Interview with Joel Babb
Buckfield, Maine

Joel Babb graduated in Art History from Princeton in 1969, studied with George Segal and George Ortman and spent a year in Munich and Rome before going to Boston to get an MFA from the Museum School and Tufts. There his style changed from abstraction to a contemporary realism. His cityscapes are the works for which he is best known in Boston. Some are street level panoramas while others are panoramas from a high prospect. All of Babb's panoramas play with problems of flattening a wide angled space into a picture plane.

(Image: Villa Aurelia by Joel Babb)

In the mid 1970's Joel began building a studio and residence in Sumner, Maine which soon became a full time residence. Though Babb continued to paint cityscapes in the late 1980's, he began a series of large landscapes of the woods near his studio.

Babb's work has been exhibited in shows in Boston, New York City, Florida, and at various Maine venues including the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Portland Museum of Art, the Ogunquit Museum in Maine, Arnot Art Museum, Frost Gully Gallery.

When did you first realize that you were going to be an artist and when did you first start making art?

I loved to draw as a boy, and liked to make models. And I think every child likes comic books. I used to make my own comics. At about 12 I wanted to become an artist, and I had a strong interest and identification with art in High School, but I put that aside when I went to college.

Who or what inspires you?

Nature and the great artists of the past both inspire me.

Is (was) anyone else in your family in the arts?

My uncle was an artist and an art director for TWA airlines. He was terrifically imaginative. His son, my cousin who was a few years older was also an artist who studied at Cranbrook, and whom I admired.

Are you self-trained or did you go to art school?

Studying art history at Princeton was very important in shaping my outlook on art. There were also a few studio classes in the Creative Arts Program there. I studied with George Ortman and George Segal, two very respectable artists. After spending a year in Munich and Rome I went to the Museum School in Boston to get an MFA. It was wonderful to spend a great deal of time in the Boston Museum and to evolve as an artist by studying the collection. I wanted to get a better foundation for drawing and painting and there is no better school than studying great works of art.

Is the process of creating your art long or short?

I used to do "action paintings" which were very short and spontaneous, but now my paintings take a while--maybe as long as several months. One thing that slowed me down was trying to make a copy of a northern Renaissance painting.

Tell us something about your work.

In the 70's I gave up on the surrealistic vein I was working in, and tried to learn a 17th century style with limited color and lots of light and shade. At first these were allegorical, but then I had the idea of using the style to reflect contemporary scenes. I got interested in Turner, in topographical paintings of the 18th century, and also Canaletto. I also began to work outside in locations around Boston, doing drawings and watercolors outdoors, and doing oil paintings from them in the studio. Eventually I became interested in photography and using photographs in the process of doing paintings. I had a 35 mm camera, but also an old 4X5 bellows camera.

Do you have a subject matter that defines you as an artist?

Initially I tried painting portraits, but my heart has been more in painting cityscapes, primarily of Boston where I lived for quite a while, and also doing paintings of the Maine landscape where I live now. For many years I've done cityscapes and landscapes, two subjects which are very different in their demands and structure. Over the years I've kept up painting and drawing the figure which is very important to me as an artist, but I don't show those paintings. But I did do a commission for Harvard Medical School, a recreation of the first successful organ transplant which was performed there. I did it for the doctors who did the operation, working with their memories and advice, old photographs, observing and photographing operations in the Brigham and Women's Hospital, setting up models in surgical gowns. I think it's important that an artist should be able to do all the things which classical painters did, at least with some proficiency.

What makes you stay with a particular subject matter? Why are you drawn to it?

The beauty of the woods and beauty of cities come from different places. Space in cities is dominated by linear perspective, but the complexity of the woods is different. One environment is mostly manmade while the other because it is made beyond the attention of men.

How do you stay motivated?

It can be hard sometimes, but you have only so much time to express yourself in paintings and explore what can be done you had better make use of it. And the results are their own reward.

What have you been working on lately? Are you experimenting with anything new?

I've been doing some large paintings of the cliffs at Mt. Desert, Maine. For years I avoided painting the coast, but now I'm excited by it. Also I did a large panoramic view of Boston from the top of the Hancock building. I added clouds and patterns of light and shade to break up the large expanse of small buildings. I've been thinking a lot about the differences between paintings and photographs, and remembering my early work before I used photography as part of the process of doing a painting. Also I draw and paint the figure from life regularly but never show these works. I've done two large life sized nudes from life and would like to do some more large figure painting from life.

Do you have any upcoming shows?

I'll have a show next spring at Vose Galleries on Newbury Street in Boston. Check www.vosegalleries.com

Has your medium changed from when you first started out?

In my early years after abandoning abstract expressionism I had to work on my drawing first before I could progress in painting. When I first began to work outside I did a lot of sketching with pen and ink and washes. Then I began to work with watercolor outside. Eventually when I began to work from photographs, for example when I took photos from a helicopter to do cityscapes in aerial perspective, I often did large watercolors, up to 5 feet in dimension. In recent years I haven't done many watercolors, except to keep watercolor sketchbooks when traveling. But it's a very good idea to constantly change your process so you are thinking about the subject and not just following a method to an end.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

Be patient. Don't ignore the challenges of past art in a rush to develop a marketable product. Do a lot of exploring and learn your craft, because that isn't going to kill your creativity. The idea that something has been done before doesn't mean you shouldn't try it. Learn to do things well. Things last not because they are new, but because they are very good.

What kind of comment do you despise the most when overheard at one of your openings? What kind of comment pleases you the most when overheard at one of your openings?

At my openings I am in a daze, grateful for anyone who looks at the paintings with any kind of involvement.

How have you handled the business side of being an artist?

The gallery system is still important in gaining recognition as an artist. But it is very difficult starting out because there are no effective "entry level" positions with which you can sustain yourself while growing. I used to work with several art consultants who would find commissions or place paintings, and I also taught part time at the Museum and at the Museum School and for Harvard University Extension. Teaching in the Museum was a terrific way to learn and to develop ideas. In the business of art you meet some marvelous people, and also some fairly rotten ones, because it is business and human nature is what it is. I suppose there is no way to learn except through experience. Some artists are better business people than artists, but I suppose survival has always been part of being an artist and it has never been easy.

Do you have any outside interests other than art?

I like living in Maine because it affords hiking in endless woods, cross country skiing in winter, fishing, canoeing, exploring brooks, splitting wood. Also I love classical music, reading, dog training. Travel in Europe has added a lot to my appreciation of art.

Are you disciplined about your creative process (in other words, do you treat the process like a job, where you keep particular hours in the studio), or are you more spontaneous?

You have to be disciplined and work all the time. Every painting has a life of its own--sometimes they are very inspired--but even if they are less so they have the quality and thoughtfulness and depth of preparation and they are searching for understanding. Of course it's great to be able to take off when you want to and be flexible, but you have to do a lot of work, which takes time.

How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create art?

It would be a disaster.

What's the best part of being a full time, working artist?

The joy of seeing your own ideas come to life.

What's the worst part of being a full time, working artist?

The uncertainty.

Where can we find your work?

At Vose Galleries in Newbury Street in Boston. Also Trudy Labell Fine Arts in Naples, Florida. There are pieces in public spaces in Boston such as the Charles Hotel lobby at Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass. Also the Cambridge Savings Bank in Harvard Square, and the Harvard Business School. The Countway Medical Library of Harvard Medical School has a large painting recreating the first successful organ transplant, as well as a series of portraits by me.

For more information on Joel Babb, visit his website.

- Brenda Bonneville, editor

Copyright © 2008 MAINE ART SCENE - Maine Arts & Culture Online Magazine.

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