Kevin Diminyatz

loathe (lohth) v. (loathed, loath ing) to

feel great hatred and disgust for. Loath’

ing n.

sub jec tive (sub-jek-tiv) adj. 1. existing

in a person’s mind and not produced by

things outside it, not objective. 2. de-

pending on personal taste or views etc.

sub jec’tive ly adv. sub jec’tive ness n.

sub jec tiv i ty (sub-jek-tiv-i-tee) n.

Kevin Diminyatz

As a method of working I set up certain conventions or rules to follow for a particular series. These rules create limitations on the amount of creative decisions I allow myself to make during the process. Examples of these conventions might be replicating graphics from the internet, books and photographs, and re-contextualizing them with various forms of materials and media. In this type of work I am interested in the ‘in-betweens’ – those variations from the original which appear in subsequent copies. I also find random mark making, or the so-called ‘automatic drawing’ method to be a useful way of making images while avoiding subjective thought. Although it is almost impossible to create work without any decision making I am always looking for new ways of reducing the amount of decisions I make within my process.

When my work feels good or complete, it is usually a surprise to me. I like to take the work through a ‘not knowing’ stage. The rules that I set for myself create a container for me to suspend doubt. With further exploration of materials and some adherence to the rules I set, the pieces themselves guide me through periods of doubt until they feel complete. This may take several months or one studio session. The work when finished does have a sense to me that it came from inside me, yet I do not associate that with any particular self-history, event, feelings or expression.

For my upcoming exhibition at idpace I am going to try and make work that is about Stephen Freedman’s sculpture. Whenever I go to openings at the gallery I take great pleasure in walking the grounds, being with the garden and the immense canon of his work present there. So when he proposed an exhibition to me I thought it would be cool to do something site specific and hopefully integrate what is outside the gallery into the gallery itself.

		The initial parameter I set for myself was to spend time on the property alone and make as many blind contour drawings of his pieces as I could. By blind I mean that my eyes scan the interior and exterior lines of the object while my hand records what I am seeing. The minute detail and variations of the objects surface are recorded with a certain disconnect due to the fact that I do not look at the paper while drawing. I am now working those studies into a series of drawings, paintings, prints, animations and who knows what else. This work will be installed in the gallery for my upcoming show, “BLIND CURVE ”.

One of my favorite artists is Gerhard Richter. Several years ago I read an interview of Richter in which he said that he “loathed subjectivity”. I had never heard those two words used in the same sentence before and I thought that it was brilliant. It seemed to distill all his words about his work, down to this one simple statement. It resonated with what I was trying to say about my own work. So I guess I’m copying him.

Click here for more about Kevin's exhibition at idspace (April 24 - June 5, 2011).