Meet the artists of ALIVE: Joe Breitenbach

by | Aug 1, 2013 | Stories

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Meet Joe Breitenbach

Do you think that the process of making art can be as/more rewarding as the end result?

For me the most important part is the process, the act of making. Most of the time the end result doesn’t really matter to me. The fact that I spent time making something that is what matters to me and is the most rewarding. I would rather spend 10 hours making a piece of art that i don’t like than spend 10 hours watching the television. Regardless of the final product the process is what intrigues me the most.

What are the biggest challenges and or sacrifices you have encountered?

Time. The biggest challenge for me is time. Between having a family and working full time the hardest thing to do is find time to  work in the studio. After getting home from work at 9:30 I then stay up to at least 1:00 am painting and drawing then wake early take my daughter to school and head to work to do my drawings for tattoos that  I need to do for the day. The biggest sacrifice is also time. The free time that I do have I use towards art making, so there is not a lot of down time.

Where does your creative impulse stem from and if it varies what triggers it?

Not sure where it comes from, I just know that I have a almost obsessive desire to make things and once I do make something I’m still not satisfied and need to then make something else. For me its always a case of what’s next. My creativity definitely  comes in waves. There will be times when all I do is paint and then maybe I switch focus to collage, music, graphic design or painting tattoo designs for work. If I go a day without at least making something, no matter how small, I feel like I wasted my time instead of spending what time I have

What are you currently listening to, looking at, reading that inspires your art?

I listen to a lot of the same things over and over again. Right now its mostly the band Earth, specifically the newer material. The way they use repetition suites the way i work. Most of my work that I have been doing deals with repeating shapes, forms , and colors. Other artists that I have been looking at a lot are Robert Motherwell, the collages mostly. Daniel Higgs. whose music and art work are a constant humbling inspiration and Robert Ryan, who is a amazing painter and tattooer. The music of Bill Callahan and Will Oldham are two other huge musical influences for me which may not be able to be seen directly when looking at my work.

Contact Joe Breitenbach
Website // IG

Please join us for ALIVE
on Friday August 2
at the Chris White Gallery
701 N. Shipley St. Wilmington, DE
from 5:30 to 9:30