ARTIST INTERVIEW - L. DOLPHIN BROWN

So we’re going to start with the difficult question: sum up your creative process in one word/phrase, and explain why!

Dream. Everything starts with a dream of a world or a feeling I want to reach. Then the creation of art is about getting there.

Were you always an artist, even as a child? What was your path to becoming an artist?

Looking back, I would say yes on some level I was always an artist. I wrote poetry from a young age and played around with graphic design for years. Then, I took TV news as an elective in the 8^th grade, and fell in love with production and editing. I was accepted into the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and before the end of my sophomore year, I was recruited into Savannah College of Art and Design where I got a BFA in video production. While there I met video artist Dara Birnbaum, who had a major impact on the direction of my art, leading me to create the first multi-channel video installation the college ever had.

What is your medium of choice and what drew you to this particular medium?

Obviously, video is my medium of choice. My mom is a painter and stained glass artist and my father is a chemist. I got an interesting mix of talents from them – artistic but technical. Video art is a perfect way to use both sides of my brain and the talents I got from my parents. Art should, in my opinion, always push the boundaries of its technology and video art especially can and should defy conventional “television” restrictions. Recently my work has started becoming more than 2D, its becoming sculptural. I love playing with the layout of screens and the interplay of video and audio between them. I want to move beyond traditional video art and make video paintings and video sculptures.

Is there any particular experience, person, place, or thing that inspires you to create? Tell us about that.

After working in advertising for a few years, life got real and I ended up working in corporate America to pay the bills and stopped creating art. I really forgot I was an artist for years. In 2017, I was diagnosed with cancer. After recovering from cancer, I started having severe anxiety and panic attacks. When I started creating video art again, I started creating art that would help me ease that anxiety. I thought the creation would be healing for me. And it was, but as I started to share my creations I realised they could be healing for others as well. I found that people could really be drawn into a new reality of peace and intentionality.

What is it like showing your work to people and what do you hope people take away from it?

Sharing my art is transformative for me. It allows me to see my art through others eyes, and I learn so much by doing that. I hope that my art is a call to transcend beyond the moment and dive below the surface; to immerse ourselves in new worlds of possibilities. I want to take viewers beyond the canvas and bring them into a different reality.

What advice do you have for other artists who may be looking to get their work exhibited?

Keep at it. Create something you are so proud of that a no doesn’t even phase you. My art is so different from what most exhibitions see, I have heard the word no more than any other word in the English language. Now, a no for me is just like a rubber bumper. I just bounce off and head in another direction. Finding your audience is hard, especially if you have an unusual niche. But if you believe in your work enough, eventually you will eventually find your spot.