John Whitlock is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York
TWS –How are you doing in this Covid-19 pandemic?
JW –I’m doing fine. Healthy and productive, but definitely still sorting through how strange the world has become.
TWS –Are you being able to telecommute / work from home?
JW –Yeah, i normally work out of my studio full time, so that aspect of things has not really changed much for me. I feel like, as artists, we’re more accustomed to isolation. haha.
TWS –Did the lock-down affected your creativity and art making? How?
JW –Only in the sense that for the first month or so, I felt the need to stay home rather than head to my studio. I can get in and out of my studio without really seeing or interacting with anyone, so it wasn’t so much an ethical thing, but just the uncertainty of things made me feel likeI needed to stay close to family. I’ve been productive though; I’ve got a makeshift collage studio going in my basement, and am working on a few collage based album art projects right now. I get to my studio a couple of times a week to work on paintings. Also finally got around to rebuilding my website which I’ll launch any day now… do people still look at websites?? I’m a creature of habit and routine, so I’m still getting in my new groove!
TWS –Are you able to track positive moments or things that happened during this crisis so far?
JW –I think so. It’s still sort of hard to process it all. Obviously we’re going to lose so much local culture and industry in NYC, which is devastating. If there’s one silver lining that’s even remotely related to that though, it’s that I think people might begin to think twice about some of the excesses we been collectively partaking in for the past decade or so. I also think most people are realizing and acknowledging the importance of things, and people, that they once took for granted.
TWS –What’s the first thing you would like to do when we can get back to normal?
JW –I’m looking forward to going out to dinner with my wife Kari at our favorite Friday night spot, Gersi.
And would love to get back out to Barcelona and get drunk with you again, Max! Haha.
