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sublimotion: How would you describe your art and what is the underlying theme? Could you elaborate on: “My work portrays systems— the way in which the whole is made up of things that are related, interconnected or interacting?” What ‘systems’ are you interested in?

Cedric Tai: I like when other people describe my art, I’m interested in the conversations that happen when someone finds something magical in my work. I think my description is rather boring for what my art is, especially since many of my artist statements are very matter-of-fact-ly. Don’t get me wrong though, I love that I’m getting an interview! I just wish I could ask you a question, like, what draws you to my work, what does it make you think about? Is there any connection to the artists you pick to interview? I noticed a trend between images that appear digital and a kind of anti-gravity or floating effect that are in many of their works.

sm: Your art is like a radio telescopic picture of reality with various energy waves swirling in a spontaneous, organic fashion, an image of what cannot be seen with the naked eye. I was drawn to your works because of this positive energy that surrounds them. You are an energetic person and you stream all the energy from the many contacts with people. At sublimotion I present the artists who see beyond the obvious building blocks of reality. Indeed, it is anti-gravity of some kind.

CT: Here are the real reasons I make the specific type of work I make:  1. My work on acrylic plastic always seems to surprise me, so the work is fun to make. 2. Other people really like my work, which is wonderful because my favorite part of being an artist is bartering my artwork for things. Probably 75% of the barters are for other people’s artwork. 3. The work is fast and easy for me to get into, especially if I have many pieces that I’m working on at once, there are very few days that I am uninspired.

I think that part of what my artwork does for people is that they recognize the freedom I have to create any kind of work I’m interested in and I believe that it is inspiring to people to see my curiosity and experiments come to fruition. I do hope that more people realize they should also take more time for rest and reflection and also prioritize their own well-being through doing what makes them happy.

sm: What is the connection between your art and the world around you?
CT: As for the connection between my art and the world around me, this question just reminds me that I need to explore more of the world soon. Right now I love living in Detroit (I grew up in the suburbs in Metro Detroit). Making art here is amazing. We don’t really have a huge art market, but we have an extremely vibrant art scene. Here, artists really support each other because of the lack of competition on the art market front. It’s a place where people find it easy to start projects because the space is cheap and if you are the optimistic type, there are much more opportunities than there is time for. I work in a studio that is made up of Cranbrook alumni and friends, most are adjunct professors. Right now we have a CNC router in our studio, so I recently made a new series of routed works, they’re pretty exciting, and like my other work, unrepeatable.

sm: You say: “My work derives from an alchemistic approach to alter how we see rather than change what we see.” Why do you value ‘how’ over ‘what’? Don’t you think that we live in times when disillusion (seeing what is) could be more interesting than illusion?

CT: I do think that disillusion is very important and is indeed partly changing how we see. For example how you see yourself does more for your happiness than buying things that you think will make you happy. After looking at my work if you look at a spilled liquids differently, then somehow my work has triggered the idea that there is more to see in life if only you look critically.

sm: Your art gives a strong sensation, and it is fairly a positive sensation of various kinds. If you could phrase it, what your message would be?

CT: I’m not sure I can go into the phrasing of what the output of my work ‘does’, but I’d like to detour into a sort of poem that I wrote about my process:

Find a blank canvas, I mean so blank that it’s clear.
Take everything you’ve got and mix it all together, not like when you’re making batter
but make sure everything comes in contact with everything else.
Let it sit for a day, who knows, it might take a week to dry.
Flip it over to see what you’ve got,
ok, you’ve got a problem. It looks like crap. Deal with it.
If you get stuck, just destroy your favorite part and keep going.
Find what you were looking for even though you don’t remember why you started in the first place.

sm: I love your process. It is a great way of releasing one’s expression or pushing its limits further. I’ll try it myself..

Your favorite artistic style is ‘romantic dada’. What do you understand under this label? What are you ‘anti-‘?

CT: Oh I wrote romantic dada because I don’t take the idea of styles too seriously. Styles nowadays are synonymous with branding, and I think that timeless art break conventional styles. Romantic Dada sounds nice though doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s artwork that is a bit naive but playful and sincere, with no other rules than its own. A work of art that reminds one of the vast amounts of alternative ways of being.

It could be said that I’m anti-crony capitalism, anti-greed, anti-monoculture, anti-limitless economic growth…

sm: Your creations are visually extremely rich, what are the inspirations/sources that you draw from?

CT: I draw a lot of inspiration from seeing beautiful computer aided designs and wondering to myself if I could actually paint it. I like the images in the gallery on spacecollective.org a whole lot, I think you might like it too.

sm: You are extremely active as an artist but you also contribute to the Detroit art scene as an educator and curator. How does it all work together in developing you as an artist and building your career?

CT: I find that I have been very extroverted since making my first ‘art friends’, and contributing to the art scene can be boiled down to me just trying to make friends and to be a good friend. I really do believe the more energy you put into helping others, you will get it back and then some. I must say that there are times when being an educator or being a curator is more fun than just making art, but on the most part the skill set and main goal seems to be very transferable: set up conditions in which critical thinking will occur.

There are many other specific things that interest me in being an educator too. I went to Michigan State University to get my teaching certification and I found that it really helped me think about great concepts for my own art as I learned more about pedagogy and how the brain works.

sm: Do you consider an art gallery the right environment for your art? Do you consider your art to be art in the “arty” way?

CT: I think my work right now is very good for being in an art gallery, I currently have representation as of this year at Re:View Contemporary,
Actually my gallery helped me write a pretty good description of what my art is about, I have a solo show coming up!

sm: What are you working on right now? Could you show some progress pictures?

CT: I am currently working on a large sculpture that I’m really hoping comes together before the show opens… we’ll see. I’m a little worried to be honest, but I’ve accepted failure as a real possibility, and that’s better than nothing. Some of the best in process images are here. I have more if you’re interested.

sm: How do you distribute your art: where is it on show / available to buy?

CT: I distribute my art through this new gallery, which is great, because I hate haggling my prices down and they’ve done a great job of selling my work! They can be contacted to be put on a list of people that will get updates when I have new work for sale at this gallery. Some of the sales have been through e-mail, which I never dreamed of being possible, so I’m going to leave it up to them. Also I’m trying to get something going where people can buy certificates from me, like for weddings for example that can be redeemed for a commissioned work of art. I really like the idea of people making decisions for art that they want when they never thought they could ever ask for a commission in the first place. I’m waiting on my first one to come through sometime soon.

sm: What are your next goals / challenges / plans?

CT: I’ve set my sights on graduate school to get an MFA. Teaching on a college level has always appealed to me and I would love to push myself in a completely new direction in a completely new place. I have many plans in the works, but I’m afraid that I’ll jinx a few if I count my eggs before they hatch. I do hope to try my hand at large public works or kinetic work or video or performance art or an entire body of work based on my philosophy about education… there’s still plenty to do.

May all the attention you get for other artists come back to you tenfold!

Cedric Tai born 1985 in Detroit, where he still lives and works. He graduated from Michigan State University.

Solo exhibitions

2009 City Series, The Bureau of Urban Living, Detroit, MI
2009 Producing a drawing of a system requires a system of seeing, Russell Gallery, Detroit, MI
2009 This Week in Art, Motor City Brewing Works, Detroit, MI
2009 Presenting the work of Cedric Tai, Right Brain, Traverse City, MI
2009 New Landscapes, Café 1923, Hatch Collective, Hamtramck, MI 
2008 Kumasi Barnett and Cedric Tai, Roy G Biv Gallery for Emerging Artists, Columbus, OH
2007 Small Slice of Everything, Gallery 114, East Lansing, MI, Joint BFA Exhibition
2006 Start Somewhere*, Hannah Community Center, Lansing, MI

Group exhibitions

2010 Start. Stop. Repeat., Anton Art Center, Mount Clemens, MI
2009 Re:Collect 2009*, Re:View Contemporary, Detroit, MI
2009 Small Works, Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH
2009 Paintings, Drawings & Prints by Detroit Artists, Detroit Industrial Projects, Detroit, MI
2009 TV Show, The Yes! Farm, Detroit, MI
2009 The Grand Bazaar, A Souk at MOCAD, Work sold at silent auction at the 4th annual            benefit, The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI
2009 Seed $, The Yes! Farm, Detroit, MI
2009 Projections, Installation in a four-person show, Detroit Industrial Projects, Detroit, MI
2009 This Week in Art 4th Anniversary, Motor City Brewing Works, Detroit, MI
2008 In Focus: Detroit, Boll Family YMCA, Detroit, MI
2008 Step Right Up!, Interactive installation, Gallery Projects, Ann Arbor, MI
2008 Objects Up and Down, Paint Creek Art Center, Rochester, MI
2008 Exchange, Scene Metrospace, East Lansing, MI
2008 People’s Arts Festival, Russell Industrial Center, Detroit MI
2008 Gender Agenda, Drummer and collagist of conceptual band, The He-Bops, Gallery Projects, Ann Arbor, MI
2008 Transparent: An Exhibit Exploring Themes of Transparency, Scene Metrospace, East Lansing, MI
2007 Beyond Mod*, Fi-Nite Gallery, Detroit, MI
2007 The Big Show, Hamtramck, MI
2007 InFlux, Gallery 110, East Lansing, MI, undergraduate selected works
Painting Discipline, Gallery 110, East Lansing, MI, undergraduate selected works
2006 Where Art and Fashion Collide, Q Gallery, Orlando, FL,
2006 Gavin’s House Show, East Lansing, MI, Curated by Gavin Lupinski
Feast Your Eyes, Scene Metrospace, East Lansing, MI
2005 Art on the Path*, East Lansing, MI
2004 Show Love*, 555 Gallery, Detroit, MI, MSU Representative
2003 Nonsense is In, U245 Gallery, Garfield Annex, Detroit, MI

interview by Kate, text by Just | sublimotion