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Simone C. NiquilleConor ThompsonEdgar ArceneauxKathleen Ryan

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I first met artist Edgar Arceneaux in the Young Arts Program at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, where he taught me and fifteen others how to create mash-up videos similar to his film Hulk Alter You! (2012). I later became one of his studio assistants, helping him complete his project A Time to Break Silence (2013), organize a trip to São Tome, and much more. Edgar’s work is concerned with the accessibility of memory and art’s ability to enhance or reinterpret it. His searing insight into the art world and stories about growing up in Los Angeles have helped me understand my place as an artist working in L.A. This interview was first conducted on the northeast side of the UCLA campus, and subsequently revisited during a car ride from 1st Street to 107th Street in downtown Los Angeles, on our way to the former site of the Watts House Project. The edits in red and blue are the work of Graphite editors; the margin comments and alterations in pen are mine and Edgar’s. 5

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1 image for Simone C. Niquille’s FaceValue

2 Front Loader, 2014, oil on canvas with artist’s frame, 26” x 30”3 Father Figure, 2013, oil on panel with artist’s frame, 15” x 21”4 Night School, 2013, oil on canvas with artist’s frame, 13” x 15”

5 Clear About It: an interview with Edgar Arceneaux6 The Library of Black Lies, 20147 Tuvok, Tupac, Spock, 19978-9 The Agitation of Expansion, 201310 A Time To Break Silence, 2013

11 Double Door, 2013, glazed ceramic, steel scaffold, 154” x 45” x 4.5” 12 Double Door, detail13 Block Wall, 2012, glazed ceramic, steel, 72” x 140” x 24”