"Only Once," 36" x 36" by Denise Duong
Here is the full interview with Denise Duong-- this was also excerpted in the Park Record this week. Friday night you can meet Denise in person, see her new paintings, and perhaps swap adventure stories over canapes.
Around the World in Paper and Paint: An Interview with Denise Duong
Oklahoma City based mixed-media artist Denise Duong creates vignettes of adventure. Duong uses paper and drawings on painted landscapes to construct delightful worlds for her characters to inhabit. Elegant women, dapper men, odd little banjo players, ducks and bull terriers ride old motorcycles through hilly countrysides, wear evening gowns and opera gloves aboard hot air balloons, play music and drink wine on boats, or pedal flying machines far above exciting new cities. Duong's work seems as much about romance and friendship as it is about travel: similar characters tend to show up over and over in her work, though always in new costumes and locales. A show of Duong's newest work opens February 5th at Phoenix Gallery. We were curious about her keen imagination and the exciting life that generates such wonderful art. Here is the conversation that ensued:
Phoenix Gallery: Your work seems so much about adventure and beauty. Where have you travelled so far?
Denise Duong: After I dropped out of art school I lived in Hawaii. After that, since I didn't have any of the commitments of school, work, or leases, I spent an entire summer hitchhiking across America with a great friend. I also spent that summer train hopping with a good friend who has since passed away. That was the beginning of my love of being around beauty and seeing new things.
I also lived in Costa Rica, back when it was not run by resorts. The other countries I've been to are Nicaragua, Mexico, Jamaica, Canada, Vietnam, and Italy. I feel like I've been to more places, but I've just talked about which one is next. The last two years I have spent my fall and winters in other cities. This past year I spent three months in San Francisco, and the year before was in New York. This year's plans are to go back to Vietnam, and to Japan.
PG: What is your creative process?
DD: I like to draw first. I paint a background that I want to my characters to be in, and then I draw, and then I dress them up with different paper. Finding new paper is like getting new clothes to me, that's probably why I don't have many clothes. I have that satisfaction when I get paper!
PG: It seems that while the locales in your work change, the characters often repeat. Who are the main characters that show up in your work?
DD: I have noticed that the characters are inspired by myself, my husband, and definitely my dog is in there. I've also recognized how little I do when we travel. Matt does all the driving while I do all the pointing and enjoying. [She laughs.] He does all the navigating, while I sit and make sandwiches. Before I had him, I was that person [now] I like to look, watch, and pretend. The old man and the little figures that play music are figures I have just always drawn and I feel uncomfortable when they don't make their appearances.
PG: Do you have any unusual licenses? Pilot's, motorcycle?
DD: I'm a Reverend. I got ordained to marry my sister. No fun licenses. Every motorcycle I have attempted to ride...I'm too short for! So I'm in the side car or the back-- which is where I like to be anyway!
"The Start" 36" x 36" by Denise Duong
PG: Your husband is also an artist: how does your creative work feed each other?
DD: It's nice finishing pieces and having each other to talk about it with. Our mediums are so different, which is nice.
PG: How did you meet?
DD: We met when we were 16. We went to different high schools, but were both in the arts and so had the same circle of friends.
PG: Where did you study art? What was your early relationship to art?
DD: I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but the only thing I feel like I learned from that school was how to be in the studio from 9-4 without burning yourself out. I also liked the printmaking studios.
I always LOVED drawing and making things. But I never knew it could be something that I did as my life. I grew up in a family that came from Vietnam right before I was born, and we were all new to everything. It was about making the most of luck being able to make it here. [A career was] something that could help the family and something that was stable and made money. [My family] presented careers to me as young as I could remember, and none of them sounded appealing. Doctor, dentist, optometrist, accountant....dental hygienist. I knew I didn't want to be anything but an artist. When I was in my first year at university I took several different courses to try out my options, and all I wanted to do was go home and work in the studio. So I went to art school, but didn't like it. I dropped out, traveled, and told myself, if I'm going to drop out of school I'm going to pursue art as strong and as passionately as possible. With the HUGE help of Matt, I really did it.
PG: Do you have a routine for your work?
DD: I guess I have developed a routine with the way I start and finish a painting. It's always weird to leave the studio for awhile and then get back in and get back into the flow of things. I love cooking and eating, so my days are broken up by long meals.
PG: What is a perfect day for you?
DD: Amazing weather! Morning, sit outside with Debo (my dog) and draw and listen to music. Then go to the studio, have an amazing lunch outside, work in the studio more, have a plate of cured meats and cheese, maybe some wine, go on a bike ride to a great spot for dinner outside, and then haul myself off home and watch an old school movie. Of course all done with my husband and dog. We spend a lot of time together, and really enjoy it!
PG: What is a different perfect day for you?
DD: Wake up in a strange place wondering what I'm going to eat. Wondering what my feet are going to get planted into, and what the air is going to feel like. Trying to speak the local language.
DD: It's nice finishing pieces and having each other to talk about it with. Our mediums are so different, which is nice.
PG: How did you meet?
DD: We met when we were 16. We went to different high schools, but were both in the arts and so had the same circle of friends.
PG: Where did you study art? What was your early relationship to art?
DD: I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but the only thing I feel like I learned from that school was how to be in the studio from 9-4 without burning yourself out. I also liked the printmaking studios.
I always LOVED drawing and making things. But I never knew it could be something that I did as my life. I grew up in a family that came from Vietnam right before I was born, and we were all new to everything. It was about making the most of luck being able to make it here. [A career was] something that could help the family and something that was stable and made money. [My family] presented careers to me as young as I could remember, and none of them sounded appealing. Doctor, dentist, optometrist, accountant....dental hygienist. I knew I didn't want to be anything but an artist. When I was in my first year at university I took several different courses to try out my options, and all I wanted to do was go home and work in the studio. So I went to art school, but didn't like it. I dropped out, traveled, and told myself, if I'm going to drop out of school I'm going to pursue art as strong and as passionately as possible. With the HUGE help of Matt, I really did it.
PG: Do you have a routine for your work?
DD: I guess I have developed a routine with the way I start and finish a painting. It's always weird to leave the studio for awhile and then get back in and get back into the flow of things. I love cooking and eating, so my days are broken up by long meals.
PG: What is a perfect day for you?
DD: Amazing weather! Morning, sit outside with Debo (my dog) and draw and listen to music. Then go to the studio, have an amazing lunch outside, work in the studio more, have a plate of cured meats and cheese, maybe some wine, go on a bike ride to a great spot for dinner outside, and then haul myself off home and watch an old school movie. Of course all done with my husband and dog. We spend a lot of time together, and really enjoy it!
PG: What is a different perfect day for you?
DD: Wake up in a strange place wondering what I'm going to eat. Wondering what my feet are going to get planted into, and what the air is going to feel like. Trying to speak the local language.
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"Provare Experience," 36" x 36" by Denise Duong
PG: What is lighting you up right now? Where do you want to go? What are you dreaming of?
DD: I'm really on a role with what I'm doing with my art. I love listening to my husband play drums everyday. I want to go everywhere. Right now, it would be based on the food I am craving, and I think I would like to go to Turkey today. Or I wouldn't mind going to Indonesia. I am dreaming of Spring.
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