Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you currently reside and work?  I live and work in Downtown Los Angeles. My studio is in the flower district.

2-How would you describe Ellen Jong?  I’ve always walked through life as if on a tight rope whether its limitations put upon me or ones I put on myself. And I find acrobatic moves to make it interesting for me. Sometimes I fall on my face and sometimes I land on my feet. I’m learning to be more graceful with it. It’s true there is no age limit to learning new tricks.

3-Did you attend art school or is it inherent?  Let’s just say I thrive at independent study.

4-How long have you been making art and what lead you to start?  I didn’t start making art until I was an adult. What led me to take my first pee photos was pure defiance and humor in the act of doing something taboo and making proof of it. I’d already been taking pictures and been published but I think the moment I became an artist was when I enlarged my first pee image into focus in the darkroom. I’ll never forget it.

5-You have published a few books in the past, “Pees on Earth” and “Getting to Know My Husbands Cock” — are there any upcoming books in the works?  I have a few books that aren’t published yet. One is a collection of photographs from the late ’90s to early 2000s. Others are handmade art books of illustrations, photographs and writings. I would like to work with a publisher again.

6-How did your interest in sculpting begin?  I was really young I think. I visited the Met with my sister. I was walking around the American wing courtyard and looking up at the towering sculptures. I was moved. It was emotional. I wanted to study sculpture but hadn’t entered into any kind of art school until I got into Parsons as a transfer student. But I wasn’t good at school and fell into an internship with a photographer that I found much more fulfilling. After publishing my second photography book, I remember wanting to come out from behind the camera and start facing some things. I needed a change. Making with my hands was very intuitive. I just started to make things.

7-What emotion do you expect to be on people’s faces when they look at your sculptures?  I’m often looking at the sculptures too so I don’t see their faces initially but I hope it is many emotions at the same time.

8-You have a yellow self-sculpture “The Yellow Looking Glass” can you explain why yellow and why covered with a thermal blanket?  The Yellow Looking Glass was my first ink body sculpture. Of the four of myself that I’ve completed so far, it is the closest to a self-portrait. There are several features that speak to my personal experience with race, being of immigrants, female parts, trauma and spirituality. The color yellow can be contentious regarding Asian people because it has been used as a slur. A pink toe recalls a birth mark. Three micro-fans are inserted on the back so that the ink body itself becomes an exhaust. The circulating air flutters the thermal foil blanket to suggest that the ink body is vibrating and alive. After all, the ink material is organic – alive – and must stay cool and dry. It expresses a self-proclaimed state whether it be in vulnerability, transition or acceptance.

9-Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not or did not want to stop looking at?  When I saw Guernica at MOMA I sat down on the floor.

10-The future is _________?  A mystery

11-What advice would you give putative collectors?  I had the privilege of following my dad around Sotheby’s and other art and antique shops as a little child. I don’t think we see things the same necessarily but I hope to be a collector myself. There’s so much history and culture, things to learn and be moved by through art. Collecting is connecting!

12-What’s the best advice you’ve ever received in regards to your art?  I’ve been getting a lot of great advice lately but I’m looking further back. I had a music teacher in high school that on the first day of class played the first few seconds of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 over and over and over again. He asked “what makes this music?” We looked at him blankly. His answer was “intention.” I hadn’t remembered this until I started working in ink. I took photographs often without even looking through the lens. But with ink  — especially for the life casts, though experimentation  — it demands thought and intention. Took me a while to understand but thanks Mr. Lombardi! Another piece of advice was given to me by the photographer I worked for out of Parsons Kevin Hatt. “Your best inspiration will be your own work.” That’s when I knew this was going to be a long game.

13-How do you define success?  Right now success for me would be to sustain a life where I can continue to make art and scale up, own a home in LA and contribute to my community where I can.

14-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  Earth.

15-If you could have dinner with three artists living/dead who would be at your table?  This is a hard question but off the top of my head Francesca Woodman, Eva Mendieta and Sylvia Plath.

16-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Water, tools, a mid-century chair.

17-How would someone find you on Social Media?  Instagram @_____ellenjong

18-Please name the first thing that comes to your mind while reading the following:

Art=life
Food=family and cooking
Sports=world cup
Politics=war
Poor=inequality
God=higher power
Rich=soil and seasonal foods rich in color, flavor and nutrients
Luxury=indulging in all things that are beautiful and delicious to you
Sex=it’s so much bigger than the word
Picasso=I love following his lines
Religion=ancient things