By Amelia G, artwork by Carlos Batts
May 14, 2005
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Amelia G: I remember you were already doing collage work years ago when we first met at that comic book convention in New York something like a decade ago. When did you first start making these sorts of collages and what inspired you to start?
Carlos Batts: I've been doing paint-collages and mix-media since age fifteen. I started out drawing, and doing weird illustrations. I really liked Horror and Zombie comics like DEAD WORLD and Tapping the Vein, Fly in my EYE. And anything Clive Barker did. As I got more into photography I also wanted to apply some of the same ideas in my drawings and mixing them with my photographs. I got an award for a photo-collage I did of Charles Manson when I was in High School. I was inspired by my imagination. I liked horror movies, metal, rap and having the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do.
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CB: I call it photography. I try to make them feel like paintings. I apply textures and really push the negative but eventually it goes through the normal photographic process. The main images are true photographs. They are all printed from a negative without the use of a computer.
AG: What would you say your overall theme or message you are expressing with this particular set of works is or does each one say something different?
CB: I came up with American Gothic because I felt for a long time my work was very visceral and I wanted to make it tangle to people. All great photographers have interpreted paintings. I thought the most significant classic American painting was the American Gothic. I read about what the painting meant to the art world and America 75 years ago. I thought about my life and the evolution of my work over the past 15 years, my friends, peers and all the stories I tried to tell through my images. Some images are coded have multiple meanings as well as giving them unique titles might to send messages. But it's my interpretation of my America, whether it is sex, race or art, all are conjoined to me.
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CB: I'm not sure. I just make what I like. It's a process, I generally write a story in my head. Each image generally works as a short film. I'm comfortable with sex and violence so it's a natural part of my imagination it's not repressed.
AG: What media have you done collage work in?
CB: My collages have been used for magazine illustrations but mostly for bands and exhibits. I have a series of limited edition pictures disc that I've done over the past 10 years for Reptilian records. There are pictures disc for bands like Mastodon, Pig Destroyer and Swarm of the Lotus are signed to big labels now. If you can find them you'll be lucky because they're so rare and collectable now. Chris X the owner and founder of Reptilian Records & Scapegoat Publishing has supported my
ideas and has been a friend for 15 years and it was his belief and enthusiasm for my photo-manipulations that kept me pushing forward during the often lean times, I guess you could call him my Van Gough's Brother. I held the photo-collages a little closer to my heart because they take a while to make and don't like to whore them out so much.
AG: What do you think if the digital revolution/evolution in art and photography?
CB: I've gone back and forth over the past 15 years about technology and art. Ultimately bad art is bad art. I've recently embraced it as a tool. I think of it as tools to create. I still really like film and touching it, holding the prints. Digital is wonderful because it's immediate but you never get to touch it. Also digital makes everyone lazy technically which is good but it allows amateurs to appear more clever than normal.
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CB: Nico is the owner and we've develop a very cool relationship. He's been very supportive of my vision which is the hardest thing for any gallery to understand sometimes.
AG: Where else have you shown your work?
CB: Merry Karnowsky (LA), La Luz De Jesus (Hollywood), Minna (SF), Mondo Bizzaro (Italy), Don O'Melveny Gallery (Beverly Hills), SOHO Gallery (LA), Art@LARGE (NYC), The Erotic Museum (Hollywood)
AG: What magazines has your work appeared in?
CB: Vibe, Hustler, Urb, Maxim, National Enquirer
AG: What was your experience, prior to your current project, with creating video work?
CB: In High School I made short films and in 92-94 I made 4 films. Puppadere, Clone and Choke. I lost the short SLAVE STATE in a warehouse fire. I decided after I made Clone that I just wanted to focus on my art and I would come back to film when I wanted to put it all together again.
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CB: As an artist at some point you need to make a living. And I made a living comfortable shooting for magazines both mainstream and porn and I like being paid to do what I love to do. But the more your do commercial work the more you have to compromise your personal vision. I decided I wanted to put work out there that was a little closer to my talents. I paint, draw, do make up, make costumes, paint the back grounds, set design, work that I made with my own two hands that evolved from sketchbook to gallery exhibition.
On the DVD you get to see my film from 13 years ago. The film American Gothic was my first time really writing a story and casting with actors. American Gothic the painting is now a horror movie.
I wrote that the old man killed his wife the day before they were supposed to pose for the painting. The daughter doesn't know. And the film takes place as they both slowly go into dementia. We're actually seeing the film in the middle of the old mans guilt. There were 2 real people (Grant Wood's sister and family dentist) that actually posed for the original painting in 1930. Most people think the woman in the painting is his wife it's not it's his daughter. I thought what better way to celebrate the 75th anniversary for the painting. I made it into a little murder mystery head trip, since killing your wife has become so popular now it's fitting.
AG: When you screened your new film for me and Forrest Black, you had some interesting anecdotes about casting. Please tell a little bit about how you selected who to be in your video project.
CB: The man character of the Old Man is my neighbor he's a commercial actor that I see everyday when I walked my dog. He would greet the dog and say hello to me after the fact. I thought he looked pretty interesting and as we talked I discovered he was an actor and he did all these weird bit characters for me. I thought he was amazing. So naturally when I was writing about the Old Man in the painting it came together well. It also helped that he was around the same age as the painting so I was able to ask him personal things about his life that I added to the story of the painting.
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June may have passed by the time some of you read this, as we will keep the feature online as the in-depth interview with this fascinating artist will stay interesting. Those who discover or are reminded about the work of Carlos Batts here before then will definitely want to be in Hollywood on Saturday, June 4 at the Clair Obscur Gallery where Carlos Batts will be opening what he views as his most ambitious gallery exhibit ever, featuring twelve 35”x45” photographic works mounted on gator board. His new book and film American Gothic will be available and there will be a special screening.
Useful Links:
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http://www.clairobscurgallery.com/
http://www.lastgasp.com/
http://www.edition-reuss.de/
http://www.scapegoatpublishing.com/
