Age? Location? Website?

I am 30 years old, born in Westerly Rhode Island/Stonington CT and I live in Providence, Rhode Island, www.gloria1985.com

Tell us a little bit about your work.

It was around this time last year that I started working on this new body of work. I was feeling a bit unsatisfied with the pictures that I had been working on. I grew tired and comfortable in working in the same format, on these large -scale drawings on paper. I was interested in making smaller more intimate drawings that carried the same visual impact and emotional charge of the large works on paper that I had been making. These paintings started off looking very weird to me, aesthetically they were very different than the work I had been making, but as the pictures unfolded, the relationship of all the elements of the picture really started to work for me. Memory, and the emotions associated with it have always played a large role in my work. I think that since I have been making artwork in general, I have always strived to make the kind of artwork that sticks with you, maybe kind of haunting. Stirring a thought or memory in the viewer so that they may draw and reflect on their own history.

Influences?

I studied Printmaking in school, so early on I looked at a lot of prints, everything from Durer through all the Abstract expressionists/ Pop art stuff. Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Jasper Johns (as well as many of their contemporaries) were big influences on me early on. I saw Francesco Clemente's retrospective at the Guggenheim, and it completely blew me away. (and still does) Really at that time I think that I was just so completely psyched with anything that had gone on in art, and also anything that was going on. My peers and teachers at MassArt, and RISD were all so great they were mostly likely my biggest influences. (probably still are) Now a days I don't look at as much stuff as I used to, Tim Noble and Sue Webster are making really great work, Henry Darger made some of the most touching work ever. Amy Sillman has for years both aesthetically and conceptually been a huge influence for me. (Music also.)

Describe your process for creating a new piece.

In this series, most of the time the text, or some form of the finished text will come first. I have always made a blotter for my desk out of chipboard or whatever, it acts as a place to write down things as I ‘m working, or doodle around while I wait for things to dry. So the things I write down get transferred to post-its and put on the studio wall. The text plays a large role in shaping the work it sets the tone for the work to be viewed. (It also relates most directly to what I'm trying to convey in the picture). I will usually focus on several pictures at once. Each picture is composed of a number of smaller paintings stacked and arranged to make a larger work. I start by preparing 3-4 panels at a time, each getting painted, sanded and repainted, until the desired color, opacity, surface is achieved. From there they get hung, and stacked together on the wall. After a couple more rounds of this, each picture will start to take shape, more paintings are then added, and the arrangement is refined until the color, text, and mood all start to work together. (that's kind of it in a nutshell...)

Day job?

I make the best pizza in town.

What's a good way to spend a Saturday?

We usually go to a place near by called Scrambler's for breakfast, then back home to relax a bit, I will usually go to the art supply store, and stock up on whatever I need for the week, then try to get some stuff done, hang out with my girlfriend. Then to, Thee Red Fez for dinner, pinball and drinks.

I just gave you $1,000,000. Quick, what do you do with it!

In reverse order, pay off my student loans, maybe open a little gallery, help some friends out, paint way more, and buy some records.

Best thing that happened to you this week?

This interview has been fun, the weather is getting much nicer.

Tools of the trade?

Createx Pure Pigments, Utrecht paints and Mediums (they employed me and gave me a discount while I was at MassArt), Holbein Acryla Gouche, Daler Rowney Acrylics, and Excel Blades (with the same X-acto holder I have been using since I was 8), oh and Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Water Color Pencils (R.I.P).

The best and worse thing about Fecal Face?

You Guys have highlighted some work I was really glad to see, Michelle Blade, Andy Ducett, I also enjoy all the blogs and interviews. I don't have much bad to say about you guys, truthfully.

What's the best and worst part of living where you live?

It's pretty awesome here I have to say. Providence is still relatively cheap to live in, I live in South Providence, so I have a lot of space to live and work in, which is ideal for me. The weather is mostly great, and the ocean is right around the corner, my family also lives pretty close by. The only downside is the lack of places to show work. (hence the million dollar?)

Upcoming?

Well this summer I hope to just keep working/ trying to get some shows lined up, (get in touch anyone??). I will be in Brooklyn making some prints this summer with my friend and Amazing Printer Brad Ewing at Marginal Editions; I am really looking forward to seeing/ working with him and Jasper. Thanks

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Kevin Morosini was born in Westerly, Rhode Island in 1978 and graduated from Stonington High School in 1996. He received a Bachelor's of fine Arts in Printmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art in 2001. He went on to teach at Outside the Lines Studio, an art program for adults with developmental disabilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2004, Kevin received a Master's of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design.

www.gloria1985.com {moscomment}