Founded in the fall of 1991, Laurel Moon is Brandeis' oldest, national literary publication. Each issue we publish features original work from undergraduate students.
Belmont, New Hampshire native Logan Wilder is constantly testing the boundaries of the Boston art scene with his inventive use of different mediums and his knack for creating a social media brand that encompasses his artistic style and message. He chatted briefly with me about his process and vision.
Q. Where do you go to school and what are you studying?
A. I attend Massachusetts College of Art & Design in the Studio for Interrelated Media Program.
Q. Where has your work been showcased?
A. I’ve had multiple pieces in a few departmental gallery exhibitions at Massart. In the Fall of 2018 I showed two different pieces (projected video, mixed media collage) that were both adaptations of a project I am still to this day working on titled TEEN RAGE. In the spring of 2019 our departmental show coincided with the fashion students at Massart so I collaborated with a fashion major on a video installation.
Q. What mediums do you specialize in?
A. Video art, graphic design, photography, music production, sculpture, and most recently, 3D modeling.
Q. What does your work aim to say?
A. I don’t think my artistic approach has a certain thing it is always trying to say. My work has been perceived by others as a very saturated and stylistically driven choice of aesthetics, that almost always exerts emotions of happiness and/or curiousity.
Q. How do you feel about the idea that art needs to have a message?
A. I think everyone’s motive to why they make art is equally inspiring to me if the outcome is something I react to. A lot of my process as an artist (as well as those I look up to in such movements as Fluxus) have a harsh sense of experimentality in their work, exploring more the medium/idea of a piece of work and the process/performance of what creates the desired outcome.
Q. Describe the Boston art scene and your role in it.
A. The Boston art scene in my eyes is super complex and always expanding. I’m personally friends with so many different types of artists and always trying to find new groups of artists to adore or collaborate with. I’ve only been in the city for school for 3 years now, but I have seen a spike in the kind of inspiration I get from people around me. New zines, galleries, inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ people, record labels, the list goes on. There is something about the built from ground D.I.Y aesthetic that is able to inspire anyone who wants to be involved with the creative scene to make an action.
Q. Where do you find inspiration? Who are your idols?
A. The most frequent place I find inspiration is in my Instagram feed. I follow hundreds and hundreds of artists so i’m always instantly notified on what new projects they are working on so it’s definitely the most accessible way to be inspired right now. A few current idols, or people i’m currently inspired by, include Frank Lebon, Kevin Abstract, SOPHIE, Nam June Paik, Johanna Jaskowska, and Christian Marclay.
Q. What current art/fashion trends inspire you?
A. A trend for fashion that I have loved seeing the past few years is the rise of second hand shops/upcycling and designers using sustainable ethics. I go to a few thrift stores in my area constantly throughout the week, sometimes 4 or 5 times. I love being able to style myself with pieces of clothes that have already been in circulation for numerous years. I find this trend to also be crucial to someone’s art process and where they find materials. An artist/designer that I have personally really enjoyed seeing work from recently that incorporates these types of ethics is Pierre-Louis Auvray (@forbiddenkn0wledge).
Q. If you could collaborate with any artist/model/stylist who would it be and why?
A. Nick Knight, I have been super inspired by some of the projects he has worked on and love the way he bridges the gap between super corporate advertising with his own stylistic aesthetics.
Q. What are your professional and personal goals for the next five years?
A. I am currently an all over the place interdisciplinary artist, so the next five years could lead me in a number of directions career wise. Personal goal would be to live somewhere new for a while, adapt to different cultures, and make as much as I can along the way.
Q. What advice would you have for self-made artists in the digital age?
A. A good piece of advice for anyone sharing their art on social media especially Instagram, would be to post what you want and not think twice. Every artist is different but you should be sharing all the work that makes you happy and curate and create your aesthetic around what you like and what makes you proud to be an artist.