Aliquam ac erat at neque accumsan tris-tique. Praesent id tempor nisl. Curabitur sed nulla at magna venenatis cursus vitae nec tortor. Fusce dictum fringilla.
Maecenas ipsum purus, ultricies ut hendrerit ac, imperdiet et lectus. Nulla facilisi. Proin porttitor bibendum rhoncus. Praesent imperdiet nunc et sem dignissim elementum. Donec lobortis congue fringilla. Donec consequat ornare sodales. Nunc posuere mattis mi, ut facilisis ligula accumsan vel. In consectetur accumsan diam, eget porttitor justo luctus id. Nulla porta nibh sed lacus feugiat fringilla. Nam ut leo augue. Donec pellentesque, enim ac gravida congue, lorem velit aliquet turpis, non adipiscing mauris dui at nisi. Nulla lobortis sagittis ligula, nec tristique nisl iaculis a. Proin cursus mi a nunc bibendum fermentum. Integer ultricies arcu et nunc interdum id sagittis mauris pharetra. Duis elementum aliquam eros, nec egestas orci laoreet eget. Nunc erat velit, aliquet non consectetur non, placerat eget sapien.
Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae. Cras et eros convallis risus ullamcorper aliquam at in odio. Quisque vitae rutrum mi. Aliquam ac erat at neque accumsan tristique. Praesent id tempor nisl. Curabitur sed nulla at magna venenatis cursus vitae nec tortor. Maecenas elit nunc, porttitor non tincidunt nec, scelerisque vel dolor. Suspendisse consectetur mauris vitae odio semper euismod. Curabitur in enim augue. Curabitur vel tincidunt odio. Integer volutpat tempus nunc, sed molestie velit pellentesque eu. Praesent dapibus enim turpis, at lacinia purus. Fusce dictum fringilla justo ut pellentesque. Vivamus eu urna dolor, id ultrices odio. Fusce sit amet sem nibh. Phasellus rhoncus imperdiet egestas.
Suspendisse consectetur mauris vitae odio semper euismod. Curabitur in enim augue. Curabitur vel tincidunt odio. Integer volutpat tempus nunc, sed molestie velit pellentesque eu. Praesent dapibus enim turpis, at lacinia purus.
Integer volutpat tempus
Fusce dictum fringilla justo ut pellentesque.
15
Hello Daniel and welcome to NotRandomArt. The current issue is revolving around the problem of communication and identity. Is there any particular way you would describe your identity as an artist but also as a human being in dynamically changing, unstable times? In particular, does your cultural substratum/identity form your aesthetics?
I think virtually everyone’s cultural identity forms their aesthetic…. how it could not? In the classic nature vs. nurture model, I have always emphasized the latter. The reason being is if we emphasize nature, in any argument…. regardless of it is even the case – I think we intrinsically resist any collective, or cultural responsibility for the conditions of others. If we look at any given situation as the result of the nurture side of it, we have to own up to our part in any given situation – as a culture, or an individual. In regard to my work, my thematics are much more esoteric and even abstracted, than topics such as reclaiming cultural depictions or the viewer’s gaze – both of which are so prevalent in so much artwork these days. I have for many years, been addressing the intrinsic issues of modernism – as a goal and communicative device, and equating its inadequacies to the scientific method. Both have their shared and institutional problems, that make them incapable of actually dealing with or defining the world in any meaningful way. Take biology for example…. We attempt to define a species from isolated, desiccated individuals preserved in formaldehyde, or pinned to a surface. This is in direct contrast to the classic Butterfly Effect theory - This is the idea that large-scale events can have a small causation, and that everything is interrelated on a much greater scale than we acknowledge. While my work has always been reactionary, the interesting thing is that the current and frightening political climate has not changed what I have chosen to address, but rather…. it has changed peoples’ receptiveness to it. I had shifted my concerns to addressing the release of covert and often redacted CIA documents which tell of a dark world of clandestine operations and experimentation – to nefarious and disturbing ends. MK ULTRA is the overarching title of a program that houses various specific operations, such as Project Monarch, Project Blueboy, etc. – each with their own names, goals and methodologies… and none of them pretty. Many of these programs are still in place, they have just gone “black” as to hide them from the public even more. So, after a number of years of examining the problems with scientific inquiry, I found myself looking deeper into the motivations, not just the results. I asked myself “why?” and on a regular basis I realized there was always a rather dark agenda in action. So, I now address these conspiracies. It’s a bit rough when the vast majority of the population doesn’t even realize they exist. So, I have chosen a topic very few can embrace. The interesting thing is that during the prior administration in the US, most people would not even acknowledge the possibility of a nefarious and unseen agenda – as if it was speaking ill of a beloved President at that time… and how dare I? Now, it seems much more obvious that those in power do not have our best interests at heart. Well…. It’s been like that for generations, whether we wish to admit it or not. I have chosen to give visual and metaphorical form to these ideas, regardless of whether the viewer understands the issue or not. And to this end, I have tried to find a visual and metaphorical language that can exist on its own in the world, but has a depth of interpretation and meaning, so as not to trivialize the issues at play here.
Would you like to tell us something about your artistic as well as life background? What inspired you to be at this artistic point in your life, where you are now?
I was recently speaking to someone and said “I make the work simply because I have to”. What I meant by this was really a twofold - I have always felt I should address issues larger than myself, but also that I am on a course I cannot cease. If I just pushed paint around, solely to arrive at a pretty picture, I would feel as if I am doing a disservice to the idea and perhaps the responsibility of communicating in a public forum. I have often looked at it as if I had a billboard what is it I would choose to put on that billboard? Some artists may choose an image completely divorced from the larger world they exist in. Some may choose to use the obvious language and symbolism found within advertisements… I have chosen a third course – to communicate issues in a non-overt manner that may prompt the viewer to investigate, research, or arrive at a place they would not have otherwise. So – I guess my point is… I am making work, because I need to. I am driven. It fills a place and a role that nothing else can, or will. It is not something I can walk away from. It is perhaps akin to a marathon runner – everything is filtered through that activity. It defines who you are and wires your brain to work in a very specific way.
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about your identity as a participant of the visual culture?
Becoming a PhD in Gender Studies in Arts, I was writing and investigating topics of racial differences in current art. The conclusions are surprisingly sad and have caused me pain. In museums, women’s bodies are often shown by works of artists. Mainly a white nude body is displayed, but I have seen dark-skinned female bodies that are over sexualized. All these seemingly innocent treatments are indispensable and their ground is incredibly destructive. Adrian Piper's works are very close to me, and her reflections encourage me.
Mainly the work description left on the table, where she was working alone in a cafe and was not expecting flirting male visitors at the same place. I invite you to check out that piece. Also… Guerilla Girls' work about race gives me the energy to fight and show the truth, which is often overwhelmed by many. These works point to the: "Hello, we have a problem. It is growing as a cancerous tumor and needs to be treated." I honor Ana Mendieta as well. I appreciate her intensive works, which display female bodies as beautiful and delicate but also as bloody and aggressive. I think her art work inspires the need for me to speak about female organs and menstruation as a Panteic creation. I think this piece inspired my panting called “Cosmic Vagina”.
You truly are a multidiscipliary artist: you express your thoughts using photography, video, painting, drawing. How do you choose the technique you feel will be the most meaningful for the idea you want to express?
In my daily life I am still working and using many techniques as a way to relieve my anxiety, quite like sublimation. My emotions are out of proportion to the events that cause them — they bother me and I need to get rid of them. Much of the psychoanalysis I’ve done is present in my work. I could speak hours about differences between painting and photography. Paintings capture the most intense or important “peak” of the story which is narrated. Cached, painted, presented.
In my case dreams are undoubtedly the base of a deep reflection on a topic. I consider myself a very spiritual person, and I believe that all of our answers stay within us. Our unconscious somehow arranges the majority of our decisions.
nas was one of the first performance installations that really made a huge impact on me. I was living in Paris during this time, in the early 90s, with a lot of influences from different cultures. It became the starting point of my own work. Joan Jonas practice has explored ways of seeing, the rhythms of ritual, and the authority of objects and gestures. Jonas continues to find new layers of meanings in themes and questions of gender and identity that have fueled her art for over thirty years. She is a great inspiration still today.
It is impossible to avoid the topic of body consciousness, embodied emotions and the image of body and personal identity that we see in your practice. What is the function of the identity appearing in your artworks – is it a canvas used to present your ideas or rather the subject of the art? What inspired you to use this as a theme in your practice?
I have been developing my visual imagery since I began studying art and film - from conceptual thinking, composition, using light and colour in different ways, through all the different techniques I've utilised over the years in my work and in my collaborations with stage artists such as dancers, musicians and actors. My approach is always developing through exploring these things. Visual imagery in essence is your way of experiencing what you see and transforming it. This is my world that I want to share and express through my art. The body consciousness, embodied emotions and the image of body and personal identity is part of this visual imagery, the emotional essence in my practice. Always present and always developing in different themes and projects.
Marina Abramovic stated: You see, what is my purpose of performance artist is to stage certain difficulties and stage the fear the primordial fear of pain, of dying, all of
which we have in our lives, and then stage them in front of audience and go through them and tell the audience, 'I'm your mirror; if I can do this in my life, you can do it in yours.'Can you relate anyhow to these words?
de-identify myself, by losing my roots, my culture, I would be very happy. Unfortunately the human being does'nt choose the place where he is born. He grows up in a society that automatically identifies, through education, culture, family... More than ever I think it's more important to go on a way of self-knowledge with the aim to meet “the other”.. This other without which we can not exist. It's the same for the artist. It is more important for me to be focused on my practice than to try to define it according to esthetic criteria of identification. It's probably the reason i like to remember the painter Matisse who said or wrote that an artist must never be prisoner of himself, prisoner of a style, prisoner of a reputation.
Would you like to tell us something about your background? Could you talk a little about experiences that has influence the way you currently relate yourself to your artworks?
All my way is influenced by encounterings.
It began by the meeting with my professor of literature at school. More than giving French or Literature classes, she brought us to discover texts, movies, plays, visual artworks and to think about on what we saw or read.. Thanks to her that I met Pierre Vincke, a theatredirector who was worjink in the tradition of Grotowski ... Both of them have led me to go to theater school. In this school I had meetings. Meetings with artists but also and especially human beings that made me discover. I always need o discover rather than to master a practice. It's probably the reason my encounter with Monica Klingler and Boris Nieslony was decisive for me and led me on the path of Performance Art which is a form still difficult to define. Each performance artist has a different definition of what it is...
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about race and ethnic identity in visual culture?
No I don't have a specific artwork that has influenced my artistic practise but many.
I'm influenced by some philsophers as well as poets or musicians or dancers or visual artists but also by some places or landscapes or atmospheres ... For some years, I was used for example to go to India where I was used to follow some traditionnal muscians or to learn bharatanatyam and practice vipassana meditation... Of course this experience has impacted my art work.... This brought me to think and work differently... My experience in India brought me to discover traditionnal strong art and paradoxally to the way of Performance Art. But there I see one common point: to make no separation between art and life and to be here and now, without projection on the future.
It's difficult for me to speak about race and ethnic identity. But I can say that today we miss more and more this notion of “to be here and now” which is more present in some cultures ... By practising Performance Art, it's my way to be connected to this way of thinking. And even in this field actually it's more and more difficult. The society and the art world brings us more and more to plan in advance, to define our work, more than to do. Just to do. To do what we deeply need.
And of course, my encountering with Black Market International and later the notion of Open Source or Open session via PAErsche have also a big impact on my work. When we go on that, each of us perform by sharing time and space but without trying to convince each other on some common way. This is for me a wonderfull way how we can meet each other, regardless of our origin, our race or our “identity”...
Many of your works carry an autobiographical message. Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.
My memory is clearly a starting point to create. I don't have any autobiographical message. I use my personnal experience ( what I feel , what I see, what I learn, what I ear...) to work. It's a motor or a material. I'm not able to paint, so I can't do something with red or white or yellow or black colors. All I have is life, a body alive. And I need to do something with that...
My sensation about life sometimes is too intense then I need to transform this intensity in some action. Some artistic action... If people can take something from this action this is great... but I don't want to give them “a specific message” or to control the translation of my experience.