ASHLEY DOGGETT
Nashville, Tennessee
How did you get your start in Art?
I can't quite say when, but it's always been there. I would spend hours drawing with my sister growing up as we come from a family of artistic individuals. My mother's side of the family has art running right through it; my Great Uncle could have been deemed a master painter if given the right exposure and created masterpieces before his death whereas my Uncle can render motorcycles and cars in hyper realistic detail with a mechanical pencil at a drop of a hat. My mother always pushed me to peruse art in some form or fashion and enrolled me in an arts middle school as well as high school so that I could be in an environment where I could prosper. It was an immediate decision of mine to get my BFA and make it a professional reality after the fact, but I've always been interested in the art world not only what it could offer me, but what I could offer it.
How would you describe your artistic style?
I consider myself at this point a Neo-Mannerist. I love citing historical modes of working as well as practices and it can be seen in my drawings and prints especially. My painting style has developed from a more classical-inspired canon to being invested in hyper contemporary attributes.
Where do you draw your artistic inspiration?
I draw from the world around me, especially the past. It's what haunts me more than anything else, especially the fact that my past as a black individual is ridden with racial violence and full on erasure of that experience. I use the past as a fundamental foundation for my practice solely for the fact that it defines a lot of us as individuals; our past is what we work from to carve out a future for ourselves, so I see it. With that said, I appropriate aspects of classical art as well as iconography from my generation. I am obsessed with the human form and tend to do more figurative work, and with that said I look to the work of Kara Walker, Margaret Bowland, Kehinde Wiley, Carlos Barahona Possolo, Gerhard Richter, and Roberto Ferri.
On notable projects:
My most notable and completed project was my sketchbook 'Mental States'. I began it in the fall of 2013 and finished it in the same year, and looking back on it I use it as a major point of departure for my current work. I was a young, queer black artist used to studying white painters who otherwise didn't know my name and didn't even know I existed, and it came to a head that I began a very violent tirade in my sketchbook about my true feelings surrounding my identity. I'd been through quite a bit settling into my life as a college student whilst still living with my parent, who's a single mother. We'd been through a very transitional period in our lives and it really put a chip on my shoulder. Mike Brown and several other black people had just been killed by the police. I'd renounced my gender identity and started to identify as femme. Looking back on it now, it caused me to be even more provocative with my work than ever before and situated me where I am now.
What has been the memorable response to your work?
I've gotten a variety of responses, and not one has been quite the same. My biggest achievement so far was being featured by Art Hoe Collective in their highlight on 'who to watch' in their editorial collaboration with Afropunk. It's garnered me a lot of positive attention and showed me that my work isn't relegated to the small, Southern, 90% white art community where I live. It showed me that my voice matters and that my ideas are bigger than those who have told me to literally tame myself or to simply be quiet. It helped me combat a paternalistic environment and made it clear that I don't have to appease a set group of people.
What are some of the challenges you have faced as an artist?
Living in a small town that circulates more so on the music industry rather than its art's community has been somewhat challenging. The arts community here in Nashville is incredibly small with four major art galleries in our downtown location and a few well known upstarts just banking outside of the city. While it's very close knit, there's also major competition when it comes to showing work as well as the fact that many of the galleries lack a strong POC voice, which has been something that I've been incredibly critical of ever since I started getting my BFA. More spaces run by young upstarts in the community are also very parasitic and 'incestuous', simply for the fact that they tend to cater to white voices and continue to propagate a level of stagnation that other art scenes simply don't have. As an artist of color, it's been hard putting my shoe in locally whereas I've participated in several international and nationwide shows and publications, which is incredibly daunting to say the least. You'd think it'd be the other way around even, but it hasn't been that way so far. Personally, I've had to struggle with keeping my ideas fresh and in conversation with a contemporary way of working. I'm interested in academic painting, drawing, and printmaking, but it's been my long time journey as a professional artist to keep my ideas in the 21st century whilst using my hyper traditional skill set.
Who is your favorite artist?
By far, Kara Walker has to be it. I recently began creating my bibliography for my future thesis show last year and began doing extensive research on Walker's usage of the allegory as well as her re-appropriation of stereotypes of black people in her work. When I first saw her large scale cut outs in the Thirty Americans show, I was instantly moved to tears. Never has another artist moved me to the point where I literally question my existence and even the ground that I'm walking on. I instantly wanted to reclaim my past as well as the past of my people from being so fortunate as to see her work, and through reading more on her story I find that our upbringings are quite similar, not to mention that we work in the same arena when discussing ideas of race, sexuality, and gender.
On upcoming projects:
I'm currently solely focused on continuing my series 'A History', one which recounts on the roots of the enslavement of black people, both in the past and the present, and how we as a people have been commodified to suit a Colonial lifestyle and even binary. I've completed most of the series, but it's also one that simply will never be 'complete' due to the nature of what I'm discussing. I'm also working very closely with my good friend and mentor Brady Haston, who's the associate professor at Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film where I've attended since 2013. I've been approached recently to collaborate with a few local artists, but those ideas have yet to come to fruition just yet.
On her dream project?
At the moment, I would love to finally be represented by a gallery and profit from my work or be a part of Art Basel and sell. I also aspire to have my work shown in more international publications and venues and hopefully be a part of a biennial. Moreover, being a part of an art historical canon so that future generations can learn about me and hopefully be inspired by my work and what it means to be a working black artist. That will be my crowning achievement!
What phrase or mantra do you live your life by?
It's not quite a phrase, but it comes from Matthew 23:12, '-and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased'. It takes a lot to be humble, and by being humble and having a close relationship with God, I've been thrust into several promising opportunities within my career path. I see so many that don't give it back over or who think that their efforts alone are what's driving them forward. Everyone should be humble, and it's our hubris as a human race that tends to be the center of our issues. Being humble keeps my life drama free and helps me approach situations with a level head, no matter how big or small they are. The excerpt also highlights that those who end up being too proud end up being humbled eventually, aka Karma, and the prospect of being humbled by the hand of God is usually always painful. I can say so from experience.
For more on this artist, please visit ashleydoggett.tumblr.com and follow on social media @theashleydoggett