Here, we ask an artist to frame the essential details behind one of their latest works.
Bio: Alan Prazniak, 38 (@alanpraz). I’m recently unmoored—I’ve worked in the same studio in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for ten years, but I’m in the process of moving it up to Neversink, NY.
Title of work: Daphne Moon (2024).
Where to see it: “Potions” at Geary Contemporary (34 Main Street, Millerton, NY) until October 6.
Three words to describe it: Careful, not cautious.
What was on your mind at the time: How to get that dirty lavender sky to work, how to make a nocturne with pastels, the mountains, glacial change, pressure, finding edges, balance, Kacey Musgraves probably.
An interesting feature that’s not immediately noticeable: I really don’t know. I feel like it’s all just out there to see. But hopefully it rewards approach, and more things reveal themselves. I like the thought of getting infinitely close to a painting and still discovering moments.
How it reflects your practice as a whole: It’s reflective of my practice in that it’s about arrival, as a sense, as a state of being. Arrival at a place with a mark, instantly, a real place or one you’ve been to in another realm, finding funny little intimacies along the way. I try to find meaning where there might be none, so I think the heart of the work is to keep attuned to when I’ve arrived at something, and let it go.
One song that captures its essence: “Thinking of a Place” by The War on Drugs.
