Meet Gianna Martucci-Fink: Artist & Co-Host of Artpop Talk

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gianna Martucci-Fink and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gianna, what do you attribute your success to?
For young creatives and entrepreneurs, establishing your brand is similar to the process of finding your voice through your art. In time, you learn what your interests are, what talents you possess, what skills you’re willing to develop, and what your purpose is for wanting to create and share something new with others. As an artist who addresses contemporary experiences within a consumerist culture, the most important factors behind the success of my practice, isn’t just the process of creation in itself, but sharing, engaging, and welcoming people into that process and partaking in conversations through a variety of social platforms and intersectional approaches. What’s wonderful about being in an interdisciplinary field today, is that I can include my viewers or followers into my art-making experience in ways that aren’t always available or accessible in museum or gallery spaces. As a sculptor and printmaker, the action of making art is just as conceptually important to me as the physical object itself. In using social media, for example, as an interactive tool, I’m accomplishing both professional and personal goals in wanting to create meaningful and important discussions, but simultaneously I am easily able to curate a consistent brand, based on the aesthetics of my art. More importantly, I’m able to engage with a diverse group of people from different lived experiences, who happen to seek a common interest in my work. Because technologies have impacted the landscape of contemporary arts so drastically, I wanted to take my own interdisciplinary approaches to arts education and art-making to the next level. I also want to explore making art spaces, whether physical or digital, more inclusive. In creating Artpop Talk, a podcast and media platform that discusses the relationship between pop-culture and art history, I can cultivate weekly artful discussions with my listeners about my interests, professional research, and the all-encompassing complexity of visual culture. Developed during the covid-19 pandemic, I like many other artists, were looking for cost-effective and safe ways to engage with others. I never envisioned that my path, directly out of my college career, would be purchasing a microphone and developing a new brand with partners across states. But intersectional and inclusive approaches to creating, are not limited to your art. There are multiple approaches to build a business while creating a healthy brand, which embraces your passions.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As an artist, I strive to create both sculptural and printed works that address contemporary consumer conditions and its relationship to our patriarchal and consumerist culture, through an intersectional feminist lens. In primarily using female anatomy, those born with these types of bodies, and what society calls “feminine merchandise,” I illustrate the operations of a commercial consumerist society, as it further perpetuates gender inequality, by employing products such as menstruation devices or beauty tools that commonly contain parabens, carcinogens, or phthalates. Given highly decorative and unique surface treatments, each sculptural body evokes ornamental theory, that directly recognizes the normalized and objectified use of bodies within the consumer world. Influenced by a social and art historical understanding of printmaking, my works on paper are reflective of modern forms of protest while consisting of similar feminist iconography, throughout the breadth of my artistic practice. One of the aspects I am constantly revisiting within my practice is how to be more inclusive and reach a larger audience in not only the ways I make a work of art, but the ways in which I write about them, and speak about them. One of the most helpful lessons I have learned in my career thus far in order to help normalize the reworking of projects has only been heavily applied in my latest research for my podcast, Artpop Talk. The lesson being, that even if you haven’t physically changed your artwork, the concept behind your work is forever changing. This is due to the natural occurrence of time, but more precisely the ever-evolving complexity of visual culture. In my work, I invite the viewer to reflect on their own consumer habits, and in doing so I rely on a larger conversation about consumption to take place—not only in our present and past consumer climate but also in the future. If there is anything I want people to know about my journey as an artist, it’s that as much as art history is a crucial part of my practice, I will be striving to explore the intersections between visual and pop culture, as well as posthuman experiences or theories. This will allow for natural and important growth in my research and in my essential relationship with the viewer.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A common misconception about living in the middle of the country is that contemporary art is not prominent in these areas. One of the wonderful things about living in Oklahoma City and growing up in this state is that I have seen the fast growth of our community and I’ve watched the arts grow with it! The Arts District in OKC is a must-see, from the first museum I remember visiting as a child, The Oklahoma City Museum of Art, to now being able to enjoy an adult beverage while taking a look around 21c OKC Museum + Hotel contemporary art gallery. Local art can be found exhibited in all kinds of places throughout the state, but I enjoy attending art crawls found in the Plaza and Paseo District in OKC, Downtown Stillwater, and The Brady Arts District in Tulsa.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate this shoutout to The Artpop Tarts– my listeners and followers of the podcast. Building this community of art enthusiasts and professionals, developed during a time where I felt dissociated from my local arts community and was searching for new ways to interact with art in an age of social distancing. The purpose of starting this media platform wasn’t just to share our perspectives on art and pop news, but to equally participate in a collective conversation about the impact and importance of visual culture. To all the visual learners and the people that made this businesswoman special dream a reality, there is no Artpop without the Tarts.

Website: https://www.giannamartuccifink.com/ & https://www.artpoptalk.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artpoptalk/ & https://www.instagram.com/gianna_martuccifink_art/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianna-martucci-fink-88983a1a7/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Artpop_Talk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtpopTalk & https://www.facebook.com/groups/710725882963396
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC3nMuxq01ZRFqt9fDcazzQ

Image Credits
Adrienne Turner Photography: Headshots for Artpop Talk Syd Hammond // Nebula: Artpop Talk Graphic Artist