Last week, we took you into Will Cotton's studio where Whitewall munched on licorice macaroons eyed Cotton's fog machine and draws full of treats. Here is the second part of the studio visit. Cotton discusses the evolution of his work, introduces female figures, the prospect of introducing male figures in the future, and about creating costumes for the people of his Candyland.
WW: You started to introduce females into your paintings around 2002. What prompted you to start introducing men?
WC: I cant say it’s because of this or that. I always just feel like I’m following this thread and that thread is taking me places and I don’t know where exactly it’s going to be and just lately I’ve been thinking about doing a self portrait for one. I happen to be a guy so that’s a start. In fact I did some really fun experiments. I was just at a residency in Florida called the Atlantic center for the arts and I made myself a beard out of whip cream. So that was a thought. I needed to make it work with the idea of decoration and adornment. I don’t want to make men that are totally feminized either. So I’ve been trying to find masculine ways in and that whip cream beard is one. I was thinking of those sculptures of Neptune, very bearded.
[caption id="attachment_4200" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Cotton modeling a much more masculine crown."][/caption]
WW: When were you doing the residency?
WC: That was into the first week of June. I got really into the idea of watching a space shuttle take off when I was there because there was supposed to be one and then it got delayed. And then I went back down to Florida to watch it take off. And then it got delayed again. They had trouble fueling the gas tank…that was a great residency, it’s nice to be in a different place and try out new things.
WC: You don’t mind working in a new space?
WC: I like it. It’s like here’s three weeks, try out some new stuff, put on a meringue beard, make some sketches. I made some costumes, which I hadn’t done before. These people are usually pretty much naked, mostly because I don’t know what to put on them. So I gave that a lot of thought down there and I actually made some great costumes.
WW: What did you decide upon for the people of Candyland to wear?
WC: It’s this bodice, it’s a cake with chocolate with vanilla piping around it. And then cupcake skirt which people told me it looked a little like a coffee filter so I have to work on that. I tried out some other hats. I did a lot of sketches down there, which is what I did as opposed to making real paintings…
WW: Were there other artists there?
WC: Artists, composers, and poets, and about ten of each. So I really got to hang out with composers and poets which I don’t normally do honestly. And I hear a lot of poetry and music, but these people are working on really experimental stuff and that was really nice for me because in New York I could but I never go to poetry readings.
WW: Do you paint with music on in the studio?
WC: I go back and forth. There are days where I listen to NPR a lot and then I’ll get really sick of it and listen to music a lot. But I usually have something. Most recently I’ve been trying this experiment of listening to books on tape on my iPhone and it’s working out which is really shocking to me. I didn’t think I could focus on two things at once but I totally can. Somehow it works, I can paint and listen.
WW: Does the theme of the book matter? Does it get a little dark?
WC: I think so, I listened to Anna Karenina and I feel like as much as it should be the lightest picture ever, it’s got some real darkness to it, in spirit at least. It’s all hearts, it’s really foggy, there’s a little gingerbread house back in the distance and there’s a heart tree and a cherry pool and heart cookies. I think there’s a funny darkness underlying it. I think even the house is back in the fog. It looks maybe abandoned or something.
WW: Do you ever get funny cake commission requests? Anyone ever approach you for that?
WC: I was surprised that I haven’t, I had one friend ask me to do a wedding cake but the timing was just wrong and I couldn’t do it but I did for a New York Times Magazine piece. They asked five different artists to do a wedding cake and I made one and I thought the phones were going to ring off the hook, when people see this they’re going to want me to make them a wedding cake. The fact is I did it and not one person contacted me about that, which is fine because I decided in advance that I was going to say no because I would rather spend my time painting but it was just weird not to be asked. It was such a good cake too.
