From abandoned industrial sites to alternative exhibition spaces to DIY music venues, Paul Erschen is that Chicago guy who finds comfort in the obscure gritty minutiae that makes up the city’s backbone. The COMP Magazine caught up with Erschen this week to discuss his obsession with detail and materials, his recent exhibit, Store Brand, at the Learning Machine, his ongoing sonic investigations with Chicago’s Mayor Daley, and how these various activities inform his teaching practice.
Paul Erschen, artist and musician, Chicago, IL, 2014
Photo credit: Chester Alamo-Costello
Lets start with a bit of background. You grew up in Aurora, Illinois, and studied at Northern Illinois (BFA, 1998) and The Ohio State University (MFA, 2000). Are there any specific early experiences that you see as informative in your art and music practice today?
Growing-up in a rust-belt city has shaped the way I conceive of the material world. During the 1980’s, Aurora was full of abandoned/shuttered storefronts and industrial sites. Playing in-and-around this kind of economic wreckage made the concept of entropy sobering and top-of-mind. The immensity and abstraction of the industrial world was on display in the form of overgrown concrete foundations, piles of corrugated sheet metal, barrels of chemical waste, etc.
The economies and services that replaced early twentieth century industry also sparked my curiosity: I recall spying on workers at a plant that poured huge prefabricated concrete wall sections -the modern version of steel and timber frame warehouses that now line the interstates. Essentially a monumental form of mold making/casting, the homogenizing potential of these processes are now central to my assemblage work.
I was also preoccupied with the local homeless shelter, both its employees and residents. The “Hesed House” opened-up in a former factory during the Reagan era. From a nearby bike path, I would spy on the eccentrics, alcoholics, and Vietnam vets, naively envying their transient lifestyle. Even at a young age, I could sense that I was witnessing a kind of bleak fallout, even if I did not entirely understand its source.
Paul Erschen, Store Brand at the Learning Machine, Chicago, IL, 2015
Photo credit: Serhii Chrucky
You recently held a solo show, “Store Brand”, at the Learning Machine. These works appear to be a continuation of a series of investigations you’ve been producing for some time. Can you share with us an introduction to this effort?
The title “Store Brand” refers to generic food products, especially those designed to imitate name brand products. For example, “Chocolate Sandwich Cookies” versus “Oreo’s”. In the early 1980’s, grocery stores featured entire aisles of generic products, complete with military-style stencil typeface. Packaging was often stark white with black and army-green striping. Families who bought generic food were incessantly mocked, as the quality and authenticity of these products was in doubt. In this way, I like the tone that “Store Brand” may have set for the installation –one in which the material integrity, and the apparent function of the sculptural work, would be under suspicion.
Paul Erschen, Store Brand at the Learning Machine, Chicago, IL, 2015
Photo credit: Serhii Chrucky
Paul Erschen, Store Brand at the Learning Machine, Chicago, IL, 2015
Photo credit: Serhii Chrucky
You play drums along side guitarist and singer, Kelly Marie Carr, in the band, Mayor Daley. Last summer you toured the south and east coast. You regularly play in the city. Do you see any overlap between these sonic encounters and the visual works you produce?
The contrasts between art and music are more meaningful to me than the commonalities: the intense solitude of art making versus the unique collaborative nature of “Mayor Daley”, the competitive energy among visual artists versus the familial community of musicians. I do, however, have a reactionary approach to both art and music, in the sense that I find motivation in bad art: inane trends and spectacle of contemporary art, and the endless reiterations of lazy male-oriented bar rock, for example. I do feel a greater kinship among musicians, although I’m always willing to feel otherwise. So much of the art world, even on a local scale, is a total nightmare for me: art fairs, nepotism, SoHo House, the bureaucracy of art funding, etc. I know I’m not alone in this sentiment, but its not often that I see it voiced publicly.
Kelly Marie Carr of Mayor Daley at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL, 2014
Photo credit: Chester Alamo-Costello
Also, you’ve been active in the DIY music scene here in Chicago for a number of years. This fringe/underground community is known to be encouraging and supportive of peers. What do you think is the ongoing catalyst for this nurturing and vibrant part of the city?
Most musicians I know are self-taught, and those with formal training seem to be very open to sharing their skills and experiences. Therefore, bands and projects seem to come-and-go naturally. In the art community, art schools and graduate programs are omnipresent, and seem to perpetuate a kind of anxiety and social structure that is preordained. The fact that most underground shows in the music scene have 3-4 band bills encourages community, as does the cooperation necessary to independently book tours and run underground venues. Over the years, there have been dozens of underground show spaces that have hosted transcendent shows, with little other motivation than to provide a venue for the experiential nature of music and performance. I find a unique beauty in the obscurity and transience of these spaces, and the people they attract.
Paul Erschen of Mayor Daley at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL, 2014
Photo credit: Chester Alamo-Costello
What do you value in the art making process?
I value basic interaction with materials: ripping a pine board on the table saw, mixing a batch of plaster –processes that exhibit relevance beyond the context of art. Of course, I have my mind on the “serious business” of a project’s end game, but I do value the constant distraction of minutia. I also have learned to enjoy the wrapping my head around the total folly of what I’m doing –laughing at the inherent excess of art making.
Paul Erschen, Store Brand at The Learning Machine, Chicago, IL, 2015
Photo credit: Serhii Chrucky
In addition to being to being an artist and musician, you teach. What items or practices do you try to instill in your students?
Lately, I’ve been focusing much more on the technical aspects of art making –measurement, drafting, craft, presentation, etc. It seems that the value placed on these aspects of art may be waning due to eroding art programs K-12, and the evaporation of conventional vocational training from high school curriculum. Consumer-culture distracts us from the harsh reality of how our world is constructed, so I think it is essential for students to closely examine basic materials and processes –to hopefully grasp the stunning level of abstract labor that forms our world.
Paul Erschen, Store Brand at The Learning Machine, Chicago, IL, 2015
Photo credit: Serhii Chrucky
Do you have any upcoming projects or shows in the works for 2016?
Kelly and I just finished up a series of local “Mayor Daley” shows, and a live performance on the University of Chicago’s radio station WHPK. Now we are going to “woodshed”, and work on new material. We will also be recording three of the songs that we toured with this summer. We plan to tour extensively with a new album in 2016.
Paul Erschen, Store Brand at The Learning Machine, Chicago, IL, 2015
Photo credit: Serhii Chrucky
For additional information on the art, collections, and music of Paul Erschen, please visit:
Mayor Daley – https://mayordaley.bandcamp.com/
Store Brand – http://chicagoevents.us/closing-talk-paul-erschens-store-brand/28641
Black ABC Collection – http://stellarheights.com/articles/paul-erchens-black-abc-collection-throwback-thursday/
Interview by Chester Alamo-Costello
