The paintings of Allison Schulnik are beautiful and odd and emotive. Thick layers of oil giving way to brilliant creatures—creatures like a familiar nother-person. Someone, or something, from a fantastical otherworld you once visited in your imagination. Allison is emerging and the art world is taking notice. Art Review named her one of the “Ones to Watch” and the LA Times listed her as one of the “45 Painters Under 45 You Should Know.”
And Allison’s reach continues to broaden. Her claymation film Forest was the backdrop for Grizzly Bear’s “Ready, Able” music video, which spread through music blogs and magazines. Allison’s odd beauty is stirring up the art culture and will, no doubt, stir you. The New York Post said it best, “somewhere on an iceberg, Bjork is jealous.”
TDS: Your work seems to portray certain types of people or characters. Why are you drawn to the downtrodden? The outcasts?
SCHULNIK: I’m not sure. I like all types of characters. But I guess there is something honest about the outsider. They just do what they do and be who they are and the world doesn’t like them for it, or rejects them. There’s integrity there.
Man with Cats 68" x 84" oil on linen, 2009
Possum, 24x24, oil on canvas, 2009
TDS: You once said, "I allow my imagination to revel in its own world—where thickly-sculpted oils, earthly fact and blatant fiction collide to form images of tragedy, farce and raw beauty." To you, what is raw beauty?
SCHULNIK: Everyone seems to have a different view of what beauty is. I think the natural world is raw beauty. The hand-made, the visible thumbprint, the messy, the humorous, the honest … those are beautiful things.
Allison in studio
Still from claymation, Forest
Still from claymation, Forest
Allison in studio
TDS: They say art imitates life. How is that true for you, or is it?
SCHULNIK: Well, portraits can often be a reflection of the artist making them, but they can also be a reflection of people close to you. Or, people you don’t even know but what you imagine their life to be. That’s art imitating life.
White Uakari, 48" x 72", oil on canvas 2008
TDS: What have you learned about yourself through the process of painting?
SCHULNIK: I’ve learned that I don’t know too much about myself.
TDS: How does the solitude of painting/sculpting influence your work?
SCHULNIK: It’s the only way I can work. I tried to get out of the animation studios as soon as I got in them; I don’t like being told what to do. I really like working alone. I am stuck between being a loner and loving being a part of some kind of community.
That’s the quandary of being an artist who works alone. I often
get my fix of people when the weekend comes. Being in a band helps
satisfy that too. But all other times, when I work, I prefer to be
alone. I think my paintings can be pretty lonely scenes. It’s just what
I like to paint.
Black Monkey, 36" x 48", oil on linen, 2009
Black Monkey (detail)
TDS: How did your schooling (BFA) help your work? How did it hinder your work?
SCHULNIK: I was in an amazing film program at CalArts, called Experimental Animation. We learned all sorts of archaic, hand-made, traditional forms of animation. We learned on 16mm film. It was great! I loved it.
I had amazing teachers there, huge influences on my art-making: Jules Engel, E. Michael Mitchell, Corny Cole III, Mark Osborne. It was the best thing I ever did for myself, leaving San Diego and going into that program. (Although I did start in the Art program but switched over pretty quickly.)
I can’t say that it hindered me at all, because it was a very liberal, free-form kind of education. There was no pressure to do anything. Which is why it’s best for independent thinkers, and self-driven people. It also helped me by giving me confidence, and exposed me to the types of things other people were doing.
Sunflowers #7, 24x30, oil on canvas, 2009
TDS: You have said that being an artist shouldn't be a career. Can you explain?
SCHULNIK: If someone wants a career then they should go to dental school. Art making is a life-style or life mission, it’s not a career. You live it, breathe it. For myself, I worked and struggled in animation studios for 6-7 years, which really helped me once again realize my absolute need to make my own work. If shit hits the fan, I’ll be okay with that. I just need to make the work I make, and I don’t believe in compromise. I want a perfect world where artists don’t compromise.
Klaus #2, oil on linen, 60" x 72", 2009
Jimmy,
16x26, oil on linen,
2009
Home For Hobo, 84" x 136", oil on linen, 2009
TDS: You did a music video for Grizzly Bear. Why was their music a good fit for your work? What other bands do you think would complement your work (or their work complement yours)?
SCHULNIK: There music is so cinematic, so spacious and all encompassing. It seems to fill a room with sounds. I like that. It just fit. There are tons of bands I’d love to work with. I’d actually like to have music composed for my next film. I’d also like to work more with sound. I often perform entire films in my head to songs from Upsilon Acrux, Big Business, Ahab—they would be amazing accompaniments to moving clay.
TDS: What's next for you?
SCHULNIK: I have an exhibition of my paintings, drawings, sculptures and animation opening Jan. 9, 2010 at Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA.
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