Interview with Alex Bigney
August 4, 2008
QUESTION: Now that you’re ready to publish the book, you’ve been involved in giving a number of private readings around your home as well as public appearances in various regions around the country. Does this have something to do with the way you’re marketing the book?
ANSWER: “The readings are a way to create interest in the book, which is a big topic. Of course we want the noise about the book to spread and at the same time, we want to learn how people are responding to various aspects of the book. We want to have a personal and direct connection with the average reader. Since the first edition of the book will be self-published, we also want to attract a variety of resources that will help us when it’s ready in the early Fall of 2008. We’re also exploring the demographics of the book and learning what the range of interest really might be. So far the response has been very positive.”
QUESTION: What is Talking To Tesla about?
ANSWER: “The book describes the extremities of an artist’s intimate experience. The story, the journal suggests that artists see and experience things differently than the way most people do—yet the book also asserts that everyone has an “artist” within themselves. The real story takes place within each reader. As it states in chapter 28, “We’re the theatre he has chosen for this drama to unfold in. It resonates within us, we bring it to life.” I want this to feel like bedtime stories—for adults. I want to leave them with the feeling of being relaxed, inspired, and happy.”
QUESTION: Is this real? Did these dreams really happen? Is this about you? What’s really going on here?
ANSWER: “That’s a good question. It’s the specific question that the book is asking. My life as a mid-career, middle-aged artist is obvious throughout the journal. There are other less obvious parts of my life that are revealed in the journal. I have written the book entirely from my personal experiences. I mean, refer back to the Preface—“the events, the dreams, I believe them to be real…” What is real or not real to the reader depends on the reader. I can answer you the same way that I would if you were asking about one of my paintings—I can only tell so much without interfering with your experience. The book, like a painting, is written as an invitation to participate—for me to say too much would violate the intent of the book. A painting pretends to be a real object. Part of one’s experience with a piece of artwork depends on what one brings to the artwork from their life.
The relationship between what is true and what is real is a fun discussion—which leads me back to part of the reason for writing the book. I think paintings, literature, music, the arts, and even science is all about that relationship.”
QUESTION: How did you come up with this idea? Why did you write the book?
ANSWER: “I decided I would like to write a book that I would enjoy reading. Actually, I began to blog the idea as a result of my wife’s input. She wanted me to get it down.
It’s common for an artist or gallerists representing artwork that seems anomalous to the market to talk about the work. I began writing this book two years ago as a response to that need. A friend, who is also an artist, suggested that the blog was the perfect outline for a book that might do that.”
QUESTION: Why include a scientist in the story?
ANSWER: “The scientist is the perfect frame for the picture of an artist’s life because of the perceived differences and similarities. What better way to talk about an artist’s experience than to juxtapose it with a fanciful view of a scientist? In a painting I often expose the qualities of one color by putting it next to its complement. Part of what makes DaVinci fascinating, as an artist is that he embodies both kinds of thinking and makes them one.”
QUESTION: Why did you choose Nikola Tesla?
ANSWER: “Sometimes the subject of a painting chooses the painter. I call it inspiration.”
QUESTION: Who is Nikola Tesla? Did you know about Tesla before this? Have you done a lot of research on Tesla?
ANSWER: “Nikola Tesla is another fascinating scientist/artist. He died in 1943 and is the father of most of our technology—best known for alternating current, wireless communication and the invention of the radio. What’s interesting is that he invented a lot of stuff he doesn’t get popular credit for. His eccentricity as a scientist makes him the perfect interface with an artist, and needless to say I have learned a lot about him by writing the book.”
QUESTION: What about your readers who don’t know much about painting or science. There are a number of detailed descriptions of paintings in the book… are there pictures to help the reader understand what you’re writing about?
ANSWER: “Well, I hope the book is thought provoking. I don’t want people to have to know about science or painting in order to have a meaningful experience with the book—I hope to have written about simple inspiration in an average life—what inspires us, the parts of life that are real that we can’t always clearly see or define. I hope my descriptions of the paintings help the audience to see them clearly. The book is intended to be a sort of scavenger hunt where the reader gets to discover for themselves things they are less familiar with and unusual. That’s what makes a book (or any work of art for that matter) fun for me. Perhaps in the future there’ll be an annotated edition with pictures…but that’s down the line.”
QUESTION: When will the book be available? Why are you self-publishing?
ANSWER: “The book will be available this fall. We are speaking to a number of production resources. The book is being self-published because we want to control its content and other production aspects, such as the artistic and creative features of the book—the cover design, text design, etc. Distribution and royalties are something we also want to control for now. There are an increasing number of very popular books that have been self-published and distributed effectively.”
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