Maggie Tran is a British artist whose work is informed both by her Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese heritage and by the nature of Britishness, femaleness, foreignness and other stereotypical notions of being. She grew up in Cheshire and studied at Northumbria University, from which she received a sculpture award in 2004. Together with Graeme Walker she curated Bookville and the Bookville Publishathon at the Waygood Gallery in Newcastle, leading workshops in performance and publishing, and is currently working on “Performazine” — a curative project on paper and an exploration of the aesthetics of performance. Maggie Tran herself has performed in various locations in UK and Europe, appearing in such diverse guises as the Geisha in a Cupboard, The Ultimate Chinese Culture Fanatic, The Original Artiste, and The Enhancement of Creativity Fortuitous Fortune Teller.
What do you do all day?
Trying to make a living, trying to survive, trying to be. 10,000 different things go through my head per day. If I can, I work towards something creative, whether it’s a sketch, an idea or a thought. I plan and have thoughts on how to make my life creative and then frequently try to do it.
What have you done today?
Today has been a ‘non-art’ day, I’ve been working doing a desk job in phone sales in the (mini) advertising department of an arts magazine.
What’s your working process?
To be in a one person sealed-space think-tank and then to be able to interact with lots of different and interesting people regularly. I bounce off other peoples’ thoughts and their creative activity, bringing my own energy and enthusiasm into the mix like a mashed up shaken regurgitation with a twist. I like to work intuitively, letting the work inform me of what I’m trying to communicate instead of me trying to pre-empt it. It’s much more interesting that way – it’s free from my own attempts to impose restrictions.
What’s the best thing about what you do?
Having a good quality of life, a constant potential for surprises, not being “safe”, waking up and thinking yeah I’m alive.
And the worst thing?
Being stupidly poor, compromising the quality of my work and my time by doing jobs on the side that I hate or I’m not too keen on because I’m trying to find some sort of balance to keep on doing what I love. Still habitually conforming to what I don’t believe in.
How did you get into it?
I started drawing crazy pictures when I was nine.
What’s been the biggest achievement in your career so far?
Doing what I’m doing even in states of great doubt, rejection, fear and isolation.
Where do you go from here, career-wise?
I make more time for my art. It would be great if I could just be completely immersed in it 24/7. Maybe I am, because everything’s part and parcel, but I would like a wee moment of security just to get my head around things.
Have you got any advice for someone trying to do what you do?
To keep your integrity and not turn bitter, create your own flow and don’t get envious.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A singer, actress, and director.
And if you were going to have a complete career change, what would you go for?
I wouldn’t really think about this even in a pretend world, everything else seems to not compare, even if I was something crazy like an astronaut I would see it as art.
Where do you look for inspiration?
Raw places, extreme to grey-tone-bland experiences, cities, bad dates, books that change you overnight, things that really freak me out or make me depressed, watching crazy films, doing something unusual, places where ‘art’ isn’t considered – the list is endless.
Which other artists do you look [up] to?
This one’s really hard! I was really into Hayley Newman’s work for a while, a long time ago. Maurizio Cattellan keeps that mysterious artist genius thing going. A lot of small time artists and people I know as friends make the best work that I’ve ever seen. Anyone who’s brave and has anything to say that pulls no punches, even if it means putting yourself in the red.
What constitutes a successful work, for you?
It varies. Something that has good energy, something that someone’s really into, something where there’s strong focus and thought.
What constitutes an unsuccessful work?
Arty-farty dry cliquey rubbish. Someone who hasn’t got a clue what they’re talking about. Really bad hobby-craft work – so bad its not even good. People who do things because they think they ought to instead of because they want to. Work that is scared to take risks.
