About 120 years since Henry Ferris - inventor of the roller skate, steel roller coaster cars, barbed wire, and of course, the Ferris Wheel opened his first factory in Harvard, Ill., Starline Company, as his farm equipment was to be considered 'star' of all the lines - Gabriel Karagianis lives and works four days out of the week in the abandoned plant. Sleeping on a green couch next to Chicago's Metra train - the end of the line. He attracts artists, performers, and oddballs to his space of half-finished hanging templates - littered with paint cans and poster rows of finished pieces. He hasn't left the city in that no matter what art supply store I go to, someone will see his business card with the red squiggly lines and ask about him. Or as the case was last weekend, just want the card itself. Acorns of Gabe are everywhere at Starline; a trail when he's off wandering through the rural streets of the sleepy manufacturer's berg, a proverbial land of milk and… well milk: his painted ball cap, his painted sea green Fender Squire, his fedora, his shoes, his blankets, his work shirts, his wine bottles, and his camera. He is a host of charming clutter. He's a good tenant for any ghost, especially one as prolific and appreciative of a man's breadth as was Ferris. Both were and are large parts of Chicago, despite the matter of being on the other side of it in a looming, asylum-like building with warmth and craziness radiating from within its bricks.
Lumino: Why did you choose to study in Chicago?
Karagianis: Originally, I wanted to be near a girl I was crazy about. I stayed in Chicago after that milk went sour, because of the people I met. Skateboarding and smoking in between classes - we were break-dancing, writing and drawing in each other's books, freestyle ciphers, going to shows. I got turned on to some great music and was a part of a very vibrant energy. There was a real tight group of people that went to my school (American Academy of Art) and for the most part everybody was just cool with one another. We could discuss things, just good chemistry. I learned way more from my peers than my teachers.
Lumino: What was the appeal of Starline?
Karagianis: Starline is really the most ideal working environment I could ask for at the moment. I got burnt out on the city noise and I just wanted to go further into the country to work. It's an industrial building so I've got a lot of space, I can blast music, I'm allowed by the owner of the building to have shows and basically do whatever I want to do, with granted permission of course. It's an old place and it's creepy and romantic and all that. I'm blessed though.
Lumino: How do you connect with others?
Karagianis: First I get drunk…No. I don't really feel I connect very well, but whatever.
Lumino: What is your advice for those who are starting their careers in the art world? What has made you successful?
Karagianis: Redefine success and don't try to measure yourself to anyone else's standards. Just do the work and don't expect anything from it. I don't ever expect anything out of my work. Even though I'm making a living and paying bills with my art, it's a fragile thing and I respect the spirits that give me the privilege to live how I live and do what I do.
Lumino: What processes go into the pieces?
Karagianis: I go for walks or play music and try not to think too hard about any of the minor decisions. If I concentrate too much then, I doubt myself. There's got to be an automated nature involved. Bobby Joe Scribner did a bunch of automatic paintings, as he called them. He's been a big influence on my approach to painting in the past couple years. More thoughtless and subconscious, like the surrealists I guess. I see it as returning to a primitive source of creation. I paint in my dreams that can translate into reality. I take naps to trigger some sort of subconscious response to what I'm doing physically. There's always some kind of new way to loosen up and figure it out. I don't really do drugs or anything, besides alcohol, and I try not to drink when I'm working. Sometimes it doesn't matter.
Lumino: Favorite artists?
Karagianis: I hate Thomas Kinkade.
Lumino: Influences?
Karagianis: My own peers as well as people I've read about. Anyone who devotes themselves to the exploration of self, and has the strength to share the experience with fellow human beings. Cosmic travelers.
Lumino: Any activity out of the ordinary at Starline?
Karagianis: Sometimes, inaudible voices in my hallway. I was snowed in once for a few days, I was doing some kooky stuff. I think the isolation gets to me. I always have dreams about Starline, usually in a desert and there's no windows or train tracks - just sand and walls. Sometimes my bed with me sleeping on it. It's always something different, but I'm in my studio a lot in dreams. That's the best late night activity.
Lumino: How do you promote to attract people from so far away?
Karagianis: I'm not really doing a whole lot of promoting. I meet people or I do work for someone. It's always someone who knows someone. I don't know where the people really come from. I just show at Starline right now. I'll be looking for places to show when I get a body of work together that I feel is cohesive. Right now I'm really random, which is fun, but I'm really committed to my next project. I think it will last the rest of my life, long life hopefully.
Lumino: What is the most rewarding thing about your work?
Karagianis: To be a part of the heritage of artistry. Mayan to African to Tibetan to Anglo-Saxon to Greek and Egyptian up into modern times. It's rewarding to feel connected to the creative forces on this planet. Everyone plays their part. I'm able to present it in my way. It's rewarding to recognize that.
Lumino: What would you like to change about the world?
Karagianis: More protection for the ancient people and their knowledge and their land. Tribal people whose cultures are under the threat of extinction. I would like to see a stronger attempt to preserve their way of living rather than making my own more convenient. We've been messing things up for a long time. It's really hard to know where to begin with a question like that.
Lumino: What do you say to those who think art is a waste of time?
Karagianis: What isn't a waste of time? That question is a waste of time. But I'll waste some time answering it. It's kind of like that saying, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” I'm not sure which is more of a waste of time. There really isn't any difference between the two. Besides, there isn't anywhere on Earth where you're not a participant in some kind of art. Everyone is involved, whether or not they choose to recognize it.
Lumino: What do you listen to when you work?
Karagianis: Sometimes I listen to music straight, sometimes I cut it with some radio. I like to listen to both at once. The things going on in the world are always inspiring, whether it's music or wars. I love music and art, but there's plenty of stupid people in the world trying to get rich and powerful by competing with each other and causing harm to one another. Sometimes the news can be informational and it gives me some direction with my frustrations. It keeps me charged and angry. Right now that works.
Lumino: What do you think we need to learn as a society?
Karagianis: People are racing too much. Life is kind of like a prison if there's no silence. Always gotta be talking, always gotta be watching, always gotta be here, always gotta listen. It's crazy that there's TV's in shopping carts so that people can pay less attention to their children. Values are being buried in the speed that we consume resources, or information, or just garbage. In my opinion, it's very important to be something other than a slave to status. Don't be afraid to waste time.
From the mouth Karagianis doesn't want you to see, as he's uncommunicatively busted it, and needs stitches - he gives us his purpose for our reading, for figuratively wandering with him:
“I am blending the abstract with the representational. Some people see auras, or say they can. I don't really see auras, but I can see shapes of color surrounding objects, animate or inanimate. My objective is personal really. It's a constant investigation of self to do something pure. I'm just trying to translate what is really there and some people can relate. This is my job, it's not a hobby. And although I enjoy it more than anything else, painting is not always fun.”
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Written by Guest on 2006-10-16 07:02:33
 Gabe was a very insiteful artist, who should be the focus for future articals. |
Written by Guest on 2006-10-16 18:27:11
Does Gabe have an email list of upcoming art shows or events? does he have a website? how can i see some of his work? i am very intrigued |
I am so proud of you
Written by Guest on 2006-10-17 13:24:03
Gabe, it is amazing how far you have come. I love you very much.
-Carly |
Written by Guest on 2006-10-20 11:25:08
some of his work can be seen at www.gabrielshorn.org. |
werd.
Written by Guest on 2007-09-30 23:03:43
Gabe is a some hotness....his art isn't bad either. ;p. |
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