GORDON HOLDEN

story / GINA TRON

art / GORDON HOLDEN

Gorden Holden, a Rhode Island based artist, will be hosting his first solo show this Friday in NYC. His opening will be at Art on A  Gallery on April 26th from 7 – 9 PM. Gordon is an artist that excels at spitting out clever contemporary work over the internet. Now he is moving from cyber space to  a space in the Lower East Side, to communicate his voice with the public. Check out his show tonight and his work as our guest art director for our new issue of LADYGUNN.

What can people expect from your first solo art show?
Mostly [my work] has just been on the internet. So now people can see it in real life. It’s going to be tangible.


What mediums do you usually work with?
I don’t really have a medium. I like digital because its really convenient . [My work] is mostly based around ideas. If I have an idea that I’m intrigued with, I can do it. With digital media, you can create your idea instantly.
It’s good to spit it out.
Ultimately you want to get it to people. For a while I was making media. I don’t really have space to do a lot of work though. I have a small apartment. You need to get people interested [in your work] through the internet but not by cluttering your real living situation. But then it transferred into wanting to make real things like tangible objects.

Do you feel one of the most important elements of art is communication of your message?
I think communicating the idea of it is the most important part of it. Contemporary is changing every day.
What kind of work will be on display on Friday?
Digital pieces and I have mixed media pieces. There’s  a couple appropriated items  like consume cool piggy banks and baseball bats. Some photo pieces. A bunch of digital pieces I printed out on photo paper. A lot of the art on walls will have higher prices but other things are cheaper. I have some Zines there, which will be cheaper. My Zines are mostly photography.  I take photos of things and then afterwards I notice things that I’m not conscious of while taking the pictures.
Tell me about some fun press you got.
They did an article on me for VICE for my photography. I don’t consider myself a photographer.
That’s a compliment, then.
I don’t feel like I don’t do anything really. But I guess I do.

Must be frustrating for photography buffs that obsess over camera speeds then, that you got into VICE huh?
Ya I have like 6 cameras all film cameras. I don’t invest money into photography equipment. Things that are interesting, I take a picture of.
I like non classically trained photographers the best. I saw your “Warhol Sucks” work on your website.  Are you not a fan of Andy?
I like his stuff actually. I think his stuff influences a lot of people. People perceive it as something cool. I don’t think he sucks. I think he’s good. But if  you have something that’s contradicting itself, it just attracts more attention.

Yes definitely. You say he sucks but the way you did it is obviously influenced by Warhol.
That will be in the show [on Friday.] I used 275 actual cans of Chef Boyardee.
Its gonna be a big installation piece. I bought all the spaghetti and meatballs the gallery was like ‘What are you gonna do with all that?’ and I was like ‘I’ll just throw it out. And they were like we can’t have it here because it will smell so bad.’ I called a bunch of food shelters and Bowery Kitchen took all the food out of the cans. We donated the food which is cool.
On your site it says that creative = unproductive. Why?
It’s along the same line as ‘Warhol Sucks.’ You take something that is common opinion/knowledge and create the opposite of it. Its appropriating words and phrases or thoughts. To make somebody think.
Do you think that by being creative you are non productive? Because I feel that way. I think too much and procrastinate too much when trying to be creative.
Yeah definitely. I think you have to be really bored in order to be creative. When you’re ultimately bored, you start searching for outlets and things to entertain yourself. I live in Newport RI and the winters suck so bad. It’s really boring. When you turn to creativity for a form of entertainment it works out well.
You texted me a Mickey Mouse cartoon.
I use gifs in my text messaging. Because it says something. Most texts are boring. But if someone sees this moving image or something funny then people [laugh].
It entertained me.  Last question. How was it collaborating for LADYGUNN?
It was really fun. Koko actually came to my studio in Rhode Island and we worked on it for a couple days. I never did it before. I’ve not a stickler for details but I get the idea across. I started by doodling.  You have to trust your instincts about what you do visually.

Update: For show pics click here.