An Interview with Lauren Feece and Chris Silva

By Lauri Apple in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 31, 2009 7:30PM

For the past two years, Chicago artists Chris Silva and Lauren Feece have been living on a 16-acre farm in Puerto Rico, enjoying married life and making art. Many a Chicago artist has missed the talented duo, whose works have hung in places ranging from Berlin art galleries to State Street. The couple is back in town to co-host Mating Call, their collaborative exhibition running through Aug. 23 at Believe Inn in Bucktown. Opening reception today, July 31 from 6-10 p.m. 2043 N. Winchester. Recently we chatted with them about their work and life together.

Chicagoist: Is this your first time back to Chicago since you left?

Lauren Feece: No -- we try to come back here, or travel somewhere when we can get family to stay at the house and watch the dogs. I've been back about four times so far, but have spent most of that time with my family in South Bend.

Chris Silva: I think this might be my third time back now.

C: How did you two meet, and how did you end up living on a farm in Puerto Rico?

LF: We met through a mutual friend. We connected right away, and just knew we wanted to live life as a couple.

CS: Yes, Lauren is such a sweet little freak and I knew that I had to do everything in my power to trick her into being my wife. As for Puerto Rico, my parents bought the property several years ago. It's 16 acres of jungle along a river, and there was a house there that had been abandoned for 15 years. The land itself needs constant upkeep, and the house needed a lot of work, too. [My parents had] had trouble with the people who were watching the place, and the house was robbed a couple times, so at some point we realized that there was an opportunity to go down there and take over the care-taking duties. I thought it would take some convincing, but my parents ended up wanting us down there even sooner than we had planned on.

My parents' plan is to relocate to PR in 2011, so that's when the gig is up and we'll return to Chicago. It's been such a great experience, and we're super-thankful to my parents for being so into having us be there. We're excited to have more time there, but are also really excited to come back up here and see what we can get going in the city. Being in PR has really helped me to see what a Chicagoan I really am. (Yeah, I know -- it's really easy to say that in July.)

C: How much of a factor was art, and your liking of each other's art, in bringing you together as a couple?

LF: When I met Chris I thought it was nice that he was an artist, but more importantly he was an amazing person. I would have loved him for being such a great guy no matter what career he had. That said, I love that he is an artist and I can share that part of my life with him. I love being able to collaborate with my husband.

CS: Yeah, the fact that Lauren happened to be an artist was just a cool bonus. It was her Mary Tyler Moore-meets-Lucille Ball sort of qualities that sealed the deal for me. She was obviously a creative, marching-to-her-own-beat kind of gal, but I had already been shifting the courtship into high gear before I even knew that she was a visual artist. I actually had the impression that she wasn't at all impressed with my artwork, and that was kind of cool to me somehow, too.

C: Did you collaborate before moving to PR?

LF: Yep, on a few paintings and an installation.

C: You talk about leaving the farm to get "survival supplies" -- I assume art supplies are part of that? And maybe socializing with other artists on occasion? (Not sure how far you live from the nearest city).

LF: Art supplies come in the mail -- when we don't get them from the dump. So yes, we do pick them up. We don't hang with many people, let alone artists, down there. It really is a secluded life, and it is nice. Being so isolated can be hard at times, but it's also something I appreciate more and more because it gives me so much time to work. Plus, I know it won't be like this forever, so I've got to enjoy it while I have it.

CS: We are definitely living a hermetic lifestyle.

C: You say that living on the farm has led you both to "explore new directions and re-examine the roles we wish to play as artists." Tell us more about what that means.

LF: What makes an artist successful? I think about that all the time down there. Is it only selling work and being famous? I think it takes something more. I think an artist has to be a part of creating a vision of the world in an improved state. An artist (as does the rest of the world) needs to think of themselves as being connected instead of separate. That is a hard thing when you're trying to survive in the world and just getting by, but an easier thing to get your head around when you live in the jungle and you feel more removed from that struggle.

So yes, as my life has changed I've changed my idea of what it means to be an artist. My work has expanded, as I am free to work without the pressure of selling everything. I have never really liked rules, or doing the same thing over and over. I have challenged myself to find a new place in my paintings and move away from paintings to anything that grabs my interest: large drawings, found objects, sculpture and installation -- more things to come, I'm sure.

CS: Yeah, being removed from the day-to-day pressures of making a living as an artist has freed me up to experiment more. As so many people know, living month to month, deadline to deadline makes it hard to break free of the modes that you know are paying the bills. I'm a restless person, so I like to be able to shift my processes fairly frequently to stay interested and inspired.

This time has also given me the space to resume my explorations in the musical realm, and that was one of the main reasons I wanted to make the move to PR. I don't want to have to set my music so far on the back burner in the future, so being able to develop it more during this time will really help in that endeavor.

I also witnessed quite a bit of self-serving shadiness and infidelity in the art business before we moved, and found it extremely depressing. I was pretty bitter about it and it was another major reason for the great escape, but time has helped me to put it into perspective and appreciate all of the really encouraging things I've seen as well. Overall, it's just been a solid reaffirmation that I need to stay connected to generous intentions no matter what I'm doing for a living.

C: Is the "This One Will Hold You In Her Arms" installation on your farm? How did the landscape shape the final design of the piece?

CS: No, we live a little bit inland and that piece is actually right on the beach in the town just north of us. The whole setting informed the piece in one way or another. All of the figures were painted by Lauren, and I know our time down there has played a major role in the imagery she's been producing. We mounted the drawings on sheets of plywood, but other than that all of the wood that we used was found at the site. There were the remains of a small beach shack there and quite a bit of driftwood and random trash that we worked into the piece as well.

It was definitely important that the piece felt appropriate for the space. We wanted to make sure that we were leaving the area in better shape than it was when we got there. We came back a week later and someone had left us a note thanking us for the sanctuary space we had created. That was really nice.

C: How does your collaborative process work? Do you collaborate from start to finish, or does one person inevitably take the lead, with the other adding to it?

CS: There's not one process that we adhere to strictly. Sometimes pieces are handed back and forth, other times I may take a cool drawing of Lauren's and design the entire piece based around it. Collaborating has been great for when there are things lying around that one of us has started and is feeling unmotivated to finish. The other person can pick it up, make some moves on it and help to regenerate interest for both of us.