We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tm Gratkowski. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tm below.
Tm, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?
Depending how you look at it any problem is really an unexpected opportunity – it all depends on what you do with it. Being a contemporary artist, for me, is all about risks and challenges. I set out to not be derivative and to see, think, and do things beyond what has been done before. For me, that process, when I am creating anything, is all about taking risks and seeing the potential in something that is different and new.
Every time I’m starting a new work of art there is a moment of uncertainty in not knowing what it will be – my pieces are not predetermined or pre-planned – I just start. Once the initial process begins, I make a conscious effort to purposefully experiment and hope mistakes happen. There are times when I realize I am feeling too comfortable or the piece I am working on is coming together too easily and I then decide to do something to abruptly change how the piece is looking by introducing a forced “mistake” or a random element that will force me to have to react to it and solve the new “accident”. A big part of this is accepting being comfortable with being uncomfortable – you have to trust your instincts. I believe this vision and energy will be experienced when people are standing in front of the work. If I’m not excited about it, I wouldn’t expect any viewer to be.
One of the most exciting moments in this process is when I am not sure what to do next; either there is a problem to solve or something that I’ve done that just isn’t working and needs to find a better solution. I recognize the “problem” but accept it as a challenge. As I walk away from the piece, to take a step back, I start to accept the mistake and find the potential in it. At times, some of the best works I have ever created (in my opinion) have stemmed from some kind of mistake. This moment has also spawned entire new series. In the end I’ve learned that mistakes can be a powerful tool in the creative process when you let go of control and accept it as a way to discover something new and different.
In the end I embrace mistakes and even encourage them. This process has often led to entirely new series of exciting spontaneous moments that might otherwise may have been unmarkable.
Tm, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have always been a creative thinker; from the fist moment I realized how to manipulate material and get a reaction (mostly appreciative) from people when I did something creative with it. This was facilitated and influenced by growing up in a house surrounded by art and my mom, whose drawings in her sketchbook are what I copied and emulated to be able to draw like her. But this was not being an artist, this was just learning about what interests I have for creating. This awareness and well, unsatiable obsession had me jumping into any art, design, and architecture class I could handle when perusing my education. I very quickly learned that it didn’t matter what I was doing as I would always rethink the problem and come up with creative solutions to invent something new, different, or spectacular- depending on the objective.
When people ask me “what do you do?” it becomes a difficult question to answer because all I see is limits when the question is expecting a single answer- I never liked that question. If they asked me “how would you solve this problem”, I could easily come up with more solutions than people in the room. When Chris Burden was asked a question during a Q&A he was asked …”are you a sculpture, a photographer, a painter (et.al.) ? “. He responded… “I am an Artist. I approach everything with the same creative rigor and process and don’t limit myself to one thing.” I kind of embrace his response as my own and will always call myself a Contemporary Artist.
As for my art making, I am always trying to push what I do and focus on what hasn’t been done before and hope my art will look like nothing else that is out there. I will admit, I strive for the spectacular! I think I have succeeded in this in many ways. My only challenge is to find bigger opportunities, collectors, or museum exhibitions- this takes more than my efforts alone to achieve- it takes people who help support and advance your career. This is a life-time pursuit and goal!
Have you ever had to pivot?
Pivoting is something everyone does every day; it is rather basic and simple – nothing more than a paradigm shift of sorts because you still have one foot on the ground while you are looking for an out. But change is a bolder move and takes a leap of faith and courage to actually jump off into the unknown. A bold move is something I embrace in all of my work every day, so as change has to accept the risk it also means discovering something new when you embrace the process of change into your work – in this case, my artwork.
After the pandemic, and the many changes in my life that had to be made, I set out to think about a new way of making my art and then a new series of work evolved from this change. If the pandemic itself didn’t teach us anything about resilience and change then the risk and uncertainty of creating something new really had its own set of ups and downs to set out to reinvent what I do. This new direction I was trying to move in was really less about what to do and more about how to do it. It was a risk but it was a necessary risk I wanted to take because when people see it the first time I’m certain they will still recognize it as uniquely mine but it will also be a bit of a spectacle as no one would have seen it coming or going in this direction and that’s the kind of change I am best known for, so I at least had the confidence to jump!
As I sat and thought about this for a long time, I also began to test some of these ideas and to find the direction I would be more comfortable moving in. I was looking for an entirely new language to create- a set of tools and a methodology I would invent to give my work a surprising take on what had been done before. I was searching for a new way of making, seeing, and thinking. I looked at a lot of what the Cubists had done and the way they experimented with manipulating a perceived space on the flat picture plane. I tried to think about how I could use this but in a new contemporaneous way. After thinking about this for a few months I set out on the arduous task of experimenting but still searching and began making smaller experiments and testing some of these ideas. I quickly realized there was something there and it was worth the risk to formally move in this direction. Not to go into every detail, but I started to look at the material I have always used (paper) more on a macro scale rather than its standard ubiquitous thinness and ubiquitous uses in collage. In essence, if you looked really close to the thin layers of paper and its relative thickness up close and multiplied that scale, let’s say, by 400% what then would that look like?
I then started to see more dimension and space rather than the usual flatness that is its common perception of paper and collage. I began to look for ways to make the paper have a perceived thickness and dimension to it and to figure out how to have space between the layers. After about a year of thinking and experimenting I slowly came to discover a way to build these pieces rather than just laying material down flat. Yes, I have now been describing the process as building my art rather than making art. As soon as I added dimension to the paper and started layering panels the possibilities opened up – this was a very exciting moment. This also created a new evolution of what the cubists were working with. Now as you look at this new work you can literally see the work move and change in three dimensions, kind of like a high-relief sculpture as you can see multiple sides at any given vantage point. The work is both flat and three-dimensional at the same time. The closer you get to them is only when the distance between the layers will appear.
I’m currently taking this idea further with larger pieces and installations that come off the wall with more space between layers so that at times you will be able to pass right through it as if you were standing inside the art. To me, this is a very exciting outcome for taking a chance and that the risk taken will excite viewers when they experience the work for themselves.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My ego would answer… to become a household name, like Taylor Swift. The humbler answer would be… an insatiable need to create and invent and to be critically recognized for that. Because of these, I try to exceed expectations with everything I do.
I don’t think you can achieve anything without a purpose or mission and expect the outcome you are trying to achieve – it doesn’t just happen, you have to work hard, work smart, and make choices on what you have to sacrifice along the way. I also think having a vision for what you are doing and where you see yourself fitting into the best of your field is paramount.
For me, on its most basic level, it is a personal best goal that drives me. I don’t do what I do for anyone else, I do it because it allows my thoughts to invent and explore ideas and express how I see this world with a unique point of view. In a more popular way today, it’s creating my unique brand everyone will recognize. I am always working to find new ways to do this and create work that I am excited to show. If I’m not excited by what I’ve created, I wouldn’t expect viewers to be.
Contrary to what most people think, being an artist is not just something anyone can do. You have to have a clear vision, for both your art and your career goal, and be focused on that. For me, there are two sides to any goal, one is personal and the other is professional. Being an artist is a career choice and on the one hand you need to create something good that has the potential to gain a big audience and on the other you have to learn how to navigate your survival as a business within the artworld. As an artist I make major sacrifices with my time in order to realize my goals.
In the end, when all the work is done and I’m moving in the direction I feel I deserve to be in, my ego still quietly wants to be as well-known as Taylor Swift. You’re probably thinking to yourself right now… “Why Taylor Swift”? Because Jeff Koons is famous within a specific demographic, but Taylor Swift has transcended her field, and everybody knows who she is. To prove my point, most people reading this know only one of the two people aforementioned.
Contact Info:
- Website: tmgratkowski.blogspot.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tmgratkowskiart/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/tmgratkowski
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmgratkowski
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ-a1WDJQSQ
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdNWrqKwqmE&t=44s