Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Chris Zain Neuman.
Marissa Chris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I think about what ultimately led me to make art I always go back to language. Patience isn’t something that runs in my family, so when I was a kid I was told to get to the point, and fast. It might seem a bit cruel but this temperament taught me to use words precisely and thoughtfully. I love language and people told me I had a knack for the written word. I went to college studied Journalism and Art History and became a pretty good writer, but by the end of it, I saw how language can fail us time and again. We can share impressions of an experience but so much of what is perceived and therefore embodied is inexplicable. So much of what was taught to me as a writer was to be objective and this was something that felt dishonest… I think we can appear to be objective but I think our biases creep into the dark corners of every decision and every word we choose to employ.
I was always more concerned with the feeling of the story rather than the story itself, I was curious about the space between the words and how they related to one another. Visual art allowed me to start from scratch and invent a language of my own, one that is first experienced on a bodily level. Art presented the opportunity to tell a story that tapped into the matrix of personal associations and visual indices the viewer brings along with her. In this way, visual art for me was more active than writing because it mirrored that of a dialogue where two entities volley back and forth without a prescribed outcome.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’m not sure there is a smooth road for anyone who decides to be an artist. You spend hours alone in your studio making away doing something that most of the people in your life don’t understand especially because it takes up all your time and doesn’t make you a lot of money.
I had an art professor in school years ago that said ‘If you can do anything else with your life (outside of the arts), you should.’ At the time I found that statement to be quite cutting in retrospect it makes perfect sense. It’s a precarious profession, there’s little if any security in being an artist. And the value and interest in your work can change at any time. But you keep making because you are compelled to do so and nothing feels quite better.
So, for me the biggest obstacle is an inner one, I have to go on and try to value myself and my work by my own criterion. The trouble is, I’m probably my hardest critic and it’s a constant challenge to remind myself to take care of all of me… my body, my brain, my art practice, my relationships, my spirit.
Last year was the busiest year. I’ve had to date in terms of exhibitions and I was so pumped to push a lot of my work out into the world. I was in the studio every minute, in between every job and obligation and I let a lot of other things slip and pile up. My solo show closed with the year and immediately I was faced with all the parts of myself I had ignored for months. Feeling so exhausted and emotionally empty that I have to rest for a couple months solid is not ideally how I want to feel after a year of hard work. So, I begin again trying to do 2018 a little more gently, a little more thoughtfully and with a little more grace.
Marissa Chris Zain Neuman – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Paralleling the body’s ever-changing state — from youth through puberty, adulthood to old age — my work highlights the metamorphosis of matter. I am interested in the boundary of the body as it relates to utility and shelter because they both function as a shell protecting us from the outside world. Using a variety of materials such as ceramics, tar, and paper pulp I push my media to a point where its weathering is palpable. These organic materials reveal the physical qualities of the body in all its mental and emotional states.
My work examines the tenuous but essential relationship between mind and body. Does the image of the psychological self-reciprocate the image of the physical self and what might an honest depiction of these two images look like? With technology proselytizing our world and informing how we think and see ourselves on these flatted and filtered screens I try to use sculpture as a tool to get people back in tune with sensation.
The objects I make are high in texture with soft edges, they are modular and installation based and usually composed in a grid format that might read similar to text on a page. My sculptures are slick, sticky, prickly, rusty, furry, hard, squishy, burnished and everything in between. Layering materials and textures I create haptic sculptures for people to observe their ‘self’ through the objects in front of them. I want my work to help people relate to themselves and get back into their bodies.
I allow myself to make freely and move fluidly through various media unconcerned with branding myself at this point in my career. Materials are central to meaning-making in my work and I feel pretty fearless in this pursuit that often positions me as an amateur. It’s not the smartest way to work in terms of a ‘business strategy’ because people want continuity, but I’m fine playing the long game if it means being true to my artistic insights.
How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc?
I will have lived a successful career as an artist if I can continue making until the end of my days. The ego feeds on attention and praise but all that is fleeting and corrosive to the spirit. The work is what matters and what must endure. I reject the narrative of the tortured artist or the starving artist. Living a well-rounded life, one that includes family, adventure, love, and good health are my markers of success. It’s tricky and riddled with compromises no doubt, but it’s within the delicate balance of all these valves that for me life is lived happily.
At present, I find success in the continued and expanding the community of supportive artists, curators, thinkers and patrons that support my work. I look forward to celebrating moments when I have more of a team to help with the incessant administrative labor of being an artist. I look forward to when museums and institutions own my work so that it can be shared with the masses long after I’m long gone.
Contact Info:
- Website: marissachriszainneuman.com
- Email: neumanmarissa@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris_zain/?hl=en
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