Today’s PRIDE 2020 Interview is with artist Steve Cummings.
Hi Steve! Hope you’re staying well during the current pandemic lockdown. What are you doing to stay creatively motivated during these unusual times?
There are definitely pros to social distancing during this pandemic if you are a creative person. I am immersing myself in several TV shows that have been on my radar to check out, most notably ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,’ whose period decor and Beatnik bar inspired my newest art piece. Lately I’ve been drawn to watching classic or ‘cult’ melodramas from the 1950s-1970s that were aimed primarily for women (or gay men), as well as 1970s horror films with an occult slant. For music I’ve been listening to a lot of West Coast Jazz, 1960s Bossa Nova and lounge music. Curiously, as usual, the work of current exhibiting fine artists has had no influence. Recently I’ve been drawn to some of David Hockney’s paintings, and Edward Hopper always inspires me, yet music and films have sparked ideas and themes more than the work of other visual artists.
Since June is Pride Month, I have to ask: how does being gay influence or inform your work?
Being gay has definitely informed my work over the years in several ways. In addition to identifying as gay I also identify as ‘two-spirit’ and ‘Queer.’ As a two-spirit I believe you can look at all of the characters I’ve portrayed in my images and you’ll see me in all of them, both the males and the females - my complicated sexuality, my repressed desires, and my identification with being (at times) victimized, misunderstood, oppressed or liberated through rebellion. People say that the eyes of my characters say so much, and I agree. There are equal amounts of vulnerability, fragility and perseverance in those eyes. I believe that having a Queer sensibility ultimately gives you an enormous capacity for empathy and identification with the journeys of marginalized people (either due to race, class or sexual orientation). In my art my characters are repeatedly in the process of being ‘caught’ in a moment - and that moment is often one of self-reflection or enlightenment.
I’m always interested in hearing about creative people’s processes. Can you walk us through the inspiration and process for your latest work?
Most of my inspiration for my images come from the journeys and experiences of individuals I refer to as ‘The Other,’ people who exist on the margins or fringes of conventional society. Many of my creations will show one or two characters in their perceived feelings of isolation or panic amid their surroundings. Many of my environments evoke the past. I’m drawn to Bohemian culture (and counter-culture), Mid-Century modern America in the 1950s through the 1970s, the hedonistic Disco era, carnival life, the Occult and the Great Depression. I also love vintage photos showing LGBT couples pre-1970s, when their lives were closeted from general society. Over the past two years, I’ve been much more interested in portraying what I call ‘women on the verge’ - ladies (or transgender individuals) who are either heading toward a nervous breakdown, a psychic transformation, or a personal liberation. I usually get a preliminary image in my head as to what the finished artwork will look like, and of course, this visual model will be tweaked and reworked and changed when I actually do the creating. I’m primarily inspired by books, music, and films - especially those with a prevalent and bold visual language and a dynamic sense of color. In my latest piece, ‘Bossa Nova Beatnik,’ I married two passions of mine - Brazilian jazz and rebellious women from mid-century America - into a personal ‘snapshot’ of a gal (either alone in her house or hosting a party) dancing to one of her Stan Getz samba records. Her eyes express vulnerability and a wide open hunger to seize her life on her own terms; her dress and body language express a defiance and possibly a future LGBT / Women’s Rights advocate.
Do you work on multiple projects at a time, or do you concentrate on one piece to completion?
Usually I concentrate on one piece to completion. I work digitally now, on my Apple iPad, using the Procreate APP with my Apple Pencil. It normally take me several weeks to complete a new work.
Where can interested people find your work online/what are your social media accounts?
My artwork can be seen on my website: www.s-cummingsart.com, on Facebook under Stevie Artiste or Art For the Wild At Heart, and on Instagram under auteur4489 or stevecummingsart.
Steve Cummings was born in Orange, NJ in 1968 and raised in West Orange. In 2001 he moved to Keyport, NJ where he currently resides. He’s been drawing and painting since Kindergarten and studied art throughout high school, attended college at Montclair State College and received a BA in Fine Arts in 1992. Two years later he returned to Montclair State (University) and earned a Post BA degree in Art Education. Since the early 1990s Steve has exhibited in various galleries throughout NJ, including (most recently) La Vie Galerie in Livingston, the QSpot LGBT Center in Ocean Grove, Kiss My Art Gallery in Asbury Park, Gallery U in Westfield, Trinity in Keyport, Rockpaperscissors in Asbury Park, and various exhibits at the Mitchell Sanborn Gallery in Keyport, and Lena DiGangi Gallery and Studio in Totowa.
