? New processes/materials?
Yes, I would love to make more sculptures. I have been toying with this for the past year, making soft plushy-like doll sculptures and folding them into loose representations of furniture. I like the way my subject has come full circle. However, these sculptures have always been in the background, more of a means to painting than independent works. I’d like to develop this as an extension of my work, and have them be pieces in their own right.
What do you do when you’re not in the studio?
Surf badly. Talk to my flowers. Hang with my kids.
Favorite wikipedia wormhole?
I’m not really a Wikipedia person. Biggest time waster is filling up my Amazon cart with unnecessary items all evening only to empty the cart before I go to sleep.
Is there something about yourself you’d like to share that your audience may not know?
I really want to go storm chasing. I like vodka straight.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Worry less. Eat more.