Interview with Greg Simkins about INLE

In anticipation of the upcoming INLE show here at the Melrose location, artist, and curator of the show, Greg Simkins and I sat down at computers and talked over this new upstart Internet company called Skype. This thing is gonna be huge.

Anyway, here's the transcripts from that chat.

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Jensen Karp
Hey man. I think we may live too close to each other to actually use Skype for its intended purposes...

Greg Simkins
by intended purposes you don't mean you are going to ask me to undress right?

JK
FOILED!

GS
not going to do it man, not for any amount of cookies

JK
fair. so your first curated show ever is right around the corner and my first question is super important....ISN'T IT HARD CURATING ART SHOWS????

GS
YES! thanks man, you didn't say that I was going to actually have to do work... I've got a whole new respect for what galleries have to go through and I am not even responsible for half of it this time around. I mean my involvement is still just a fraction of what y'all have to do

JK
Now you're just being sweet. So explain to me the concept of this show and what it means to you

GS
Well as you know the show is called Inle,´which is a character from my favorite childhood story "Watership Down" by Richard Adam's, which I believe was published in 1972. As a kid my mom rented me the movie on BETA, yup beta. I was abbout 5 or so and as she left the room with her little boy entertained by the movie about bunnies, then something weird happened. There were pools of blood, rabbits tearing each other to bits and it was a lot more gruesome than she probably inteded to let me watch. Years later, when I was about 12, my grandparents took us on a road trip and my Grandpa purchased me Watership Down to read along the way. It made sense of all those images and became a real important book to me. It was about heroes escaping oppression and good versus evil and all that good stuff that can leave an impression on a young kid. It was at that age that I began drawing rabbits.... a lot.. I even raised a bunch of them and gave them the names of the ones in the book.

JK
And that was always kinda of the slippery slope for me as a curator and gallery owner, when people would ask what some of the references in your paintings were referring to. It wasn't a secret per se, but it also isn't something you just come out and say in regards to "Watership Down." Was that intentional? Because once you told me about the show's idea, my initial reaction was to tell you "I don't know what you're talking about."

GS
Yeah, I have always snuck tiny references to my favorite story in my pieces, be it "INLE" scribed in a wall or a tree or the number 280 which is the page which references the Black Rabbit of Inle in the edition of the book my grandfather bought for me. I was always fascinated with the dual idea I had gotten of this charachter from the movie and the book. Since he is Death per se´, at least to rabbits, they feared him, but what they really were afraid of was the unknown. In the movie, Inle leads Fiver to a wounded Hazel which ultimately saves him from death. It is Inle who appears for a fraction of a second again to Hazel at the end of his life and takes him to a future of unknown adventures on the other side. I just found him mysterious and created my own stories for him since he isn't mentioned a whole lot throughout the book. He is more of an under tone, or a shadow present throughout much of the book

JK
What was it like telling artists about the using this point of reference to create new paintings for the show? Did any of them know exactly what you were talking about?

GS
I was surprised by how many of the artsists had similar occurance as kids seeing the movie. I also found that a lot of them were just as taken with the story as I was. Especially Josh Keyes who enjoys listening to the sound track at times while painting, which I found fascinating being that I had a suspicion he was a fan of Richard Adams before I had even thought of doing this show. A bunch of the artists went out and bought a copy of the book and read it and enjoyed it which I was super stoked about. Part of me wanted to do the show just for the purpose of inspiring our collective audience to read the book. So much of our world is focused on entertainmant via movies and television and the internet these days, it is my way of saying, don't forget about the millions of great stories out there just pages away

JK
I don't want you to pick favorites, but tell us about some of the artists you're excited to see contribute to the show, especially when imagining them reimagining your favorite character and book ever.

GS
Wow... there are too many and they were all selected because of my respect and admiration for their work. But to answer your question - Josh Keyes of course, Alex Pardee, Gris Grimley, Martin Whitfooth, and Ron English definitely stand out. I am super stoked to see Matthew Bones and Colin Christians work especially since he works in 3D. Gosh I am looking down the list ight now and don't feel it is right to choose favorites, too many man. They are all going to be dope

JK
It has to be considered one of the best line-ups in our scene's history, let alone just at the gallery. It feels like everyone is going to bring their A game. Tell us about your contribution to the show.



GS
I had to take this piece serious since it is one I have been wanting to do for a while. I haven't ever fully tackeled a straight up "Watership Down" piece more than hinting at it and hiding various portions of it through my work. I'm looking at it right now and it is one of my favorite pieces I have painted to date. I toned down my color pallette using only black grey and red. I based it upon all the creatures that "The Lord Frith" which is the God charachter in the book, made to hunt and kill rabbits. Inle sits on a clouded mound of these creatures almost the king over death. He sits among the gravestones of our favorite heroes from the book who inevitably will have to pass on. Their ghosts are seen flying upwards to the moon in the background and onto other adventures and life after death. It's almost as if the dangers in life be it the fox, owl ,cat and weasles are no longer a threat to them in Death and Inle has just ushered them on.

JK
I've only seen the pictures and it's stunning. The opening is March 11th, 7-10 PM, and we're just excited to see the who's who of artists walking around the gallery to be honest. And to see the debut of Greg Simkins' curating (which by the way is a "hard job" said by Greg Simkins). Thanks for doing this interview!

GS
I'm excited too, man, it should be a good time, I am surprised by the emails of artsists who are flying out for the show! it should be a real good time. Thanks Jensen for the opportunity!