David Ratcliff

ARTIST INTERVIEW

interview & transration /Tomio Koyama Gallery

From the initial photoshop collage to the final spray-painting of the canvas the process is one of step-by-step loss of control.

How do you select your images?

A good part of what I look for ends up being things that have been designed, built or “created” in some way by others. Ultimately the image results are based on what the search parameters are, what the language is, what keywords are used. For example, with the painting “The Elements” I had been gathering images of collages people had made and then photographed and posted online, and one of these became the “background” of the work. I also had collected a large group of photos based on a search for “coffee table sculpture”. I found a sculpture being sold online that for clarity had multiple shots from various angles. These photos eventually became the central figure in the painting.

Do you always have specific keywords in mind?

No, I do not necessarily. I search things randomly…like how we do netsurfing.

How do you select your colors?

Just by the visual. When I make collage with Photoshop, I test out different colors and I choose one that fits the best. So the decision is quite intuitive, though sometimes I will omit a color as a possibility if I think it creates a certain kind of content when combined with the imagery.

Have you always been working with this method?

I used to be more specific about how I searched for, selected and combined images in my collages and the result appeared more controlled and graphic in a sense. In the recent works I am finding images for the most part using random result pages and simultaneously allowing more of the physical production process to remain visible, such as parts where you can see the tape was still left on or places where I neglected to remove part of the paper mask. The more recent works have a closer relationship to “painterly” painters or to more abstract photography.

Could you tell us about the abstract element and cartoon-like imagery found in “Figure in Ground”?

The chaotic expressionist ground is comprised of nature photos. The figures were chosen from a group of images of “body painting” that I’ve collected over time. Paintings on breasts, backs, faces, etc. At some point that search overlapped and then changed direction, moving into drunken frat-party type photos, which is where I found the figure in the lower-right corner. Some drunk student had passed out and his friends drew the face on his ass and stuck a cigarette there in the mouth.

What is the story behind “Fort Bragg Calendar 1”?

The central image that runs throughout most of the image is a photo of a heavily-doodled page of a day-planner posted online by the wife of a soldier deployed in Iraq. The name “Fort Bragg” was prominent on the page on a certain day, and the way it was written it seemed to have some positive significance. I'd always kind of thought that perhaps it was the day that the husband was to return, but can't be sure. There are a lot of postings by wives and family members of soldiers in Iraq, and I'm constantly running into them from various angles.

Could you give us a background for “Shapes”?

I gathered together a number of images I had collected into a folder called "random". I don't question why I'm attracted to anything that goes into random…it's something that I do almost immediately whenever I sit down a the computer, check a few sites that I like to see if anything interesting comes up in some immediate searches. I then cut those photos up using images of industrial-use geometric shapes as masks, also found online.

Unlike other paintings, “Shapes” seems very complex and I can hardly find recognizable images.

Yes, in the past I was very controlled and careful about how I put the images together, or about the relationship between the images within the composition. More recently I have not been going out of my way to preserve the image, and don't necessarily prevent one image from obscuring or fragmenting another.

How do you feel about the Internet Age, or what is your stance towards the Internet?

There has never been an image/content source as vast, and my primary interest in the internet is on that level. The work I do would be fundamentally different if I were reliant on traditional editor-controlled content, or if I were forced to make all the photographs I use in the paintings.

I have an important question regarding the red painting: is this a pig?

Yes! Originally a sign for a rural English farm, it says “Pure Pigs” which I assume indicated the quality of the meat.

When compared to making digital collage and/or stencil, the act of spray painting is quick and immediate process. What I am picking up from your work is as if you are showing us a shadow of all the laborious processes you had done. Do you care more about the process or is it the final result that you are emphasizing?

That is a good way to describe the paintings….the "shadow of a process", specifically with regards to the medium of spray paint. With the exception of graphic-design and a handful of painters like Polke or Salle , I'd usually related to the medium of collage in a relatively intimate way compared with painting. This process grew out of a desire to use collage to make what resulted in large paintings on canvas. I am foremost concerned about the finished painting, of which the process is an absolutely necessary part as the preparation of the stencil is extremely time consuming and therefore really employs a level of commitment that is not always so present in other processes.