1. What is your first art related childhood memory?
My Mom has a crayon drawing I made labeled at 3 months old, but my earliest memories are of my parents helping me and my sister draw mermaids. Then we’d cut them out and use them as paper dolls.
2. As an artist, who is your biggest influence? My influences are constantly changing and evolving. Lately I’ve been looking at lots of German painters: Eberhard Havekost, Matthias Weischer and other New Leipzig painters and Oehlen Albert. I’ve been conceptually interested in Louise Lawler, Michael Asher and New Institutionalism. I love the work of Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, and Sigmar Polke, for the various ways in which these artists have pushed limits of painting, picture theory, and authorship.
3. What did you listen to in the studio while creating this show?
Big Boi, Burnt by the Sun, Red Vendetta, Atmosphere, Devil’s Night Radio (a mainstay in my studio), Beach House, Beck, Sonic Youth, Wu Tang Clan, Sleigh Bells, and lots of reggae.
4. Name three unexpected items one would find in your studio. An antique vanity, a gun range target and a guitar and amp
5. What is your least favorite famous work of art? I was never a big Tino Sehgal fan… but, what can I say, I like objects.
6. What art do you have hanging on your walls?
Local artists Doug Forbes, Margi Grill, Abigail Woods Anderson and Indiana artist Quinton Fletcher; vintage prints by Goya, Toulouse Lautrec, and a few anonymous works; rock art posters by Kozik and lots of Aesthetic Apparatus pieces; found paintings and objects; and some of my own older works. I would love nothing more than to expand my art collection – especially of MN artists – I have so many on my wish list!
7. What are you working on now?
I am continuing to work in both painting and photography using the museum and its visual archives as my subject. To share my process: I’m big into reading and research, which are just as integral to my practice as production. At present, I’ve been delving in to the Walker Art Center’s visual archives from the 1940’s to 1960’s, reading Words Without Pictures (various contributors) and have been grazing on On the Museum’s Ruins (Douglas Crimp, photographs by Louise Lawler) for the last 6 months… while looking to German painters for formal strategies. Oh, and browsing the New Museum’s visual archives – especially from the 1980s. I could keep gabbing on my interests, but the short answer is that a few larger paintings as well as some mid-sized works are on the way!
8. What will the title of your retrospective at MOMA be? Ah, man… I have no idea… I’m sure the title would be the last thing I’d think about.
Thank Jehra! To see more of Jehra's work visit HERE.
