Stan Edmondson (b. 1962, Pasadena, CA), lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
What is one mantra that you live by in regards to your practice as an artist?
Well my father had a saying, he said if you’re not getting dirty, you’re not making art. That has a difficult truth to it. To me it means if you’re not getting down into it, experimenting, exploring technique, if you’re not completely involved in the process you’re not making art. You need to be putting in the work. I am blessed to be able to wake up every morning and go into the studio and make work, it’s a blessing.
How does family influence your artwork?
My father was a famous artist, Leonard Edmondson, and so as a child I was surrounded by him and his buddies who were making art. I had to learn the visual language that they spoke. So at a young age, I learned the language of aesthetics alongside a spoken one. My mother assisted my father and ran his art business. He would actually be able to pay the mortgage on the house by participating in competitions. My dad entered lots of shows. It was a family business, so as a child I was fully surrounded by art, it’s in my blood. My sister is a cellist and so we’re both in the arts, we keep each other going. My sister has supported me as an artist over the years and she’s aware of the importance of the arts in humanity and in our own personal lives.
What is your creative process and how has it evolved?
I’m trying to recapture the aloofness of being 8 years old. Children when they create are not as worried about impressing anybody, the inner critic isn’t there, they are just playing, and that’s a type of freedom. Children’s art is freedom in the most beautiful sense. So, the evolution of my creative process is to try to go back and make art like a child, to take it away from being intellectual. My father was a genius, he was an abstract surrealist, and I could never compete with him, so the evolution of my work tends towards simplicity. I’m fascinated by kinetic sculpture, I like making art that’s not static and not fragile, art that people can touch. And my evolution has tended to more practical art, towards making things like toys, things that people can really interact with.
Who is somebody currently living that you have the most respect for in the art world?
Right now my hero is Betye Saar, you know, I go to every opening that she might show up at in order to see her. I grew up with artists of her generation and she’s one of the last people standing, she’s in her nineties and she’s still a role model for me. And the important thing for me is not what kind of art older artists are making, but the fact that they’re still creating because it’s my hope and goal, like my father who made art on his deathbed, for me to create until I die. Betye Saar is one of those people, she’s made art her entire life and continues to keep going. She was my first art teacher, I took a class with her in the mid-sixties, and I remember her from then, from that point, she’s truly my hero.
What is the most interesting art fair that you have been to or heard about that you would like to attend?
Well I went to Ceramic Brussels recently which was great. I was just in Felix Art Fair which I love because it implies relaxation with the cabanas and the pool and all those things that makes it very easy to attend and to look at the work and relax. Art fairs are usually intense and not a place to relax, however I have looked at art my entire life and am now old, so it’s nice to be at a place where I can take in the art and relax as well.
What type of environment would be the most fulfilling for a residency?
As a sculptor/ceramicist, it’s really important firstly that the studio has all the tools for fabricating and loading/unloading kilns. I don’t want to blow out my back. I did enjoy a residency I did in Versailles, I find that my art changes drastically in different environments, and so I enjoyed Versailles because of the environment. So, my ideal residency place would be somewhere new where I had to be out of my comfort zone in public and that the visual stimulus is very different from Los Angeles. I would say that the ideal place for a residency would be a place unlike Los Angeles.
What new institutional collection would you like to be in?
I don’t know, I would like to be in any institutional collection haha.
Describe what an ideal space would look like for one of your artworks to reside in.
One thing I really like about my work is that it does not need to stand out or be pronounced. I like my work in the outdoors, in nature because it is very organic. And I like my work to be something kind of stumbled upon, like if you’re in a forest walking through an overgrown area and you stumble upon one of my pieces, that would be cool. I want them to interact with nature. And be enjoyed with other visual stimuli.
Which artist or artists would you like to be in a group show with in the future?
Betye Saar, I would like to be in a group show with her. Roger Herman also, I love his work, I always have, and he’s working with clay now, he’s a hero of mine. My father, he’s deceased, and Ynez Johnston, she’s also deceased. I would love to be in a three person show, Leonard Edmondson, Ynez Johnston, and me. It would be an honor for my work to be alongside my father’s or Ynez’s in a gallery.
If I were to take you to a city of your choice, what city would it be and which three art initiatives would you like to visit?
Berlin or Beijing. I haven’t been to either, I don’t really know any museums or galleries there. They seem new to me and I’d learn a lot about how art is made in different ways. I went to Shanghai a few years ago and saw some museums there, the art was incredible.
What part of the art ecosystem excites you the most for the future of your practice?
I’m supposed to go on a residency, I’m looking forward to traveling and seeing a new part of the world, I think that would be really good for me. So that’s what that is.
