He is a recent CCS graduate and a pretty damn good artist to boot:
Derek: Alright Jeff your in the hot seat with MCB's Detroit Artist Spotlight...
It's time for some serious Q & A.!
Derek: Jeff tell us a little about yourself, how long have you been painting and what were some of your earliest influences in your art? Jeff Nolan: As a child I made little illustrated books about dinosaurs, so not much has changed there. I loved Dr. Seuss, technical drawings, and the album artwork in my parents record collection. While I was growing in school my notebooks were more or less sketchbooks.. I didn't really begin painting seriously until college, but have been painting everyday for the past six years or so.
Derek: Finish this sentence. I never paint in the......
Jeff Nolan: in the nude, in the dark, while I'm asleep, in the morning, in the bathroom, in zero-gravity, in a house, with a mouse, in a box, with a fox, in the car, on a star, on a train, in the rain, in a tree, with the bees, in a boat, with a goat, here or there, anywhere... I set out to become a painter and still primarily paint, but as of late I generate an idea or concept and consider the medium to best express my idea. I have found myself producing cardboard cutouts, video installations, digital pieces, ect.
Jeff Nolan: About two years ago my roommate Matthew Pritchard and I were both doing shows and going to a lot of art and music shows and we sort of realized together that the same groups of people were going to all of these different things, so we thought up a way to put all of these great artists and musicians together working toward the same ends. Scrummage University, whom we have worked with on all Lollybot shows, inspired us after we saw that they were totally DIY and very successful at it. “We could totally do this with art” was the conversation we had.
Derek: So your kind of an art hustler,you curate shows, work at a gallery, do the freelance thing and paint for the shows in Detroit's underground gallery scene. How do you find time to juggle it all, did you kidnap the Kebler Elves and force them into slave labor art camps?
Jeff Nolan: I have become really good at recruiting others to help me get it all done. Its mostly a matter of sending thousands of emails to everyone I meet and it eventually leads to the next thing. I get it all done by keeping busy on work all day and night and sleeping very little.
Derek: In your opinion who is the best and worst artists of all time?Jeff Nolan: Da... da. dauh.. This is a tough one because my tastes are always changing, but at the moment I would say the best or my favorites are Duchamp, Barry McGee, Henry Darger, Dr. Seuss, Bridget Riley. There is a lot of bad art, but the worst is Andy Warhol, despite the fact that I love his work its mostly quite bad. Shepard Fairey, Milton Avery, and Henry Matisse are some of my least favorite.
Derek: Is it true you eat paint, and if so which color tastes the best? Jeff Nolan: I can't say that I have, but I imagine anything with cadmium would taste best. Strangely titanium white gouache smells like lemons.
Derek: Ok so your dropped of and stuck at a shitty airport for two days and can only bring three items what are they?
Jeff Nolan: My laptop, credit card, and a notebook.
Derek: Where do draw you influence for your characters? Jeff Nolan: I Steal my ideas from friends and the people around my house. I show my work to anyone who is around, occasionally someone will have a good idea.
Derek: What's the meaning of life?
Jeff Nolan: The existentialist Albert Camus asserts that the absurdity of the human condition is that we search for external values and meaning in a world which has none, and is indifferent to us.
Who is the real Jeff Nolan?
Derek: Whats coming up next for Jeff Nolan and the Lollybot Collective?
Jeff Nolan: February 28th we have a show at Izzy's Raw Art Gallery in Corktown, it is an effort in forcing our artists to think conceptually instead of illustratively or reactionary. There are always ideas in the works, without divulging too much about what we are doing prematurely, we are working on a series exhibitions at the Garment District in Roseville, and have in the works a big show tentatively called CHILD'S PLAY.
We have been working on reaching out to other groups in Detroit and abroad, RESTRICTIONS will feature artists from Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, and San Fransisco.
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