An Interview with KS Rives

By Lauri Apple in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 16, 2008 5:10PM

There's a lot of found-object artists out there these days, but KS Rives takes it one step further by incorporating bits of full-blown trash -- used cigarette butts and discarded rubber bands, for example -- to create pieces that examine various cultures' attitudes about waste. She's also half of the "Before I Die I Want to ..." project, in which she and Brooklyn-based partner Nicole Kenney ask a person what he or she wants to do before they die, take a Polaroid portrait while the subject is stating their desire, then ask the person to write his or her statement on the photo -- starting with the words “Before I die I want to....”

Recently we asked Rives to discuss her many creative projects.

Chicagoist: How did environmentalism become a factor in your work?

KS Rives: Throughout my childhood, a close relative of mine, my Aunt Ann, would continuously talk to me about the environment and how to make sustainable choices for the earth. These ideas didn't truly sink in, however, until my senior year at Columbia College. I took a class taught by Michelle Sayset called "Ecofeminism and the Environment," which changed my world view and made me realize that I was needed to make a difference. A passion was born.

C: You've made pieces out of metro cards from Paris, Madrid and NYC, maps from Paris, and parking tickets from here and Santa Fe. When you go traveling to a place, do you now think about scoping out an item from that place to turn into an artwork?

KR: There is nowhere that I can go where I am not thinking about my work. I could be on the beach in Hawaii and I will be conjuring up some way to turn it into a work trip. I also attempt to gather trash no matter where I go, and now to take photos. I love what I do, I am passionate about succeeding at this game and about getting my work out into the world so that I can continue to make art.

C: Many of the trash items you use involve transportation. Thoughts?

KR: My focus is society and culture, and traveling comes naturally with that type of study. I enjoy traveling so that I can experience different people and various ways of living life. Even here at home, I surround myself with people of different backgrounds, from other cultures, who speak languages that I do not speak. I devour a good challenge, so I place myself in situations where I can continually learn.

C: When did the trash wallpaper series originate?

KR: I started this series in 2005 through a class that I took at the Chicago Art Department called "Street Studies." I was out walking around in the rain one evening, trying to get inspiration from the streets for my art. I picked up a lot of things that evening, among which were tons of cigarette butts. I was interested in creating a piece that was focused on texture.

C: Do you wear gloves?

KR: No, as I enjoy connecting with my materials intimately. Dirt washes off. I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty for my work.

C: Your recent show of Polaroids, Death + Extinction, was a 12-artist, Chicago/New York City project plus an exhibition that you organized yourself. What were the challenges in making it happen?

KR: Hanging the show was challenging. Shortly before the show was to be hung, my husband and I decided to permanently separate, and I moved to Oak Park to stay with a friend. Because my husband and I had the gallery together, that was also to be my last show there after three years. Physically dealing with planning and hanging the show was a huge hurdle for us to overcome, as well as my grieving, and my partner in the project, Nicole Kenney, supporting me in this difficult time. Working through that period made us extremely appreciative when the show was such a success. Our pain was worth it, and the other artists worked so hard to create a museum-quality show.

C: What's the status of the "Before I Die" project?

KR: Nicole I are working with galleries in New York and L.A. to make the show a touring exhibition. We have plans to take the project on the road to locations all over the United States and to one Third World country.

C: That project involved the use of suicide contracts. How did you make that connection?

KR: Suicide contracts were one initial inspiration for this project when Nicole and I were mapping it out. We are intrigued by psychology and the workings of the human mind, and so referencing knowledge of this kind is not surprising coming from us. We imagined that if humans were predisposed to needing that social connection in order to do something as important as not bringing harm to themselves, that the same theory would apply to a situation where they were asked to complete a task in their lives. The outcome of both situations is positive and beneficial for the person making the promise.

C: What are you working on currently?

KR: I am still working on the Paris map collages some, but am also branching off into three-dimensional collages, also made from trash. I am currently talking to some local building owners in my neighborhood, Humboldt Park, to get a mural erected. Not a traditional mural, but a 7'x7' parking ticket collage that I will affix directly to the outside of a building and cover with a protective coating to survive the elements. I am working on some commissioned pieces of the trash wallpapers; right now I am creating a series of rose wallpapers made from dyed security envelopes. I am also creating more of the rubber band works, which are more textural in nature. I have just begun a sculptural piece in the same vein as the piece that I recently created for the 32nd + Urban "framed" show that I envision will turn into a series about the stages of grieving. My focus was and will continue to be sociology, mostly using garbage to investigate different
cultures.

There's also a piece that I proposed to Wood Street Galleries in Pittsburgh: a room filled with telephones, each one sharing a prerecorded secret (in my voice) with the participant who picks up the phone. I have been interested in self-expressive pieces just for the simple fact that I am going through some personal trauma right now which I need to release.

I also just gave a talk at Green Home Chicago in the West Loop, on the subject of my work and how it is connected to the environment.

C: What's in the future for you?

KR: I have an upcoming solo show at the Chicago Cultural Center; the people there have been great to work with thus far. I am curating a show with an artist who currently lives and works in Romania, to take place at the Museum of Cluj-Napoca. It is titled, "I fought the X and the X won," and features 10 artists, including Chicago artists Delicious Design League, Aaron Edwards and myself alongside other U.S. and international artists. The show is about accepting the inevitable in life. For that show I am doing a video installation piece which I began shooting last week with my cinematographer, Yorvi Moreira. We are talking to the Cultural Center and a couple of other galleries in town about bringing the show here after its run in Romania is finished.

For the December Miami art fairs, I will be exhibiting with Adam Baumgold Gallery of New York, Jack Fischer gallery of San Francisco and Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn. I have a show at Dust gallery in Las Vegas in March 2009. Those are on the calendar at the moment, and I know that more will come up in the next few months.

C: Earlier this year, you told the Sun-Times that Chicago doesn't really open its doors to young and emerging artists. Did you get any responses to that comment -- from gallerists, city officials, or other? Have you seen any promising signs of change since February?

KR: Little changed for me in Chicago after that article. I tried making contact with the MCA, ThreeWalls, Hyde Park Art Center, Cynthia West of Three Arts, and Artadia grant, and heard nothing in response. I am tapping on their glasses, like, "hello, I'm right in front of you. What are you waiting for?"

C: Who do you think is keeping the local scene energized and fresh?

KR: Allegoric is doing a good thing. Another promising pair is Liz and Joshua from Swimming Pool Project Space, and Michael Workman, keeping it real. Paul Klein, of course, is doing a lot for the arts. Tony Fitzpatrick without a doubt is lifting up the Chicago art world at every turn. 32nd Urban and the Chicago Art Department have something good going on, too.

So, there are people who are doing things differently here, but most just think inside the box. Not smart enough to have an independent thought of that what has come before them, or that which their peers are already doing. How is it possible that the art world can be so un-innovative? No wonder artists are getting fed up with the gallery racket and are starting to work as free-agents.