Gerald Habarth
US based
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Interview: 10 questions
1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background.
I grew up in the United States in the state of Maryland, not far from Washington DC. My mother was an immigrant to the US from Chile and my father was an American who worked primarily as an educational advocate for minority students. I studied art at Parsons School of Design in New York, and at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.
2. When, how and why started you filming?
I started to make animations from my paintings and drawings when I realized that what interested me most about them was the way they changed and evolved over time.
3. What kind of subjects have your films/videos?
My subjects draw upon a broad spectrum of interests which emerge in the context of metaphorical narratives that explore and reflect issues of struggle, crisis, faith and self in contemporary culture.
4. How do you develop your films/videos, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
My animations stem directly from drawings and paintings that are photographed as they develop. The evolution of both the painting and the animation, formally as well as conceptually, is largely spontaneous and contingent.
5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
My equipment up to now is quite simple, involving paint, drawing, digital cameras, computers and motion, sound and digital video applications
6. What are the chances of new media for the genre film/video in general
and you personally?
Very good in both instances. To the extent that the computer and digital technologies have become integrated into my lifestyle, so too they have become integral to my processes as an artist. This too I believe describes the larger art world.
7. How do you finance your films/videos?
I fund my projects myself and though artistic grants.
8. Do you work individually as a videoartist/film maker or do you work in a team?
If you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
With these animations I have only worked individually up to now.
9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
Phillip Guston, William Kentridge, William James, religion, Carl Jung.
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
To make ever more rich and complex narrative animations that broaden to expand into and interact with the surrounding environment.
Can works of yours viewed online besides on VideoChannel?