In Their Element // 001 // Chris Sageman
October 19, 2020
Boston, MA
We spent the morning with Boston based artist Chris Sageman. Chris has been living, working, and doing art in the city for the past 7 years. Originally from Shelbourn Vermont, Chris relocated to Boston after high school to pursue art and attend The School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Chris' work is hard to describe. It's whimsical but logical. There's always more to discover within each piece which makes looking at his work a lot of fun. I've been interested in the juxtaposition between Chris's fast paced life of skateboarding and cycling, and the slowness of making art.
Read our interview below and see more photo's of our morning riding bikes and drinking coffee.
What inspires your art?
Everything sort of influences my work, I think how you live your life is a part of what makes your work look the way it does. Whether you know it or not.
Lately, my biggest inspiration has been coming from film and music. Specifically, Uncle Yanco a film by Agnes Verda, and Paris, Texas a film by Wim Wenders. I have been listening to a lot of The Flaming Lips and looking at a lot of paintings by Phillip Guston and Florence Hutchings.
How do you approach your work?
I largely view my process as if I show up for enough time and try enough things something happens and the tricky part is knowing when something happened and then putting your materials down. My plan is to not plan. I try to put a lot of energy into my work and hopefully that shows.
Has this crazy year of isolation / unrest / political uncertainty influenced your art?
Absolutely, it’s consumed most of my thinking between the election and COVID related news. I try to stay informed without over analyzing but I rarely succeed. I think the main way it influences me isn’t necessarily visual or a certain thing I'm doing in my paintings, it more so just changes the things I'm thinking about or reacting to while I'm painting.
Who is your art for?
That's up to you!
Describe the art scene in your city.
The art scene in Boston is limited in terms of galleries for younger/emerging artists, and the existing galleries tend to show artists from outside the city with more financial upside. While there is absolutely a great art scene here I think it could benefit from more galleries run by young people. That being said the artists who stay and work in Boston are all the more tight knit because of this.
What else do you do besides make art?
I ride my bike, I watch a lot of movies and sometimes television. I play video games, and pet my cat. I like coffee a lot. And I enjoy the outdoors.
What are you most looking forward to doing post covid?
Art openings with friends. Going out to dinner. Sitting on the train without a mask. Sitting at the bar at a diner.
What’s next in your personal/work life?
Hopefully seeing and hugging family and friends sooner than later. Hopefully making more art and sharing it with more people.
See more of Chris's work:
