CEAPHAS STUBBS – www.ceaphas.com
Artist Interview by Juan Madrid
This is an open series of interviews with the artists in the Photography Now 2017 exhibition.
“My work encourages viewers to become active participants. Objects, symbols, and other elements are used as entry points into an otherwise abstract tableaux.”
[expand title=”See interview…” notitle=”true” startwrap=”“endwrap=”“]
Ceaphas Stubbs – Tongue Tied, 2014
1. Where are you from, and what is your background in photography? How did you get into photography?
I am from New Jersey. My background in photography has always been connected with my background in painting and sculpture. I got into photography my Junior year at Rutgers University when I took Photo I as an elective. I was drawn to photography because I realized there were things I could do faster and more efficiently in this medium versus painting or sculpture.
2. What inspired you to make the work in Photography Now 2017? What is the work about? Please describe one piece, the evolution of the concept, and the process?
The work is inspired by a variety of interests:
1.) My interest in photographing transparent objects, and being able to see something but not see it simultaneously.
2.) Paint as a material, using it to apply color to an object but also being aware of its physical presence.
3.) My interest in queering the body, and using the body simultaneously as a figurative and architectural element.
3. Much of the work in Photography Now 2017 seems to describe a distance between the subject and the viewer, a disconnection, and/or a dystopian situation. How do you think your work relates to these ideas?
I disagree with the first half of the statement: My work encourages viewers to become active participants. Objects, symbols, and other elements are used as entry points into an otherwise abstract tableaux. The tableaux deeper meaning the more the viewer is invested. In regards to dystopian situations, I think my work operates with a Heterotopian realm in which the spaces have more layers of meaning or relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye.
4. What are you working on now?
I am currently a resident in the Paul Robeson Express Newark Program at Rutgers Newark. During my fellowship, I am working on a series of small-scale transparent and translucent sculptures, while editing a series of photographs from a previous residency and also shooting new images included in the same series.
5. What is the one photograph you always wanted to make but never could?
I have always wanted to make photographs that were well over 100 inches like Andreas Gursky.
General exhibition information:
Photography Now 2017
November 4, 2017 – January 14, 2018
Juried by William Ewing
Featured Artists: Lars Anderson, Sarah Anthony, Ben Arnon, Sandra Bacchi, John Barnard, Emily Berl, Adam Bernard, Christopher Paul Brown, Tianqiutao Chen, Jennifer Garza-Cuen, Orestes Gonzalez, Tamar Granovsky, Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo, Jeanette May, Zora Murff, Laurie Peek, Ceaphas Stubbs and Ayumi Tanaka.
See full exhibition information or exhibition guide (issuu.com).
[/expand]