featured professor: Kim Moodie SS: All But Not consists of substantial descriptive work in ink on paper. In the past year, I have been exploring ink detail on canvas and I find the process can be extremely tedious and frustrating. What is the process of drawing in such detail on a large scale like for you?
KIM MOODIE, DETAIL OF RAG DROPS, 2007, CALLIGRAPHY MARKERS ON RAG PAPER, 38 X 35.5 CM (ORIGINAL WORK)
KM: I have processes that I use, a structure that I start with, I have a concept. So, all these are in place before I begin. My working method is pretty organized, but conceptually I have particular concerns. One of the big issues is to make sure my work does not become too repetitive, that I don’t force it. I think about how I can better present these concerns. I think about how I can better express [these ideas], or even reconsider them, how can I look at it in varying ways, how might this or that make it better. You can’t be complacent, [the tediousness] doesn’t bother me in the least, it makes it more interesting. What’s the point of being creative if you’re complacent about it? These are labour-intensive projects and I find value in labor.
SS: It seems like you have a great deal of self-discipline as an artist. KM: I try to be self-critical. I’m not making art for commercial reasons. I have particular goals and to reach those goals I feel I have to be quite critical. I try and slow things down in my drawings [so that] people have to slow down to look at them, in order to have a comprehension of what’s going on. SS: When I saw these drawings I had a similar feeling as to when I enter a Walmart Superstore: an overwhelming sense of organized chaos. What are your expectations of the viewer, if any? KM: I think you are reading these works well. You can focus on certain points or figures in one spot, on another part you see other figures and you can’t remember what you looked at before you get lost. I use the same figures in different parts so it becomes difficult to remember the one you looked at before. I believe the value systems we have change their appearance but maintain the same ideas, so things don’t really change. The entertainment is in the shifting: stop and try and focus and not get caught up. These works are not meant to be an answer, but meant to ask the questions. I don’t have all the answers, I just have questions and I’m trying to work out some 26
/ pulp / Arts Magazine