Bea Fremderman lives and works in Chicago. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago this spring. Bea’s work has been exhibited in Mexico and Canada, and throughout the United States and Europe.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. I’m Bea Fremderman, I make artwork and run a curated art space in Pilsen called Kunsthalle New.
What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? Recently I finished Kafka Office, which is roughly a two minute video loop consisting of a 3D rendered office scene devoid of any workers. The architectural layout of the office space was designed to resemble a maze in which dead ends, formerly of the labyrinth transform into individual cubicles that contain deserted office furniture. I’ve always been interested in Franz Kafka’s parables because they function by destroying reality to then scramble the fragments back together again. “Kafka Office” functions similarly, combining parts and segments of a Capitalist reality as a reflection of daily life that has slipped away from society’s consciousness.
Cross Section and From Bauhaus to My Haus are two assemblages related to Kafka Office. Both can be understood as registers of information, composed of outmoded materials archetypal to American corporate office design: commercial carpeting, ceiling tiles and corkboard to name a few. The recuperation of such standard materials subverts use value in a form of resistance. These fragments are culminated together, and much like the bureaucratic condition of office environments, the valid structural organization of things remains enigmatic and unknown. The reassemblage of artifacts constitutes a monumentalized ruin as materials sink into formal shapes and create a new sublime. Currently I am working on more assemblages like these.
What is one of the bigger challenges you and/or other artists are struggling with these days, and how do you see it developing? Something I think a lot of emerging artists are struggling with is general funding for projects. Since the majority of art is now funded by the private sector, it becomes difficult to reasonably pursue a serious artistic practice if you aren’t already established. It’s turned art into a business where in order to get recognition you must brand yourself as “unique” first and then output art at a continuous rate like a machine. A lot of people would say “so what, that’s everything now a days” but I feel that this ultimately hurts what’s most essential to artwork…and that’s the work itself. To be honest, I don’t see this changing anytime soon given our current economic situation and albeit the circumstances I think it’s an interesting time to make artwork.
What are you really excited about right now? Going on vacation!
Top 3 favorite or most visited websites and why? Google, Twitter and Facebook for the obvious reasons 😀
What are your plans for the next year? Well, now that I’ve graduated I am planning to stick around Chicago. I’ve arranged to sit in on some classes during the fall semester at SAIC. I want to find a decent paying job. Preferably doing something mindless like retouching photographs so I can come home and have enough creative energy to continue making artwork.
Any current or upcoming shows we should know about? Nothing special but I want to have a solo show in Chicago soon, just don’t know where yet. So if you’re a gallerist that’s interested in exhibiting my first Chicago solo show, you can reach me at my place of business: beafremderman@gmail.com ;D
If you hadn’t become an artist, what do you think you’d be doing? I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else with myself.
What’s your absolute favorite place to be? Anywhere as long as I’m around good company or old friends I haven’t seen in a while.
What were you like in high school? I was awarded “most likely to stick it to the man”…
