Envelope Atlanta

1. I know of this secret tunnel filled with art deep underneath the city. I don’t spend much time there anymore unfortunately. I occasionally sit in a dark empty theater and write plays in my head. I’ve never actually finished one. My favorite place to be is in my painting chair, but I usually don’t sit in it. I kind of sit around it. Somewhere within fifty feet of this chair would be my favorite place. I’ve contemplated lots of things in that general area.

2. I enjoy art that creates momentary new realities and allows the viewer the opportunity to enhance their own reality through interaction or observation. I am particularly fond of anything from Atlanta.

3. Creativity is inherent in our species, so yes.

4. I consider myself part of Atlanta. I’m extremely active in all sorts of artistic and non-artistic social circles. I have spent fifteen years here, and I think the most important part of that experience is how Atlanta has become a part of me. I get a lot of my inspiration from my daily interactions and surroundings in the city.

5. Our arts community is extremely inclusive. I was a little apprehensive when I first became involved, now I couldn’t imagine life without it. There are an abundance of opportunities for those interested to become involved, all it takes is a little exploration.

6. Art gives us a chance to mould our own realities, question those realities, and present our findings to others. Society could not exist without art and art could not exist without society. I am not sure if you should question art’s role in society as much as art’s role in existence. I’ll need a few more pages to answer that question.

7. I once found a large stick at the top of a mountain around 4,000 feet in elevation. This stick saved myself and my girlfriend from almost certain death. I am still in the process of preserving it for future generations.

8. My first memory involves me sitting on my mothers lap while chewing on a photograph of my father. I can still remember the taste of the paper and the background noise from the television in the other room. The carpet was a deep, dark blue. I also once had a very interesting interaction with a wolf spider. I would like to pick both of those.

9. This is the most difficult of all of the questions you have asked me. I’m not really sure. I’ve thought about it for a while now, so I guess my mood is thoughtful.

10. I really like green.

Capturing the secret power forces of living and non-living things called ‘ki’ has been a central idea in my art. The ‘ki’ energy is visualized as colorful bubbles. The rainbow colors of bubbles signify saekdong, the Korean traditional color stripes which chase out evil spirits and bring blessings.

Q & A with InKyoung Chun

1) I have so many! But I love to be at Woodruff Arts Center, specially at High museum. Everytime I see great art works there, i get inspired.

2) I love all forms of arts, art is huge always.

3) I am a pretty creative person, I believe so, ha ha!

4) yes I am a part of atlanta, I like atlanta and atlanta likes me. I can't function right without atlanta's support.

5)atlanta art community is very conscious about being inclusive these days. many artists are workng hard for that, so it will be better and should be better.

6) art always lets us see/think/ feel different things in life. we live daily life by missing something or by being unrealized and art makes us wake up and make us become whole beings.

7) recently I have found a tiny toy soccer ball on the street and it becomes a big part of my new sculpture for the upcoming MOCA GA Walthall group exhibition.

8)being with my family is the most precious moment in life. eating/ sleeping/ traveling/ watching tv with my family are the best moments always.

9) I am happy and very grateful today!

10) blue and white *

I am an artist, curator and illustrator based in Atlanta, GA. My work is about people, politics, interactions, relationships and experience. I am primarily a printmaker and utilize screen printing and relief printing to create works of art

1 Where is your favorite place to be in Atlanta?

Many different places, I enjoy walking around Atlanta’s meandering streets and actually looking at the surroundings (houses, trees, buildings, people, etc.).

2 What is your favorite art?

Contemporary art

3 Do you think of yourself as a creative?

Yes. I think it’s important to be creative in your life and not necessarily artistically in the traditional sense, but to keep learning new things, investigate new thoughts and ideas as creativity basically exists in everything we do.

4 Do you feel you are a part of Atlanta?

Sure, I think living in the city qualifies that, but also being part of a community (for me the art community) in the city defines that feeling.

5 Do you feel the art community is inclusive or exclusive in Atlanta? How can it be more inclusive? Does it need to be more inclusive?

I don’t really feel its either. There are lots of opportunities to take part, network, develop relationships and help build your community/career. I don’t think Atlanta needs to become more inclusive, but embrace its’ own diversity and experimentation mentality.

6 What do you feel is arts role in society?

Arts role in society is about creating the opportunity for culture and community. Art humanizes us and allows us to engage and share experiences. Its important for everyone.

7 Have you ever found something (like a little note on the ground) and treasured it?

This one’s tough, I can’t really think of anything significant. I once found a knife buried in the ground that was kind of neat. It was a very old knife; the blade was rusted and worn down and the handle was made of wood that was broken and brittle.

8 Describe a moment / memory that you never want to lose?

A memory I never want to lose, well I remember eating and playing in the basement of my house when I lived in Saskatoon. It may not seem exciting, but after thinking about it, it’s my earliest memory and I would have been 3 years old or younger.

9 What is your mood today?

I’m feeling good, but how can reading and answering these questions not put someone in a good one!

10 What is your favorite color?

Uh, not sure... maybe purple.

Romy Aura Maloon (1986) graduated from the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fl, with a BFA in Fine Arts Sculpture. She has studied art and its history at the New York Studio program and Internationally in China and Tibet with the Pratt Institute and Global Learning Labs. She currently works as a high-end event coordinator for a catering company and has seen this position begin to play a pivotal role in her aesthetic. Her work is influenced by her family’s South African heritage and the schism created by being first generation American.

Her works have been exhibited in galleries throughout Georgia, New York, and Florida, including the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (GA), Young Blood Gallery (GA), Beep Beep Gallery (GA), Selby Gallery (FL), and the New York Studio Program (NY). Maloon was named one of five finalists for the Forward Arts foundation in 2011. She was in the Tomorrow Stars, Verge Art Miami Beach exhibition, in conjunction with Art Basel Miami in both 2011 and 2012. Recently, she was enlisted to create a site specific installation for the 2013 Atlanta Film Festival at the Goat Farm Arts Center. Romy is a member of numerous art advocacy organizations, including being both a represented artist by Dashboard Co-op and their Public Outreach and Project Expansion Coordinator.

Statement:
Issues of social displacement, identity cultivation, and power structures gird my work. I come by these themes experientially. My parents fled the apartheid government of South Africa and settled in the Deep South. Here, they struggled to reconcile Homeland with Land of Opportunity. Here, they clung to Judaism and Africa and, when things fell apart, questioned their choices, and their identities. My sculptures are a tongue-in-cheek re-imagining of stock "African" and American kitsch images: the slain antelope, the mounted rifle, the posturing lion embellished with glitzy objects that mitigate their disturbing imagery. Influenced by my work as an event coordinator, I have been creating large-scale elaborate installations. These recent sculptural installations emphasize my desire to create bombastic displays. I enjoy the temporal nature of installation work and the creation of a specific environment for the viewer. These installations are an exercise in artifice. I use organic materials like wood, bones, and furs, in conjunction with synthetic materials.

I intend for this material disjuncture to echo the palimpsest that is my family’s experience. It is this space, between the unsettling and beautiful, the artificial and real, the fractured and whole, the displaced and rooted, that I encourage the viewer to gaze, and question.

1. where fav place to be in ATL

I would honestly say my favorite place to be in Atlanta is my
apartment. I live in Poncey Highlands so I feel close and connected to
all the places in town I want to be; right off the belt-line, a minute
from downtown, midtown, LFP, Inman P, etc. This is where I go to
decompress, to think, to make tea and read in my sun room. I love
having guests over, making meals together, drinking scotch together,
just being together. I redecorate often and have amassed an ever
growing art collection thanks to trading with artist friends. I also
have a studio space at the Goat Farm and find it to be the 2nd most
soothing and friendly place in the city... after my own apartment.

2. what is your Fav Art
My favorite Art (with a capital A) is any work that forces me to think
out side the usual realm of possibility. I tend to be very material
driven, so I find myself personally drawn to instillation sculpture
and conceptual ceramic works.

3. Do you think of yourself as creative?
I think other people think of me as creative, I never thought about it
much until I was made to feel like I should. I also never thought of
myself as weird until others made me aware of that as well.

4.Do you feel that you are part of Atl?
I am very invested in the Atlanta art community. I am the Public
Outreach and Project Expansion Coordinator for Dashboard Co-op
(http://dashboardco-op.org/), an active member of Wonderroot, have a
studio at Goat Farm, and have worked with many local galleries. I
think the Atlanta community has fertile ground for a hungry emerging
artist given the tools to explore it.

5. Art community inclusive or exclusive
The Atlanta are community is very inclusive. When I first moved back
to the city after college, I had little to no understanding of the
Atlanta art community and its inner workings. I started volunteering
at Eyedrum on a regular basis and through this simple act was able to
eventually fully immerse myself in the community, which I found
incredibly welcoming. Joining Dashboard Co-op also created an amazing
network of hardworking, like minded, artists with which to collaborate
and support one another.
The community should remain as inclusive as it is, that's it's appeal.

6. what do you feel is art's role in society

Art creates society. It is a medium of expression, a catalyst for
change, and a potentially profound personal experience.

7. have you ever found something and treasured it

All the time. A big part of my work is hoarding objects that I am
inexplicably attracted too and building a body of work around it.
Whether that is a particular material, I recently purchased 1000s of
plastic pearls with no solid intention of how to use them; a
particular object, I recently purchased a giant inflatable moose with
no idea what i would do with it until it became the catalyst for a
recent installation; or an image; I have been making hundreds of tiny
press molds of bees and crowns and have not fully uncovered why yet.

8. describe memory/moment you never want to loose
The individual sounds of my closest friends' and family members' laughter.

9. what is your mood today?

Tired, contented, cautiously optimistic

10. what is you fav color?
Red.