In order to source the most creative footage STALKR searches out and hires researchers who bring their own creative perspectives and experience to the STALKR process.
Researcher Maureen Cavanaugh is a specialist in sourcing the highly personal footage you see in many of STALKR’s most moving spots. She developed this eye for emotional connection through visual storytelling as a painter. Maureen’s work is currently being showcased in PaintersNYC, a survey of contemporary painters living and working in New York City, now on display at Paramo Gallerie in Guadalajara, Mexico and later this year at MUPO in Oaxaca.
We chatted with Maureen to discuss this art show, for which she also served as co-curator, and her included painting, Two Bathers.
Tell us a bit about the show. How did it come together and how were the artists chosen?
Meaghan Kent the director of Paramo Gallarie in Guadalajara approached me with the idea of doing a show on NYC Painting there. She wanted to introduce what is going on in NYC currently and start a conversation about painting between the two places.
So together we compiled a list of over 100 painters working in New York that came to mind and then narrowed it down to a list of artists that we felt each represented what is currently being painted and shown in New York right now. Also Luis Hampshire, the director of MUPO in Oaxaca where the show will travel to in March introduced us to some New York painters that he had been following. So it came together from our three perspectives.
Let’s talk about your painting, Two Bathers. How did it come about?
The two women actually came for some vintage footage I found in my searches of women on the beach watching body builders. I loved their positioning and so I took a screen shot of them and then worked them into a collage I was working on. At times I will turn the collages into paintings. It feels more natural to work that way because I have already broken up the space on a small scale. The collage was more of a beach scene and then as I was painting I kept wanting to play with the horizon points and sun setting so it is really multiple landscapes and sunsets and disorienting which I like.
How was your experiences in showing your work in Guadalajara and then in Oaxaca?
I really enjoyed meeting the artists living there. Paramo hosted a talk on painting after the show opened and we had a great conversation on working in Guadalajara versus New York. My sense in Guadalajara was of openness in space and people. Also I feel the show is very engaging as I noticed people at the opening were really looking at the work and talking about it. At New York openings we try to look at the work but we are often so cramped in together that we have to come back to really see the show.
What’s up next for you, either as an artist or in any number of your creative pursuits?
I’m very excited to be traveling back to Oaxaca, Mexico for the opening at MUPO Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños March 11th 2016. Some of the other painters in the show will be coming as well.
For more info and upcoming events, visit Maureen’s website here or follow her on Instagram: @maureencavanaugh.
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