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Jeff Badger's show opened at the Harbor Art gallery last weekend. He is a very witty person. I interviewed him by email. Here is what he said.
MM: Can you tell me something about where you grew up?
Badger: I moved around quite a bit as a kid. I was born in Miami and then moved to The Netherlands and attended the American School of the Hague. We moved back to the US to Michigan, then to New Jersey, then to Connecticut, where I graduated from High School. I was the youngest, my parents have probably moved 15-20 times. I went to college in Upstate New York, then moved to New York City. Now I live in Maine. Thinking about it now, it seems I have spent muchof my life circumnavigating Massachusetts -- next stop, Rhode Island?
MM: Are those hot dogs? Where do they come from?
Badger: In the paintings, you mean? I've been in a long process of simplifying my characters. They only have arms if they need them, they only have heads so they can wear hats and monocles and mustaches. They are simple vessels for their clothes, which in turn describe their attributes.
MM: Can you tell me something about the mechanics of the surveillance sandwiches?
Badger: This information is classified. I am in talks with unnamed government sources to use these sandwiches in covert special operations and I have signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement. Do not try to verify this information -- you will only make things difficult for yourself.
MM: Where did you come up with the idea for surveillance sandwiches?
Badger: Around Portland, Maine (where I live) and every other city, for that matter, surveillance cameras have sprouted like mushrooms on the top of buildings, traffic lights and telephone poles. I don't know who is monitoring all these cameras -- do you? The information mostly goes to feed the Information Beast, to be stored indefinitely and recalled when needed. Contrary to Orwellian predictions, this Beast is not the sole province of the federal government, but rather it has been a joint project of government and private industry. This, coupled with the fact that these cameras often help private citizens like you and me when we are victimized, makes this issue complex. But while we discuss it, the spores spread. Paul Virilio has written that whenever we create a new technology, we create a new accident. With this Information Beast, we have created the Information Accident, but we don't yet know what it will look like. I wanted to use something ridiculous, like a sandwich, to talk about these issues by pointing out how obviously we are being monitored.
MM: How was the process of setting up a show at the Harbor Art's Gallery?
Badger: The Campus looks like Superman's Fortress of Solitude, with the stone pillars springing from the ground like a massive dinosaur skeleton. Very impressive. Parking is difficult. You have a spooky building on the edge of campus, but no one seems to know what is in it. The staff at Harbor has been very helpful and professional, and I'd like to offer future congratulations to the lucky organization that hires Skyela Heitz upon her graduation -- she is a gem.
MM: What are some of your favorite things to eat?
Badger: As painter I have often selected my palette based on the color of food. You might notice some of my paintings look like a bag of Skittles. This is no accident. Food is one of the few things we something we react to with multiple senses (or five if you are eating Pop Rocks or Bananas Foster) and by using elements that recall the experience of making and eating food, I've found a very visceral conduit into the reptilian brain. Plus, there is an absurdity inherent in the creation of food that cannot be eaten.
Everything Crash, a solo show by Jeff Badger with paintings, multimedia, and an installation is currently showing at the Harbor Art Gallery
-Andy Metzger
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