Page 169 - Flaunt175-diana

Stark doesn’t. But she’ll do her homework, she’ll put in the hours, she’ll proceed with optimism, and she’ll see where the fuck it all goes. Right now, the 38 year-old artist, who grew up in Miami and earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, is just enjoying the ride. Having done site-specific interior commissions and murals for entities ranging from Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills to the headquarters of Facebook, from collaborations with MTV Video Music Awards to Vans sneakers, Stark looks ahead at an NYC commission that will feature an in- teractive animation / projection, the details of which are relatively still under wraps.
Beyond her positioning at present, what deeply attracted this publication to showcase her work, what makes Stark a rad artist, is an ethos we can get behind more than ever in light of the shit storm of the last year. Given an “In The Garden” theme afoot editorially, that Stark has long considered repetitive and
about that?
beautiful patterns in nature as the spiri- tual template for her works—well, who else would you rather be picnicking alongside, particularly if you’re desiring something of a synaptic slip-n-slide, or to be hypnotical- ly-healed and soothed by color?
I had the priv- ilege of conversing with Stark in between her bopping around the COVID-centric iteration of the Frieze Art Fair in New York City. Here, we talk about the NFT boom and the emotions riding side saddle, the imperative of sticking with what you know and pushing it as
you go, and how a little confidence can go a long way in this sometimes colorless and oppressive world we live in.
You’re in New York to check out this unique iteration of Frieze, huh? Was there a lot of COVID-themed art afoot?
No actually, I don’t think I saw any. I guess people are try- ing to avoid that. That’s probably refreshing. We talked before about the ‘In The Garden’ theme with the magazine, and a lot’s been said about the relation- ship of your work with nature.Talk
I’ve always been inspired by nature. It’s a big part of my work.
I take the mathematical parts of nature, and visually translate them. There’s all these different equations, like pi, inserted into nature, with spiraling shapes and different fractures. I’m also inspired by the colors of nature, as they are an attractant or repellent. It’s either attracting you to eat this delicious apple or telling you this frog is poisonous, don’t eat it. So I love that back and forth that nature gives us with color and spectrums of light. Yes, I’ve read you’re an admirer of the Fibonacci sequence. Do you feel your practice starts with some sort of event and scales out as such? Do you feel there’s sequentiality? Where do you go in nature that influences this?
I definitely see my art as sequential. Taking one shape and idea, and magnifying it and replicating it. I see it as one shape or pro-
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