Alison Kudlow
Alison Kudlow is an artist and collector currently living and working in Brooklyn, NY.
Kudlow speaks about her experimental and constant artist practice as well as being on both sides of art-making and collecting. She also shares insights into some of her favorite curatorial themes at the moment and the generative nature of materials.
Deboned, ceramic and glass, 16.5 x 14 x 14 inches
PP: When did you start collecting art and why?
AK: I've always loved having art in my home, initially acquiring art through trades and gifts. Living with art means having a long-term relationship with the piece, seeing how its materiality and meaning shift as time goes by. I want my home to be a reflection of who I am and what I love and to be a space that brings me joy no matter where I look. Having a home full of art means I'm always surrounded by the brilliance of my friends and the people I admire.
Budding Cage, ceramic and glass on bronze stand, 32 x 14 x 14 inch
PP: What role does arts funding have in your personal practice or the art world in general?
AK: Over the past few years I've set aside some budget for purchasing art. I feel good about supporting emerging artists and the galleries that show them. As an artist myself, I know how meaningful it is when someone decides to acquire a piece--I view it as an investment in me and my career, a vote of confidence in what I'm making and will make, and a means of long-term connection. I feel lucky to get to be on both sides of that.
Wavelength Space, Meet Me in the Spectral Wilderness, Wavelength Space, Chattanooga, TN, 8/14/21-9/16/21
PP: What do you do to overcome creative blocks?
AK: I honestly don't experience creative blocks. I have so many ideas for works that I want to make and have to cull them down because I don't have unlimited time to make my work. Ideas come from making. Since I'm always making, I'm always encountering new ideas of what I could make next. I think there's a myth that the idea should come first, and then the execution. That's a surefire way to creative block. Materials are generative. Making begets making.
PP: What current art world trends are you following?
AK: The art world feels wide open right now so that there's space for any and all kinds of work. Rather than speaking in terms of trends, I can say that I've observed some curatorial themes that resonate deeply with me. The Venice Biennale show The Milk of Dreams curated by Cecilia Alemani questioned the bounds of what is human and how that shifts over time. This past summer Rebekah Chozick curated a show at Rachel Uffner called Extra Terrestrial which included artists interested in the conditions of material existence on Earth. Around the same time, Andrew Woolbright organized a show at Hesse Flatow called Augurhythms which explored material and visual divinitions and rituals. I'm deeply interested in how artists are responding to the strangeness of our time by proposing alternative ecologies.
Alison Kudlow captures glass in mid-motion, resulting in works best described with verbs. With glass pooling, oozing, and bulging from ceramic forms, each sculpture feels precarious, like a moment that cannot last. Kudlow (b. 1981) lives and works in Brooklyn. She earned a BA from the University of Southern California, a post-baccalaureate degree from Brandeis University and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Studio Art. She has shown at numerous galleries including Field Projects, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Flux Factory, UrbanGlass, Deanna Evans Projects, Doppelgänger Projects, Paradice Palase, and at Fullerton College. She presented her first NYC solo show, Meaningful Rituals in Irrational Times, at Elijah Wheat Showroom in 2019. She will be an artist in residence at the Art Ichol Center in Maihar, India in January 2023.
To reach Alison or learn more about her work, see her instagram and website.