Damian Loeb

"In a Lone Painting, the Emotion of Film"

"Public Domain", The recent exhibition at Mary Boone Gallery of incorrigible artist Damian Loeb, who insists: an artist has the right to draw his source of inspiration from photographs or, in this case, his favorite films. For him, the cinema is better than real life, where one is able to remain detached from others. Within the cinema, as in painting, there are the goods and the buyers. But they know...

Art Actuel - Your exhibition has just opened at Mary Boone Gallery. What is the common thread in this body of work?

Damian Loeb - They are all oil on canvas, as in the proceeding exhibition, but two things have changed: the format is now much longer in length, and I have drawn the idea of each painting not from a photograph, but from a scene in a film

AA - Are you able to give us a precise example?

DL - On a general level I can say that my subject is parallel to a film sequence. In Blade Runner I literally see the heroes mentally mixed into a photo. For this particular exhibition, I see some of these films as the keys to my creation. The Shining, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and LA Confidential.

AA - What is the process?

DL - Take into account the size of my new canvas, more than four meters long. To begin, I use a projector which enables me to fix on the canvas the broad outline of the composition. For example, In Birth and In Death The Generations Embrace, with the man running, I started from video taken from Pinewood Studios in London.

AA - How long does it take you to paint a canvas?

DL - On average about two months per canvas, which in my opinion is too long. This is why, aside from the principle paintings, I do detailed cross sections of the piece.

AA - Let's change the subject. What kind of childhood did you have?

DL - I had what I think is the most typically messed up suburban experience. None of my siblings are totally related to me. I have a brother and sister from another father and a sister who was adopted. All of us competing for the attention of disillusioned hippie/preppie parents. I was the oldest and expected to do a lot of baby-sitting, as well as completely caring for myself. I enjoyed being left alone.

AA - Is there an artist in the family?

DL - Both my mother and father were interested in the arts. My mother actually went to art school in the city. My father was more interested in literature. Connecticut is a beautiful state if you are looking for a nice country home; as far as growing up it was dreadful and I would not want to subject my children to the same sterile and monotronous environment. It seemed that children were an accessory to the perfect life and not the point of it. All of that said, I probably would not have changed a thing. Because of divorce and fluctuating finances I lived in a lot of towns in Connecticut.

AA - What brought you to New York?

DL - New York is and has been the center of the art world; I never felt it was even a choice as to where I would live. I love New York as anyone who knows they will be here for the rest of their lives does. I would like to be able to get a home elsewhere in addition to a studio here someday. Maybe Scotland.

AA - Tell us how you got started?

DL - I worked away at my work in secret as I assisted an artist and did other art related jobs. When I thought that I finally had a body of work that could stand on it's own, i showed it to the people at White Columns and they gave me a room. My friend, Cecily Brown, and I were struggling in little studios and she had just been offered a show at Deitch Projects. She made Jeffrey Deitch come by my little white room at White Columns and he offered me a show on the spot.

AA - Which artists have influenced you the most?

DL - I am a music and movie fanatic. I am either listening to music or watching a movie constantly. Luckily I can work while I listen to music. I could never list my favorite movies or music. It really depends on the mood. I try to be open minded but I do prefer popular stuff.

AA - Your painting is very influenced by the cinema. What do you seek to transmit with the elongated panoramic canvases?

DL - I am very interested in capturing in a still image the feeling I got as I remembered all that I love in good movies. I thought it would be an interesting challenge to capture the sense of time and the feeling of a specific moment even if it didn't really happen to me. When you are watching a good movie, you feel as if it is happening to you. This show partially represents my interpretation of that experience. I had to use some of the compositional elements of film to accurately recapture that. though in the end I don't see it as a translation but just a personal memory.

AA - Do you travel much?

DL - I travel in spurts. A lot for a month or two and then I have to stay in the studio and make sense of it all. I really don't like flying; It's much better in business class but I still can't see paying that much for a little bit bigger seats and glass cups. I am sure that I would panic in front as much as in back when a megaton aluminum and wire vehicle plummets towards the ground.

AA - How much of your time is spent working?

DL - I see my life as a full time obligation to working. When I am not painting I get depressed and disappointed with myself. I am not good at anything else so it is hard to cheer myself up with anything but work. I take time off to get recharged and get perspective. I am always afraid that if I took a few days off fate would loose interest in my future and I would have to get a real job working 9-5.

AA - Can you speak to us about your fascination for the work of Philip-Lorca DiCorcia?

DL - I have met Philip-Lorca DiCorcia in less than perfect circumstances. I think he was a bit tired of me using his images as references for some of my paintings. I think he was a bit tired of me using his images as reference for some of my paintings. I was a big fan and made an effort to explain that. He was a much better sport about it than other photographers. I still don't really understand how some of them think that they can copyright stuff just because they were in the right place at the right time with a camera. I am sure that is my own naivetŽ or arrogance.

AA - Do you hang out a lot with other artists of your generation, such as Cecily Brown, Inka Essenhigh or Damien hurst?

DL - I have a great deal of respect for many of the artists working today; especially as I learn just how much more difficult it gets when you actually get a little success. But I don't voluntarily hang out with them. I just find more inspiration with people doing different things in different ways. I am not very competitive in that way and I don't really appreciate that kind of atmosphere.

AA - How does it fell to be a young successful painter in Manhattan? Did you ever think that it would happen to you?

DL - I had imagined my career exactly as it has turned out. I am just overwhelmed that it is like I fantasized. Everything else I fantasized about turned out rather disappointingly. I just assumed that it was a big fantasy that I would have to eventually modify to be realistic. I probably would enjoy it a lot more if my best friend for 15 years wasn't a rock star. It has become very evident to me that rock stardom is probably what I should have been dreaming about....but I can't even whistle a tune. I guess I am better with this life.

AA - How do you see your future? Any interest in directing film?

DL - I am already working on the newest series for London which should be similar and hopefully even better. As for making a film, I have always fantasized about it but I don't know how I will get over my inability to cooperate with people. I understand that this is a big part of film making.