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The Corsair by Malcolm West
What role does the artist have in society?
To show what is possible. To brighten, beautify, educate, stimulate our environment and minds. To show people what is possible with just a few tools and some mud and dust.
What obstacles do you face in making and exhibiting your work?
Selection Committees, especially when they are made up of ‘contemporary artists’ that put the ‘con’ in ‘contemporary’. They like to stick to their own.
What other forms of creativity do you enjoy?
I do 2D work - paintings, drawings, mosaics. Also I blow off steam by dancing - Argentinian Tango, Swing Dance, Jive (if you consider these creative).
What are you working on right now?
At present I am working on a double portrait commission of some Tango dancers; the third in the series of The Arc of Electra (the first, Where the Wind Blows, has been shown at Appart and Birtley); a ballet piece - figure in Arabesque with a tutu; a couple of paintings and casting a large figure and four small ones.
Amongst all your works which is your favourite and why?
That's a tough one. I seem to fall back on The Corsair as it seems to have an impact on people. But there are other pieces: paintings, drawings, sculptures over the past 35 years of producing my trivial nonsense, that no one reading this would know. There are many more I am embarrassed by and don't like.
What memorable responses have you had to your work?
The one that always sits on my shoulder, that hopefully keeps me grounded, was from a German critic in a German national newspaper in response to a one-man show I was having in Germany in the 80's, showing 34 canvases, who stated that “You only need to look at his work once to see it all”.
Milonga by Malcolm West