JUSTIN CARTY

Lauren Haimelin: When did you discover your passion for painting and that it would be your chosen media for visual art?
Justin Carty: I always had an inkling that painting would be the art form that I was drawn to and then through drawing, I found painting and it just felt like a natural path for me. I have been painting for many years but most recently in the past three or four years I have greatly developed my practice.

LH: The work you have been doing lately is representational and includes a lot of portraits. How did this develop-where did the idea of doing portraiture come from or did it stem from some other interest that you have?
JC: I have always been drawn to faces, I think they are very expressive and there is just so much moodiness and shape in them. I think when you break art down into shapes and geometry it can become boring but I have always been drawn to different planes. I started drawing eyes and noses and then I just started seeing that I was just drawing shapes, I would think ‘oh this was just a shape’, and so then the portraits and faces began to develop. Faces have the most ever changing planar geometry in the human being and also the most expressive.

LH: Yes, for example, just the smallest adjustment in the way a tiny muscle moves makes the greatest difference in the perceived expression of the person.
JC: Definitely. I never focus on that, but I focus on the face as a whole, and I am not sure what it is exactly that makes me want to paint that face. It is just an immediate thing when I see a face that I want to paint. But part of it must be some small expression.

LH: Do you find that one mood or another attracts your attention more than others?
JC: Yes, apparently it is a very somber mood that appeals to me, but when I was younger I was drawn to more animated expression. Then I realized that there was so much more expression in so much less of an animated expression. There is a much deeper mood in someone that is sitting more still than in someone who is yelling, for example. If the person is yelling, you get it right away. And when you catch the person off guard you really have no idea what they are thinking, and in my paintings I have the freedom to convey whatever I want. I have the freedom to put into that painting whatever I want.

LH: When you are developing these portraits that you have been working on lately, specifically those that are in your current show at Rob’s Shop in Williamsburg Brooklyn, how did you develop the actual pieces themselves? Do you still sketch on the subway trains in NYC? I know that was a part of your artistic practice in the past.
JC: Yes I do. I find it very therapeutic and it takes me away from the doldrums or boredom of actually riding the trains. After my last show I had a lot of energy to carry on with and was able to put this show together very quickly. My current show is partly based on a video project that I am working on with NY based DJ and musician Nickodemus who has a new single coming out called “In a New York Minute” that features 4 rappers. I was doing these portraits of them in a stop motion style as I was painting, and they became oil paintings. So in each of the paintings each rapper would appear 3 times in three different ways as they were singing their verse on the song. This was great because I could really use my brushstrokes to animate their portraits and it brought something totally new to my painting which was the idea of motion and the subject. It really freed me and my brushstroke which has definitely become evident in my painting. It also has helped me to paint big, which is a challenge. I think that if you can do a successful painting big, then you are getting where you want to go and you are really improving.

LH: In the past 5 years or so you have really gotten into the visual arts as a part of your career as opposed to just as a hobby. After pursuing a BS in Architecture, doing work in animation, design, performing arts, and eventually completing an MA in animation at NYU would you say that a part of your maturity as a visual artist has come as a result of your background?
JC: Yes definitely. I am fascinated by new things, and everything I have ever done gives me the inspiration to do my work. I am very into shapes and geometry. All the experiences that I have had have led me to what I am doing now and I think I need to get my ideas out as fast as possible. Lately, all the things I have ever done are finding their expression in what I am doing right now. I am very excited about what I am doing, about each painting. All of my past experiences lend themselves to a visually interesting body of work. When I am painting I can point out which part of my experience I am using more than another as I go and I love it.

LH: Your color choices and the feel of your brushstrokes have changed quite a lot even in the past year. You have loosened up quite a bit and the colors you are using are a bit deeper and are more monochromatic in each painting. What would you say is the cause of that?
JC: Impatience is a probable cause, although I have a lot of patience. Through patience I have achieved the goal of high technical ability, and my past experience and practice in sketching has taken me there. I feel that working more loosely and freely comes along with the level of skill that I have achieved. When you improve, you have to grab onto it and go with it. If you stop yourself you would be hindering your creative progress, so I am really tapping into my stronger sense of self expression now.

LH: What direction do you see your work heading now?
JC: I have always been interested in figures and I think that I will focus on that more although I am still kind of focused on faces right now. I am also interested in working more sculpturally and in 3-D spaces doing installations. I find inspiration everywhere and part of the main inspiration for my future work will be that we are losing the New York that I grew up with, it is changing so much. Growing up, dilapidated and boarded-up buildings and graffiti covered walls were so common. Now this boring architecture and strange cleanliness that is new to the city is very alien and I want to work to create spaces and installations that remind me of the old New York. The city is shifting in a huge way, there are now more outsiders than there are new Yorkers, and I feel that the New York I knew is no longer around so I would like to re-capture the old NY feel that I grew up with here.