Gerald Ferstman

ARTIST STATEMENT

I went to buy a sport coat at the department store and I noticed that they all look alike, so I went to another department store, and on and on and on…all the coats looked the same and than I went to another department store and encountered the same. Making art is like buying a sport coat. Why would you want to dress like everybody else and be anonymous?

I am the contrarian who believes why should I make art like everybody else? Art isn’t a sport coat and off the rack item that you buy.

Being a contrarian and insider – outsider and academic and non-academic I have all these things to deal with when I make art. I am an insider because I seek refuge within the University system. However, I know that the University system can be the kiss of death if one does not challenge themselves. I don’t believe on relying on the old and tested ways of making art from a bunch of strict rules. I believe in going back to my primordial instincts, which are in conflict with the academicism.  

My brother who was a taxi cab driver and a trainer of thoroughbreds told me it takes courage to be a jockey. I believe it takes courage to be an artist. An artist is like being a blind jockey sitting on a one thousand pound thoroughbred horse, sitting backwards and trying to control a free spirit. The jockey doesn’t control the horse, but merely points it in the right direction. He has no control but he has to have the utmost in control. Vision is an inner most thing.

I make art where everything is in turmoil, upside – down, opposite and reverse. I paint on plastic and show the opposite and reverse side of the plastic. I glue the plastic to a panel and then peel the plastic away so there is nothing but the paint itself. I do this to challenge myself and also to confuse myself. Painting on plastic is natural to me because I have been doing it for such a long time. Being trained as a print maker I see things in a reverse logic, it makes sense to me. So when I paint, I see no need to change-- mainly because I am stubborn. I love color, but hate color theory. Color is intuitive to me and everyday I see new colors being used in everyday life, like new colors on automobiles and new colors for paints. So why should I use the ideas of old color theory? They just don’t relate anymore. Doing things in the old, established way of making art are too easy and not very self - satisfying. My ideas come from what’s around me: my culture, TV, movies, Internet, war, peace, gluttony, averse, beauty, ugliness, on and on and on…

The nature of contemporary art is an insane act as it’s viewed by many people and societies because of its tenuous and sometimes frivolous nature. However, in this insane world the only sane act is making art because it comments upon the insanity and makes people think deeply about who we are.