We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Deming Harriman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Deming, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My Zodiac series has definitely been the most influential project in my career so far. I think the thing that surprises me most is that the work was featured as a small tarot deck that complemented the larger body of work I was exhibiting at the time. The idea had been floating in my head and I ended up putting together a digital collage series a few weeks before the show opened in 2018. Throughout the months my gallery and I saw traction in the popularity of this work and began including it as a long-term open edition series. In 2020 I was approached by TASCHEN to have four of these works included in their upcoming book ASTROLOGY which was their second book part of their Library of Esoterica Series. In the later part of 2020, I was once again approached to have my Zodiac’s commissioned as a public installation at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. This work was on display from November 2020 to March 2022. This was such a lesson in patience and the longevity of a series that strikes a chord with your audience.

Deming, 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 always knew I wanted to be an artist, although I had a very different idea of what that would look like. In school, I was focused on illustration and studied writing and illustrating children’s books throughout college. In the last semester of my senior year, I took a collage class where our teacher gave us a large amount of freedom to play with the old books and magazines he provided us with. We basically made whatever came to us and this is where I began my first series ‘Goddesses’ which I would work on from 2012-2015. My senior thesis was switched from a book arts to a collage exhibition. After I graduated I applied for a two-year studio residency with Oolite Arts in South Florida with my ‘Goddesses’ series and was accepted. That residency helped me learn how to navigate the fine art world and gave me the community I needed to move forward as an artist. I still explore and create fantastical worlds, my medium of exploration has just expanded.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Breaking into the fine art world as an emerging artist can be extremely difficult, especially if you are not connected or financially supported. There are so many financial factors to being a professional artist. From the cost of materials, your time/labor, studio space, and all of the small business skills and equipment that are essential and often not talked about. Normally this is all done out of pocket and even with art sales and gallery representation, they often don’t break even for many years.

I have found a lack of financial social welfare programs for the working artist. You frequently either need to be totally financially destitute or work on large public works/community projects. For the individual artist in a capitalist society, they are so often undervalued and overlooked. I think we need to have a better support system to help artists maintain their practices through programs like no-strings-attached grants and subsidies studio/living spaces on a country-wide level. The artist shouldn’t have to move to a metropolitan high cost of living city to access these resources.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One of my favorite things about collage is sourcing materials. There is so much you can work with and throughout the years I have found some amazing resources. For digital images, a large number of museums and libraries have uploaded public domain imagery and you can find them through their websites or on sources like Flicker. When looking for analog content I found that thrift stores often carry a great selection of very reasonably priced artbooks, and magazines. eBay is another great resource to find bulk vintage materials at a good price. Also, you will be surprised at how many people art looking to donate old books and magazines they no longer want. I had a family friend who worked for a design studio. When her company stopped offering wallpaper she gave me all the wallpaper sample books. It was a goldmine of beautiful prints and I was so grateful for what otherwise would have been thrown away.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.demingkingharriman.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/demingkingharrimanart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DemingKingHarriman/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deming-harriman/
• Other: https://www.artsy.net/artist/deming-king-harriman