FLAUNT MAGAZINE: Chris Coy

September 16, 2016

L.A.-based artist and filmmaker Chris Coy's work inhabits an uncanny valley of gestures created through the encoding of libidinal desire via digital interventions. With a practice rooted in his Mormon cultural heritage, Coy occupies a psychological terrain within his deformed gridded paintings, photographic assemblages, and video works of adolescent shame, sexuality, fear, and desire. “Filmmaking is make- believe.” Coy says, “I’m an animator in the magickal sense of the word. I love moving pictures. Actors, sets, objects, and pictures become the raw material for systems of image-making.”

What spiritual beliefs, if any, do you subscribe to?

I seek truth and harmony with the natural vibrations of the universe. I am a child in dark woods.

What are the draws of being a working artist in Los Angeles?

I went to school here and have a lot of close friends whose work and practices I find inspiring. It’s a city that’s accustomed to all sorts of creative requests and has a lot of resources that serve the entertainment industry. You can find most anything—it’s cool. I accept the city for what it is and try not to project my needs onto it—I let it reveal itself to me. For the first two years I lived here I didn’t use GPS while driving for that exact reason, I just had a map I’d consult when I got lost.

What does beauty mean to you?

Beauty is the highest purpose.

Do you always act on your first impulse, or do you plan your pieces meticulously?

My work tends towards the realization of first instincts—their ambition and scope requires a fair bit of planning and coordination after the fact, but the core idea is always instinctually simple.

Chris Coy's exhibition, A Little Death, runs September 10 – October 22, 2016 at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles