Kate Neckel

Kate Neckel ♥

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Name: Kate Neckel (31)
Location: New York, NY.
School: MFA School of Visual Arts. MFA Maryland Institute College of Art.
Live in NYC with my husband and 1 year old son.

What is your current occupation?
My current job is pretty amazing…I get to hang out with my one year old..stroll around the city…drink coffee…snap pictures and draw / paint while he sleeps… it’s a dream.

What are your favourite mediums?
Ah…a nice pen with smooth black ink is always nice…and film is good too.

I’m fascinated by your drawings, how long does it take you to complete a piece?
It feels like most drawings happen pretty fast. I tend to draw while something else is happening…like “Les Femmes” (the one with a lot of women) came off my pen while I was listening to (or not listening to) a lunch conversation…or maybe someone was giving a speech…I can’t quite remember but I was zoned out and before I knew it all of these women had appeared…I really can’t think of the last time that I sat down at a desk or in a proper studio and said “now I’m going to start a drawing“, it just doesn’t happen like that…(especially now that I have a one year old). So yeah, most of the work that you’ve seen takes hours or maybe a day or two, but not weeks and weeks and usually there is music involved…one song or album on repeat.

What kind of music do you listen to while working?
Right now this is the playlist….
The Knife- Heartbeats (I don’t even really like this type of music or even know this artist…but this song is very repeatable…), The Kooks-Naïve,
Pavement-Range Life, Pavement-Elevate Me Later,
The Strokes- You Only Live Once, The Strokes- Automatic Stop, The Strokes-12:51,
Lemonheads- Black Gown acoustic.
That is the playlist…take from it what you will, I’m not saying any of it is anything at all.

What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?
There are some inspirations that just don’t seem to go away…skateboarding (marks on the back of the boards, rituals…the scars, accidents…style style style)…surfers/waves/reefs…tulips, gestures, mistakes…dreams, patterns/maps, lust and love…passionate people (observing them/studying them)…oh and little yellow birds…of course my husband and my boy.

There are certain scenes from each of the movies/films that pretty much pulled my heart out and handed it to me on a pillow…French New Wave films –
Bas Jan Ader : “I’m too sad to tell you”
Tracy Moffatt : “Heaven“, I’ve only seen stills from this piece but the idea of watching surfers get changed behind their car doors really opened my eyes to how to watch, or look…I think that piece gave me the OK to film/study the skaters in Chatelet…who knows.
Pipilotti Rist : “Ever is Over All“, I never thought about a flower the same way after seeing this piece. She shatters a car window with her tulip.
Jim Jarmusch : “Dead Man“, (Johnny Depp in the canoe…arrows…eyes)
Godard :  “Masculine/Feminine“,
Godard : “Breathless” (lips lips lips)
Eric Rohmer : “The Bakery Girl of Monceau”

Skateboarding and surfing seem to be heavy influences in your art, why?
I met a skater in Paris who really helped me realize that I wanted to be an artist (not an art history major like I was when I left for the trip!) He also acted as a muse of sorts. I documented his days and nights. The surfers were a part of my life as a young gal growing up in Miami, Florida. I’m not sure if the skater/surfer influence is quite as strong now as it used to be, I guess there will always be something there, but I’ve grown up and opened new eyes since then.

Name some of your favourite artists.
As far as artists go it’s kind of strange, I tried not to think too long or too hard and these were the first things that really came to mind, for the Paul Klee piece…well I think this painting is beyond punk and it’s perfect.
Paul Klee : “Actors Mask”

What projects are you currently working on?
I’ve been thinking about creating a book of drawings/photos from Paris. I just dropped off a ton of really old and scratchy negatives…I’ve posted a few of the pictures on my blog, so we’ll see how the film turns out and take it from there. I’d also like to print some of my designs on t-shirts/fabric, maybe collaborate with some fellow artists on a drawing project. My husband and I curated a show called “Scratch” at the Chelsea Art Museum in 2003, perhaps we’ll put together another show…I’ve been seeing so much great work lately via the blog world.

*Thank you for taking part*

Kate is available for freelance/commission work.
There isn’t a plan for an online portfolio right now but it’s coming soon…with a shop.