MP2

Noah: Just to start out this conversation, can you please describe the work and a little bit of what it's about?

Putnam: Awesome. I would say that the work is centered around living space as compared to the interior of one's own mind, especially in the context of isolation. It becomes a stage for memory and nostalgia on a more all encompassing scale than normal. When one is not allowed to leave the their living space, it becomes a place where memories project out onto the walls...

Noah: Yeah. This is in reference specifically to your places projected here. Do you mind describing physically what these films are?

Putnam: The piece is a collection of videos of me in my apartment, which is my COVID lockdown abode. Layered on top of the living space via zoom's technology are photos from the summertime in Debert, where my grandmother lives. It's a beautiful place, surrounded by forest and (for me) steeped in nostalgia.

Putnam: I Haven't come to a conclusion with this work yet. I'm exploring the gap between myself and the places that I call home. I'm nostalgic as hell for them, but I also have a terrible memory. It's scary. I'm delving into those nostalgic emotions that I hope other people share. It also helps that the zoom technology anonymizes me in many of the shots where the background is incorporated into my own silhouette- I become the place that I'm wishing to be in, I suppose...

Wait, what are your thoughts just as an aside, does this feel like a decent foundation for work?

Noah: Yeah. If you want my two cents on this; I think there's something really, really beautiful about how this space you've created has this sort of depth between the backgrounds. These still photographs create a secondary space and there's so much depth to those and you play with it at times, using your body to distort the greenscreen mechanic. It's A beautiful exploration of digital space and implied space.

Putnam: I think it's definitely a door that's opened. I'm going to have to see where that takes me. We leave behind and become disconnected from the places that form us all the time. We have to move on when we lose family members and connections to the places where they lived. This is going to be something that is just restricted to lock down. I'm hoping maybe I can use it to hold onto the memories from places I grew up. The farm that several generations of my family have grown up at is probably going to be sold soon. I always thought that it would be a constant in my life. I guess I'm just dealing with the reality that nothing is permanent.

Noah: Thank you very much for joining me.

Putnam: This is the unlimited bar of word salad.

Noah: Fantastic.

Noah: So is it safe to say that this piece then is A departure from your usual practice?

Putnam: For sure. It's connected to the rest of my practice in that nature is the place that I draw my images and inspirations. Here, images of Nature itself are worked into the videos. but the digital format is definitely a big departure.

Noah: How does your work connect with, or talk about the themes of weight?

Putnam: What I sort of took away from the Radical Boredom course that provided the Weight//Wait framework was dealing with the conditions imposed by COVID lockdown: isolation, and boredom. These Limitations change how time feels and makes it abundant where before it was limited.

Noah: You mentioned you want to continue exploring these ideas. Do you see this particular project continuing past this particular work?

Noah: You mentioned where you grew up. But are there any other ideas or inspirations that specifically went into the making or the research of this piece?

Putnam: The exploration of space, memory, nostalgia, and interiors is occupying my attention fully at the moment. I'd say I'm still within that wheelhouse. What I really want to see is where these technologies can take me in expanding the work and possibly connecting it to my painting practice.
There's a quote, I think it was Sarah Sze. Are you familiar with her?

Noah: She's the artist who does the crazy massive assemblage installations?

Putnam: Yes- I'm paraphrasing, I'm sure terribly, but she said that 'painting creates space where there is none and sculpture takes up space.' And I'm not using that to take pot shots at sculpture people. I thought that that was a very useful way of thinking about the function of painting. This extends to digital media as well- It's strange how it can create a dual space that exists in the mind.