Mimi Young
Hudson Valley, NY
Website
mimiyoung.com
Social Media
Instagram
How would you describe your work?
I consider myself a multidisciplinary artist. My paintings would be gestural abstract multimedia with a lot of mark making. A lot of my installations are ephemeral environmental comments, the sculptures more or less speak of domestic leftovers and/or excess.
What inspires you?
Randomness (is that a word?), memories, time and light heavily influence my work. I love color, but I’m not a colorist. I more or less indicate a color or combo of colors.
Can you speak about your process?
Some event or color combination I have experienced may come up during the time I am working. Sometimes I have been thinking of something specific prior to working and I continue to think about it. The work isn’t about that event, but it is part of the drive. If I’m painting, I start several pieces at the same time and talk myself through the various stages and missteps I make at that moment, the history of the piece is an important aspect. Installations obviously take a bit more planning. At the moment, I have several different types of work going on. Distressed involves the aggressive manipulation of the substrate and then presenting it all dressed up.
3 Days are studies on cause and effect; they are mainly and loosely reflections on real space. The Trough Project are ephemeral installations related to landscapes and landscaping, and environmental climate issues
How did you become interested in art?
I’ve been practicing art since high school, about 1973. I realized then that being a visual artist was what was important to me. I remember diligently filling out applications for university, doing all the required submission requirements: redesigning household items, self-portraits etc. I missed the deadlines though. I lived in NYC, so I made an appointment to show my portfolio to Jack Sonnenberg, Dean at Pratt at the time. I didn’t show him any of the required material, I showed him my drawings. They were very gestural and calligraphic, and I guess he saw something in them and so I attended Pratt when I graduated from high school.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
My favorite things change all the time, I love swiping hard copy fashion magazines. I am half of littlebitcreates, a video company. We are currently working on another pseudosurreal nonsense genre video; it’s loosely concepted around the horticultural idea of invasives. Today, artists I am thinking about include, Cy Twombly, Jean Dubuffet, Robert Rauschenberg, Turner, Amy Sillman, Cai Guo-Qiang, Franz West, Christopher Wool, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, I’m pretty fickle and change my crushes all the time.
What advice do you have for younger artists?
I think it’s important to see a lot of art – in person. Learn all about your materials so you can then forget it. Finally, don’t settle, keep moving and challenging yourself.
Keep yourself surprised, fail, dream.
