Ben LaMar Gay

Artist-In-Residence 2019/20

Arts + Public Life (APL) is proud to present projects by the 2019/2020 Arts + Public Life (APL) and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) Artists-in-Residence. This virtual exhibition features new works, current projects, and interviews with one of our artists Ben LaMar Gay.

Ben LaMar Gay (he/him) is a composer/cornetist who moves components of sound, color, and space through folkloric filters to produce brilliant electro‐acoustic collages. The unification of various styles is always in service of the narrative and never solely a display of technique. The Chicago native’s true technique is giving life to an idea while exploring and expanding on the term “Americana”. His musical influences derive from his collection of experiences in all of the Americas and the gathered data channeled by technology and its amplifying accessibility. The fact that the world is closer via technology and that everyone has access to the possibility of exploring different ideas, makes his avant-garde version of “Americana” very global. Embracing international vision while remaining true to his roots, Gay’s creative output aligns with the honest notion that he only knows how to be a man from the South Side of Chicago. Active in the vibrant experimental music scene of Chicago, including a three‐year residency in Brazil, allows him to collaborate with some influential figures in the world of music. The list includes George Lewis, Itibere Zwarg, Black Monks, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Mike Reed, Joshua Abrams, Celso Fonseca, Tomeka Reid, Bixiga 70 and the Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians, to name a few.

Arts + Public Life curatorial team and Ben LaMar Gay discuss his practice, upcoming projects and what it means to be an artist in 2020.

APL: What are some of the recurring themes found in your work?

BLG: There are multiple voices, parts, melodies and people that come together. All my music is based on the idea of certain groups coming together to construct a bigger idea, but you can separate each loop, each loop can stand on its own. Whether it's certain characters I write (which I haven’t done in a long time) or if it's a certain rhythm, or instrument all of it stems from what I experience: South Side-Chicago-Americana boy with access to the internet so I can explore the world.

APL: What do you hope that a viewer will leave with after experiencing your work for the first time?

BLG: Man, I remember going to a live show for the first time with my older brother, I remember leaving so hyped just to get home and try something. So if somebody can leave  – even if it's not music – just go home and try something new.

APL: Can you walk us through a typical day of your studio practice ?

BLG: When I leave my house, I try and leave early and get to the nearest green space. I find a place where I can warm up, where I can be heard but not seen. I warm up with long tones, which is just playing one note forever. I warm up with long tones on the cornet because I’ve been playin’ the cornet forever. It's something that... the backdrop can always change but [it’s] an instrument that has been with me for so long, it can connect me back or keep me grounded. I can feel the earth under me when I travel with something in my hand that can make sound. When I’m feeling the worst it's because I haven’t been playing in the morning...

APL: Are there any rituals that have found their way into your practice?

BLG: There are probably a hundred rituals I do everyday. So even if I have 100% confidence in one thing, I can then be 100% doubtful within 15 minutes – all of these things have been with me forever.

APL: How do you make a distinction between just an interesting idea and something that needs to be produced, and shown? What tips that scale?​​​​​​​

BLG: It's all one thing, something that you come up with, it can be like “boom there it is” or something that takes time. ... if I take (an idea) and work with it for forty years, it becomes real, but I can still let it go and it can be one of those things that’s blowing in the wind. We all have notebooks filled with ideas, the question is if you write it down do you then go on to develop it.

APL: How can the arts community remain authentic and connected in our current climate?

BLG: Just continue to do the work, it’s the reason we all keep coming together, on all levels of what a community consists of – you just keep doing it.

APL: Are there any artists or art projects bringing you joy right now?

BLG: I feel fortunate just to know some people who can make me laugh and just connect with these people and see how they are pulling through. That’s just the baddest sh*t, the only project I’m really concerned with is how we keep it moving. 

APL: What project are you super excited to produce?

BLG:  “Know Them Hands. Throw Them Hands. Woah, Them Hands.” ... is a collection of short videos depicting passageways between thought, sound and the preservation of that sound through penmanship. It explores my “Manipulations of Lines And Breff” with this new installment, which focuses on the hand and its relationship with three instruments: a pencil, the diddley bow, and the hand of a loved one.  The interchangeability of the videos in this work lends itself as a graphic score to a dark summer ballad suitable for “Bumping -‘N- Grinding”, “Marching -‘N- Demanding”, “Sitting -‘N- Reflecting” & “Staying -‘N- Surviving. This is a work in progress piece of a larger adventure which will lead to the installation of diddley bows in the Washington Park neighborhood.

EXPLORE WORKS BY

Delano Dunn | Anna Martine Whitehead

VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING

Write-On with Ben LaMar Gay: Part I, air date May 18, 2020 on Facebook Live.
Write-On with Ben LaMar Gay: Part II, air date June 24, 2020 on Facebook Live.
Write-On with Ben LaMar Gay: Part III, air date July 27, 2020 on Facebook Live.