~THE RAVEN~

Craig Drennen, Dramatis Personae, 2010, oil, alkyd on canvas, 78" x 80"

Craig Drennen, Dramatis Personae, 2010, oil, alkyd on canvas, 78″ x 80″

SARAH WALKO: How do you usually start your day?

CRAIG DRENNEN: Since my day usually starts before sunrise, I start by fumbling my way out of bed in the dark.

SW: What have you been listening to this past week?

CD:  A lot of Sleigh Bells and Tomahawk in the studio this week.  And I pulled up some old Flipper tracks that I hadn’t listened to in years–and they were still great.  A new intern wanted to hear Devo, so we had a Devo afternoon that turned out to be amazing.

Craig Drennen, Timon of Athens 1, 2009, oil, alkyd on canvas, 84" x 72"

Craig Drennen, Timon of Athens 1, 2009, oil, alkyd on canvas, 84″ x 72″

SW: What are you currently reading or recently read?

CD:  I’m finally reading Bret Easton Ellis’s Imperial Bedrooms.  And I’ve been repeatedly re-reading an Anne Beattie short story called The Bowl, mainly because it seems so thoughtful and emotional and perfectly crafted.  It’s an honor to experience a work that seems perfect in every way.

SW: When did you begin to make art?

CD:  I can vividly remember making drawings as a 3-year old.  It has continued uninterrupted since then.

Craig Drennen, First Mistress, 2007, oil on canvas + latex paint on wall, 18" x 18" + 2" black line

Craig Drennen, First Mistress, 2007, oil on canvas + latex paint on wall, 18″ x 18″ + 2″ black line

SW: Who were a few very strong individuals or specific influences (people, places, experiences or things) that may have served as thresholds or break through moments in the evolution of your practice?

CD: School was always easy to me, so in the first grade when I finished my work early the teacher would let me look through the encyclopedias in the classroom as long as I would keep quiet.  I remember looking up “art” in the encyclopedia as a first grader in central West Virginia and knowing that was what my life would be.  It’s kind of extraordinary, actually.

SW: Does healing/catharsis play a role in your thoughts/working process (if any) as you make decisions on materials, transformation and symbolism?

CD:  My first response would be to say no.  But I do like to begin long, multi-year projects from unstable information platforms, then work hard to stabilize the resulting artworks.  That mirrors “healing” in some way I think, even if it would have never occurred to me use that term.

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SW: Are any of your pieces self portraits?

CD: I’ve come to accept that the two biggest projects I’ve done—Supergirl in the early 2000’s and Timon of Athens now—are both extended self-portraits.

SW: What is one current project you are working on?

CD:  I’m working on introducing the character of Poet for my Timon of Athens project.  It always takes a lot of physical and mental energy to get a new character off the ground.

SW: Do you spend a lot of time in the studio alone or need a lot of think space alone time? What is your balance of the need to retreat into a reclusive state to continually reconnect with your individual voice and then also be out in the world working with others, exhibiting, lecturing etc.?

CD:  My natural inclination is to be a studio hermit.  I have to work against that inclination nearly every day.

SW:  Are you Land or Sea?

CD: Land.  Near the sea.

SW: What kind of bird are you?

CD: Falcon.  They’re merciless, accurate, and fast.

The Raven is a column on ETTD by Sarah Walko.

More soon

xo