Studio Visit with Jeff Kraus
From Michigan by way of Brooklyn, Jeff Kraus, spent the month of March in our Los Angeles residency program creating and taking in the West Coast for the first time. The works he made during his time here reflect his new fascinations found within the city he now calls home. “The NY landscape has greatly influenced my visual language. I am responding more to the apparent chaos and constant decay, and growth of the city. I have become infatuated with the construction site aesthetics.” To prepare for his upcoming launch we asked him about his time with us, and how his practice has evolved.
TAPPAN
Tell us about this body of work launching on Tappan.
JEFF KRAUS
I was born and raised in Michigan, and pretty much knew I wanted to be an artist very early on. In elementary school I wanted to grow up to be a cartoonist. I loved to draw and create characters. I didn’t make any art in high school, then fell in love with printmaking in college. Halfway through my undergrad I became enamored with painting. I leased a studio space off campus and continued to diligently make paintings and never stopped. I moved to Brooklyn in 2017 and have upheld my full time studio practice.
TAPPAN
What is your creative process?
JEFF KRAUS
It usually starts by experimenting with a new process and materials. Decisions are then informed by covering up old work and preparing a surface. My work is built out of process and experimentation. Mistakes often become the final piece. I like to be surprised in the studio. Old works inform new works, along with failed attempts and piles of trashed material.
TAPPAN
Describe your work in three words.
JEFF KRAUS
Visceral, tense, curious.
TAPPAN
What draws you to painting?
JEFF KRAUS
The fluidity, immediacy, and history of the material. I like to think of painting as an object - something you interact with on all sides, not just a flat picture on a surface. I really enjoy the process of building up marks and surface, the creation of physical and visual dimension.
Jeff Kraus says
“MY WORK IS BUILT OUT OF PROCESS AND EXPERIMENTATION. MISTAKES OFTEN BECOME THE FINAL PIECE.”
TAPPAN
Where do you draw inspiration from?
JEFF KRAUS
Lately, construction sites, and graffiti. I am fascinated by the markings on the ground made by survey workers, their unintentional beauty and layering left on the ground overtime.
TAPPAN
Are there any quotes or mantras that you particularly connect with?
JEFF KRAUS
“Surrender is the most important part of painting; letting go” - Brenda Goodman
TAPPAN
What do you listen to when creating?
JEFF KRAUS
There is always music playing in the studio. I rarely work in silence. My musical tastes are all over the place. Lately, Earl Sweatshirt, Black Marble, Panda Bear, Daughters, Wild Nothing, and Hot Snakes.
TAPPAN
When do you make your best work?
JEFF KRAUS
When I am not trying
TAPPAN
What influence does living in Brooklyn have on your work?
JEFF KRAUS
Whether I realized it or not, moving to Brooklyn has changed my work. The NY landscape has greatly influenced my visual language. I am responding more to the apparent chaos and constant decay and growth of the city. I have become infatuated with construction site aesthetics.
TAPPAN
What influence does modern culture have on your work?
JEFF KRAUS
Technology has changed the way we look and interact with art. I feel as though the work has to translate well in photographs because that is how the majority of the audience sees it.
TAPPAN
What is your relationship with social media?
JEFF KRAUS
Love it, hate it, need it, don’t want it.
