LOGAN T. SIBREL
Name: Logan T. Sibrel
Age: 34
Birthplace: Jasper, USA
Home: Brooklyn, USA
Discipline: Painting, Drawing & Music
When I Get It Right, 2021
How did you start drawing and painting?
I was born and raised in Southern Indiana, in a small town called Santa Claus. I made drawings from a very early age and embraced being the arts kid at school. I was pretty sensitive and gentle, but being ‘the boy who could draw’ did command some amount of respect. In 2009, I got my BFA at Indiana University and the painting program there was pretty formal. We all took ourselves quite seriously, despite the lack of an actual art scene within that part of the country. Those years still feel pretty magical in my memory. I moved to New York during summer 2009 to do my MFA at Parsons.
What are the main topics you deal with in your work?
I used to see my work as being somewhat cut-offor isolated. It always had a lot to do with people and human interaction, but It was more like observing without being a part of it. Social isolation during lockdown made me realize how much my work is aected by my own personal life. There is a lot of longing there, and this feeling of never being close enough to a person, and that is definitely explored through a queer lens. I paint mostly male figures, probably because this is the form I’m most qualified to examine, admire and critique.
How do you define your artistic search and practice in three words?
Um, like, whatever.
Which techniques do you use to create?
Image collecting is a big part of my practice. I’m always taking photos myself or stealing some from Instagram, as well as gathering screenshots from YouTube. This process of collecting is what gets the wheels turning in terms of what the composition of a painting is actually going to be.
How do you consider your work in relation to current societal issues?
I think my work feels anxious, which is a valid and appropriate reaction to the state of the world, my country, and to what my generation and younger generations stand to inherit. I think everything I make mirrors our dierent sentiments to some degree.
What kind of beauty does your work focus on?
I do not focus on beauty in an aesthetic sense. It is more like information passing through the Logan filter.
What does being an artist mean in your opinion today?
Being an artist is weird. On the one hand, people like to exalt this role in popular culture, but, on the other, those same people do very little to make sure that being an artist is a viable option. Social media is also a big part of the picture, but I wonder what this kind of consumption does to your work in the long run. Still, if you are an artist, you will make work despite the implications. It’s compulsive.
What is the message you want to deliver with your work?
I know that nothing is permanent, and I am cool with that, but, in the end, I want my work to read as: “Logan was here.”
He says, 2020