Art Baby Girl
⤏ GRACE MICELI IN CONVERSATION WITH INDIA K
⤏ PHOTOS BY MICHAEL TYRONE DELANEY | MAKE-UP BY KATIE MANN
⤏ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 2019
Grace Miceli is a Brooklyn-based artist and curator. Her clients include Nike, The New Yorker, SZA and Polaroid Originals. She runs the online exhibition space Art Baby Gallery and the clothing + accessory line Art Baby Girl. I met Grace my first month of living in New York. Within a few weeks, we had curated a show together. We’ve been friends and collaborators ever since.
INDIA: So, we’ve definitely talked about this in the past, but when you’re friends for a long time and you’re both artists, you don’t just sit around talking about what your practice is and what it means. So I wanted to start off by asking, how would you describe your practice in your own words? It’s so colorful and fun and it can be taken at face value, but I’d love to hear more about the backstory of your work and what you hope it communicates.
GRACE: It’s slowly been developing for the past ten years. It started off just being a simple thing where I would use what I had — markers and paper. I was still in college and I was a person who was really not able to articulate my feelings in any way.
I: I didn’t know that about you –- I never would have guessed that because I know you as a person who articulates their feelings so well.
G: I was really not into doing that when I was younger. That’s how this practice started — I wasn’t conscious of this when it was happening, but my work became a channel for me to draw the stuff that I wasn’t comfortable thinking or talking about. It hasn’t been till much later, like now for instance, that I see that that’s what I was doing. I would make things and think, oh this is funny, this is a joke. But now I look back and I’m like, oh I was having an existential crisis!
I: I find that interesting because I was in a similar boat — a lot of work I made in college, I thought I was making it about other people. But it wasn’t till later that I realized my own sense of self and my thoughts and desires are really deeply rooted in everything I make.
G: Exactly. In college I was making a different type of work, I was making “This is Art” with a capital A. But later on, as I started to more freely express myself, I started doing the marker drawings. I don’t even remember if it was just a chance thing, like I just happened to have markers that day, but I’ve slowly grown into this framework that is really based on what I started then. Now it’s all about using combinations of images and colors and bringing them together to say something else.
“[M]y work became a channel...to draw the stuff that I wasn’t comfortable...talking about”
I: And how does imagery come to you? When I look at your drawings, I always think, how did she think to put all those things together?
G: I draw a lot of references from books I’m reading or movies I’m watching. Sometimes I’ll be watching something, and I’ll take notes of imagery that I feel drawn to. It happens when I walk down the street too. Some things just make my brain spark. I’ll be consuming someone else’s creative output, and something sticks and I add it to a rolling list of things that excite me. From there it’s like a puzzle — piecing together things that make sense alongside each other. There’s no theme to it. It’s about those feelings and ideas I’m not able to put into words, so I put them into drawings instead. On top of that, I’ve shared online 98% of everything I’ve made since I started doing this style. And for me that has been really important, because seeing other people connect to it is enough to make me be like, okay there has to be something to this. Maybe the point of life is to connect with other people. To be able to do that with what I’m making is part of the practice to me. How it exists in the world is a big part of it. I don’t believe in the purity of the artist in the studio, making something and never leaving, just sitting with the canvas. I’m not dismissing that, that works for other people, but for me what makes art matter is the conversation I’m having with whoever is looking at it.
I: That’s so important, because when you’re young and you are in school, you think you’re supposed to just sit in a studio and stare at a piece of paper until the muse or whatever appears. And it made me feel like if I couldn’t produce work when I was by myself, then I was a failure. But it’s the opposite. And that collaboration is so apparent in your work – you’re pulling from so many different places and people see that in the work and react to it.
G: Everything is connected.
I: Do you think young artists today feel a different and new kind of pressure due to platforms like Instagram?
G: Totally. I still feel so much pressure. But it’s definitely changed. When I was first posting my work on Instagram, I was able to do so without feeling like there were all these rules. I wasn’t thinking about likes or follows. I was just purely sharing stuff because I loved it and was excited about it. There was some purity to it. But now, there are times I feel the pressure to figure out the best way to present the work for the internet.
I: If I was a young artist right now, I think I would want to know what you feel you focused too much on when you were younger. What in the end didn’t matter as much? And what do you wish you spent more time doing?
G: I wish I had given myself more freedom to fuck up and to put stuff out there that might suck. I wish I hadn’t cared so much about what other people thought. Or cared so much about what an artist is “supposed” to do. No one is judging you. I also wish I had gone back to therapy at the start of my art career. What has helped me get to where I am today is doing exactly what I wanted and genuinely being excited about making stuff. Being open to trying things has been so important to me. But I always feel like I could do more.
I: When we first met you had no idea who I was, but we ended up doing an art show together within the first few months of me knowing you. You didn’t have to do any of that, but you were super down and I’ve always admired that “Yes, let’s do it” attitude you have. And I think you’re right that it’s opened a ton of doors for you.
G: That’s true. I’m glad that I feel really open to stuff.
I: Okay, we’re going to end on two fun questions. First, what are you obsessed with right now? You’re always obsessed with something.
“[W]hat makes art matter is the conversation I’m having with whoever is looking at it.”
G: It’s true. Right now I’m really obsessed with home décor. I’m about to move and I’m really obsessed with being on Pinterest and looking at all these 70s and 80s books on interior design. They just went all out and there is such a dedication to themed rooms. Pop culture-wise, I’m actually trying to work on not being as obsessed with stuff as I used to. I love to use other mediums of art as my inspiration, but pop culture and whatever obsessive fanatic form I’m in has definitely been a way for me to escape myself. I’m working on appreciating things I love, but staying aware that I get obsessed. Some detachment and fantasy are healthy and can open windows, but to live in that space fully is unhealthy for me.
I: Last question is about your adorable pup, Tony. How would you describe his personal style?
G: He’s really minimal these days.
I: Which is the opposite of your style.
G: I’ve actually been reducing the amount of stuff I have.
I: Is that cleansing for you?
G: Yes, definitely. Because again, having stuff is a form of escapism. It’s a place for me to hide. I have so many drawings that are about the things I buy when I’m sad. I am never going to be a minimalist, but I do think a place can exist that is exploding with color but still organized and calm. And that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Even my practice is connected to that idea — having these flat colorful drawings that I scan and put together in one place on the internet, it shows me that there can be a lot going on, but it can be neat and organized. That’s very satisfying to me. I’m trying to have my life be a little bit more like that – colorful but structured.
I: A bit more ordered.
G: Routine. A colorful routine.
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⤏ INDIA K (SHE/HER) IS AN ARTIST LIVING AND WORKING IN PORTLAND, OREGON. SHE TAKES PHOTOS, BUILDS INSTALLATIONS, AND WRITES WORDS. HER WORK EXPLORES THEMES OF SELF-WORTH, VULNERABILITY, AND MEMORY. HER PIECES HAVE BEEN EXHIBITED INTERNATIONALLY IN BROOKLYN, LOS ANGELES, TAIPEI, SAN FRANCISCO, NEW ORLEANS, SAN DIEGO, AND ROTTERDAM. SHE ENJOYS PIZZA, SWIMMING IN LAKES, TATTOOS, AND MOVIES ABOUT GHOSTS.