David Buetsche | Mixed-Media Art | Ohio, USA

Interview

What’s something you’ve been noticing lately that’s influencing your work?

I’ve been thinking a lot about erosion and the disappearance of place, especially along the coast. The rope, charts, hardware, and other maritime objects I gather aren’t really the subject of the work. They carry the history of the people, industries, and landscapes that are slowly disappearing as coastlines change. I’m interested in bringing those fragments back into abstract depictions of the places they came from, almost as if the landscape is trying to hold onto its own history. The objects aren’t the subject. They’re evidence.

Is there a piece, project, or idea you keep returning to lately?

I keep coming back to a body of work I’m calling Coastal Ruinism. It’s become a way for me to explore maritime history, disappearing working waterfronts, eroding coastlines, and the traces people leave behind.

I’m approaching it from several different directions because there isn’t one single way to talk about an issue this complex. Through mixed media assemblage, minimal sculpture, and constructed collage, I’m trying to bring these conversations about place, memory, and environmental change into a contemporary art context.

What’s been difficult lately?

Honestly, it feels like artists are expected to wear so many hats now. You’re making the work, but you’re also trying to be your own marketer, publicist, social media manager, photographer, and grant writer. It can be exhausting, and it leaves less time for the studio. That’s why opportunities like this feel so meaningful. Sometimes artists just need help being seen.