Dean Azzouz: In the most open-ended way possible, who are you?
Dave Kube: My name is Dave Kube. I use He/Him pronouns. I consider myself a queer photo-based artist, and my practice is about pushing boundaries. I use photography to create installations within gallery spaces.
DA: I do see a lot of vinyl work. A lot of things that are up on the wall. There's a few different cameras here. A big printer.
DK: Yeah. I'm a technology person, so I need my technology to make work. I like to play with space, and push a viewer’s eye to different places, as opposed to just the standard gallery format.
DA: Yeah. Kind of just that eye level.
(here we started discussing work Dave has on display in his studio)
DK: Yeah. I want people to look around. I've been playing around a little bit with movements in space. For instance, this thing right here where there are beads hanging right when you first walk in. It stops you as you enter, which I like.
DA: You're forced to take an adjacent step.
DK: Right. And then that circle on the floor is like an entryway. I’m Interested in pushing the gallery experience to be something different. I think with photography in particular, there's somewhat of a question of going to a gallery to see the same photo you can see online.
In Dave’s studio at Stove Works.
DA: Yeah, for the average person, there is a bit of an argument there: well, why would I, right?
DK: I really like this idea when I install a show. I want viewers coming to a show to leave with an experience that's very different than something that you would experience on a computer or phone. However, it does present a challenge when it comes to documenting this work because you don't get the sense of scale and how the work looms over you.
DA: So it’s position in space?
DK: Yeah, that's a big goal of mine to really push that interaction within the space.
DA: Was there an exhibit or gallery you were part of recently that you think you were able to hit that kind of goal?
DK: I’m always trying to figure out new ways to push that goal even further. The work is always evolving.
DA: The goal of one project or even where it ends up after the initial impulse is often very different sometimes.
DK: Right, and since being here I've been thinking more about pushing the viewer to different directions, and now it’s also thinking about this doorway entrance and how it pushes people into a pattern of how they move in the space. That’s becoming really interesting to me too. I like working in 2D format, but there's this sculptural element such as putting something on the floor but flat. How do you reconcile that, right? Whereas if it's a sculpture on the floor you clearly walk around it, but if it's flat you walk in it,
DA: Or are there people worried about stepping on the image itself? Or does somebody even notice?
DA: Right, maybe because it's on the floor it’s not that important. In this room right now there's two vinyl things here on the ground: there’s the circle at the door you're talking about. And then I see these crystal shapes of pink and purple. A little trail coming off the base point of the wall. And for me, sitting in this space right now and looking at that circle, walking in, I would not hesitate or have some sort of bad reaction for stepping on it. That one (pink crystals) does not feel like I want to step on that. Right?
DK: Well, the circle feels like it’s meant to be stepped inside. There’s a white paper in the middle right now that is actually going in my sketchbook at the end of the residency. That paper is just the documentation of people walking into that circle. The purple pieces feel much more avoidable where you are supposed to walk around it.
DA: What kind of art education, if any, do you come from?
DK: I have an MFA in photography from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. I graduated about 15 years ago.
DA: Okay. So, since then, you've just been practicing?
DK: I'm also a professor, I teach photography at a place called Commonwealth University. That's also in Pennsylvania. I've been there for ten years.
DA: How long are you going to be here for your residency and how has your time been so far?
DK: I’ve been here for the month of February, and I'm here until the end of March. So far, it’s been a nice mix of productivity and socialization. I don’t think I was expecting to build the type of relationships I’ve built in such a short amount of time with the other residents. We’ve all bonded in a supportive way. I’m also just really impressed with how dedicated Stove Works is to creating an environment that supports the arts and its residents. There have been so many community events in the month since I’ve been here which has really helped my practice in significant ways.
DA: Ok, we get another month of Dave. Perfect.
DK: Most of what you see in my studio has been created over the month of February. I'm actually trying to take things down because I’ve filled up the space, so being in the studio space sort of feels simultaneously complete and simultaneously overwhelming too. There's so much everywhere. I've been able to move one piece out in the hall, and I'm starting to take stuff down so I can start fresh for March; have new things to work on.
DA: Do you think there's anything in here right now that you will keep up?
DK: The ones on the floor will stay for sure. And quite a bit of stuff might go out in the hallway, so It will still be up. Just moving things around and playing. That’s my goal at the moment.
DA: Can I ask about some of the work that's in here? I cannot stop looking at this elastic, I don't even know what it is; is it underwear?
DK: It’s a jockstrap.
DA: I am so locked in on this jockstrap. I cannot stop looking at it. Can you tell me a little bit about this?
DK: You're looking at my wall of unresolved or failed stuff. The whole idea of the work I'm doing is about queer spirituality. I scanned those in, and I thought that they looked almost like those angel wings that you stand behind. I was playing with it, but I could never really get it to do what I wanted it to do. I printed it off, so I’ve kept it up and it kind of looks like a heart now. But I think it's probably dead in the water at this point, but it might evolve into something.
DA: The material that you scanned in has an extremely delightful visual texture to look at. The textile, the elasticity, and just all of it. I can feel the stretching. I know that feeling very well. Obviously the content of it, before I knew it was a jockstrap, feels very undergarment.
Do you have a teacher or an artist you look up to?
DK: There are so many artists that come to my mind. I will say, it's not an artist, per se, but I was in San Francisco recently, and there was this museum called Pier 24. They were a large photography museum and recently closed. However, the way that the shows were laid out was super inventive, and it wasn't this linear format. They have these big vinyl photos that were attached to the wall with framed pictures on top of it, or pictures were grouped into little categories on the wall and in different places like down low or up high. The formatting of how they curated the shows were really interesting. I found a lot of inspiration from that. I think Wolfgang Tillmans is also a good example of playing with the gallery experience and photography.
DA: Thank you. Now, we get to the fun questions. If resources were no limiting factor, what's a dream project you would like to work on or accomplish?
DK: I'm a technophile. As much as I use technology, I don't necessarily understand some stuff. I’m not very proficient in audio/video/electronics. Especially installations that involve audience reactions, like LIDAR. They’ve been doing some LIDAR installation where things change as you move. I don't know if I would want to do that specifically, but stuff like that where it's using this interesting, cutting-edge technology to create installations or experiences.
DA: Like another input. Like live modularity, I guess.
DK: Exactly and resources are not just physical, but it's also mental and understanding how that stuff works.
DA: If you were an instrument, what instrument would you be?
DK: I would be a drum machine. Not the actual drum.
DA: Like an 808.
DK: Right. Yeah.
DA: Are you familiar with the Linn Drum. It's one of the oldest drum machines, I think it came out in the 80s or late 70s. It’s got some iconic sounds on it, and it's this huge machine. I always really like the font they used on it. It's this yellow with a red outline. It's kind of a serif. I don't know, it's this really old school looking font on the machine, it just says Linn Drum real big. Maybe you're a Linn Drum.
DA: Are you a dancer?
DK: I am a dancer! Not a good one. This morning, I was dancing on that little roof chimney platform.
DA: It’s covered up, right? Did it feel sturdy? Did you feel like it was going to fall in?
DK: I mean, I’m pretty small. I was more worried about falling off, than falling in.
DA: So, companion question to are you a dancer: what's your favorite dance song? Or I think for me I don't have a favorite dance song, but I have a favorite genre or, artists, or DJ that I find myself listening to a lot.
DK: Probably contemporary pop divas.
DA: Can you give some examples?
DK: I've been listening to Ariana Grande or Sabrina Carpenter in the studio regularly.
DA: Did you watch the music awards that just went down a while ago?
DK: I watched some of the performances. Sabrina Carpenter’s was good, and I loved the humor in it. I don’t know if you saw it?
DA: No, but I heard about it on the news. I heard it was really well-produced, the whole performance.
DK: There were little tricks on stage to make it look like things are going wrong, but they were all planned and cleverly done.
DA: Tuesday or Thursday?
DK: I think I'm partial to Tuesday.
DA: Dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate?
DK: So I'm mostly vegan, so dark chocolate.
DA: What's your dream blunt rotation and your nightmare blunt rotation?
DK: I would probably choose the people here. Most of us have been here for just a month and we've bonded really well. Nightmare? I don't know, maybe completely hard-core conspiracy theorists. While it might be kind of interesting in some ways, it feels like it could quickly turn.
DA: When I ask this question people often say, I don't want to be in a room with Elon Musk or Alex Jones, stuff like that.
DK: I think it’s this inability to take in new information that terrifies me.
DA: Yeah. It's kind of a weaponized rhetoric in a way. Like an impenetrable wall. And especially the people that perpetuate it are the sentinels of that rhetorical wall. They will not let anything pierce that ideological wall. Which does sound like a nightmare to be stuck in a conversation, especially being the odd one out.
DA: Sweet. Well thanks, Dave. That was awesome. I appreciate it.
DK: Thank you.
///////////////
Dave Kube is in residence at Stove Works from February through April ‘25.
Dave Kube earned his MFA in Photography from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. His work has been exhibited throughout the country including Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, California, and Florida. Kube has curated and juried a number of exhibitions related to themes of sexuality and identity. He was the recipient of a month-long residency fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center. He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Photography at Bloomsburg University.
Dave Kube was interviewed by Dean Azzouz, SW Spring intern ‘25.