the floors on opening day, we all pitched in, even artists who weren’t represented. In general, artists, collectors and gallery owners are really raising the bar locally. In response, local museums are paying more attention and creating more opportunities for D.C. artists. HOLLY BASS, I defi nitely feel like there’s some kind of zeitgeist happening here and now that’s similar to the punk movement or the early ’80s art scene at dcspace. There’s a lack of pretension in D.C. that’s really refreshing. JAMES HUCKENPAHLER, The real estate boom here has also created big opportunities for artists. More people have the luxury to own art – not just fi nancial luxury, but spatial luxury. People actually have the room to surround themselves with sensual experiences: not just small pieces, but ones with scale and scope. The urban architecture from the 1920s through the mid-’90s didn’t really allow for that. WHEN DID ART BECOME YOUR FOCUS? JAMES HUCKENPAHLER, The real turning point for me was in the summer of ’85, when I read an interview with Brian Eno that introduced me to John Cage, Steve Reich and the notion of working procedurally. COLBY CALDWELL, In my “Europe between the Wars” class at Appalachian State, my papers quickly became fi lled with more photographs than words. The professor suggested I might

Above: Huckenpahler’s “inferno,” 2007; Top right: one of Thalhammer’s Lot Lizards series, “D04 C07,” 2007; Bottom right: Caldwell’s “gestus (11),” 2006. look into a different fi eld of work. But it was meeting the photographer Joe Mills as a guest artist in my second year photography class that gave me a sense that alternatives existed. IS ART AN INTERACTION BETWEEN VIEWERS AND THE ARTIST? JAMES HUCKENPAHLER, If you make art for yourself, it’s therapy. In my mind, art is, by defi nition, meant to be seen. People looking at a work add layers of interpretation to the piece that accumulate over time, making it more valuable. Think of the Mona Lisa; it’s been viewed and reproduced a million times in a million contexts. It’s been praised, questioned, parodied, copied, referenced and transformed. All of those things have added both cultural – and monetary – value to the work. LISA MARIE THALHAMMER, The images artists make live outside them and take on a larger life. As viewers, we all have our own subjectivity and set of experiences that we bring to a work of art. HOLLY BASS, I do multidisciplinary performance, so I’m physically present in the interaction between audience and art. I always have a concept in mind. For instance, with my current pieces “(Uppity Negroes on) Parade” and “Pay Purview,” I’m very focused on booties and the representation

of black women in popular media. HOW TO CREATE ANYTHING UNIQUE? JAMES HUCKENPAHLER I’m conscious of my infl uences; I evaluate my own work by questioning when I’ve extended my infl uences, not just copied them. Someone – it may have been Hans Ulrich Obrist – asked Gerhard Richter if painting was dead, and he responded that painting is not dead just like sex is not dead. Originality and signifi cance are not the same thing. LISA MARIE THALHAMMER, Everything is about infl uence. You cannot escape it. Pure originality does not exist. COLBY CALDWELL, By continuing to be artists when they’re old. HOLLY BASS, I don’t worry about originality too much. Everything these days seems to be about nostalgia and referencing the past – even in popular media. We’ve already got “I Love the ’90s,” and we haven’t even gotten through the current decade yet. I think it’s best to be ballsy and confi dent about your work. I stand by what I make. And I’m prepared to frame it in different ways for different audiences, because ultimately this idea of distinguishing oneself is more about the art market than about the creative process, isn’t it?