Those that know me best, know I get my kicks from the behind the scenes lives of artists (it’s a major facet of this magazine after all), and finally a project comes along that gives me everything that I look for…a mix of reality and high art. All of us artists know that we can’t create a masterpiece without public support. In the video below, Alexis Hudgins and Lakshmi Luthra make a call for donations to help fund “Crossing the Line: Reverse Cut.” A project that will convert Las Cienegas Projects (a Los Angeles, CA gallery) into a fully functioning reality television set for three days of filming. Click on the icon below for the details on the project and how you can help. (In the meantime, I’m pooling together my frequent flier miles so I can go check it out!)
1. What was the first creative moment you remember?
A: I grew up in my mother’s art gallery in Atlanta, so I was surrounded by art at a young age. By the time I could talk, I was incessantly trying to share my interpretations with gallery visitors.
L: Organizing a jar of pennies by year, then categorizing them according to how tarnished they were. I also remember picking all the lego heads out of my brother’s lego collection. I would stack them on top of each other and chew on them.
2. Where did you grow up and how did you wind up where you are now?
A: I grew up in Atlanta and moved to NYC to “become a photographer” when I was 21. I ended up working in production and was often asked me to move to LA for work. At the time I wasn’t a fan, but ended up moving here when I was accepted to CalArts (where I met Lakshmi). I’ve been here for 3 years now.
L: I grew up in Boston. I came to Los Angeles to attend the MFA program at Cal Arts, where I met Alexis. I hated Los Angeles for two years and then fell in love with it. This city is a wilderness!
3. What performance, song, play, movie or other work of art had the biggest influence on you and why?
A: I have watched West Side Story hundreds of times, and can watch it a hundred more. I saw it the first time with my father, who cried through the whole movie. I still break down every time.
L: My mother would draw mazes and flowers while she was on the telephone. She had all these amazing colored pencils I wasn’t allowed to use.
4. What is your ideal creative activity?
A: I love to interact with people. I think that’s when I’m the most creative.
L: My compulsion is to organize. Are compulsions activities? Can organizing be creative? I hope so.
5. How do you begin your day?
A: Getting out of bed is never easy. Coffee first, then I start to figure out the rest.
L: I like my day to begin slowly. Waking up is a shock that takes all day to recover from!
6. Have you ever had to make a choice between work and art? What did you choose, why, and what was the outcome?
A: I’ve worked in TV and film since 2003 but a few years ago, decided to go back to school. I received my BFA from CalArts last year, and am currently at UCLA for an MFA in photography. My work in reality TV and art always intersect, so its important that I do both. I’m lucky to work with people who are really supportive and help me make that possible. This project combines my work and my art. There is something quite powerful about going from the control room, where you see an image on monitors, into the cast living space, where you see the scene in real life. I think the reality house emulates a model of human interaction: how people perform for each other is echoed in a cast member’s performance for the camera; how we construct narratives through memory and perception is mirrored in the way that feelings and stories are created by direction and editing. These are all things that I explore in my practice.
7. When you work do you prefer the process or the result?
A: Process and result are really intertwined for me. The documentation of my process often becomes the work itself.
L: The process, though some day I hope to prefer the result.
