ARIELLE REBEK - MAY 2020
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm Arielle Rebek, a visual artist and educator living in Oakland, CA. I make experimental photographic work, often without a camera. My practice heavily relies on material investigation and an interest in how photography translates experience/place/object. I teach photography at a nearby community college, which is currently taking place online. I'm very fond of walks, coffee, and board games.
I'm Arielle Rebek, a visual artist and educator living in Oakland, CA. I make experimental photographic work, often without a camera. My practice heavily relies on material investigation and an interest in how photography translates experience/place/object. I teach photography at a nearby community college, which is currently taking place online. I'm very fond of walks, coffee, and board games.
Where are you and what are you currently working on?
I'm working from my home in Oakland and making work with the space and materials I have here. Although many things are uncertain during this pandemic, I feel super fortunate to have a comfortable spot to live in quarantine.
I've started paying close attention to the way sunlight passes through our windows and interacts with space. I started recording this light with small cyanotype prints on fabric. They feel like compressed markers of time and have been an ongoing form of therapy for me. In a way, it also feels like an act of unraveling or translating (sun)light as a form of language. I've also been revisiting some older work and continue to plan for a project that was put on hold while the darkroom is inaccessible.
I'm working from my home in Oakland and making work with the space and materials I have here. Although many things are uncertain during this pandemic, I feel super fortunate to have a comfortable spot to live in quarantine.
I've started paying close attention to the way sunlight passes through our windows and interacts with space. I started recording this light with small cyanotype prints on fabric. They feel like compressed markers of time and have been an ongoing form of therapy for me. In a way, it also feels like an act of unraveling or translating (sun)light as a form of language. I've also been revisiting some older work and continue to plan for a project that was put on hold while the darkroom is inaccessible.
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What’s your studio routine like? Any zany habits?
My current home studio routine is a bit like this: I teach online for a few hours in the morning and then get to studio work around 11. I like to work on our tiny back porch for a couple hours mid-day while it's in the sun. I'm usually writing or editing photos. I take breaks for walks and coffee and snacks. Throughout the afternoon, I bop around the house - make cyanotypes, mess with materials, look at images or start something new. (Lots of half-finished, half-thought through, half-projects lately. I'm finding it difficult to commit to ideas these days.) Early evening, I relocate to the west-facing front porch which gets the evening light. By this time, I may have moved on to reading, planning for class, or thinking about dinner. The order of what I work on changes day to day, but I pretty reliably follow the sunlight.
My current home studio routine is a bit like this: I teach online for a few hours in the morning and then get to studio work around 11. I like to work on our tiny back porch for a couple hours mid-day while it's in the sun. I'm usually writing or editing photos. I take breaks for walks and coffee and snacks. Throughout the afternoon, I bop around the house - make cyanotypes, mess with materials, look at images or start something new. (Lots of half-finished, half-thought through, half-projects lately. I'm finding it difficult to commit to ideas these days.) Early evening, I relocate to the west-facing front porch which gets the evening light. By this time, I may have moved on to reading, planning for class, or thinking about dinner. The order of what I work on changes day to day, but I pretty reliably follow the sunlight.
What are your favorite materials to work with?
Light, photo papers and films, alternative process photo chemicals, fabric, paper, transparency. I once did a project with expired photographic glass plates. They were unpredictable, very fragile and I had a limited supply. So, oddly, I decided to shatter the plates in the darkroom and expose the glass shards to light under the enlarger. I was really happy with how that work turned out actually.
I think I'm drawn to materials that leave space for experimentation, potential failure, and unknown results. I frequently reference my archive of found photos and slides when thinking about new work. Although these collected items don't often physically appear in the work, they are reflected in the way I think about relationships to photo and collection.
Light, photo papers and films, alternative process photo chemicals, fabric, paper, transparency. I once did a project with expired photographic glass plates. They were unpredictable, very fragile and I had a limited supply. So, oddly, I decided to shatter the plates in the darkroom and expose the glass shards to light under the enlarger. I was really happy with how that work turned out actually.
I think I'm drawn to materials that leave space for experimentation, potential failure, and unknown results. I frequently reference my archive of found photos and slides when thinking about new work. Although these collected items don't often physically appear in the work, they are reflected in the way I think about relationships to photo and collection.
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How has your work changed over the years?
I used to draw a lot more, both in process and in finished work. These days I fill my notebooks with more writing than drawing. My work has also gotten a bit more three dimensional. *Not much* but I am brining things off the wall from time to time. I'm starting to realize that sometimes the process is more of my actual "work" than the finished thing that is made... I have been working through possible ways to represent this.
I used to draw a lot more, both in process and in finished work. These days I fill my notebooks with more writing than drawing. My work has also gotten a bit more three dimensional. *Not much* but I am brining things off the wall from time to time. I'm starting to realize that sometimes the process is more of my actual "work" than the finished thing that is made... I have been working through possible ways to represent this.
Who else do you recommend we look at / read / listen to / cook with?
Quick read: Ursula Le Guin's Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction
Currently reading and liking so far: Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory: Stories by Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Poetry books: Mary Ruefle Selected Poems; Circadian by Joanna Klink; Cradles by Fisayo Adeyeye
Music: Rosinha De Valença (shout out to my brother, Alex, for sharing this gem of an artist with me)
Poetry Unbound podcast for short poetry readings and analysis.
You can always find something interesting in the Library of Congress photo archives. Or check out the vernacular photo collection of Robert E. Jackson donated to the National Gallery.
Quick read: Ursula Le Guin's Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction
Currently reading and liking so far: Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory: Stories by Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Poetry books: Mary Ruefle Selected Poems; Circadian by Joanna Klink; Cradles by Fisayo Adeyeye
Music: Rosinha De Valença (shout out to my brother, Alex, for sharing this gem of an artist with me)
Poetry Unbound podcast for short poetry readings and analysis.
You can always find something interesting in the Library of Congress photo archives. Or check out the vernacular photo collection of Robert E. Jackson donated to the National Gallery.
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Any exciting projects on the horizon?
Before quarantine, I had just started a residency at Kala Art Institute to work on a new project. I'm able to do some field work in the meantime, but I can't wait to get back to Kala to pick up where I left off in the darkroom and print studio. The project deals with the East Bay regional parks - walking, collecting, mapping - and it might be a book in its final form.
Before quarantine, I had just started a residency at Kala Art Institute to work on a new project. I'm able to do some field work in the meantime, but I can't wait to get back to Kala to pick up where I left off in the darkroom and print studio. The project deals with the East Bay regional parks - walking, collecting, mapping - and it might be a book in its final form.
website: https://ariellerebek.com/
