INTERVIEW: Cj Hendry Talks Designing Plaidgrounds and Why She's Not an Influencer
Ahead of her 10th solo show, taking place in Brooklyn.
Whether you live in Australia, New York or London, you’ll likely be aware of hyper-realistic artist Cj Hendry. Queen of conceptual design and creating immersive experiences, the Australian-born, New-York based creative is about to embark upon her 10th solo show, and it’s even bigger and better than the last.
Titled Plaidground, the experiential exhibition houses 24 artworks, comprising two-dimensional drawings of dry brush strokes alongside large-scale concepts, drawing inspiration from Hendry’s current state of life. “I’ve got two young kids. We’re in the little bullsh-t stage at the moment so I spend a lot of time around little kid things like playdough and balloons,” the artist tells Hypebae. “I’m at playgrounds a lot, so we’re building a playground. Wherever I’m at in my life is kind of where the idea stems from,” she continues.
Outside of large-scale works and experiences, Hendry’s previously collaborated with the likes of lululemon and Christian Louboutin, but don’t be fooled, she doesn’t take the term “influencer” lightly and confirms that first and foremost, she is an artist. “I think with any following, whether you’ve got 100 followers, a million followers or 10 million followers, I think you do influence people. But I think my Instagram account is quite different,” Hendry tells us.
Ahead of her 10th solo show, we caught up with the artist to find out more about where her inspiration comes from, why experiential elements are the most challenging parts of her craft and what the future holds.
Scroll down to read the full interview.
Cj Hendry
For those who haven’t come across your work before, how would you describe it? What do you hope that viewers will take away from it?
I am always a bit hesitant to put forth what I want people to take away because I just put it out there and it’s like, to hell with what people think. My work is just kind of about where my brain’s at and the things that I like to talk about and make. How people interact with it and walk away from the show feeling is completely up to them. In terms of my work, I’m a hyper-realistic artist. I make drawings that could be mistaken as photographs. And alongside that, I produce these extraordinary and huge concepts to kind of marry the drawing side and the conceptual side together. They’re always big, enormous events. That’s kind of what they’ve turned into by accident. I always like to let people do their own thing and walk away completely uninterrupted. If they hate it, they hate it. And if they love it, they love it.
Totally. You’re about to host your 10th show. What can you tell us about the inspiration behind this series of works?
I always seem to come back to this theme of painting, because I’m a horrible painter, and I can’t paint. I think I find it really like entertaining, mainly for myself, because I’m like, “Oh, I’m gonna draw paint.” I find that concept quite funny. Throughout my whole career, I’ve referenced paint from time to time so in a sense, this is no different, but this is my first 2D series. It’s a lot of really, really flat drawings. If people were to look at these framed paintings on the wall, I think they’d be like, “OK, cool?” but for those who know my work, they know that there’s a lot more depth involved and a lot more energy involved.
Plaid seemingly marks a bit of a departure from the things that you’ve done before. Why was it important for you to explore something different and challenge yourself?
I think it’s always good to keep progressing as best you can. I don’t know if I’m doing a great job, but I’m doing my job. I’m always trying to do new things. I think what I really enjoy is the large scale of the exhibitions that I’m doing at the moment, I find that really interesting and challenging. I’ll be honest, I don’t find the drawings challenging. I think I’ve gotten to a stage where I find that really meditative and lovely, to just sit down and draw. But that’s not the hard part of my practice. What I find really difficult is the bigger installation side, I think that’s always the more challenging and progressive side to my practice.
That leads us to my next question… The displays of your work often do incorporate like bigger experiential, and immersive experiences. Where does that fit into your creative process? At what point does that idea kind of come into it?
Generally speaking, all the ideas start with the drawings and then I build on ideas from there. I’ve tried to do it the other way around, or I’ve tried to think of the big thing first and it always ends up being a clusterf-ck. Now, I try to start with the drawings and then move on and see what the idea will dictate, which sounds really faffy. But that’s kind of how it works.
Cj Hendry
Taking a few steps back then, when you start on a new collection or a show, what’s the first thing that you do?
It very much depends on what I’ve been thinking about. For example, right now, I’m thinking about balloons. I sit with the idea for a while and try to think about how I can talk about balloons in a different way. Similarly, I always come back to paint and ask “How can I talk about painting in a different way?” I’ve done thick, juicy, like swishes of paint and it’s really three dimensional, so then I start to think about the fact that two dimensional is really interesting and looks really flat. I’ll sit with the idea for a while before something new comes to me.
That makes sense. What can you tell us about the materials that you work with? What draws you to working with a particular substance?
I’ve got two young kids. We’re in like, the little bullsh-t stage at the moment so I spend a lot of time around little kid things like playdough and balloons. Whether you want it or not, plastic and bullsh-t enters into your home in some way. I ended up sitting with things like pipe cleaners and beads and I stumble across ideas, depending on where I am in my life. Right now, I’m with my kids and I’m at playgrounds a lot, so we’re building a playground. Wherever I’m at in my life is kind of where the idea stems from.
In terms of previous work and collaborations, you’ve worked with Lululemon and Christian Louboutin in the past, who else would you say is on your dream collaborations list? Is there anyone else that you would love to work with?
I don’t like to push it. If it’s right, it’s right. If it’s wrong, I feel very wrong. So I typically do my own thing most of the time, and if and when a collaboration makes sense, and the brand is really open-minded and lets me do my thing, then it works. I’ll be honest with a lot of different teams and brands, I’d say 98% of the time we say no, just because it seems really convoluted and clouty. You know when paid adverts pop up on your feed, it just feels so influencer-y and generally doesn’t really work.
Cj Hendry
Do you consider yourself to be an influencer?
I truly consider myself an artist. But I think with any following, whether you’ve got 100 followers, a million followers or 10 million followers, I think you do influence people but I think my Instagram account is quite different. A lot of influencers, their whole job is to get paid for posts. I post and I don’t get paid for any. A lot of people want to send gifts, and I say I don’t accept gifts. To an extent, I am very much an influencer but only of my own sh-t. I don’t sell other people’s stuff on my platform. I will never do it.
That’s a fair enough assessment. Finally, what’s next for you? What are some of your future goals?
It sounds really strange but I am not the type of person who knows what the world’s gonna look like in 2, 3 or 10 years time. For me, it’s one step in front of the other like, every year, we’ll figure it out, or we don’t figure it out. I don’t like to plan ahead, I feel like the right thing will happen at the right time.
Cj Hendry’s Plaidground is now available to visit at 220 Newel Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
While you’re here, check out our list of the most Instagrammable art experiences in London.
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