We Heart Art: Lexington Tattoo Project
We Heart Art is a Young Mary’s Record series dedicated to both the newly-discovered and seasoned veterans of the art world. Today’s artists are the very talented, Lexington, KY natives, Kurt and Kremena - the brainchildren behind Lexington Tattoo Project.
(photo provided by the artists, Kurt and Kremena.)
Young Mary’s Record: Hi Kremena and Kurt! We’re so excited to have you on YMR and letting our readership know about your latest creative endeavor, The Lexington Tattoo Project. Please introduce yourself and tell us about what this project is all about —
Kurt & Kremena: We go variously by Kremena and Kurt or Kurt and Kremena. Kremena is from Bulgaria. Officially, she teaches Twentieth-Century American Literature at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY. Less officially but oh-so-excitingly she collaborates with Kurt Gohde on classes the two of them offer (notably Creative Disruption and Community Engagement Through the Arts) and on socially engaged artworks that unfold over long periods of time. Kurt Gohde teaches Studio Art at Transylvania University. He grew up in Upstate New York, near Cooperstown (the home of baseball—as he explained to Kremena shortly after they met), and has lived in Lexington for 15 years. He has made collaborative artworks for many years now. Together, Kurt and Kremena have worked on Passing, an artwork that documents the lives of drag queens and kings who have called Lexington their home through photographs and recorded oral histories; DISCARDED (visit http://discarded-usa.com/ to see some of the images and read about this artwork); and most recently The Lexington Tattoo Project (http://lexingtontattooproject.wordpress.com/). The two of them also built the world’s largest mustache cup in 2010.
At the core of The Lexington Tattoo Project is our love for Lexington: a place both of us have come to call home. About a year ago we asked Lexington-based poet Bianca Spriggs to write a poem as a love-letter to Lexington. Though Bianca responded that her relationship with the city is more complicated than straight-ahead love, she wrote a beautiful poem titled “The _________ of the Universe: A Love Story.” The two of us designed the layout for the poem, including a background image—an image that is made of three kinds of dots—that will remain a secret until the fall and that makes each tattoo (based on one or more words from the poem) distinctive and recognizable. We also created a facebook event as a way of recruiting participants. By January 3, when the tattooing began, we had more than 240 people signed up to get a tattoo and a long waiting list. All the tattoos were completed in January by Robert Alleyne and Jay Armstrong at Charmed Life Tattoo Studio in Lexington. We are now almost done photographing each healed tattoo. We will use these images for exhibitions and for the video we plan to make, which will feature music by Lexington native Ben Sollee. We will show the video and reveal the hidden image at a big party in the fall!
(photo provided by the artists, Kurt and Kremena.)
YMR: Tattoos are pretty permanent. Have you found it easy to get folks to volunteer for the project or had any resistance?
K&K: No resistance at all—just the opposite: there has been a lot of enthusiasm in Lexington about permanent tattoos as an expression of affection for our city and as another connection to friends, relatives, and the larger community. In fact, of the 250 people who got tattoos for this artwork, more than 60 were first-timers!
(Photo provided by the artists, Kurt and Kremena.)
YMR: Do you guys both have tattoos or have had them prior to this? What was your first tattoo and what does it mean to you now?
K&K : The tattoo each of us got as part of the Lexington Tattoo Project was the first tattoo for each of us! Kremena chose “deep roots” because of her already deep roots in Lexington and in Kentucky. Kurt chose “The Wishbone” ” because of his long-standing willingness to believe in making wishes—on eyelashes, dandelions, birthday candles, wishing wells, and, obviously, wishbones. Of course, our tattoos have come to mean a lot more to us: they are another way in which we feel part of our Lexington community; they are a great conversation piece: an easy way to strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere; they are a test of sorts for others’ tolerance for art, poetry, and tattoos: Will that stranger come talk to me about the phrase tattooed on my back? Will they ask me about the meaning of the tattoo on my right calf? We both love our tattoos.
(photo provided by the artists, Kurt and Kremena.)
YMR: As active artists — you’ve had many other projects prior to this, and I’m sure are working on upcoming projects — what is the biggest challenge of being an artist today? Is it easy for you to stay actively creating — what do you do to stay motivated?
K & K : The biggest challenge for the two of us is time, an obstacle we can’t overcome. The Lexington Tattoo Project alone swallows up every minute we have, plus time we don’t really have J. Keeping in touch with 250 people, making sure everyone knows when to show up for her/his tattoo appointment, where to go, what to bring—this task took hours every day in January, not to mention photographing daily at the tattoo shop.
The support we receive from the people with whom we work—and from many who find out about our artworks—is motivation enough. But we also feel a deep sense of responsibility to do well by the people who trust us with their skin, their stories, their affection for Lexington and for each other. This sense of responsibility is a tremendous motivation.
Is it easy to stay actively creating? Since we began working together, we’ve not had a moment to wonder what we could be working on next, where to find inspiration. Our artworks typically start with an idea that is fairly small and that continues to grow until we realize that we are in it for the long haul J. For instance, when we began The Lexington Tattoo Project, we had no idea that one day there would be The Boulder Tattoo Project and The Miami Tattoo Project. A few days ago, a friend facebooked us suggesting that we create a Tattoo Project for each state: 50 poems, 50 states, 50 tattoo projects. While we are fairly certain that this will not happen, we realized we’ve made a long-lasting commitment to this artwork…
YMR: For folks visiting Lexington, KY — where can they go to best experience and support the art scene?
Traditional gallery spaces (Lexington Art League, Morlan Gallery, Living Arts and Science Center, Institute 193, Arts Place, and LOT) are all included as part of Gallery hop. But, as in many other cities, less traditional spaces pop-up frequently, are often very exciting, and can be found by asking the people who work daily inside the cultural community. Ask the baristas at Third Street Coffee, the people working at Squecial Media, or any of the artists with a studio at The Bread Box Studios (located at West Sixth Brewery) and you will quickly learn about new places to visit, about exhibitions that you shouldn’t miss during your visit.
YMR: How can we keep up with or get involved in the Lexington Tattoo Project — (opportunity for website shout out and facebook/twitter/etc or any events revolving around this) –
Check out our website: HERE. We update our blog twice every week: stay tuned for announcements about a fleshmob, a big release party, exhibitions, and a book. All this just to begin with!
YMR: Anything else you’d like us to know! Or anything you’d like to know about us?
K&K: If you want to get a sense of what The Lexington Tattoo Project video will be like, sort of, watch this: (make sure to expand the video to fill your screen). The American Inn sign is still there.
You can see it while eating tacos at Mi Mexico on New Circle.
And: we would like to know what your favorite music video/video artwork is. Is there a video that you find uniquely arresting, something that you cannot stop yourself from watching?
YMR: I’m ashamed to admit I’ve watched Wrestling every Monday for the last few Mondays. I’m slightly obsessed with this character, Mark Henry:
It is just as embarrassing as it seems, ladies and gents.
In addition to that — I have listened to this Johnny Cash cover of Rusy Cage quite a bit this week— the video itself isn’t uniquely arresting, but something about the song has been this week for me.
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- March 20 2013 1 Notes
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