Paul Behnke Interview

Dwayne Butcher: Artist Interview with Paul Behnke 9/1/06

DB: How do you come up with your images? And what does your current
work meanto you?

PB: My images begin as quick, small, nearly automatic drawings. Out
of a group of 40 or 50, I'm drawn to about ten that I think will make
good compositions and I use these as jumping off points for the
paintings. I then alternate between spontaneous approaches, intense
looking, and more formal, refining periods---often times destroying
several serviceable compositions on my way to a final image.
A finished body of work ultimately means communication with your
peers—an audience. A way to convince the viewer of your own reality.
Any personal meaning a piece might have is in a constant state of flux.

DB: What exhibit or piece that you have seen has most influenced your
workand why?

PB: Still lifes by Giorgio Morandi that I saw in Italy. They taught
me a lot about economy and working within a set parameter---that there
can be freedom and even endless variation in restraint.

DB: If you could have only one material for the rest of your life
what would it be and why?

PB: Black ink. The variances are endless. The dark ink against white
paper is striking and automatically sets up opposites that are loaded
with symbolic and formal qualities.

DB: Explain your work in five words or less.

PB: An aid against bewilderment.

DB: What is your favorite - movie? Book? Color? Smell? Food?

PB: The Petrified Forest with Bette Davis and Leslie Howard. Its
themes are romantic and out of fashion. Both are good for art and
life.
The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary or Zola's The Masterpiece.
Chromium Oxide Green
The way the air smells before it snows.
Salmon Croquettes

DB: What "guilty pleasures" of kitsch, low, or unfashionable art do
you enjoy, and has your work been influenced by any of them?

PB: Celebrity culture and religious paintings. These two realms are
closer than you might think.
I tried to let the pathos,and somber elements of religious works
influence my earlier black and white paintings.

DB: What initially drew you to become an artist?

PB: The way I feel when I look at great art.