ANNE COTA
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| Featured in “Art St. Louis XXXVI, The Exhibition” at Art Saint Louis: Anne Cota, “Calmer Waters Ahead.” 2020. Acrylic on Cradled Board, 13 1/8”x13 1/8”. $280. |
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| Anne Cota. "Breaking Through.” 2020. Acrylic on Cradled Wood Panel, 12"x12". $280. |
Roxanne Phillips: What was it that first prompted your career/activity as an artist?
Anne Cota: I remember sitting in a full auditorium, watching and listening to a lecture about the history of architecture. When the professor explained how window shapes have changed over time, I was hooked. The buildings on my walks to class, and creativity in general, became more intriguing. Within a couple of years, this pull towards a better understanding of design led me to learn about art history and creating my own artwork.
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| Anne Cota. "Stretching into New.” 2020. Acrylic on Cradled Wood Panel, 12"x12". $280. |
RP: Describe your artistic process/technique.
AC: Beginning a painting with several colors in an exploratory way helps me to get a painting started. After the initial layer of paint, I go back through with more passes, each time in response to what is already in the painting. This process creates unexpected surprises, which is something I try to embrace as the painting comes together.
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| Anne Cota. "I See You.” 2020. Acrylic on Cradled Wood Panel, 12"x12". NFS. |
RP: What is the biggest point of inspiration for your artwork?
AC: A walk down a street in an old city like St. Louis almost always captures my imagination. I’m drawn to the architecture and landscape, the stories that the spaces seem to hold, the sense of a community of people working together to make it happen, and the way styles from the past look so unique when viewed in the present.
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| Artist Anne Cota's studio. |
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| Anne Cota. "Softly.” 2020. Mixed Media on Paper, 6.5"x6.5". $85. |
RP: What is it about your preferred medium that you enjoy the most?
AC: Acrylic paint is my favorite medium because of the ability to change the way it looks, like transparent or opaque, and also because of its quick drying time.
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| Anne Cota. "A Block Away." 2020. Acrylic on Cradled Wood Panel, 12"x12". $280. |
RP: Do you have a sketchbook? What kinds of things do you put in it?
AC: I use sketchbooks as a space for noticing new ways of working by experimenting with things like mark making, sketches of shapes that I notice around me, or new color combinations.
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| St. Louis-based artist Anne Cota. |
Learn more about Anne Cota: https://annecota.com/ and www.instagram.com/annecotastudio/ and https://www.facebook.com/AnneCotaStudio
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| Featured in “Art St. Louis XXXVI, The Exhibition” at Art Saint Louis (November 14-December 17): Rick Harney. “All Bark and No Bite.” 2020. Wood, Cardboard, Papier Maché, Tree Bark, 33”x32”x5.5”. $2,500. |
Roxanne Phillips: What prompted my career/activity as an artist?
RP: What was your career path?
RH: He [the person who owned the restoration & design business] offered me a job, where I learned to make life-size figurative sculpture, and I was hooked. The seven-year collaboration taught me how to work with committees and meet deadlines, skills that came in handy when I did public bronzes.
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| Rick Harney. "Goat Rack." |
RP: How did you get from aspiring artist to becoming an artist?
RH: One of the greatest inspirations, though, came from the abundant relief carvings that churches had on hand. I taught myself to carve wood, and developed a free-standing relief style that I implement to this day. My work in "Art St. Louis XXXVI, The Exhibition" is an example of the format, but is crafted from cardboard, papier mache, and other recycled materials.
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| Rick Harney. Alternate view of "Goat Rack." |
RP: What is the biggest challenge for you in juggling life and art?
RH: One of the great challenges over the years has been to balance my art life with raising our autistic son, Ben, age 32. It was a struggle for many years, but he now lends a hand in the studio from time to time.
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| Artist Rick Harney with his "Goat Rack" sculpture in-progress. |
RP: Is there a project on which you are currently working?
RH: Our latest project is a recycled coat rack, now called a 'goat rack'.
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| Featured in “Art St. Louis XXXVI, The Exhibition” on view at Art Saint Louis November 14-December 17: Paul Belue. “Los Chica de Los Muertos.” 2019. Color Photograph on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper, 16”x20”. $250. |
Roxanne Phillips: What is most challenging, to your art, about St. Louis?
Paul Belue: I feel there are a few challenges. But for me it would have to be the distance to most hot spot events. I don’t have the freedom to pick up and go for a few days, so if I can’t be there and back in a day or two at the most, I have to sit it out.
RP: What was it that first prompted your career/activity as an artist?
PB: I could just see things weren’t right and I’ve never understood how so many people don’t see it, so I try to show others what I see.
RP: When did you begin to know what your art is about?
PB: As soon as I could talk!! My mother would love to tell a story from when I was an infant. My father liked to hunt, and he and I got into a heated argument one night. I couldn’t have been more than two or three years old, but for whatever reason we were arguing about him hunting animals, and I threw a fit and told him that there were “other ways to shoot animals” referring to a camera. I was always very politically aware and motivated.
When I got involved with photography, I was adamant that my work would revolve around socio-political concepts. I failed many many times because the cost of production for grandiose ideas combined with learning the medium… there were so many horrible photos and I still have each and every negative!! I still fail, too, but I keep it up because we all have a story to tell.
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| Paul Belue. “Nation in Distress.” 2017. Photograph on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper, 11”x14”. $150. |
RP: Describe your path from deciding you want to be an artist to becoming one.
PB: It wasn’t ever really a decision. I was published as a writer when I was a senior in high school. I picked up a camera and began trying to teach myself about photography when I was seven and started experimenting with model building and learning computers to do CGI because I was obsessed with the special effects masters. In college I thought I wanted to pursue computers and took a photography class as an art elective. I didn’t have a lot of money to go, in fact, because of my father’s death, I only had the money that his co-workers raised, and I just knew I didn’t want to sit behind a computer desk for the rest of my life, so I took every photography class the local college offered. When the money ran out, I went to work for a local studio hoping to learn more. From there, I just did. Wanted to, needed to, compelled to — didn’t/doesn’t matter, it’s just been a part of who I am.
RP: What was your career path? How did you get from being an aspiring artist to doing it?
PB: Perseverance. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears and self education.
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| St. Louis-based artist Paul Belue at the MADE Makerspace. |
RP: What do you do to support your art and how does that impact your art practice?
PB: I used to rehab houses and turn them into rentals. That ended up taking over my life for awhile. Right up until things went wrong, bad tenants, my brother being found dead, losing my day job… it all fell apart and I went through a bankruptcy. Now I work for MADE Makerspace on Delmar and I get to be around creative people every day. I don’t always get to focus on my work, I’ve been going through a lot, but I have had the privilege to utilize the space and network with people. I’ll stay there as long as I can, though I expect one day I’ll have to move on.
RP: What is it about your preferred medium that you enjoy the most?
PB: Photography is unique in the way that a photographer can depict the real world in a way everyone knows it’s real, and yet, with great photography, it is still the photographer showing you how they see the world. The camera lens is an amazing tool that can bring more into focus than just the light.
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| Paul Belue. “The Memories Within.” 2007. Black & White Colorized Photograph on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper, 11”x14”. $200. |
RP: What motivates you to continue making art?
PB: As I like to say on Instagram: “We all have a story.” I never wanted to take the “pretty” picture. The one that was admired for technical correctness and beauty. A pretty picture can be amazing and give happy feelings, but what does it really change? I wanted to spark discussion, make people think, love it or hate it, I wanted to be discussed.
When I was in college I thought that meant being shocking, provocative, with over the top productions. I didn’t have much guidance when it came to pursuing photography as a career as much as I did the technical aspect, even when I went to work for a local studio I was left in the dark when it came to growth. As I looked to find my own way, I found that I loved street photography and photo journalism and I started searching for and developing my voice blending my views of the world and my early studio production ideas with my love for being in the midst of current events and cultures.
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| Paul Belue. “Race against the Water.” 2008. Black & White Photograph on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper, 11”x14.” $150. |
RP: What is the biggest challenge with being an artist and juggling all life throws at you?
PB: Wow. Uh… Life has thrown a lot at me, if you only knew, but we don’t really have the time. So the biggest struggle is simply being able to survive and find the time. To really explain how literally I mean that I kind of have to explain some of the things I’ve gone through, like my father being murdered just before I graduated High School and trying to manage working full time, going to school full time, and create. I never had a family who could help support me so that I could focus on building a foundation. I didn’t get to network in college, or figure out the ins and outs of making a living behind a camera. In fact, for a number of years, I had to put it down. But then, that’s one of those things that has really changed within our culture as the wealth of the middle class shrinks, wages stagnate, and jobs are automated and replaced with menial jobs. Sounds like a topic for me to explore: The Lifestyle of a Generation.
RP: What is it that you are most eager to convey through your art/ how do you want the viewer to receive or interpret or your art?
PB: That our differences is what makes us rich, and that our struggles are what unite us. If we could only stop fighting the imaginary “other” and work together then we would all be better for it. Late stage capitalism has created this mindset that bad luck equates to bad character, that people who aren’t able to afford even the most basic needs are somehow deserving of that, and this crazy notion that if it sells, it must be true, be damned the science and literacy. If we could get past this idea of hyper nationalism, ethnocentric, faith based divisions that are being promoted at the highest echelons of governments around the world right now, then we could see that the majority of people want nothing more than to be able to live and love and not be a cog in some corporate machine that monopolizes their life, makes them miserable, and does little to help them get by.
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| Paul Belue. “Woman in Blue.” 2001. Cyanotype Photograph on Watercolor Paper, 11”x14”. Not For Sale*. *Reproduction available printed on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper. $50. |
RP: What is your preferred way to exhibit and sell your art?
PB: Quite honestly I’m very new to a lot of this. I’ve been in the occasional show but it wasn’t until this year that I really started making a big effort to get my name out there, so I am just starting to figure this out. If anyone has any recommendations for me, I am all ears.
RP: Describe your dream studio.
PB: I’d love to live out the back of a sprinter van traveling the world with my camera off the beaten path.
RP: Do you have a studio routine? Most creative time of day to work? Process of thinking or setting up before you begin making?
PB: As a photographer, a lot of my “studio” routine is based on either what is going on in the world, other peoples schedules, the weather, etc. I’m very much at the mercy of time and change in that sense. However, once the photos are taken, my peak time to work is in the early hours of the morning on a second wind when I’m all excited to see a final product like opening presents on Christmas morning. Just like with writing, doing visually creative work can benefit from slight sleep deprivation when the inhibitions are down and the mind makes more connections. Do your drafts and experiments and then revisit with an alert technical eye later.
RP: What advice would you give your younger artist self?
PB: The world is changing faster than ever, don’t listen to everyone who is telling you to work on a backup plan if this doesn’t work out, you’ll burn yourself out. It’s easier to fail and reinvent yourself than it is to try to drive two different life paths. If you’re not careful, your passion and calling will become the thing you let fail.
RP: What do you wish someone would ask you about you or your art?
PB: How can I help you reach more people and/or produce more work?
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| Featured in “Art St. Louis XXXVI, The Exhibition” on view at Art Saint Louis November 14-December 17: Paul Belue. “Trans Love is Love.” 2020. Photograph on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper, 20”x20”. $350. Editor's note: this artwork image has been digitally altered by the artist for our safe use online. Artist’s statement: “Everybody has a story. In my work, I aim to tell the story of us. Through candid street photography, raw studio photographs, or surreal photo manipulations, I like to reveal what is similar about each of us and our human struggles through showing what is different. We define who we are.” |
RP: What are you currently working on?
PB: When I have been able to make the trips, I’ve been traveling through Mexico in order to document the daily lives of people. My next goal is to move there for a period of 6 months or more, really immerse myself in the culture, the people, and document what is going on. I’d like to do this in a converted van to be able to really explore.
When I’m not doing that, I dabble in surreal photo manipulation, currently exploring mental health. I make an effort to make it out to socio-political events like protests, PRIDE, and really anything else that defines our times. And I work on documenting alternate lifestyles from kink to polyamory, and I also do a little sculpture now and then!
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| Paul Belue. “Old Man Mascota.” 2019. Photograph on Kodak Endura Metallic Paper, 11”x14”. $200. |
RP: What is your future creative life?
PB: Just before COVID-19 changed our lives, I started, with the help of the VLAA, my own LLC to begin to strike out on my own. Though I started the process in November, because of this being a volunteer situation, as well as some other complications my incorporation was finalized on March 31st. While the pandemic has certainly affected and is changing plans, my goal is to do some extensive traveling, specifically through Latin America and South East Asia and [hopefully] humanize people from other cultures and ethnicities to American and other western cultures.
RP: Has rejection ever affected your creative process? If so, how?
PB: I think that it affects everyone to some extent. I know that after hearing much praise about my work, getting turned down for publications really put me in a rut and made me more self critical. It took awhile to turn that energy into something productive to make my work better, to begin to develop my own style of work — something I feel I am still very much doing.
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| St. Louis artist Paul Belue. |
Learn more about Paul Belue: www.instagram.com/NoNationPhoto/ and www.instagram.com/DoreanGrey/ and http://paulbelue.com/
Roxanne Phillips is an artist and art educator based in St. Louis since 2001. She earned a MFA in Printmaking and Drawing from Washington University in St. Louis and BFA in Painting & Drawing from University of North Texas. Roxanne is an adjunct art instructor at Washington University in St. Louis and has worked with Art Saint Louis since 2017 as Administrative Assistant and Installer. From 2018-2020 she was Master Printer for Pele Prints. Her works have been featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the St. Louis region including at Art Saint Louis, Crossroads Art Studio & Gallery, and St. Louis Artists’ Guild. Her work is currently available at Union Studio in St. Louis. She has served as exhibit Juror for several regional exhibits and art fairs. Roxanne is past Board member of St. Louis Women’s Caucus for Art.
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