Artist, writer, and curator Patrick DeGuira is an advocate for nature. His latest exhibition titled Land Derived Sentiments is a group show that explores the political, emotional, and spiritual interconnectedness that occurs within nature’s subjectivity. Motivated by and reacting to DeGuira’s written reflections about the environment, the artists featured in LDS have created a broad range of work that showcase multifaceted responses to his observations. The result? Proof that human’s relationship with the earth is further challenged by inherent individualism. The following interview unpacks the aims of this exhibition while also providing insight to DeGuira’s process.
What is your earliest memory of your burgeoning interest in art?
Hi, thanks for your interest in the exhibition!
My earliest memory starts with encouragement and artistic support from my parents. Growing up the last of ten children in semi-pastoral Tennessee, I shared one parent among many half siblings. Because of these differences, I often felt alone and of many, like a person whose identity was divided into several facets: brother, child, and only child. Art helped me differentiate aloneness from isolation… it showed me ways there can be meditative freedom in making. I think this is a big reason why I began to pursue creative acts. I also had the great advantage of growing up with access to a 130 acre farm and freely exploring this place (the feeling of this place). This memory has become embedded in my work as an adult.
How have you witnessed this early interest reveal itself in your current work?
First and foremost, I like sharing the work of others… and placing my work in conversation with others. From a very early age, the natural world left an enduring mark on my psyche. Returning to the same subject as a source of creation, even as I and it continue to evolve, is enriching and complicated. I still try and convey a sense of early childhood wonderment, emotions and visual curiosity in my work as an adult.
“From a very early age, the natural world left an enduring mark on my psyche... I still try and convey a sense of early childhood wonderment, emotions and visual curiosity in my work as an adult.”
How has your art making informed your curatorial practice?
My work is informed by systems thinking. I have made decisive steps to establish a practice more open and accessible to the possibilities of curatorial structures and collaboration. By making space for a synthesization of research, writing, and studio production, in addition to embracing my community and learning from their amazing work as artists, writers, activists, teachers, I began to realize the once seemingly disparate isolated roles--artist, educator, curator, designer--could function as interdependent parts of a whole. I guess in a “Bueysian” way, I don’t differentiate “organization” from art making.
What motivated and/or inspired your big idea for the group exhibition Land Derived Sentiments?
My writing is inspired by the land, or the disruption of what we have named the natural world… and the promise of our “nature” is dependent on ecological partnerships we’ve helped forge and misalign. My goal is to dream of a political and emotional space for nature… to turn our attention towards nature as a primary subject. To borrow words from writer Melinda Baker, I am interested in better understanding “the interconnectivity and tension within the human-nature relationship.” My hope is to highlight the beauty and necessity of an ecocentric view… now, more than ever.
How did your curating process unfold for this exhibition in terms of selecting the artists shown in LDS?
It was important that many visual forms be represented in this exhibition. Each of us experience poetic, political or observational spaces differently. For some it is more realistically or drawn from a documentarian space, others experience the world more abstractly, narratively or emotionally. Most importantly, each artist in this exhibition is empathetic and poetic in their own right. Each were excited to interpret my writing, trusted me to interpret their work and create an interconnected dialogue amongst the final works on display.
How does this collection of work demonstrate a departure from previous exhibitions you’ve curated?
Not so much a departure, but in a sense… a continuation. Aftermath from 2010 explored ideas pertaining to dystopia or the failure of societal systems; the housing crash, natural disasters brought forth by climate change, and culture’s obsession with “end times.” One of the highlights of the exhibit was a hidden quote by John Adams (white vinyl displayed on the gallery wall), which read, “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” The Medium’s Session, from 2013, was built on ideas pertaining to salvation, ritual, spirituality, materiality and regrowth. Here, the artist plays shaman, performer, or conduit, working harmoniously with or perhaps guided by their chosen materials. The biggest difference between Land Derived Sentiments and past shows is an underlying urgency and a very clear writing component or position. Additionally, there is an important aspect of call and response, which I hope connects the works more directly.
What insights or realizations, if any, do you hope your viewers will understand when they observe this exhibition?
To continue to support ecological partnerships--ones that have co-evolved to make a profound type of progress together. To leave feeling connected to the land. To NOT surrender to climate skepticism or dirty energy, better yet, be inspired to combat it.
What are some aspects of this exhibition that may not be evident to your audience based solely on its surface/appearance?
It is designed to encourage others to participate in an environmental conversation after leaving the gallery.
Tell us about your work. What do you create?
My work is intended to be conceptual and carried out with minimal means. I work in a broad range of materials and forms, including installation and sculpture, photography, research and observation, video, writing, sound-based recordings and performance. My work evolves from ideas such as systems thinking, temporality, and the study of nature and phenomena.
“My work is intended to be conceptual and carried out with minimal means. I work in a broad range of materials and forms... My work evolves from ideas such as systems thinking, temporality, and the study of nature and phenomena.”
Personally, I have a soft spot for artists’ books. What brought you to venture into this medium?
Me too! I write daily, and at some point I realized I could hunker down and produce a small book of writing. Books are portable, accessible, yet complex, and can reach a wide audience.
How did your work come to find itself in LDS?
I don’t typically include my work in curated projects… frankly I find it tacky. That said, this project was so multifaceted and I had my thoughts are so directly within it, that it made sense to include my own visual responses. Oftentimes my work on display was being made in support of the writing and vice versa.
What method would you prefer one take when making a critique of your art: a formal, contextual, or expressive approach? Why?
Wow, love this… I believe your question answers the question. Art, in my mind, should contain or be sympathetic to each of these elements. It should be formal, in that it suggests compositional space, the intersections of form and line, posited through a considered medium. It should, in this arena, provide a context… a meaning… a statement or idea, making space for expression, be it personal, political, emotional.
Who and/or what are some of your biggest artistic influences? How? Why?
Too many. Let’s see... Alice Oswald, Joseph Beuys, Alicia Kwande, Anish Kapoor, Wolfgang Laib, Mono Ha, Robert Irwin, Jack Burnham, Susan Howe, Arte Provera, Institute Without Boundaries, Buckminster Fuller, David Haskell, Rural Studio Program, Olafur Eliasson, 350.org, Greta Thunberg, Prem Krishnamurthy, Sunrise Movement... so many! I am interested in how each of these individuals, places, or ideas are processed based.
What upcoming projects and/or exhibitions do you have planned within the next 12 months?
I am releasing a second book this summer, titled Moving Seasons at a Distance. I am in a couple of upcoming group shows, Zeitgeist and one at Vanderbilt University. Also, I will be presenting lectures at Watkins College and Governor’s School for the Arts, each in June.
What are your goals for your art within the next 12 months?
I’m in application mode; residencies, grants, etc. I have started a collaboration with artist Greg Pond that I would like to focus on.
“Art, in my mind, should contain or be sympathetic to each of these elements. It should be formal, in that it suggests compositional space, the intersections of form and line, posited through a considered medium. It should, in this arena, provide a context… a meaning… a statement or idea, making space for expression, be it personal, political, emotional.”
Non-art question time: What’s your favorite food and drink?
My wife and I are plant based eaters, with a penchant for fish. Call us pescatarian light. Like most Americans, I am taco crazy. I am also Michelada crazy… and rarely pass up Bourbon whiskey. My doctor keeps a watchful eye on me. Thanks Dr. Wei.
Band(s) and/or record(s)?
Most recently I have listened to Caroline Shaw, the new Lambchop record, The Association, Alice Coltrane, and various Indian Ragas.
Movie(s)?
Man… it rarely sucks being a dad, but I watch a lot of kid movies. I liked the Peter Rabbit film, and Christopher Robin was awesome. I recently watched and thought Blade Runner 2049, Phantom Thread, 24 Frames and Eighth Grade were all memorable.
Weekend activity?
Spending time with my family and making space for outdoor activities; walking the dogs, heading to the dog park, or going on a hike.
Money’s not a factor, you will burn no social bridges, and you’re guaranteed a comfortable lifestyle no matter what—where would you live, and what would you do?
Wow… yes, okay! I would approach it like Shel Silverstein. Silverstein (whom I had the pleasure of once meeting) had four homes in the final decades of his life, including a houseboat in California, apartments in New York and Tokyo, and a modest country home in England. I would love to have small, sustainable spaces in Oaxaca City, Japan, maybe a houseboat in Nova Scotia (why not), and of course, a functional little cabin in Tennessee. All artist, family, dog and environmentally friendly of course! I would hope to work on projects and with others in each of these locations. You know, maybe I would open a place to cook food for people, have a community garden, small project space for art, ideas, lectures and events?
To learn more about Patrick DeGuira and his work, please visit him online at www.patrickdeguira.com and at his Instagram page @p.deguira.
Photos of DeGuira’s exhibition Land Derived Sentiments at Zeitgeist gallery in Nashville, TN, on view March 2 - April 26, 2019. Instagram @ZeitgeistGallery.
