Regina Mandell

What's up with the Mountain Man look? It's prevalent. I was a fan before it was so widely worn...I think it's a default look. Why? Because it equates to letting yourself go. You can let your beard grow. You don't have to wash your hair or comb it or cut it. You can just throw a flannel and a t-shirt on. It works well in the winter. It has some sort of nostalgia to it. You think people are tired of the upkeep. They just want to relax and feel comfortable, but have a certain look at the same time? Yeah, I'd agree with that. You think it has anything to do with grunge? I think a little bit. I think it relates back to the 70s, and I think it relates back to Paul Bunyan. His manliness is appealing? Yeah, like maybe some women wonder, 'Where's his axe?' Has this look sold well at Grasshopper? It has...though, I'm not sure it still is. I think it's time to look for something new, something a little more polished. So what now? More put together, a cared-for look--I don't mean metrosexual--manly in a retro way, kind of referencing that 'madman' thing. A guy in a nice suit. His shirt is clean. But he's got a wild side to him? Don't most men?

Benjamin Franklin

Do you see Print Liberation as a performance art piece? At this point, it is a performance. I wouldn't say performance art, but it's definitely performance within the boundaries of capitalism. It extends past the notion of traditional performance, where there's a beginning and an end. It's kind of an entity that can exist outside of a lifespan...potentially. What are you trying to accomplish by doing this? Print Liberation is there to contribute to the culture we're a part of, and also make money. It's kind of a modern dilemma: How do you make money and contribute to the culture you're a part of at the same time? We're trying to do that through Print Liberation. But do you think that in order to contribute to the culture you need to be a viable entity? Not necessarily. We contribute in a semi-subversive way because we harness certain political agendas and exploit them. But we also exploit people's fascination with what is now. So if something really important in the news happens, we'll make a t-shirt about it. And there have been instances where people are finding out about this news from the t-shirts we're making. So that's taking products and communication to a different level because products are now communication. You guys got the Obama campaign? We got to do some stuff for MoveOn.org. How did that happen? We were making Obama shirts and they emailed us. How did they find out about you? I think people were just putting them on blogs. We don't spend any money on advertising or anything. But our shirts were getting on blogs because we made a shirt that said, Palien. It had a picture of Sarah Palin with alien eyes drawn on her and then it said, We come for your babies. So that got a lot of attention. Who's coming up with the ideas for the shirts? Just random people. We actually ask a lot of our Facebook friends and customers if they have any ideas. And then if they have a good one, we make them and send them free shirts. Do you credit them with their ideas? We don't really credit anybody. The point is to take the singular genius out of product making and put it into an indefinable entity. Some people think they have amazing, million dollar t-shirt ideas and they'll be reluctant to tell you about them because they think it's their golden ticket. But selling t-shirts is a really bizarre thing to do. You're satirizing capitalism. But you're a successful capitalist. It's more of an experiment than anything else. Do you feel like you have to be successful within capitalism in order to satirize it? You definitely have to get products out into the world. And that's probably one of the most amazing aspects of running a company like Print Liberation, is literally sending t-shirts all over the world. Last week we sent a shirt to French Polynesia. We sent one to Eastern Europe. We sent one to the Porche showroom in Abu Dhabi. So if you think about how making things and making art and making products is all contributing to the culture you're a part of, to keep things moving forward, selling cheap products is kind of the most direct line to doing that. It's close to conversation. Talk is cheap. Talk is truly cheap. What we're doing right now, we're using words and it's free. And the t-shirt is like that. It's cheap, efficient language. And it's not for the greater good all the way. It's for the greater good, and to make money. Its viability becomes a resource for more communication. Exactly. Or is this a justification for greed? It's not greed. I have no option but to live in a capitalist world, which is fine by me. So if I'm going to live in this world I have to do something to survive in it, and it might as well be making something to sell to other people if I'm a capitalist. That's what we all have to do. Either I'm working for somebody else who's making something for other people or I'm working for myself and making things for other people. So, essentially, no matter what I do, I'm damned to making things for other people or making things period or doing something in the production room. So you might as well do it on your own terms as much as possible? Yeah and if it works, holy shit, it works.

Sarah Eberle

In what capacity do you operate at [Rebekah Templeton Contemporary Art]? I'm the owner. I direct it. I curate it. I run it with my husband, Ben Will. I'm more the web designer. We both curate. We both play the director role. So you wear many hats? Oh my god, yes. Are the hats clearly defined? No, never. Does that present a challenge for you? It does to a certain extent. But I'm kind of used to it because I've been doing this sort of business for a long time. I've worked in a lot of art galleries so I've always played this multiple hat role. What's it like working with your husband? We know each other well. We both have very different ideas when it comes to art. He's very conceptual. I like work that's conceptual. But I have a strong need for technical skill. So I look for a more technical aesthetic appeal. Your sensibilities complement each other. Exactly. What is the vision for the gallery? We want to show new contemporary works that have not been shown in Philadelphia before. We want to represent the underrepresented artists--the people who don't have shows in the mainstream galleries in Philadelphia--and support work where the artist whose concepts, technique, and thought process are all kind of coming together, people who are motivated to produce a lot of work. We're not into the Sunday Artist. We want people who are constantly in the gallery working and producing work, and then can back it up with both technical skill and conceptual thought process. You're looking for a viable artist? Yes. I've been told you sell well. What's the secret to that? I wish I knew what the magical secret was because I would keep doing it. You sold a bunch of prints recently. What do you think you did that worked? I think it was because I was really passionate about the stuff I was selling. When I was at the Print Center, there was a huge variety of artists, with a huge variety of work on display. The work that really sold was the work I really liked, the work I felt was contemporary, edgy, really happening, and right now. That's what sold. I think probably my excitement is what sold it over the other stuff. In order to sell any piece of artwork, you have to be really excited about it. It has to be something you would hang in your own house, for whatever price it is. If it's a hundred dollars, if it's four thousand dollars, you have to be willing to spend that amount of money in order to get other people to be willing to spend that amount of money. Even if you don't drop four thousand dollars, as long as you felt, 'I would spend this, if I had it,' buyers get excited about it too. You believe in it. Yes. You have to really believe in what you're selling.

Andrée-Anne Dupuis Bourret

You were asked to be a part of ["Medium Resistance - Revolutionary Tendencies in Print and Craft" at Crane Arts]. Why are you in the show? I don't know. I think it's because of my blog, and I posted many things about this piece. And it's always growing. So I think they are interested in the concept of the little--they told me it's called, 'Magic Cube'--but in French we say, coincoin. Coincoin? How does that translate literally? I don't know. I think it's 'magic box.' They typically have words in them and you ask it a question. But you don't have words in yours. No. Just lines. Why did you take out the words and use lines? Because I want to use this piece to construct and structure. It's more like [bold play], and noting that information. And what I'm interested in with this piece is that when you're near the piece you see bazaar materiality, and when you are far, you don't understand what it is. It's about perception for you, and changing perception? Yeah, exactly. But you also see it as something that's growing. I want to do bigger, bigger. I hope I could make that kind of piece everywhere, but... What would be the ultimate for you, to cover the entire planet? A museum would be cool. The planet? I don't know. It's like a growth. Do you see this project as constructive or subversive? That's a good question. I just want to work and work. The meaning of my life is to do things and to work. This kind of piece gives me a way to work all the time on one thing. I'm interested in that kind of work, on progress, on all the possibilities of one thing. For me there is a unity with that--I can do a mountain. I can do a river. I can do a wall--with one little piece. You're interested in the process, and the feeling you achieve from being productive. I think it's important to think about work, people who work a lot, in a restaurant, in a shop. They do things repetitively. And I think about how artists do this repetitive action too. So I'm doing this in an extreme way, repeating and repeating and repeating.

Ellie Brown

Right now you're working on this bag project. What's that about? It's about private possessions in one's handbag versus public persona. And it's about what people are willing to part with in their bags, and what they're materially attached to. Are you trying to get people to purge? Not necessarily. They can give us nothing--I have a collaborator in Los Angeles, when I say, 'us.' Her name is Camille Conan--One person gave us a tiny safety pin, and that was that. Some people will give us three pounds of stuff from their bags, like they feel this obligation to give and give. We'll tell them they don't have to. So you have a sociological interest in this interaction? Yes. It's anthropological. It's sociological. It's all sorts of things. What are you finding? What are you learning by doing this? Categorically, I can't say yet. I've done fifty people so far. I would actually like someone who does statistics to go through everything and see how many people have iPods in their bags, for instance, how many people have uniball pens... There are common things through out socioeconomic spectrums that everybody has, and then some things that vary greatly. You're starting to notice these trends. Yes. Why take something away? Why not give something to them? I have nothing to give them. But the point is, they don't have to give me anything. They can say, 'No, I don't want to part with anything in my bag.'

Candy Depew

So...you are the self-proclaimed female version of Benjamin Franklin. No. Why do you say this, Candy? Because I have a very busy evening lifestyle. No, there's more to it than that. Ben Franklin was a notoriously savvy guy. That's why he did so much business. Because he made friends with everybody. How are you savvy? I make friends with everybody. What kind of work do you do? I don't know anymore. Are you a designer? Are you an artist? Originally, I was a sculptor...until recently. Now, I'm not quite sure. I'm reinventing. I would say I'm a cultural entrepreneur. And you're in the process of transforming now? Just like, over there, at the autoparts store. Girard Autoparts now can buy gold. So the autoparts guys are also entrepreneurs. And you identify with that? Yeah, in a way...I don't know why autoparts guys are buying gold. So, are you always changing? I am exactly the same person. I have to change in order to--I don't even change. I'm exactly the same. Others tend to change to accept me. See what I mean? I can apply to everything but--I can apply, or everything can apply to me. I don't necessarily apply to everything. It's like that Bernard Shaw quote. Progress depends on the unreasonable man. Free your mind and your ass will follow.

Todd Vladyka

You caught a big fish for this. Yeah, I hunted her down basically. I went out to Long Island this summer and [Taryn Simon] had a small show up in Guild Hall, which is a small museum out in East Hampton. I got a hotel room in the peak of the summer when I knew she was going to be talking. I went up to her. I gave her the book of the Mutter Museum, which has Joel Peter Witkin--William Wegman had come in and taken pictures years ago. But we hadn't really done anything new. And this woman is like...I love her...this woman is amazing. I thought, if I go up to her and give her the book, then I have a chance. So you just went up to her...blind? Yeah, just blind, and said please come. What was her reaction? Was she like, who are you? It was before she was about to speak. She was pretty nervous about speaking and I didn't want to interrupt her flow. So she just said, well, speak to me after. Yeah, that was bad timing. She gave me her email. She passed me off to her assistant, who is her sister. And she and I have been communicating ever since. And, you know, Taryn is out of the country and very difficult to really nail down to a date and we had only planned to do this in the spring anyway, but then everything started coming together. So what's your role in this operation? I'm the Chair of the Section of Medicine and the Arts. So I'm a doctor, who became a fellow at the College of Physicians, which is sort of the oldest medical society in the country--the history and birthplace of medicine, essentially, in this country--and I had done programming for years with them on their executive committee, which brought in a lot of luminaries, who were doctors, who were writers, doctors who were poets...that kind of thing. Now you're the chair. As the incoming chair, I wanted to do something a little bit different. I also wanted to bring photography back to the college. There's a great history in our book, having worked with artists, really accomplished artists, who have come in and worked with the collection. I mean, have you ever been to the Mutter Museum? Oh yeah, shrunken heads. Shrunken heads and--I like the lady with the horn, the French lady. It makes you recalibrate everything you know about everything. And also it feels very hermetic and sealed off in there, like it's a small, little place that not many people really know about. And a lot of Taryn's work is sort of dealing with the same kind of stuff. So I thought, it was a great marriage of the two. So she's excited to come. She'll be here Wednesday at 6:30 and there's free food.