Hi, friends!
My latest Artist Feature shines a light on Josette Urso. I came across Josette through a gallery she was associated with. I was drawn to the loose, lively quality to her work. She describes her painting as working directly and urgently in response to her environment, and I feel that energy and responsive quality comes across in what she creates.
See more and get my Q&A with Josette below!
5 Questions for Josette Urso
1) What is your favorite kind of work to do at the moment?
Now that summer has nearly arrived, I am excited that I will soon be painting outside again.
I thrive on the intensity and unpredictability of working outdoors where I am constantly caught off guard and thrown into unexpected territory.
2) What kinds of things inspire you?
I am most inspired by things/situations that don’t make complete sense but that are simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar — especially those resulting from unexplainable collisions — things connected by random placement that somehow reveal something remarkable and filled with surprise.
3) Who else do you admire in the art space?
Over the years, some of the artists I have consistently admired are Charles Burchfield, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, Helen Torr and George Bellows — each had a particularly intimate relationship with place — responding intuitively to their immediate surroundings.
Philip Guston is another artist I have greatly admired especially because of his attitude of urgency.
And Thomas Nozkowski, who took the familiar and made it unfamiliar and who spoke of improvisation when describing his process.
4) Coolest possession?
For me the coolest possession is not a “thing” but instead it is a kind of spacious euphoria and the ultimate freedom or “knowing” that sometimes happens while painting.
That ‘state-of-mind’ is hard won and when found it is fleeting — but also it is the ultimate reward for the thousands of hours I have spent with my painting.
5) Favorite quote or words to live by?
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” —Louis Pasteur
To see more work:
Follow Josette on Instagram, or visit her site for more!
I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week!
xx—BB
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