ARTiculAction
Margaret Withers
An interview with
Margaret Withers Hello Margaret, and a warm welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, as an abstract painter, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artwork as a piece of Contemporary Art?
It's difficult to nail down what defines a work of art, especially when it crosses over into conceptual art. For me, the more intriguing question is, if a piece requires an explanation, delivered as either a title, gallery tear-sheet, museum statement or critic's review, then is this verbal component or "dialog" part of the artwork? And how could that component be manipulated as a medium unto itself? I've been exploring using my monthly eblast, which is emailed to mostly strangers, as an art form. The responses are mainly positive but I’m intrigued by the responses that are baffled or slightly offended. One time I sent an eblast that contained a short story about a wrong number that ended with the phrase, "Ho, where you at?" An Army General on my list responded in all seriousness that it was grammatically incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition. In another eblast, I ruminate on the concept of how repeating a word over and over again causes it to lose meaning, specifically the word "thumb". This caused one critic to respond, "WHAT KIND OF INFANTILISTIC DIDDLE IS THIS!?" I was a bit surprised that this elicited an all-caps response from an art critic, who unwittingly gave me the title for this series. Eblasts, as well as
Margaret Withers
other fading advertising mediums, like banner ads and other types of click-throughs are ripe for repurposing as contemporary art forms. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a BA of English Literature that you received about ten years ago from the Texas A&M University: how has this experience influenced your development as an artist and on the way you currently produce your artworks?
When I decided to go to college I choose to major in literature because I loved to read. But