Most of the work in this show depicts animals. I am not interested in animals in themselves. Rather, I choose to depict them when they demonstrate human qualities such as self-consciousness, mischievousness, vanity, or concern. I am fascinated with how animals are both like and unlike humans, and find that likeness/un-ikeness akin to each person’s individuality and common humanity.
I care a great deal about engaging my viewers. I want them to see my work, to think about it, and to remember it. I would go so far as to say that I do not consider my work "finished" until it is on a wall and there are people in front of it. I try to pack my shows with surprises and rewards, so that the people who come to see my shows engage deeply with my work in the time they spend in the space. There are a variety of approaches I employ — in varying proportion depending on the show — to create that engagement.
First of all, I use humor. My work is not uproariously funny, but I think of it as "sly", and I am pleased when it makes a viewer smile. Whether I am depicting animals, people, places, or things, my images refer to human qualities and experiences in ways that are familiar, which draw on common experiences, and which sometimes laugh at certain familiar human behaviors. Some of my images are absurd or ironic, such as a cow with tattoos or a parachuting dog. It is always unclear whether the subjects know that they look a little ridiculous.
Sometimes I make pieces that are interactive. I have two small examples in this show which are wall-mounted boxes. The viewer needs to pull a string to reveal a small painting and when he or she releases the string, the box closes back up. I made these pieces with a collaborator, Andrew Brehm, and they are part of a larger body of interactive work. I understand the curatorial necessity of pristine exhibition spaces, but I have often thought that it is a shame not to be able to touch artwork. This body of work all requires touch and viewer activity, without which the work cannot be viewed.
Finally, I use a broad range of materials and approaches in my work. This show runs the gamut from straightforward paintings on panel, to framed drawings, to works with collage or metal leaf, to cut out drawings to interactive boxes. I hope that visual variety creates some of the feeling of surprise I desire in my shows. Although I hold craftsmanship in very high regard in my work, I also enjoy including materials that are somehow "wrong" (not art materials, not archival, not proper, etc.), and enjoy how that impropriety helps to challenge a viewers expectations of what art is, who it is for, and how we value it.
"Petting Zoo" is an exhibition of projects that we have created together. For these projects, viewers are invited not only to look at the work, but also to interact with the work in a variety of ways. Just like a "petting zoo" allows visitors to engage with exhibits in more direct and tactile ways than a standard zoo, these pieces require that viewers touch, crank, walk around, pull strings, and squeeze things in order to fully experience the artwork.
We have developed these projects over the past five years. We live about an hour and a half from each other (Andy in Philadelphia and Cheryl in Kutztown, PA). Because of the nature of working collaboratively and the complexity of our pieces, we make roughly one project a year. A project may take a couple of months, since it will pass back and forth between the two of us — sometime briefly, and sometimes for extended periods of time. We have had exhibitions of our collaborative work at the Art Association of Jacksonville, in Jacksonville, IL, in the show "Some Serious Business" at the the Fowler Family Center, and at eDavid Gallery — both in Bethlehem, PA, and at the Swain School in Allentown, PA.
Although Andy Brehm and Cheryl Hochberg worked together to produce these pieces, each artist also has his and her own individual body of artwork. Andy Brehm is a sculptor and furniture maker. Recently he has been creating large scale events that happen on sets that he fabricates, often over extended periods of time. He records and manipulates these events in video. His videos have most recently been seen at Fleisher-Ollman Gallery, at SSWARD at the Viking Mills Studio, and at Little Berlin Gallery, all in Philadelphia. Cheryl Hochberg is a realist painter. Her paintings depict intricate combinations of figures, still lifes, and landscape suggesting enigmatic narratives. Her work has recently been exhibited at eDavid Gallery in Bethlehem, PA, at the Allentown Art Museum, and Lehigh University. Two pieces in this show — "Smokes Like a Chimney" by Andy Brehm and "Leading a Horse to Art" by Cheryl Hochberg are included here to offer examples of the artists’ individual production.
Like the book that shares my show’s title, this work is not really about animals; it is about people. Animals have played supporting roles in my visual narratives over the last 5 years; here, they take leading roles instead. I am drawn to animals when they appear to display a glance or body language that is suggestive of human qualities or emotions such as curiosity, self-consciousness, or vanity. I place these animals in environments that help bring the subtle indications of those qualities to the forefront.
Most of the pieces in this show are drawings, and there are a few paintings as well. In addition to the peculiar nature of the subject matter, I hope they communicate my deep involvement with my materials. I enjoy not only drawing, but building, collaging, and working collaboratively. Beside the narrative, I hope viewers share my engagement with my materials and with the physical activity of making artwork.