Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Aubry.
Molly, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
For years I thought that I had decided to be an artist the summer before I graduated from college. But I was recently visiting my parents’ home, and opened a notebook from elementary school in which I found a sweet entry about my future life as an artist. So I suppose I always knew.
After graduating from the University of Florida, I worked as a graphic designer while making art on the side, with the goal of reversing those roles as quickly as possible. After saving what felt like enough to make the leap, I gave myself one year, 2010, to test it out. I worked as an English tutor in Barcelona while studying works in museums, studied at Penland, and then found a gig housesitting for a family in Costa Rica, which afforded me a lot of time to create, read, and dream. I experimented with meditation and alternative spiritual practices while traveling throughout Central America, and those experiences left lasting influences on my practice.
That year expanded into a decade, and there’s really no going back. I make and show my work, and also teach at Florida Atlantic University, have my own design practice, and work at a contemporary gallery. I wear a lot of hats, but it keeps things interesting!
This path has not been simple or easy, and for each success, I’ve met countless failures. But building a life in which I can create, grow, explore, and share has been a fascinating challenge, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My work explores entangled perceptual worlds through the matrix of print media. I begin my process by observing natural phenomena—algae coalescing with ice, moss marking the bark of a tree. I document my observations in paintings and photographs, which I then alter through digital and physical processes. My installations merge the resulting works with found objects and existing architecture, thereby altering the preexisting space. Mining the tension between organic materials and digital processes, the work imagines artifacts from a world in which the natural and artificial are inextricably linked.
My research takes the form of collaborations and private investigations. I am currently working with a neuroscientist to study social coordination through mirrored drawing. I spent six days in complete darkness, exploring Buckminster Fuller’s concept of synergetics (the geometry of patterns of energy found in nature). I read Calvino, Murakami, and dystopian sci-fi. I walk in the woods.
With a Surrealist vocabulary and dream-like logic, the work investigates the thin boundary between documentation, memory, and imagination.
Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
This is a constant challenge, and unless you’re independently wealthy, you have to work very, very hard. I recommend making work that deeply feeds your creativity and practice, as well as making related work that is sellable to support it. Standardizing sizes can streamline your process and save you money. Engage with your local community. Don’t expect to support yourself through sales of your art anytime soon, if ever, so develop related skills and get creative.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Collect work made by local, living artists! That support allows us to buy materials, pay studio and living costs, and afford the time to create.
My work is currently in exhibitions at Site:Brooklyn Gallery in New York and M Contemporary in Ferndale, Michigan.
You can learn more about my practice on my website, http://mollyaubry.com
Contact Info:
- Website: http://mollyaubry.com
- Email: mollysaubry@gmail.com
- Instagram: @mollyaubry
Image Credit:
Sarah Blanchette, Clare Gatto
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