In the Studio | Marc Gabor
With the release of new photographs, LA based Marc Gabor sat down with Tappan to discuss his own work as well as discuss the role of art in the world. We loved his honesty and unique perspective in answering our questions and know you will too. Read our interview with Marc and explore his newest photographs below.
TAPPAN
Do you have a particular philosophy on life?
MARC GABOR
Hold on tightly, let go lightly.
TAPPAN
What is the primary question art is addressing today? What questions do you address?
MARC GABOR
I don't think there is any one question that art is addressing today. It really depends on the artist and the institutions supporting artists. Social issues, amplified by a 24 hr news cycle and digital media outlets like Twitter and Facebook have made politics an inescapable topic for artists and pop culture. To not make a statement is a statement. Even if the art is not making an outright political statement it’s increasingly difficult to separate the viewers feelings about authoritarianism, technology, sexuality, environment, inequality, prejudice, and privacy from how we view most important pieces of art.
Personally, I don’t think that I actively seek to address any of these issues while making my art. I’m strictly interested in form and spacial relations at the moment. That said I’d like to create more work that has a stronger conceptual foundation; one that is rooted in my own perspective on life and the workings of the world.
TAPPAN
Other than the genre you work in, what other types of art do you most enjoy?
MARC GABOR
Above everything else, music. Classical music has really been blowing me away lately. My father had an incredible collection of classical music which played throughout my childhood. A lot of that collection was on vinyl and I’ve been going through all his old records. I just love how intangible it is. Why do certain keys sound powerful or unsettling? What is it about certain singers voices that just reach right in to your soul? Music lives outside of a visual context, outside of words. In that way I think there is a purity there. It’s eternal. You close your eyes and you can forget where you are. You lose yourself in music.
Also in the last year I’ve gotten really into Diego Rivera's murals. The scale that he works on is mind-blowing. I went to a museum dedicated to him in Mexico City, and at first I was a little disappointed at how little work was in the museum. However after I spent time taking in each mural, I realized it was the equivalent of how much time I would have spent walking through a typical exhibition.
Marc Gabor says:
“I LIKE STORIES THAT ARE FATED TO RETURN HOME. DHARMA BUMS BY JACK KEROUAC IS ALL ABOUT FINDING ZEN IN ALL THESE DIFFERENT PLACES - FRIENDS, DRINK, THE HIGH SIERRA, POETRY, BUT IN THE END HE FINDS IT IN THE WOODS BEHIND HIS CHILDHOOD HOME.”
TAPPAN
What artist has given you the best advice? What was it?
MARC GABOR
“Step back” – When I was in school I was told over and over by more than one professor to step back. This advice has really stuck with me, especially because there are times when I do feel like I need to get closer, but when I do so now it feels more deliberate.
TAPPAN
Who are some of the artists working today that you look to for inspiration or admire?
MARC GABOR
Mark Bradford. He has a piece hanging over the TSA screening area of the international departures terminal at LAX. I really like Mark’s approach to art and his use of non-precious materials. I travel a lot and so I get to revisit this piece somewhat regularly. It’s so interesting to see how other people in line react to it or ignore it. Airports are usually pretty nondescript and unoffensive, so the fact that this huge piece is hanging there is a testament to how much support there is for challenging contemporary art.
TAPPAN
How has your art changed from when you first started creating?
MARC GABOR
I think I’ve developed a greater ability to find balance within a frame. I’ve become a lot better at editing my own work. Also, I used to struggle with photographing in color. Now I rarely shoot in B&W.
TAPPAN
How do you move past a creative block when you run out of ideas?
MARC GABOR
Whatever it takes to find a new way to look at the problem at hand.
TAPPAN
Are there one or two books that have had a dramatic impact on your thinking?
MARC GABOR
I can’t really think of any books that changed my path, but there are two books that have continued to resonate with me. Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis and The Cossaks by Leo Tolstoy. Both novels follow cosmopolitan main characters who look for truth by traveling to an exotic location to experience a more visceral way of life. Despite their abilities to find friendship, brotherhood, love, and adventure they are never able to transition from outsider to local.
I like stories that are fated to return home. Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac is all about finding zen in all these different places - friends, drink, the high sierra, poetry, but in the end he finds it in the woods behind his childhood home. I love that.
TAPPAN
Do you remember the first piece you created which you felt was a "work of art," and what was it?
MARC GABOR
I'm not sure that I'm there yet to be honest. I've made a few small scale paintings that I'm pretty happy with, but I haven't shown them to anyone. I'm pretty hard on myself.
