ArticulAction Art Review May 2013

ART ART ARTiculA AA Action

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(France/Canada)

“I use the body as an object of projection, using my models as live canvasses. I cover my models under acrylic paint, hair and objects to create new existences. Finally, I crystallize the new caracters into photographs and videos.

(Bulgaria)

“The main characteristic of my work is the multi-layeredness of every painting in a combination with subtle simplicity of shapes and forms. I want to design paintings having direct influence on the spectator. ”

(Belgium)

“A work of art is always a sign. The semantic status of the sign evolves over time from multiple meanings to monosemic and vice versa. Religion, politics, advertising have used the art in a more monosemic way.

(USA)

“I employ a mixed bag of accompaynying techniques and media to the oilsof my work, usually mixing acrylic, charcoal and ink onto the substrate yet often finding new discoveries and experiments that can enhance the direction of a specific composition.” ”

(France)

“A prevailaing aspect of my work is the necessity to express the blur, either as a texture, or by superimposing foggy layers of paint, using inderterminate boundaries. When I ask myself why, I recognize a central idea of my thinking: the blur is the best way to express the truth. I find in blurred visions beauty that I have never seen in bare clarity.”

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Marie-Lou Desmeules

Vasil Tenev

Henry Pouillon

Kenneth Susynsky

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SUMMARY (Germany)

“My work explores the relationship between cultural plurality and a recycling of pop-culture, by layering different motifs from Science Fiction film stills and quotations from an art historical background, like Symbolism and color-field paintings. I see painting as the screen between the mental and the materialized zone. It offers the ability to fuse notions of past, present, and future into one field.”

“My works are watercolour series and mixed media installations that focus on personal identity and the role of the individual within society. More recently, I became interested in personal boundaries in relationships. My installations are usually site specific, connecting mediums like aquarelle, video projections and real objects.”

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“Through a displacement of function I question the interpretation of the unique, rediscovering the object by freeing it from its original function and context or use. It then returns to a state of being undefined and opening to a sense of physical, tactile rediscovery. ”

(Germany/Romania)

“Alex Bodea confronts drawing with written and spoken word. Using restricted means - a line, a few words, a laconic performance- that are inventively being combined, she delivers a complex flow of astute, witty poetry. “

(Turkey)

“In my artistic research and practice, I explore the meaning of bodily gestures, starting from a personal account, and expand this search towards visual imagery and codes in which we function, and towards the stories we watch, hear, tell and eventually act.”

(Turkey)

“ My artwork is based on personal history, on relationships and memory (dreams, space, geography, land). It is broadly related to memory, dreams, space and connotations. These topics are drawn from daily life as much as from unconscious thoughts. Essentially, I’m attempting to create images according to my own psychological needs. “

(Hungary/Germany)

Era Vati

(The Netherlands/Lithuania) Ruta Butkute

Alex Bodea

Marie-Lou Desmeules

(France / Canada)

an artist’s statement

“I am a French-Canadian born artist.

“I moved to Berlin at the age of 21 to begin my career as a painter. Six years ago I started my "Painting Surgeries" series, which is a mix of many techniques such as performance, painting, installation, photography & video.

“I use the body as an object of projection, using my models as live canvasses. I cover my models under acrylic paint, hair and objects to create new existences. Finally, I crystallize the new caracters into photographs and videos.

“I exhibited &/or performed in Germany, USA, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Vietnam & France. I currently live & work in Valencia, Spain.

“States of mind, perversions and modes of existence are what I am revealing in my work.

Buy in Dubai

An interview with

Marie-Lou Desmeules

Hi Marie-Lou, a warm welcome to ARTiculAction. Let's start this interview with our usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

A work of art is aesthetic and has the power of transmission. I believe a work of art may interact with the viewer creating a chain reaction which may create a reaction on the viewer from the inside. When I contemplate a work of art, the world stops, then it makes me react, think, and it gives me new perspectives opening new windows to discuss or create.

By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art?

The mark of a Contemporary art transports yourself into a new place. This art should evoke contradictions, irregularities, pains, and many other feeling and reactions. In a few words, it should awake you.

Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

On the contrary, traditional art was meant for the church and the nobility. Due to this reason, traditional art is more focused in pleasing the viewer. Traditional art explores harmony, standards of beauty and many technical aspects which have been developed beyond its boundaries.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? How has your experiences driven you to going beyond the limits of painting, leading you to become a multidisciplinary artist?

Painting surgeries is the result of a life. My life. I explain you briefly. I have been creating portraits all my life. At school I made caricatures, later at university I painted Pop Art-like portraits, since 6 years ago I developed a new way of express my-

self out of a frame with my Painting Surgeries. During my childhood, I went all Sundays to the flea-market with my parents. They have more than 15.000 books. This fascination for the objects was transmitted to me and I developed my fetishism into rare objects.

I was 21 years old when I moved to Berlin which was one of my dreams as an artist and a person. I developed my paintings until the time came where I asked myself what was I doing. The answer I DO NOT KNOW took me to a 2-year of internal research until I found the “Painting Surgeries”, a compound of non-boundary painting, bazar selection and discover, photography, performance and all aspects of live that passionate me.

Hypnose Michael Jackson

By the way, sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

I did not study art at university. My formation as an artist came through encounters with other artists, reading books and self-discipline. Therefore I may not judge if formal training could be stifle for a young artist. I want to believe schools may give young artist the opportunity to know which are the questions they have to ask themselves to find their path. Those questions I had to find them myself through life which is another longer and harder way.

Before getting in the matter of you art production, can you tell us something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

The best way to answer would be watching my videos on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCR6xVhK-0U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpf9FJruMtk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs5v6dJvTVU

The model gets a refreshing wave of baby protective cream. I seal his mouth with cellophane and cover his eyes with patches. I paint directly on him and the background, erasing my model's identity through another existence. Objects, acrylic paint, plastic, hair combining with surreal music create an emotional roller-coaster and inspire me.

Suddenly, the popcorn effect comes and… pop! The surgery appears!

Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with your Painting Surgeries, that our readers can admire in these pages: Can you describe a little bit about your creative process for these pieces?

It is very hard to describe the process in general, since every surgery is singular in its creative process. Some surgeries where born from a piece of paper I found in a street, other from a desire of abstraction, other from a feeling...

A Fifth of Beethoven

I am in a way that I do not like to repeat anything, so I create different processes constantly. I will explain you one of them to satisfy your curiosity.

“Hypnose”.

I wanted to deconstruct and make an abstraction of my model. I used different objects very sharp and powerful in order to change the lines and the contour of any real shape. My hands created the distortion in such a way that the background, the objects and the model melt into a new surreal composition.

You may now understand that every surgery is a complete different creative process, coming from inspiration, ideas or desires.

Napoleon is Watching You

I have found very stimulating the way many of your creations shows references to historical figures: from Napoleon to Ancient Egyptian divinities just to mention a few. You often distort the common perception around a figure, and this allows to your audience to grasp an unforeseenable bunch of meanings...

And even though I'm aware that the following analysis might sound a bit naive, I'd say that admiaring your creations is like having a thousand of simultaneous dreams...

I am flattered by your comments and I find your analysis very interesting. Having simultaneous dreams reminds me of advertisings for perfume. They intend to sell dreams.

Then it reminds me the novel “The Perfume” by skind. The story of a murderer. Each time I make surgery I feel like I am a serial Killer. I always first kill the identity of my models when I produce a surgery. And I created 140 until yet...

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, a crucial stage of your creative process is the crystalli-

zation of the final outcome of your performance: this means that a single still should sum up all the informations...

PhD Philosopher Marc Lamontagne once wrote in his essay “What Are You Up To, Marie-Lou?”: Her work displays a mode of existence which has come into being and has been fixed. The human being acts as a supporter – it carries an alienated existence, a frightening, motionless perspective.

Your artworks are capable of communicating a wide variety of states of mind: have you ever happened to discover something that you didn't previously plan and that you didn't even think about before? I'm sort of convinced that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal hidden sides of life and nature... what's you point?

I am very spontaneous and a sponge of energies. Many times the outcome of the surgery changes during the process.

One of the most clear example is when I worked for 2 years up to a BDSM studio in Berlin. The screams of the slaves as well as the electric shock noises influenced the final result. My series took a definitive twist and got more

Wish You Were Here

Birth Of A Mosquito

into the world of fetishism, horror and perversions. The most surprising unplanned outcome came in “Ride The Right Horse” surgery. The clown I tried to create became my husband!

It goes without saying that your artworks are strictly connected to the chance to create a deep interaction: so, how important is the role of your audience for your artworks?

The most important person from the audience is the model, which becomes the artwork itself. When you conceive a piece, do you happen to think to whom will enjoy it?

Yes I do think to whom it will enjoy… the answer is simple... to me!

As a person I enjoy every second of my life, and this form of art allows me to reach ecstasy. I enjoy the process, I love contemplating my sur-

geries and I really appreciate when people are getting involved and inspired.

Just wondering if you would like to answer to a question: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?

A clich question should be answered by a quote! Oscar Wilde once wrote:“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”

And what gives you the biggest satisfaction? Well, actually ain't that clich ...

My biggest satisfaction is to contemplate a surgery for hours. It inspires me and it makes me realize how many great people are participating in each piece of art.

As an example, in 2010, I was invited to perform to the event “ la chair” at University Laval of Quebec. Philosophers and art theorists have commented on my live act. This resulted in a publication of the magazine Phares that devoted seven essays. I will never forget it...

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Marie-Lou: nothing has left to say than asking you about your future plans. Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I invite all of you who are interested to enter my world to come and visit me in Valencia and become a piece of art! Those who want to know more about it visit me at www.marie-loudesmeules.com or at my Facebook page that is www.facebook.com/MarieLouDesmeulesArt

In november, I will exhibit at IVAM (Instituto Valenciano del Arte Moderno). I would like to remark my thanks to curator Mat Maria Bieczyn-

Lilge, specialized underwater-camera-operator s Lizanna Prado and inventor David Senar. All of them play an important role in this life project.

Thank you for your time. I learned a lot with your interesting questions. I am going now to prepare the set up for Pamela Anderson's surgery. I should prepare before lunch.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Vasil Tenev

(Bulgaria)

an artist’s statement

I have graduated in Art school and after that I studied Graphic design in the Art Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria. This course influenced my work immensely by teaching me and building in me the aesthetic simplicity, precise shapes, the usage of graphic symbol, and harmony between colours and lines visible throughout my works. During the years I have experienced different artistic periods having worked with ceramics, or oil painting on various surfaces, but I kept paying high efforts to preserve the aesthetic outlook and uniqueness of my artwork. I am in a constant search for new materials and shapes – after all, what a painting or plastic arts present, is namely a combination of shape, colours and idea. If an artist manages to accomplish a good combination of these he is almost certain to find an audience for his work. As I mentioned, in the course of the years I passed through different periods and as every other artist I succeeded to choose that abstract style which best reflects my personality and taste. I use different materials which I try to combine or stratify different layers. I usually start from some shape that I like in the daily life. Then I improve it adding new elements of various nature to create the painting’s overall impression that I aim at, and the specific feeling I’d like to transfer to the audience – that is, the painting’s personality. In abstract pieces of art there is no exact vision, it is rather the feeling conveyed to the spectator that speaks for the outstanding talent of its author to get in contact with his audience, to raise emotions and that is exactly what I want to stir in the audience contemplating on my artwork. If I succeed in that I have succeeded in all. The main characteristic of my work is the multi-layeredness of every painting in a combination with subtle simplicity of shapes and forms. I want to design paintings having direct influence on the spectator. My objective is to use all means of expression to impact positively the spectator by charging him directly with my positive energy and positive emotions. Every spectator pays attention to different shapes and aspects of the abstract painting. I try to facilitate this process by inserting little additional elements in each painting which would contribute to its understanding and clarity.

Contact Vasil Tenev to vaskotenev@abv.bg

Landscape in Red mixed media on canvas, 47 x 69

An interview with

Vasil Tenev

Hello Vasil, a warm welcome to ARTiculAction. I would start this interview with our usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be the features that characterize a piece of Contemporary Art? Is it just a matter of making Art during these last years?

Modern art is difficult to be characterized or described. It develops in different spheres, each one of them present different world. Many trends exist bust most of them are old styles that we rediscover now.

It is difficult to create something new and innovative that is esthetic and valuable at the same time. I think that these days many colleagues tend to overdo the “innovation while looking for easy popularity.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you hold a Master degree in Fine Arts, with a major in painting, that you have received about twenty years ago from the National Academy of Art of Sofia: how has formal training impacted on you? And how has your Art developed since you left school?

I have graduated The Art academy in Sofia, my specialIty is Applicable Graphics. Studying there contributed a lot to developing my sense of esthetics and my way of thinking that are reflected now in my work.

As you know, when creating a poster you have to combine idea, graphics, message for the audience. Blending them is very difficult. You reach the stage of simplicity of shapes and accuracy of all details.

Before getting in the matter of you art production, can you tell us something about your pro-

cess and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

The first thing is the idea. Of course that idea is provoked by something. After that I decide how to express it – what materials to use and on what. This process for me is very long because of the many different techniques that I use. What is important is the result at the end – will my piece have impact on the viewer.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start with Transparent Column that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article. Could you take us through your creative process when starting this pieces?

For the piece “The column” I decided to print

Vasil Tenev

some of my previous things on fabric when using different elements from them. Later on I decided to make them three-dimensional and that’s why I cut them and arranged the pieces. In this way I achieved 3D effect and details added on.

I've personally found it very stimulating, since it allows me to fix my attention on many different features at the same time: more than a "mixed media" work I would rather define it a "media of mix". I can recognize a liberating feel: it's like if you have conceived this work not in

order to force your audience on some details, but to let us free in your art...

Yes, you are absolutely correct.

Your works have been often awarded, and we would like to mention your first award in the tenth international competition in painting TROFEO ARTE NEL MONDO in Cesenatico, Italy.

It goes without saying that awards are capable of supporting an artist -also by a

Abstract landscape, mixed media on canvas, 80-100cm

psichological viewpoint- but I have been often wondering if an award could even influence the process of an artist... what's your point?

Prizes are good things, of course – this is appreciation of my work. They stimulate the author and gives him confidence. On the other side the process of prizing is very subjective. People like different things.

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, if an artist manages to accomplish a good combination between shape, colours and idea, he is almost certain to find an audience for his work. How important is for you the feedback of your audience? Moreover, whan you conceive a piece do you think to whom who will enjoy it?

I am from those authors who want to implement their idea at the first place, without thinking whether it will sell or not. If people like my work that means I succeeded.

Abstract Mood

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Vasil: my last question deals with your future plans. Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Many exhibitions here and abroad – I must implement my new ideas.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Vasil: my last question deals with your future plans. Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Many exhibitions here and abroad – I must implement my new ideas.

Abstract Light

Henry Pouillon

(USA)

an artist’s statement

« every intimate effort for transformation takes place in a field of resonances»

The human factor is the driving force of my images; for example I “resonate” to read Studs TERKEL's testimonials2

14 CGD (Computer Generated Design)

« cross stations » transforming these words into fists...

from the series Emma ’s story

17 images

original size : 8.25*8.25 inches

Computer Generated Design

Henry Pouillon lives and works in Belgium as an art historian.

Personal exhibitions

Z rn zu Ehren – Tribute to Unica –Hommage Unica Z rn, Maison de la La cit , Mons, mars 2012

Interpolation rouges , Espaceartgallery, Brus-sels, nov. 2011

Group exhibitions

« White Room », organized by Graver Mainte-nant; Paris, april 2013; Triennale Europ enne de l'Estampe Contemporaine , organized by Estampadura, Toulouse, spring 2013; ArcheTime : THE FACES OF TIME; New-York, december 2012; Exposition internationale d'estampe num rique miniature 7, Voix Visuelle, Ottawa, 3 november – 11 december 2012

Apero Gallerie SABAM, Brussels, with Heike Teide et Cherny,dec. 2011 – jan. 2012

E comme Emma, Galerie 100titres, Brussels, with Olivier Leloup, mai 2011 ;

Chili-Congo, Maison de la Laicit , Mons with Raymond Delor sept. 2008 ;

Publications

E comme Emma / Henry Pouillon, Mines edi-tions, isbn 978-2-930647-005, may 2011;

Henry Pouillon / Olivier Leloup, Mines editions, may 2011.

An interview with

Henry Pouillon

A warm welcome to ARTiculAction, Henry. We would like to start this interview with our usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of art?

A work of art is always a sign. The semantic status of the sign evolves over time from multiple meanings to monosemic and vice versa. Religion, politics, advertising have used the art in a more monosemic way. My opinion is that art should be more polysemous today and let the viewer feel the work or not.

Can you tell our readers a little about your background? Please tell us something about your evolution as an artist and what has lead you to become the artist you are today. By the way, how you first became interested in digital techniques as a visual medium?

I'm the son of the poet Alain Clery. I always saw art works at my home. I started working with traditional tools (oil, acrylic); Very soon I was interested in indirect techniques such as printmaking and photography: you have to wait for a surprising result, coming from the printing process or from the "revelator" liquid; it's a kind of suspense…

I made a lot of monoprints and when I have wished to show those images on the internet, i have logically used a scanner; it was the starting point of my digital prints or CGDs ( Computer Generated Design)

Before getting in the matter of your artistic production, would you like to tell us something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

Then Iused the scanner as source of the pro-

ject, scanning 3D objects such as fabrics or packaging. I also realized that the computer was able to interpolate images , for example changing a A into a B with a lot of new images. In another way, computer allowed me to simplify shapes - less is more... I try to merge literature and images...

Now let's focus on the artworks that our readers can admire in the pages of this issue. Let's start from "Cesare", which has been inspired by the italian poet Cesare Pavese. Could you take us through your creative process when starting this project?

Cesare's serie is a good example of my recent work. Beyond technical considerations, I have to be affected, moved by something about human; I can't work on roses or on fractals...

are part of my family... the technique is secondary.

Berlin, 2012, from a series of 14images original size :8.25*8.25 inches Computer Generated Design

Another interesting series on which I would like to spend some words are Berlin and Z rn zu Ehren – Tribute to Unica – which has been recently exhibi-ted at the Maison de la La cit

By the way, how important is the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your artworks when you conceive them?

The Shoah memorial in Berlin, which was buildt by Peter Eisenman, is all except a "dead monument": kids are playing between and upon the stones, people sit, talk, have a break; it's a true living place.

On the second part of your question, I must admit that I leave my audience free to love or not to love my artworks.

And we could't do without mentioning Emma: even though this might sound a bit naive, I must confess this works has reminded to me the famous lines of Baudelaire: "ange plein de

A work that in my opinion reflects the inner strugglebetween evolution and conservation... do you agree with this analysis?

Emma is like a lot of women in the world; it suffers from too many and too ordinary gender inequalities

"

": do you think that randomness or improvisation could play a creative role in your art practice?

A very interesting question indeed... Absolutely... randomness is quite characteristic of monoprints; even in the interpolating process,

tribute to Cesare Pavese, 2012, from a series of 14images original size :8.25*8.25 inches Computer Generated Design

randomness is present, but there is also an important selection before and after the process; no improvisation but use of randomness...

Besides producing your Art you also teach Art History from several years: do you think that being a teacher, with the consequent direct contact with your student, has influenced your Art practice?

Teaching the History of Art, especially contemporary aspects of it, made me discover and study the works of artists such as Giuseppe Penone, Andy Goldsworthy and Josef Beuys; but the true interest stays in the discussion about what is modern, what is contemporary, and what is art... they keep me "up to date"

It goes without saying that modern technology, and in particular the infographics has revolutionized the idea of painting itself and moreover this forces us to rethink to the materiality of the artwork itself: since few years ago an artwork was first of all -if you forgive me this unpleasent classification- a manufactured article: it was the concrete materialization of an idea...

Size, format, materiality will take a growing place in the evolution of painting; it's not a new idea; the painters have been in competition with other techniques such as photography; painting will yet evolve and reinvent itself

Computer generated design plays a crucial role in your process. Do you think that nowadays there still exists a dichotomy between art and technology?

By the way, I would go as far as to say that in a way Science is assimilating Art and viceversa... what's your point about this?

As an art historian, i agree with that idea that art today rhyme with hybridization : dance and architecture; biology and sculpture...

See Harald Szeeman's theory : modern art : the revolution is in the "canvas" - contemporary art : the revolution destroyed the "tableau"

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Henry. My last question deals with your future plans: what direction are you moving in creatively? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I am currently working on two main projects: the publication and the illustration of the six latest poems of Alain Clery and an intervention in a semi-public place based on digital prints (context: Mons as the cultural capital of Europe in 2015)

Kenneth Susynski

(USA)

an artist’s statement

“I raised abroad due to my father's work with the US government, mostly in Germany yet also in Turkey, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The combination of my varied cultural experiences and the distinctive personalities encountered alngo the way impact my work more than ant artistic influence.

“For this series of most of my recent works, I release the urge to dive deep into the juice of oil flesh that now consumes my focus, the emotional relationship between heart and color.

“I employ a mixed bag of accompaynying techniques and media to the oilsof my work, usually mixing acrylic, charcoal and ink onto the substrate yet often finding new discoveries and experiments that can enhance the direction of a specific composition. Rare is the occasion that I use a brish, optong for application by palette knife in an unconventional manner that can best be described as a form of spanking.

KennethSusynski

Kenneth Susynski is a Seattle-based artist in body yet a German-based painter in both heart and soul. He grew up primarily in southwestern Germany save for a few years each spent in Turkey, South Korea and the United Kingdom. A product of conservative lineage that poo-poo’d funding an art education, he culled his skills and knowledge in the galleries and museums of Europe in addition to intensive study of his

contemporary heroes such as Cy Twombly, Cecily Brown, Jim Dine and the Leipzig school. He derives much inspiration from nonpainterly sources: books, punk rock and jazz, his son Jack and the woman who changed his life and taught him what it means to be a man. He is represented by Hanson Scott Gallery in Seattle and you can view more of his works at www.susynski.com

His Soft Touch in the Valley of her Spine, oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink on canvas

2013 • 36h x 44w

An interview with

Kenneth Susynski

Hi Ken, welcome to ARTiculAction: let's start this interview with our usual introductory question... what in your opininn defines a work of Art? Moreover, why have you chosen to make abstract art?

A work of art possesses the distinctive beauty of its creative master, provoking an emotional response or thought while not necessarily offering anything in return save the mystery of its story.

Abstraction more closely represents who I am as a person in this world. I see art from within my skin – not from how closely I can realistically render a physical thing. I’m not interested in painting still lifes – that bores me. I’d rather paint the explosive ardor one feels when smashing apples with a croquet mallet than paint the apples in a bowl on a table.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? By the way, do you have formal training? By the way, even though you are a painter, I have read that much of your inspiration derives from non-painterly sources...

Artistically speaking, my training came from visits to many art museums in Germany and Europe growing up and from my own art history study – I did not have a formal art education. The pursuit of the arts was not something encouraged growing up in a conservative family – the 4-year university degree I received was in Economics as was dictated by my parents.

I worked in the slime of corporate financial sales for almost 9 years before I had enough of it, deciding to pursue art as I always wanted. The last thing I wanted to do was attend more school, so other than drawing sessions around town I began the process of self-education.

Kenneth Susynski

In that process, an artist always looks to those masters who somehow create work that does more than inspire, yet also offer windows into my their own development. No one is ever free from their artistic influences yet the key is to take the message in rather than bite the style of the master – I was once told by one wiser than I that when you copy a style, the best you can be is 2nd place. And the goal is never to finish 2nd.

What does inspire me are the people I’ve encountered on this journey – how certain people have permanently impacted the course of my personal development as a man, a human being and yes, even as artist. Not all have been positive influences, yet that rarely matters when painting from an emotional center. In more recent times, I have been blessed to experience something of such

undiluted beauty which left a significant piece of itself within me – now with roots that are steel in the heart and growing inside me into something I cannot explain, yet it alters how and why I paint, impacting my work more than all artistic and non-artistic sources combined, and it is my venerated possession.

Since I know that you have lived in many countries all around the world, from Germany to Turkey, from United Kingdom to South Korea I cannot do without asking you how these experiences (I would dare to say "exciting experiences"...) have impacted on you.

There are two sides to such an impact: first, there are the noticeable elements within my work pointing to my roots that can be interpreted easily – for example, when I incorpora-te a townscape into a piece, they are the memo-rized buildings, houses, and churches from my

hometown of St.Leon-Rot, rather than the concrete jungle of downtown Seattle where I live now.

And there is the second side of that impact, where the combined years of living in diverse countries of varying cultures, language and religions have been assimilated as one into me – and whereas the German side is dominant, it is the cross-cultural experiences that shape my tolerance, my intelligence and love of returning beauty to the world that has shown me so much of its own.

Before getting in the matter of you art production, can you tell us something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

The process can vary from piece to piece yet

Braisings and Bucolics, oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink on canvas, 2013 • 24h x 40w

tends to follow a loose pattern to a larger degree –usually beginning with a personal experience or memory to be explored in the sketch process. I sketch a lot yet truthfully it is more an exercise of the eye-to-hand composition of the piece– those original sketches become less significant to what transpires once the blank canvas is stretched and on the studio wall. I may render the original sketch onto the canvas in charcoal yet by the time the painting is finished, it’ll look nothing like the sketch. This is the nature of abstraction, for it’s the relationship between what is in my heart working with learned technical concepts on my brain to make the hands explode color and form onto the canvas.

Once the initial layers of acrylic gesso are applied, I tend to take a pen and write across the canvas – prose I’ve compiled either on the fly or from past journals and experiences which still tantalize me. From there it is an unscripted mix of charcoal and oil paint – though when it comes to the oils, it is rare that I use a brush. Just better with my hands – either I’ll finger paint, daub paint on with a cloth, squeeze paint from the tube directly onto the canvas, or as is my current passion, load paint onto large palette knives and slap/pound the canvas with static, energetic bursts. It all depends on how I’m reacting artistically to what is in my heart at that moment.

Now let's start to focus on your paintings: I would start from His Soft Touch in the Valley of Her Spine that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article. Could you take us through your creative process when starting this piece? By the way, does your process allow you to visualize your Art before creating?

A key aspect that many do not grasp initially due to the abstraction is that all of my work is narrative – –about 95% of it is my own narrative, with the rest derived from stories/experiences of others or perhaps a book read, a song heard that inspires.

Yet it is more than just telling my story – it’s translating what is often an emotional piece of my life into a compelling composition that awakens something intrinsic within the viewer that speaks directly to her/him. Thus for this specific piece, the title clears up the concept significantly yet that is often not the case. Although the sketch process gives me a rough roadmap, when it’s time to paint there is a transcendent change within me - similar to a dancing dervish- where I enter a trance state that has all my attention and passion centered on my narrative, whether positive or negative, and then from within comes the fevered and unpredictable expression of paint and juxtaposed color.

A viewer may try to squint to find the beautiful girl receiving the soft touch or the man applying it gingerly somewhere in the painting but won’t necessarily find it, for the secret is looking into what lived in the heart when it was created and seeing oneself in the reflection.

Another artwork on which I would like to spend some words is Shampoo and Little Shivers: a visual of this stimulating piece that has immediately impressed me is the nuance of the red color: from a viewpoint it communicates me the idea of solidity, and although I'm aware that this might sound a bit naive, it reminds me a rock, a cliff... At the same times it reveals a sense of movement that gives to the painting a sense of movement: it communicates the idea of dynamical evolution.... do you agree with this analysis?

Rather than the idea of solidity, it would be more accurate to call this piece a search for solidity. The work comes from a series I completed last year which focused more on land-and cityscapes in the compositions, and that it makes you recall a cliff is not too far from what wasintended – the precipice reached where one must tread lightly with decisions amidst fears of impulsivity vs staShampoo and Little Shivers oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink on canvas

2013 • 36h x 44w

sis, living with regret or truly living. Do we come off the edge of the cliff and return to life as it were, do we jump from the precipice to whatever awaits below…..or do we just stand on the precipice asking those two questions without moving?

I suppose in that context one can speak to your concept of dynamic evolution….or, one can say it’s just a story of a beautiful woman and her two cats.

And I would remark that the red color is a very recurrent in your paintings: besides figuring prominently in the aforesaid work and in In Perfect Cadence, The Poetry of Bond there's a perceptible red-shift in many other pieces (and I suggest to our readers to visit your website at www.susynski.com to get a more precise idea) like your recent I'm Beside You, Listen To The Song. Would you like to tell us something about this feature? By the way, any comments on your choice of palette or how it has changed over time?

Red is the color of vibrancy. It is the color red that one sees when you stare into the eyes of the person you love and immediately want to move a mountain for her. It is the color red that one sees when treasured people in your life harm

I’ m beside you listen to the song, 2013

your soul even if unintentional. It is the color red that when spelled in Russian means beautiful. It is red that is expensive and extravagant, alluring yet steeped in primal energy. It is the color red that evokes masculine vigor and feminine sensuality. It is the color red that makes me forget all levels of practicality when it sparkles upon the most beautiful lips and toes I’ve seen.

I have read that you have been inspired by the well known American artist Cy Twombly...

In Perfect Cadence, the Poetry of Bond

• 36h x 22w oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink on canvas

oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink on canvas, 2013 • 42h x 52w

Have other artists influenced your work? And how do you feel about different abstract art movements? Like abstract expressionism?

Sure, yet for my most revered artists there is a draw to the complete picture of the artist moreso than to the specific work: De Kooning as the transplanted Dutchman with bold usage of charcoal with oils; Twombly for his use of verse, history and text; Basquiat for saying it was OK to be raw, self-educated and to express contemporary culture to an uncomfortable audience; Kirchner for his use of color and strength of elemental lines (I have a reproduction of one of his woodcuts tattooed on my left arm); Richter for showing how to create quality work using odd tools like squeegees; Bacon for his beautifully-macabre distortions.

I’m interested in movements from a historical sense and tend to gravitate more towards Ab-Ex versus color-field abstraction, yet I’m also keenly in tune with other movements like Dada, Fauvism, and baroque architecture.

And oh, I do guess that someone of our readers is wondering about the meaning of the title of "Because It's Forever, It Is Never Goodbye".. by the way, how do you choose your titles?

Simply put, that piece is about pure, unconditional love.

A title is such a vital component of a work of art. I simply do not understand artists who create wondrous works for fire, beauty, pain or euphoria – and name it “Untitled”.

It’s like leaving a job ? finished. My titles are important to me and often hint to the subject matter without revealing the narrative. If I’m stuck on a title, I may take a title from a song title playing on the iPod while painting, or a book passage – yet that is a rare occurrence these days as my thoughts and energies are of a specific and distinctive purpose such that there is no ambiguity in titling.

question, but one that I'm always interested in hearing the answer to. What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

Being able to depict what’s in my heart without going insane from the lack of release.

The biggest satisfaction? When other artists tell me my work inspires THEM.

Thank you very much for sharing your thought with us, Kenneth: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

In addition to a full exhibition later this year at my gallery, I’ll also be using a recent grant to focus on a new series of work centered on mental health and participating in a few group shows nationally in the US.

Beyond that, I’ve learned not to plan yet rather, to breathe. Live. I have about a hundred years left and many dazzling experiences still to paint.

Purple and Max, 2013 • 36h x 36w oil, acrylic, charcoal and ink on canvas

(France)

Beaudroit

an artist’s statement

A prevailaing aspect of my work is the necessity to express the blur, either as a texture, or by superimposing foggy layers of paint, using inderterminate boundaries. When I ask myself why, I recognize a central idea of my thinking: the blur is the best way to express the truth. I find in blurred visions beauty that I have never seen in bare clarity. Haziness incarnates the movement of life, the dynamic of things that keep changing, it is the realm of infinite possibilities, the blur is a space where nothing is fixed and where anything can come into existence.

I have long been fascinated by the blur, the fog, all the invisible forces that surround us, modify us and keep us still. In my work I try to relay the emotion born from this contemplation. When it succeeds, the result let a link appear between a personal history and a stolen vision of the nature of things.

In our minds, it is possible to travel endlessly, to imagine the existence of indefinite number of possibilities, worlds, futures, our heads can comprehend the immensity of the universe but our bodies remain here, in this place. We carry within us this duality of a wandering spirit constrained to a motionless body dragging us to rationality. The myth of Icarus best illustrates this tragedy of the reduced mobility of a Man with an unlimited spirit. Art is an answer to the need to establish connections with the universe beyond this constraint. Painting allows to blend in the complexity of the world by mixing colours on the canvas. It is a way to think aside of thoughts, a way to live and feel without having to conceptualize life.

The artist makes connections with buried resources at the same time that he is the instrument of a force he blindly follows. He does not know where he goes, and does not seek knowing, he abandons himself to colour. It is on the path that the link between Man, Nature and the Cosmos builds up. The painting makes visible this blur we marveled at in secret, this alchemy of forms without edges. It is not ambition that guides me nor the desire to compete, it is the primal need to create and the grace we reach sometimes through painting.

Universe Melt

2011, Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

An interview with

would start this interview with our usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the main features that characterize a piece of Contemporary Art?

I would say Art is something that rises from necessity. From a very deep need to be expressed, to be created, to exist in the world of tangible matter, something that can’t survive as a vision only. I also think Art is in the action as much as in the imagination. I think the artist needs to create his pieces, to craft them; Art is in the doing as much as in the thinking. The experience of creating is part of the work of art, as much as its final state. It has to be a search for expression the definition of a new language, aside of thoughts. You can think art when you are not doing it, trying to analyse your past works, to understand what drives you, it’s an important part of the job. But when you paint, you have to be there on the canvas and not in your head thinking about your creation. Art requires that type of commitment, I think.

Now I’d simply define contemporary art by the timeline. Art in general, its value, its visibility… are all subject to their context, to rules of fashion, to the idea of the good and the beautiful and the conception of innovation that prevails at the time it is created. So contemporary art is the art created now, and given our time contemporary art is probably focused on digital media, it’s centred around the notion of interaction. These are trends, it does not change the nature of Art in my mind. Art does not depend on its media. I think we often mistake contemporary for visionary, maybe because it is what is expected of art, to be visionary.

But I think all contemporary art is not visionary and some art from the past can be so visionary. When I look at Turner’s Norham castle painting I see art that still makes sense in the contemporary world, if you look at the others artists’ work at that time, it was really striking Art, it was (and is still) so unexpected, when you wander in there, there is so much to see,

to feel, it is very moving. Maybe the answer to the question of what is contemporary art is more for curators and art critics than for artists as they have knowledge of art and of the history of art, my opinion is more based on an experience of art which could not be the most relevant position to answer your question.

Before getting in the matter of your artistic production, would you like to tell us something about your background? Personally, I feel attracted by the idea of a synergy between apparently different disciplines -an aspect of your art practice on which we will later go thoroughly- so I couldn't do without asking you: do you think that your studies in Cognitive Psychology play an important role in your creative process?

I think our history in general plays an important part in who we are and in what we create. My background being part of my history I do think it plays a role but it is hard to define how it influences my crea-

tive process exactly. I always was a curious person, when I was at university I couldn’t get enough with psychology so I often attended courses in other disciplines mainly biology, botanic, physics and neurology. Most of my friends were at the science university and I very much liked science, my father being a physicist my brother and I had to be good at it, we were doing physics and maths every week-end, so at university it was quite easy for me and I even helped some of my friends with their revisions.

But I did not want to study that myself, I was certain at that time that I did not want a job in science. Today I find it a lot more poetic than I used to, especially physics which I used to hate at the time because our father forced so much of it in our heads, and now I can’t spend a week without reading the astrophysics news, I even go to conferences in the summer. I think I went to psychology because I was curious of the human nature and I never had the

opportunity before university to study that. I wanted to understand how our feelings are influenced, how our brain selects memories, how the social pressures influence our decisions. I had a lot of questions I wanted to solve for myself. Without having solved these questions and having tried to fit in the French model of what is expected from a middle class daughter I couldn’t have taken the decision to be an artist today. I was too shy and diffident, I needed to find out who I was first, something like that. When I had to choose a course I just felt I had this desire to touch people, to help them reach a better state so I thought psychology was my path. I soon realized I wasn’t fit for that job but I liked the parts where you understand how things work that’s why I continued in social and cognitive psychology.

Can you tell us about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, on what technical aspects do you mainly focus in your work?

I don’t really have a method. I’m just a regular painter. This is an important aspect of my work or of my personality I don’t know. I work every day there is no question of “do you have inspiration?”. I don’t really believe that good work of art comes out of inspiration as if inspiration was something that would fall on your head some mornings. For me it’s rather a regular activity and it is by doing it regularly that you become more fluent and that you become more receptive to inspiration.

For me inspiration is a state of flow where you are free to create and your mind is not bugged by everyday problems or questions or stress. Reaching that state is something I learn, to force myself not to plan not to anticipate what will be on the canvas, not to judge, just to do what my instinct or what I sometimes call the bigger thing tells me to. So I try to paint every day, sometimes only half an hour sometimes ten hours. If I don’t paint, I will look at things.

I spend a lot of time looking at things, it can be a painting that is not finished but it’s also little things, the light of a street lamp, the clouds, the rain, the way the tree leaves move with the wind, the grass, this is truly my main occupation and hobby to look and let the feeling grow, let these things “talk” to me. I rarely sketch but it happens when I’m afraid to forget something, I sketch most of the time when I go to museums because I think it’s a good exercise

The Flower And the Horse, 2013 Oil on canvas, 81 x 60 cm

or at least I enjoy it, but in general I write more than I sketch. I always paint on the floor. I’ve always done that, even I remember when I was around 13 years old, I had an drawing / painting teacher that invited me to paint in his studio after school and he used easels, and he asked me to do the same, he often gave me exercises and left for an hour before he came back to help me. And when he did I had moved all my things to the ground. I just prefer it like that. It changes a lot the way I see things. I am not so prone to this subconscious submission to the horizon that we naturally have. It frees me from this relation and I think it is important for making abstract, for creating something that will be closer to the expression and less dragged to rationality, less into the representation of the real world.

Another “technical” aspect of my work is that I like to experiment with different media, so I store a lot of things because before it goes out of the studio I want to see how it survives time, some combinations are a real disaster, it looks great when it’s just finished and then 3 years later you realize the colours have faded out. It is important to me that it lasts.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would start from Universe Melts that our readers have admired in the starting page of this article. The visual of this piece that has mostly impacted on me is the sense of motion.

There's a pervading kinetic feel and I would like to be more precise: it is not a sense of motion circumscribed to the perception of space, but in my opinion it involves time as well... the concept of evolution in the widest meaning of the word. Do you agree with this analysis? Would you like to tell us something about this feature?

Yes absolutely. I would even say it is about transformation. The fact that we measure things that reflect a state that is already past and probably different at the time we get the result.

This is a thought that stroke me when I was doing physics and this idea of us always being late in our observations obsessed me for a very long time and even if the thought came from physics I think it is applicable to many areas of life. It made me question a lot of things about the observation in general and about its value. In the world today everything has to be proved, this means it has to be observed and measured, but then we are late. Then you are not in

the moment, you are next to it. And this painting is about the ever changing dynamic of the universe and that if you observe things, you keep missing the moment, so finally you don’t really experience it, the observation prevents you from that. This painting was a major step in my work, it has so many layers of frustration and relief finally, because I realized this, that there is a time for doing and a time for thinking; as obvious as it is it finally made sense to me. It carries important things for me, it reflects my love for movement, for things that can hardly be defined in words because it would restrain them to something finite whereas it is not, it does not have boundaries. It expresses my fascination for blurred things, I hope, and the inspiration I find in the questions physicists strive to answer.

Another paintings of yours on which I would like to spend some words are One and Water of Life: even though I'm not absolutely sure,

1001 decisions, 2012 dyptich, Oil on canvas

I feel that these pieces has something in comcommon: could you take our readers through your creative process when starting these paintings?

One is a very personal painting. Like I tried to explain earlier, painting is for me a way of thinking away from thoughts, because sometimes thoughts can’t help you, there are not enough, they become confusing. I painted One while I was going through a difficult time in my personal life. One of these time when you question your ideals and your expectations of life. I don’t know for sure about other artists, but I think we seek reassurance in Art, we test and push and fight with something so that it proves us it will always be there. At least, for me if I want to be humble and honest I’ll admit that. So I tested and fought and pushed and questioned and I found One. And it made me happy and it reassured me. I think people make a link with Water of life because they are both quite pulsional and also very liquid.

The water and the liquidity strongly symbolize change in my mind and these two paintings either through the context they were created in or their intention point to a notion of change, of renewing. Water of Life is a painting I created for the Schneider prize. The theme of the prize is the water. And after I investigated that topic be it in the mythologies, in physics going through the states of water and the mystery of crystallization, or in music or visual arts, I felt drained. I felt that water is one of the oldest themes of humanity and it has so many aspects, and everything about it has been done already. I tried to paint and my mind was spongered by too many intentions. I wanted to paint something that would unite my various visions about what is water but it is very ambitious and I was thinking, I could not dare doing, I was afraid to fail. I painted several things and failed to reach the expected result and finally I painted this one (which was originally very different) when I was exhausted and the painting dragged me to something much more simple, subtle but also stronger which is the water of life, the water that allows change.

And we couldn't do without mentioning your recent The Flower and the Horse. I find it very stimulating and I can recognize a subtle evolution in the way you achieve to enhance the spatial dimension of the canvas... I would dare to say

Water of Life, 2012 Oil on canvas, 73 x 92 cm

that this painting need more than a couple of cartesian axes... what was you initial inspiration for this piece?

This is a tribute to a friend, a good friend I made recently but never met in person. We worked on a project together and she lives in India, and I was thinking about her and about our relation when I painted it. I was touched by her kindness, her support, how natural and plain her character is and how technology today allows us to create strong relations with people at the other end of the world very quickly, without having to travel.

I was also thinking about my new project and I wanted to do a painting that would make the layers very visible, more than usual, and I wanted it to breathe more to have blank white spaces which is something difficult for me, I often have the tendency to add up things, clutter them and I don’t like that. My mind always pushes me to hide things by adding up layers, I have to learn to be more direct and simple, I must find the balance between intricate layers and directness.

So, my project is an installation that intends to make the viewer cross the different layers of paint that compose the painting by projecting a tunnel of light, and the colour of the tunnel would change as the viewer moves closer to the painting making him feel he enters it. And this painting will be a good candidate for this installation because it has distinct layers of bright colours.

You have defined an artist as the instrument of a force he blindly follows: it goes without saying that there are many level of consciousness, but this statement has reminded me the famous and intriguing indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who used to say that he saw math through the eyes of a Hindu goddess... another subtle connection between Art and Science.

I did not know about this statement but I love it! In my case I wouldn’t say it is God. It’s just that I believe we are much more linked to the Nature and the Universe than we think we are for different reasons. Maybe because we are no longer sensitive to it or because the context of our lives prevent us from feeling these links. But I believe there is something, call it God or the Universe that binds people with every living thing. And it is this force that guides me to paint, it is when I am able to let

go and follow that force blindly that I can paint beauty.

I'm sort of convinced that some information are hidden, or even "encrypted" so we need to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Natu- re, especially of our inner Nature... maybe that in this way, Art is capable of finding an answer to the need to establish connections with the universe beyond the intrinsic constraint. What's your point?

I think we are much more than what we think we are. We breathe without paying attention to it, our heart beats without us willing it, but still we

One, 2012, 81x100 cm, oil and tar on canvas

think and we doubt of a future we cannot know. We have to fight our desire to control things to be what we are more fully and that is greater than what we can think we are.

At the same time there is a paradox with thinking. Sometimes it constrains us and sometimes it is by looking for answers that our imagination is able to take us to lands unknown. I agree with you, when you look at Art or at some creations of men such as theories or concepts of science, stories of the mythologies, they are such bridges to the universe. They are an infinite potential of answers to universal questions and it goes beyond everything

we know. I believe every artist has his own quest. The only role of the artist from my point of view is to pursue that quest without letting society’s opinion or the economical political situation get into his way and influence his search. The role of the artist is to explore and experience new paths, paths that will lead to the unexpected.

For me it is the essence of an artistic approach to go without knowing where it will take you to, it requires for you to believe, to have faith but not to know, if you know it’s all spoiled, there will be no satisfaction in the creation, no truth to it. And this is the hardest part, it is to force yourself to go where you can’t see, to step in the dark and let things happen, not to be afraid to try, not to judge what you see while it is coming to life. If you seek truth, you probably want to be a physicist, if you seek justice you probably want to be a judge, if you seek beauty you probably want to be an artist. To reveal the beauty you see in the invisible and share it with others. This is my quest.

It is the only thing that I can see myself doing for the rest of my life without having a panic attack. While painting sometimes you reach a state of grace

Eyes are watching, 2012 80*80 cm, acrylic and oil on canvas

and it is not the grace that you feel when you contemplate Nature or the light or when you read poetry. It is grace that you are part of, grace that comes from a tremendous feeling of unity. It does not happen often but when it does it is a very beautiful experience.

I do guess it's important to mention that you are currently searching for a residence program capable of allowing you to work on a project using light projection and sounds that should accompany the viewer to look at the painting by crossing the layers of paint in a tunnel of light. So are you going to explore a symbiosis between different technique? Do you think that painting will keep to play a crucial role in your Art?

Oh yes! This project is all about painting. The purpose of it is to accompany the viewer to look at the painting, to make him take the time to wander on the canvas and create his own path in it. Because I love light, especially the Nordic light which has something truly magic, it has been a long time since I wanted to combine the use of light with my work but I wasn’t sure how to do it, so I let the idea mature. In 2011 I went to see the film tree of life by Terrence Malick. I am a strong admirer of his work, and a month after that I went trekking in Iceland for two weeks. While walking there I often remembered scenes of the movie. And contemplating the light playing with clouds totally changing the landscapes I was mesmerized. I remembered this specific moment in the film where he shows a series images of natural phenomenon, he stringed together waterfalls, volcanoes, clouds, birds flying, plants moving in the water...

These two moments of my life were very similar in the experience it procured me. They had put me in a specific state that allowed me to receive what was coming next in a more powerful way. Like when you hear monks chanting mantras, something close to that experience. I kept the idea in my mind that if I wanted to do an installation one day it would be in order to create this kind of experience. Something calm and true at the same time, something simple without flashiness but that would provide a context to allow people to reach a state like that.

In parallel I contributed to a discussion group about the future of Art, and we investigated the history of

art and the current trends and tried to make predictions for the future, and this project made me more aware of the strong trends of digital media today and the attraction people have for this new type of art that links technologies and artistic creation. The thing is I am a painter and my goal is to touch people with paintings.

The project took shape in my mind that I wanted to make an installation to accompany people to look at my paintings, put them in a context that would be attractive to them, in which they would be comfortable, calm and use it to bring the focus to the painting. I think bathing in a rainbow of

Misty Landscape, 2012 Oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm

colours before looking at a painting would put you in a good, quiet state before looking at things, so that you can receive them fully.

Why is the name of you website and portfolio « from the edge » ?

The edges of our body are very strong, real, whereas our imagination does not really have such limits.

I definitely have something with the edges, the frontiers, the boundaries all these words that express a limit between two distinct spaces. When I was a kid I was scared that the universe has an

end, for me it is a whole, I don’t want that it has ends, an inside and an outside. At the same time I am attracted to experiences where you find yourself in that specific place where you’re on a tipping point, where you feel something is on the verge of transformation. There are moments like that where you feel your life can turn around. And if you try to point at the precise moment of change or try to capture it, it’ll escape you.

From the edge refers to the fact that it is in these moments that I feel I meet the truth, that I feel alive, and I believe my instinct as a painter has grown and continues to feed from these moments of my life, and this fear of the end so it naturally became the title of the website.

Thank you for your time and for sharing your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Yes, about the residence. I have been selected by the Nordic art center of Kokkola Finland which I think will be the ideal place to start working on the project we talked about.

I’ll spend the whole month of july there and will benefit from Nordic light 24hours a day. I am very happy and look forward to start working there. Thank you for your interest.

Mountain View, 2013 Oil on canvas, 73 x 92 cm

an artist’s statement

Based in Berlin, I am a contemporary figurative painter, who creates mixedmedia paintings with a penchant for bright colors, geometric shapes, and street-art forms.

My work explores the relationship between cultural plurality and a recycling of pop-culture, by layering different motifs from Science Fiction film stills and quotations from an art historical background, like Symbolism and color-field paintings. I see painting as the screen between the mental and the materialized zone. It offers the ability to fuse notions of past, present, and future into one field. The most important tool is my mobile phone. I make shots of everything I like and collect ideas and details for my painting process.

Much of my effort goes into planning and creating an illusion of depth or space without using perspective techniques. For this reason I focus on experimentally learning how to construct and arrange shapes and forms on a two-dimensional surface. My first step toward starting a new painting is in the construction of the wooden frame; during the working process I sometimes imagine it as bones or a vertebral column. Lately I am experimenting with transparent fabric.

The idea is to show a part of the wood and the artistic production; ideally, the viewer becomes aware of the distances between the canvas, the frame and the wall. The observer has the possibility to reflect on their inner bodily construction, comparing oneself to the basic structure of an artwork. The art of painting is always about the intimate triangle between the artwork, the artist and the viewer. My current research deals with the topic of the forest, city

illusion of reality and the representation of, for e.g., the bodily skin of a painted tree. Maybe it is for that reason that I am so interested in Birch trees.

I am fascinated by the bark that sometimes appears like a silken skin; it is especially the process of peeling and the contrast between the black and white stains that inspires my work. In Russia, birches symbolize the idea of virginal beauty, eternal youth and purity. It is no surprise, then, that in my paintings: art, emotions, and ethics are closely bound. Very few human actions take place without an emotional driver and so it is with the making of art.

Furthermore I am fascinated by the artificial brightness of Neon acrylic paint and the special perception of its transparency. The result is the confrontation of nature with a layer of unnatural and formalistic commentary.

An interview with

question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the main features that characterize a piece of Contemporary Art? It goes without saying that's not just a matter of making Art during these last years...

Art begins with resistance and is a strategy to redefine reality. In society, there are things called Norms and Transgressions. Norms are the expected behaviors of members of the society, while transgression means to break these rules. In my opinion the fundamental task of art is to challenge and to change current ideas about our world. In this context, an essential element of any art is risk.

Our Contemporary Art is characterised by a profound change of capturing reality, by research projects about the structure of perception, by ideas about multi-polar perspectives and by the fiction about the existence of parallel universes or alternative realities.

This general development is accompanied by an ongoing media revolution. While many contemporary positions borrow liberally from art history, there are numerous other positions that refer to urban alienation, resolution processes, pop culture and social and political issues. In this context, every artist has his/her very own background, in terms of cultural traditions, personal history and the desire to re-invent him/herself. From my point of view, one of the main aspects of a piece of contempory art is the yearn for an authentic position in life.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You have studied Painting both in Germany at the University of Fine Arts Berlin-Weissensee and in London at the prestigious Chelsea College of Fine Art and Design: how have these experience and in general formal training has informed your art

practice? By the way, sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

Painting was my first love and since I was 15 years old I had the dream to become an artist. It is not surprising then, that at this moment, I had no idea what "contemporary painting" means in today's art world. When I decided to go to art school, I had never thought about what it would mean for me in the future, especially concerning the financial aspects.

Like the most teenagers from the countryside I felt the desire to study in Berlin, the capital of Germany. As a student in the Visual Arts Program

of the School of Art (Berlin-Weissensee) I was offered the opportunity to expand the depth and complexity of my studio practice as well as my ability to think critically in the context of contemporary art theory. My relationship to my surroundings was really intense. The regular studio visits by tutors and a class trip to Japan were an important source of intellectual and visual input. I became fascinated by the power of ideas, like acting in a flow, as a result of stream like thinking.

I came to London as a participant of the Erasmus exchange program. At Chelsea College of Fine Art and Design I found a teacher, who supported my work and I am still grateful for his trust in me. There’s nothing like realising that you have spent your time well and discovered new opportunities. During my studies in London, I experienced a completely different framework of lectures and training programmes. Nevertheless, in both school systems I learned to understand the underlying assumptions of subjective opinions and to gather objective facts during criticism. Unprofessional behaviour, regarding the relationship between art teachers and students, often results in preventing authentic artistic existence. An artist has to be able to create his/her own world to keep his/her inspiration. If a teacher encourages you actively to copy his specific artistic language, the art making process becomes unprepossessing or meaningless. That is why I have to agree, too much training in the wrong way could sometimes stifle a young artist's creativity. Before getting in the matter of your artistic production, would you tell us something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, on what technical aspects do you mainly focus in your work?

First of all I love barely controlled chaos and I like listening music loud during the painting process. Nevertheless, I need some quiet time

Hexagon

for contemplation and preparation after arriving my studio. At the beginning of the day I have to organise a positive, conflict-free environment.

But sometimes this is not enough to get ready for work. In a case like this I warm up with a period of experimentation and very often I get thrilled by a strikingly dynamic layout or get fascinated by a special kind of material and technical combination. However, it is within the realms of possibility that a garish colour flash takes possession of me. In this moment I experience painting at it best. From time to time it is important to feel a redeeming break free to follow up new ideas.

In general my work flow starts with the preparation of a canvas by putting a primer to the surface for a better adhesion of the paint. After the drying process I start layering content and color, which is my main interest and subject matter. In beween the painting has areas thickly covered in oils and others which are later to be considered.

From this condition on it will take hours of work before it will be completed. The painting performace of the photorealistic elements takes the most of my concentration and time. Currently I am working on a giant forest, a recurring theme in my work. I hope it will become something rather exceptional and will help me to expand my practise.

Now let's focus on Hexagon that our readers can admire in these pages: I would like to spend some words about a particular and recurrent feature of your works: the mix between geometric shapes and street-art references. Would you like to tell us something about this feature? By the way, even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naive, have you ever thought to use a canvas of a different form?

Yes I already did and I will continue to do so. The whole studio process seems to me as a clash of emotional and analytical pulses. For

Outskirts

this reason, I am searching for representations of different elements, like urban references, scientific photos about the origins of the universe or filmstills from fantasy and science fiction movies. It hardly needs mentioning, that my works are more than an excercise in scale and colour. Stripes, grids, geometrics and graffiti writings are primarily means of expression and part of my specific artistic language. My subject matter is painting itself and I like to show off its possibilities. In my opinion abstraction itself is fluid. Nevertheless, during the painting process, some references to figurative elements are abandoned in favor of a total abstract composition. In order to clarify my position, I am not interested in geometric problems of perspective, for e. g. in figuring out how to make the world of three dimensions look vaguely like itself on the canvas of two dimensions.

You use film stills, especially from science fiction, as main source of inspiration: I promise I will keep away from obvious references, but when dealing with the relation between movie stills and picture one cannot do without mentioning Duchamp's les-

son about the perception of the motion. How in your opinion a still is capable of communicating the sense of movement?

The Futurist painters developed a style that was perfectly capable of communicating the sense of movement. Their works display concepts about the future, speed, technology and objects such as cars and airplanes.

Referring to my subject matter movement is not a part of my concept. In my view, the collective memory is the most obvious aspect for using filmstills as a source of inspiration. What the painting depicts depends on the pool of information, which is held in the memories of the observers. Movies become more important because of their relationships with other movies. This fact works also for the association framework of painting.

I have been always convinced that the expression "science fiction " hides a subtle oxymoron: it forces the intrinsically logical aspect of science to clash with an unreal and often onirical dimension. And I'm sort of convinced that this subtle paradox plays an important role, since it gives idea a chance to be accepted as real... it's an effective way to reveal the reality that's hidden into a fictious construction: what's your point about this?

A classical science fiction content deals with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology. Fantasy themes, for e.g. The 'Lord of the Rings' are assigned to another niche, because their storys show elements of fairy tale and have no relation to science. Of course you will find some crossover examples like 'Starwars' and 'Avatar'.

My personal interest is based on philosophical questions, in the sense of understanding and the despair about human limitations. I always loved the idea about time travellling and extrasensory perception. Science fiction movies are an ongoing important source of inspiration for my paintings. The genre has existed since the early years of cinema and filmmakers have often used their works to focus on political or social issues. For that reason I think, excellent science fiction deals not only with the future, but rather discusses the presence. That is why I agree, reality could be hidden into a fictious Recall

construction. Some good examples for that point are the movies: 'Contact', 'Inception', 'Twelve Monkeys', 'AI – Artificial Intelligence', 'Planet of the Apes', 'Solaris', 'Blade Runner', 'Matrix', '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

In this context, I also would like to mention the science fiction film 'Stalker', directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is loosely based on the novel 'Roadside Picnic', written by the Strugatsky brothers. The authors move on an imaginary boundary line between magic and science. That explains why 'Roadside Picnic' develops from a science fiction story to a black fairy tale. The Strugatsky brothers hold the opinion, that every scientific statement can be controverted by a magical pulse.

The narrative story culminates in a hunt for a golden ball that is said to grant wishes. Therefore some of the protagonists have to venture illegal into a Zone, which is one of several areas characterised by the remains of a brief alien visitation. After gone, the aliens left in their wake both advanced items of technology and areas where the laws of physics no longer apply, or where strange substances and forms

instantly kill or disable any human that comes into contact with them. The golden ball represents the magical part and is a potential heart's desire. The Zone itself with its technology is a typical concept of the science fiction genre.

Roadside Picnic ends with the main character, face to face with the golden ball and utterly at a loss as to what to wish for:

"I can't think of anything, except those words ... 'Happiness for everybody, free, and no one will go away unsatisfied!'

And it goes without saying that the idea of mixing different materials, in the widest meaning of the expression, is a cornerstone of your Art: not only as concerns your technique and imagery. What are your main areas of interest and recurring themes that you explore with your work?

The nature of painting and its historic debate is my recent impulse and my subject matter.

Death and the Maiden_II

Transform Fault

The idea of mixing different languages, structures and materials is my way to redefine viewing habits. By adopting visuals of radical ideas of reality and science fiction scenes, I try to integrate aspects of each within. For this reason, I am more interested in a dreamscape, than in a landscape.

Degas once said the only way forward is to accept that you know absolutely nothing about anything: but at the same time, our physical contact with the world is the most private and intimate experiences we have. How important is observation to your work?

The essence of my artistic approach is archiving and selecting filmstills as visual products of our culture. Some of the pieces of my collection are personal and important, others are disturbing and representations of collective memories and fears.

I have a lot of experiences in doing lifedrawing and I am convinced that you can find inspiration in unimpressive tiny details. Nowadays observation does not play an important role in my work.

From 2001 to nowadays your artworks have been often awarded. It goes without saying that positive feedbacks and especially awards are capable of giving support in all the accepted meaning of the word. I would first ask you how much importance has for you the feedbacj of your audience and especially if when you conceive a piece do you happen to think to whom will enjoy it... By the way, do you think that the expectation of a good feedback (and of an award) could even influence an artist's process?

Perhaps it is possible...

Producing art is a really risky investment with no obvious way of generating a return. It hardly needs mentioning, that positive feedback, like winning an award, motivates me as an artist and as a person. Thinking of the past I can say that the first flush of success felt great. Nowadays I need to sell my paintings on a regular base to keep on going professionally. Earning recognition by winning a significant art competition depends on a widespread network of collectors, galleries and art professionals. In this contex I have to confess that the art world is a particular cruel and unregulated business. Thank your for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Anne. My last questions deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I am pleased to announce the upcoming release of my next solo exhibition catalogue. The book will feature paintings of the last three years. Furthermore I would like to inform about my participation in the group show 'Betonrot'. The exhibition will take place in Antwerp and the opening will be on the 15 th of June. For more information please visite my homepage www.annewoelk.de or http://secondroom-antwerpen.tumblr.com .

Era Vati

(Hungary / Germany)

an artist’s statement

"My works are watercolour seriesandmixedmediainstallations that focus on personal identity and the role of the individual within society. Morerecently,Ibecameinterested in personal boundaries in relation-ships.

A personal boundary is the emotional, physical, or spiritual space between two persons. My installations are usually site specific, connecting mediums likeaquarelle, videoprojections and real objects."

Era Vati completed her MA in Art and Media Practice at the University of Westminster in London and MA in Painting at the University of Arts in Budapest. She received a scholarship to University of Fine Arts and Design (HfG) Karlsruhe under the guidance of Prof. Uwe Laysiepen (Ulay). Her paintings, videos and mixed media installations focus on personal identity and the role of the individual within society. She exhibited at several places across Europe and Asia such as Dr Johnson’s Museum London, Jette Rudolph Gallery Berlin, International Video Festival in Macau and Associazione Culturale in Ferrara, Italy. She lives and works in Berlin.

Crossing Video Installation, 2011

Crossing shows five characters, five personalities as well as five different roles of one personality, represented through movements and gestures. The theme is Boundaries in Relationships. Personal boundaries are the limits we set in relationships that allow us to protect, grow or trigger conflicts. Crossing is a 'moving painting'. It's strongly influenced by 16-17th century Dutch and German paintings that are full of symbolic reminders. Clothes and objects were referred to the person’s class affiliation, profession and sometimes their characters.

An interview with

Era Vati

Hello Era, welcome to ARTiculAction. Let's start this interview with our usual icebreaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, do you think that there's a precise dichotomy between tradition and modernity?

The definition of art has been changing constantly throughout art history and there are many theories. I believe a good artwork has a concept and involves some kind of aesthetic and beauty.

It has to inspire people, that is the most important. Because of the constant change, I don’t see a dichotomy between tradition and modernity.

You are a multidisciplinary artist: when did you start to focus your art practice on mixed media installations?

I started as a painter but I was always felt that I missed a third or fourth dimension. When I got a scholarship to HfG in Karlsruhe, I met Ulay (Marina Abramovich's partner) and that was the time when I started experimenting with video and other media.

Before getting in the matter of your art production, would you like to tell us something about your background?

You hold MA in Painting, that you have received from Hungarian University of Fine Arts and moreover you have studied both in Germany and in the United Kingdom: how has these experiences impacted on your art practice? And how has your production processes changed over the years?

Studying in different education systems was a great experience for me and it has broadened my approach toward art practice.

The Hungarian University of Arts was a very traditional Eastern European school. I received

a very detailed training in theory and crafts but didn't really get guidance on how to approach things.

The English education system supports you more in finding your way and developing your own voice. The German experience was somewhere in between. All these helped to find my way.

I am not completely there but I now have an idea how to get there, which I didn’t before. Furthermore I am more critical towards my practice.

Era Vati, near to her installation Crossing

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would start from Walker, a two channel video installation whose stills can be viewed in these pages: what was your initial inspiration? And how have you developed this project?

My initial inspiration was the experience of living in different countries in the same time. Personal Identity is not something we are born with. Being part of different social systems in the same time, meeting different expectations may effect people's personal identity.

I wanted to share these thoughts through a

mixed media installation, connecting two mediums I am familiar with. The paintedheads represent the mind; the video bodies the physical presence.

Each character has two heads; the bodies walk from one head to the other and back. Furthermore, each character behaves differently when joining different heads. Initially I wanted to add boxes and packages to be carried by each character but I changed my mind.

By the way, I have noticed that there's no background sound in the video that our readers can watch directly at your website http://eravati.com/walker.html: even though I'm pretty aware that this will sound more than a bit funny, I must confess that when I

Era Vati

first ran into this stimulating piece I was wondering if my audio plant was broken, since by now we're almost addicted to the juxtaposition between music and video... Could you tell us why you didn't add sound?

I guess I didn't want the viewer to focus more on the video than the paintings. I felt that if I used sound, the balance would be lost.

And we couldn't do without mentioning another stimulating artworks of yours: Crossing and Linking. Could you take us through your creative process when starting these pieces?

Linking was my first video installation. My idea was simply to show the same action from three different points of view. A ballerina ties up herself with a rope. You can't really tell what is happening on the video filmed from above, only if you watch the other two videos as well.

Crossing thought me that working with the right people is very important. I had an amazing team: Cinematographer Sam Icklow, sound designer Bastian Schick, great actors and studio team. I am very grateful to them.

For me Crossing is a 'moving painting' a kind of still life. 16-17th century Dutch paintings were always a great influence on me. I wanted to

show a modern still life with a touch of personal memory and emotions. My idea was to show five characters, five personalities, which could also be inter- preted as five different roles of one personality, represented through movements and gestures.

In Dutch paintings objects were referred to the person’s class affiliation, profession and sometimes their characters. In a similar way, my objects also relate to the characters' personality.

Linking, 2006, three-channel video installations

Three projections show the same action from three different angles: a ballerina winding up herself by turning

Crossing Video Installation, 2011

A sequence of stills from Walker, 2007, two-channel video installations, and drawings

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your Art focuses on personal identity and on the role of the individual within society.

Personally, I'm convinced that besides providing a platform for an artist's expression, Art could play an effective role in our society: so what's your point? Moreover, do you think that Art could even steer people's behaviour?

I do think artist like Ai Weiwei play effective role in society. His art challenges his homeland for

around and around.

Crossing, 2011 Video installation

change, pushes society to face its own weakness and he is not the only one. My approach is more like an observer or a scientist not an activist.

I observe the world around me, digest and than I share what I found with the viewer and we contemplate together on that.

You have exhibited your Art all around Europe: from your native Hungary to the Netherlands, from Germany to Italy: Is there a particular exhibition that has impressed you and that you would like to mention?

‘The house of words’ in Dr Johnson's Museum in London was a fantastic experience for me. I got commissioned together with some great artists and I really enjoyed working with them.

By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Feedback is very important, however I don't really focus on a particular audience when I am developing my works. Personally I really appreciate any feedback, good and bad as well. Feedback helps you refine your ideas and gives a different point of view.

work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

There are many aspects that I enjoy. I like the shooting process because I enjoy working with other creative people. In the same time, I enjoy drawing and painting alone because I can be more focused. Talking with the audience and having a great conversation is also something I really enjoy.

Thank you very much for sharing your thought with us: what's next for Era? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Last week I took part in a group show at Kreuzberg Pavillon in Berlin. At the moment I am preparing for an interview with the German ZDF TV Kulturmagazin, which I am very much looking forward

Stills from Apple and Hold, video pair

The Apple and Hold is a pair of video, each is a three minutes loop. Apple shows Era eating apples and beckoning the viewer over. The background reacts to her actions by disintegrating in fragments. Half way through the video, the time reverses. The end of the film is the same as the beginning, the loop is seamless; the apple is complete, untouched. The audio part of the film is a stereo-mix sound featuring birds’ singing.

Hold shows a man with held up hands and circling particles around him. It is hard to tell whether he is holding or pushing the particles around him.

Ruta Butkute

(The Netherlands / Lithuania)

an artist’s statement

“Through a displacement of function I question the interpretation of the unique, rediscovering the object by freeing it from its original function and context or use. It then returns to a state of being undefined and opening to a sense of physical, tactile rediscovery. Much like an archeological find, I like my sculptural installations to invite the spectator to examine and question these sculptural objects and their origins in relation to nature and culture.

“I like to see sculpture not as a form of translation, but rather as transformation. While observing sites through various techniques such as sculpture, photography or video, my approach to these media is always sculptural; dealing with issues as weight, volume, surface etc. On the observing or interpreting of a site, Heidegger commented that the interpreting of a text always entails doing damage to the original piece of writing. Moving along the hermeneutic circle, one is „testing“ all the parts relation to the whole. By interpreting a site through sculpture I intend to break up the cohesion of the whole.

“This is a way to both free the parts from its whole and to free the whole from its parts. So working from parts or fragments i find liberating, because a fragment is always suggesting a greater whole and offering an interpretation of the whole.

Form to Attribute, sculptural installation, mixed 320 x 525 x 125 cm, 2011, Centrum Beeldende Kunst

Ruta Butkute

media: cement, stones, bricks, rusted metal, extile, ceramics, plaster, chair, table, found objects

Zuidoost (Center for Visual Arts South East), Amsterdam, BijlmAir residency

An interview with

Ruta Butkute

Hello Ruta, a warm welcome to ARTiculAction: let's start with our usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

By the way, do you think that there's still a contrast between tradition and contemporary?

A Time, a moment in which the artwork is made, i think it is important, some art movements in art can tell a story, because of its time.Though sometimes the actual experience of the artwork dosen't fit in the frames of that time, when exactly the artwork was made, it is not important, because its autonomy.

I would say when the piece of art goes beyond the time of its making then the definition of it is its experience, which I would refer as essential. There is a contrast between tradition and contemporary but in this time it overlays and complement each other in one form.

Now let's talk about your background. You have formal training and you received BA from Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts. How much has these experiences impacted on the way you produce you art? And how has your art developed since you left school?

I started with the ceramic education, where I learnt working with clay, painting, drawing techniques, which gave me a strong base to feel form and material. In Gerrit Rietveld Academie I started to deal with bigger size sculptures and installations and discovered my way of using video.

The studies influenced my way to materialize ideas, often my process starts from materials and forms, image and the way I experiment with processes, not being afraid of mistakes. I think through experimenting and taking risks we get into some actual art result. When I do a project I try not to stop myself and experiment, every try

gives new ideas, and it keeps an artwork “alive”. An education in a way feels just a small step for things you have to understand to be an artist. For me now it feels like a beginning; I am willing to understand, what experience and strength an artwork can carry or give.

I think this is the main force to keep on making art, the hidden unknown and maybe even impossible. I idealize art as a higher form of communication, similar to form of religion. It is difficult to say, how far you are developed, when actually there are no borders in this field.

Before starting to focus on your artworks I would like that you tell us something about your creative process and especially about your set up for making your works. By the way, do you visualize your works befo-

Ruta Butkute

in her studio at Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz, Austria, 2013

re creating? Do you know what it will look like before you begin?

I enjoy and struggle at the same time while starting my artwork. Thats long and strange struggle with found objects and materials, it is like a play between denying and perceiving certain object and forms. Sometimes a process of making takes several minutes and sometimes it takes so long that cannot be created. How long it takes to bring right objects or materials, thoughts into one place, this is all an effort of thought and action with right intention. I would say, being an artist is full time job, there is no time being not an artist, because the intention which I carry with me brings things together, I refer it to unconscious communication with environment, being open and aware, kind of alert. I collect for each project new materials and

try new ways. It is a continuous placement and replacement. I believe for right objects/materials coming together, in a sense creating itself. Often I admire accidents, for example, when something is falling, dripping, breaking, or it is just there laying in the studio. Objects, materials can be like a magnets attracting each other to come to the form of sculpture.

Most of the time I have a visualization of my idea, but i don't stop there, I let it change and be changed till the last moment it is installed. When an idea becomes too clearly visualized the sculptural work is not interesting or powerful enough for me to want to make it. The work is to be unknown and be a surprise to yourself. The moment a work is finished because it cannot change anymore, its like a frozen moment. I think thats also the psychological state of artist mind, it just stops.

Now let's focus on your stimulating installation Form to Attribute that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article. Could you take us through your creative process when starting this project?

I reflected on the location were my residency was, in South East Amsterdam, Bijlmer. The project is an exploration of the place through the traces and signatures of its inhabitants. The research included the research of the roots and cultural inheritance of the Surinamese residents. Like an archaeologist I examined the fate of found objects (objet trouve?).

I was interested in how these decaying artifacts reflect changes within this culture, locally as well as on a global scale. The process was striking and very interesting, I remember the spring in 2011 was just starting, and I had this huge urge to collect: very heavy asphalt and cement, brick, metal pieces from outside with the bike. I worked very hard, collected a lot of derby from building sites, from the parks and garbage. That was my first residency and my

lack of experience and excitement came together. I was just intending to make all the effort, at the end I had to be selective and to make choices which materials are out of play. Now I am much more careful in my selection, my decisions became more clear and direct. It all comes with experience. I am still dealing with similar emotions through my working process, when I start to feel very much out of place, when I am walking with garbage and branches and digging out old things from sites. Somehow its still important whats the first impression that people get from you. Sometimes it is not fitting in society, people don't imagine that artist as a profession is to pick up such a stuff. It is kind of exciting to be able to have a profession which dosen't have many frames, at the end most important not to be stopped by others, not to stop the creative process.

By the way, what is your studio process typically like, and how do you decide upon which materials you incorporate within a piece?

I am looking for tension between materials, colors, sizes, dimensions, meanings. The tensions between materials brings them to life, unusual combinations of materials, unusual because of their new use and change of purpose. I believe that the circulation of the found objects play an important role in

our environment. There is a process of placement and displacement in these objects that are left in the streets for decay or a nomadic life, its like a collected experiences of people and we are an inseparable part of these objects. Many times in the studio I observe whats happening, playing with replacements. By taking found object out of context and placing in an artificial environment I'm interested in revealing these objects in a "natural" state, so that they may for the first time engage their surroundings autonomously. It is a way of breaking open the background of a site and revealing that the identity of an object is always in a state of movement. Often I have to wait to be able to receive the essence the moment of the object when it reveals itself. There are times production as well in a project or resi-

The Logic of Ground, sculptural installation, mixed 300 x 220 x 160 cm, 2012, Inkijk gallery, Weesperple

The Logic of Ground, sculptural installation detail, TL light

media: plaster casts, TL lights, wood, paint, tar in metro station, Amsterdam

dency, when I just have to produce: the clay form, plaster cast or paint, this is a more relaxing part and mediative process. I guess I enjoy the diversity of my artistic process.

Another artworks on which I would like to spend some word is your recent piece The Logic of the Ground, that I have found really interesting. In particular, I have been impressed with the effective synergy between the heaviness of industrial materials and the intimate reflection on our perception of the space....

In the installation series Function of non-Function/ titled The Logic of Ground, the sculptural installation largely consists of prefabricated industrial materials, mainly used in construction and interior. I call these 'background materials' as they

are generally unseen and absorbed in our peripheral experience of place. I have been installing my work in metro station Weesperplein in Amsterdam, it is very specific location, where I was reflecting on the industrial quality of the surroundings. At the same time when I was working on my sculptures, there were construction works going on, so I think that influenced a lot my decisions for choosing materials. I wanted the spectator to be engaged in a way of question, for example; is

The Logic of Ground, sculptural installation detail, paint on wood

this exhibition a part of construction site? In my sculptural works were included running paint, and heavy industrial materials, TL-lights and tar. I think the transformation of these heavy industrial materials gave edge and new perspec-tive to the location, and not just to be seen as a shop vitrine. In the work I stage the sculptural qualities which each material has.

In essence, one material is given the role of / follows the logic or application of another material. And we couldn't do without mentioning your project "Moment for Tradition- Space Anthropology": what was you initial inspiration?

The installation was translated into photographic works because of its temporal nature, being installed outside. The initial idea was to make video scene thats dealing with Lithuanian tradition, to stage a play by creating an artificial space in the forest. It comes out of my deep interest into Lithuanian rituals which i intend to reinvent, to make use of in my scenographic video works.

I would say, this photos is an introduction to an approach which I will be using more in the future, when I find the right method and material. This work was made during 2013 winter in my hometown where i grew up.

As a child I would spent a lot of time exploring nature, walking in the woods and looking for strange undiscovered spaces. As now after spent several years of art practice this is becoming an inspiring place where I can bring in new things and charge myself.

I absolutely agree with you when you states that "a fragment is always suggesting a greater whole and offering an interpretation of the whole".

This reminds me a fashinating book by Douglas Hofstadter that I read when I attended my highschools, and I have been ever wondering if one of the roles of an artist could be to suggest the idea of the greater whole, revea-ling hidden details of reality: finding a secret order... what's your point about this? Do you think that an artist

could have a sort of social role?

I definitely think that even though artists sometimes don't feel part of society, they definitely have a role in it. And that role is very important, often they are able to embody deeper issues, to give us a certain zeitgeist. The most important factor in that is that they are free to express and not bound within a profession. they create an image of the actual things in a direct and new way.

This directness is very important. I think in some ways art has a way of communicating that is more direct than conventional language. In a similar way poetry can be more effective sometimes to communicate certain ideas. Even in science the idea of an intuitive understanding of things is becoming more appreciated in re-cent years. I see it as a way to bridge

Moment for Tradition- Space Antropology installation

a gap where the logical or empirical way of communication fails.

It goes without saying that your artworks are strictly connected to the chance to create a deep interaction, since rather than modify the space, your artworks are the space in which your audience enjoy your pieces: so, how important is the role of your audience for your artworks?

When you conceive a piece, do you happen to think to whom will enjoy it?

Most of the time I create interaction between sculptural works, I am creating the space with my works, where audience are invited.

People can walk between my works, though even the distance and placements seem to be fragile. I use the “natural” placements of the artworks as an aspirations from nature

and lost objects outside and the method of an interior space arrangements. I make my work for any spectator, in my mind it is for each of them. Something the work can share an experience, but we all not the same, so it is just for those who are open to that kind of experience. For me it is difficult to be exact about how spectator is engaged in my work, because I feel that my work is not so public yet. It is just to be seen by a certain art public, so its a question of time. Every persons experience is personal and individual, though i do believe in a trans-subjective experience which the minimalists so praised.

sculptural installation,mixed media: cement, stones, bricks, rusted metal, textile, ceramics, plaster, found objects, 320 x 525 x 125 cm, 2011, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Zuidoost (Center for Visual Arts South East), Amsterdam, BijlmAir residency

Form to Attribute,

Now here's our cliche question, that we often ask to the artists that we interview: What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I think the most most moments are just when I start new project: to create an idea and make choices of materials. Then I am very impulsive and inspired, passionate about new ideas and thinking wide. It is only later that projects become more limited or shrinks.

And at the end, when I am almost finished to execute my project; it is present, that one moment when I finally see what the work is, till after several days it goes to be a “past” and then its not so actual or present anymore. So the birth of an idea and a birth of an artwork, I guess those two points are the drive.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Ruta. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Yes, sure, I am just having exhibition open this May in Atelierhuis Salzamt in Linz. The work was made during the residency time and I am still reflecting on my result, wondering if it is finished.

I made sculptural installation :”Obere-Untere Donaulande”, where I used found decaying pieces of wood from the coast of Donau and synthetic building materials. I am emphasizing the role of nature in the interaction with the “built environment:” to observe nature in a dead or frozen context. I am planning to do more research in the subject of nature, I feel there is a lot to discover in the imitation of natural products.

My next step is to visit nature sites and to develop some outdoor installations for the photo/video works, to use the execution through sculptural perspective. I look where nature connects or interacts with society, when appears tensions between those two. As artists we never know when exactly we are doing right things, but as time passes we can see if that artwork still holds meaning.

from exhibition open 8 of May in Atelierhaus Salzamt

Alex Bodea

(Germany)

an artist’s statement

Alex Bodea confronts drawing with written and spoken word. Using restricted means - a line, a few words, a laconic performance- that areinventivelybeingcombined,she delivers a complex flow of astute, witty poetry.

There is no thematic obsession but life itself and the act of directly observing it. The works are like minutes: an instant drawn/written/ /spoken record of the inner and exterior reality.

from Protection image, marker and ink on foamboard, 2011

Alex Bodea is a Romanian artistbased in Berlin.

Education:

BA 2006-2009 - University of Arts and Design, Cluj, Romania.

MA 2009-2011- University of Arts and Design, Cluj, Romania.

Solo exhibitions:

2011 „Protection Image”, Laika Gallery, Cluj, Romania.

2011 „Draw as if it will have consequences”, Cluj, Casa Matei Gallery, Romania.

Group exhibitions:

Spain.

ENTRE Project, in partnership with the Largo das Artes Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

2012 „Monumental”, CBC in collaboration with Jecza Gallery, Timisoara, Romania

2011 „Eight new works and a half”, Salonul de Proiecte in collaboration with National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania.

2010 „Artbooth”, Cluj – Oradea - Timisoara itinerary exhibition, Romania. Public space. Exhibitor and coordinator.

2010 „MIS FIT“, Mill Street Studios, Dublin, Ireland.

2010 ,,Idila”, Atelier 030202, Bucharest, Romania.

2009 „Young artists from the Painting School of Cluj“, Mie Lefever Gallery, Gent, Belgium.

2009 „Don’t get mad bro’“, Pointcontemporary Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.

Photos by Mircea Suciu

An interview with

Alex Bodea

Welcome to ARTiculAction, Alex. Let's start this interview with our usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

By the way, what could be the features that can characterize the contemporariness of a piece?

A work of art can be seen as a scientific research that does not need to prove correct. The contemporaneity of a piece it’s merely an illusion. But it is a useful illusion, as it gives us the feeling that we speak a common language.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you hold a MA in Fine Arts, that you have received from the University of Arts and Design, Cluj, Romania: how has formal training impacted on you? And how has your Art developed since you left school?

I was of a rather mature age when I felt strongly determined to begin studying art. I took it systematically, like a diligent scholar, but soon realized that I will always be the heretically inventive self-taught artist.

By that time, my personality had already been shaped. Devoting solely to technical versatility, as many young scholars do, never really got me. Only understanding what I do, which is hundreds time harder. On whole, the academy gave me time to concentrate my attention exclusively on art.

Since I ended my studies, and to my great surprise, I have started to avidly rediscover what I knew to do best as a child: to find the right word (now the right word and image) for everything that attracted my attention. I was described as a quiet child who only opened the mouth to express witty remarks in a tragic

Alex Bodea

manner, and vice versa. Oddly enough, I have a hunch that, developing my art, I’m becoming me. But better not put a diagnosis on that.

Before getting in the matter of you art production, can you tell us something about your process and set up for making your artworks?

In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

The working process I am most fond implies: simplicity in form, generosity in content and a pitiless selection. The last one is most trust-able. And the real work of art.

By the way, does your process allow you to visualize your pieces before creating? Do you

Visual notes

know what it will look like before you begin?

I always visualize my work. And then I pray that it materializes in a masterpiece or outrageous rubbish. Never something in the middle.

Now let's focus on you works. I would start from Visual notes that we have published in these pages: what was your initial inspiration for this work? By the way, could you take our readers through your creative process when starting a new project?

Visual notes traces back to 2011, when I started to rediscover my inclinations, as I told you. I was looking for a drawing that not only comments

on and plays with reality but acts simultaneously with it. Back then I would call it a drawing with consequences: imagine the experience of walking on a road; you draw the road- a simple line; you stumble on a rock; you add that rock to your drawing. And let’s say you have not met the rock yet. The drawing is that of an empty road; but you imagine that you meet a rock and you stumble on it; you add the rock to the drawing; you make the reality. In both cases, it’s breathtaking magic. I did hundreds of such drawings with consequences- and out of them, my first solo exhibition. But the drawings were still relating to experiences that already took

place. In my view, they seemed fabricated. So I put the problem to rest. And in the autumn of 2012, out of the blue, I ran over an interesting solution. I saw someone attending a conference and ceaselessly taking notes on a tablet. I could see on the monitor what was going on, the synergy between what was being heard and what was being noted down. It was fascinating. So I began to take my own instant notes, not on things that I could hear but on things I could see. Visual notes. In the streets. Six months later, and I already gathered hundreds of such visual notes, mainly related to Berlin, where I live now.

I never start a new project. I just find a different solution for the same old problem. I look for a drawing that sees around it, talks about it and rides the bus.

Another stimulating work, or I should better say series, of your is Protection Image that have been recently exhibited at Laika Gallery, Cluj. Even though I wouldn't define it as Minimal Art, I dare to say that one of the most stimulating feature of this artwork -and of your art- is the capability of creating an effective communication using less than minimal materials... and it's absolutely fascinating... Would youlike totell ussomething about thisfeature?

Protection image solves, at some degree the problem of riding a bus- of occupying space and moving or giving the impression of moving. Even before, in drawing with consequences exhibition, I had such an attempt: the drawings did not hang on the wall, but migrate into the exhibition space, as flags. In Image of Protection the drawings became three-dimensional objects, flowing in waves. Modelling a narration. It was something close to a theatrical moment.

Yes, my work is not minimalistic in the familiar way. The historical minimalism is solemn and dry. Bodea’s minimalism is...well, baroque. It has the playfulness and inventiveness of a bountiful staging. Imagine someone being able to suggestively play Shakespeare talking through a pair of socks pulled over the hands-

Muppets socks. I can do that with my lines. I sometimes think that the ability of effectively expressing something complicated by using nothing but the simplest means is a common trait in Romanians. With a minor place in history, when we were given the scarce and short chance to be listened to, we had to be very concise, quick and witty.

And we couldn't do without mentioning Line poems: by the way, I know that this might sound a bit funny, but it reminds me Marcel Marceau and especially Jean-Louis Barrault... it's just like if the lines that you draw in your performance are the tracks of a mime's gestures... like if your work achieves to keep a memory of a movement... do you agree with this anaysis, or is it exaggerately strange?

Line poems is another reconsidered solution. At the same time with starting visual notes I became interested in live drawing performances. I tried it the common way, with a drawing tablet and projections. During my recent exhibition in Spain, there was a chance to produce some live drawings in front of an audience and I hate it.

I could find no purpose in silently drawing something that goes at more than 1 meter away from my body. So, ingloriously returning home, I put aside the tablet and looked for a simple piece of Plexiglas and a whiteboard marker. I understood that I can turn my face towards the audience, and behind the transparent Plexiglas I can write and talk at the same time- reciting my own poems that are half line and half words, distant cousins of visual notes.

This unexpected and rarely practiced mix (if at all) and the performing fluency it requires, are taking the best out of me. For that I feel grateful and excited. I have to say here that my works seem to formally get simpler and simpler and in the same time harder to master and deliver. But only I know that.

I enjoy the comparisons with these two famous mime artists. But I must remain humble. And

Line Poem

well, my line has nothing to do with memory; my line is always in the present. If people see me as a brilliant geek explaining fireworks like equations, I’m fine with that.

You have been involved in many web based projects: I would mention the recent "Visual notes on fashion-when drawing spreads the news " If we give a glance to nowadays online ecosystem, we find an enormously large number of virtual spaces where lots of artworks are accessible for immediate feed-back on a wide scale and it goes without saying that they attract massive attention. What is

Your take on the impact of networked technologies on Art?

Yes, I also think that networked art does not have significant feedback, for now. It’s like sending messages into outer space. Who knows, maybe the chemistry does not work in virtual realms: they have to smell you. The phenomenon is anyway embryonic, so it’s hard to say if it is a failure. People are happy to store data, like bees store honey in the beehive.

Could be just compulsive. Or not. But one thing seems clear: for the future networked art archaeologists, heaven is guaranteed. As long as Internet survives.

I have read that you have recently exhibited in Brazil and in Spain: what impression have you received from these experience? Moreover, How much important is for you the feedback of your audience? When you conceive a piece, do you think to whom will enjoy it?

For the feedback, you have to be there. Brazil was not such case. They projected in public space some digitally stored visual notes, which I sent via e-mail.

I don’t know what the audience experienced. With Spain, I had the chance to be there and talk to people. But was far from a momentum of communion. I think visual artists get really dull feedback in comparison with performers, which are fortunate to get one that is obvious and beautifully animalic. But when I have a good feeling about what I do, there is a big chance that people will enjoy it, in their frustrating silenced ways.

I never thought working for a specific audience. I don’t know anybody that well.

interesting one. What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

The biggest satisfaction: selection. I feel just right when I throw bad pieces in the bean. Thanks a lot for this interview, Alex. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I have two prospects I’m thinking of. One is to

travel while taking visual notes. It will be great to also extend the subjects: go to factories, hospitals, public institutions. Like a journalist. A residence or a commissioned project could help me with this. The other is to build a portable setting for my lines poems and find an audience. Touring with Line Poems of Alex Bodea… And as a more technical aspect, I will be part of the upcoming Volta Basel art fair, in June.

Thank you for this vivid conversation!

Alex Bodea, taking visual notes in Berlin, May 2013

In my artistic research and practice, I've been interested in personal gestures and visual imagery of my cultural background combined with the current culture I live in. I explore the meaning of bodily gestures, starting from a personal account, and expand this search towards visual imagery and codes in which we function, and towards the stories we watch, hear, tell and eventually act.

My video work often shows characters(human/nonhuman, living/non-living) that seem to be wandering around their physical, cinematic or mental environments. I often use films/tv series/recordings of historical events, critical theory and pop culture images as points of departure.While being interested in the agreements we make with the visual culture around and in us, I often take things out of their own context and place them in other contexts, and try to create new situations. I tend to go towards the absurd with these experiments, where a slight shift of reality takes place.

'Becoming' and 'being in between', as key terms in my work, reveal themselves both in formal and conceptual choices. I often or audibly become characters, placing myself in between the characters and the audience('anti-stockholm'). I'm genuinely interested in 'the others'. becoming and reflecting the characters in my videos, I use my own body and voice as the penetrative channel that the work becomes or goes through. My use of body and voice mostly becomes a self-aware, self-referencing presence, a form of stream of consciousness.

I mostly create controlled environments with carefully chosen limited visual elements. I use a visual language which is widely accessible to communicate not only to an art audience but also to anyone who has watched a certain amount of tv and cinema in their lifetime. I try to use, twist and 'abuse' that cinema/tv language and logic, and bring out possible other meanings, points

of views and subjectivities. I believe this twisted playfulness is one of the strong tools I have in my work. My work, while trying to develop a certain criticality towards the existing visual language and representations, it also expresses a certain allegiance the history of visual imagery. My critic comes from almost an obsession and deep sympathy towards this imagery, which I feel at home with and I don't take a distant position from. I look into our relationship with those ima-

ges, and what 'remains in us' from those images. I'm trying to work on a sensual level, feel with images and instinctively react to them, this way there's also a chance for me to be surprised.

It's inevitable for me to think and create in certain (political) contexts specific to Turkey, i translate those in an accessible way(anti-stockholm, 'you loved her'). here's also a side in my work that is comfortable to think and create in the context of The Netherlands('thank you')

A still from “You Loved Her” Video

This 'in between' position, i.e. being between two countries/cultures, and being 'the other' in many contexts myself, brings another dimension to the work, and makes it self-aware and self-referential(black-out).

An interview with

Hello Belit, a warm welcome to ARTiculAction. Let's start this interview with our usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, how you first became interested in video as a visual medium? Hi hi, thanks for the warm welcome!!. Hmm… but i don't know if this is really an icebreaker question for me... i find it really hard to answer, and i don't believe there is a definition to art or artwork. Someone said that art becomes something else once it is defined, i don't mean to mystify it, but i really hope it becomes something else when it is defined and stabilized. i won't give a definition for art. i don't have one. It is a power- ful thing to be undefined, well... Undefinable. An artwork is supposed to be intriguing and raising questions and having a twist, create a sense of new ways of perceiving things, it should be provocative but I don't mean shocking when I say provocative. I mean it should be thought provoking, it can open up another world that has its own logic.

How i first became interested in video.. i was a cinephile in my teens till mid/late 20s, i watch a lot less nowadays. And around 12 years ago i was following lessons at my university that combines video, philosophy and sociology. They were very inspiring, my sense of the audio visual, and especially video, started with those lessons. For some years i followed lessons of Ulus Baker amongst many others. He was a legendary figure, a good friend to his students, and an amazing philosopher, he effected many of us deeply. One could just show up and listen to him, lucky years, i followed his lessons for 3-4 years. With a group of people, mostly from those lessons and all inspired by Ulus, we formed a video activist group called Karahaber (karahaber.org) –which means black news - in Ankara, the group stopped around 4-5 years ago. In this group first time i started using camera, and editing, filming actions/demonstrations/political gatherings, following issues, making video-news, basicly filming things that would never appear in the mainstream media. That was my initial contact with video.

Before getting in the matter of your art production would you like to tell us something about your background? You have studied both in Turkey, your native country, in Spain and in the Netherlands where you nowadays live and work. By the way, has moving to Europe impacted

on your art practice? And how has your production processes changed over these five years?

I studied Mathematics in Middle East Technical University in Ankara,Turkey. And then came Audiovisual Department in Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Before moving to Amsterdam my video practice was mainly focussed on video activism, making videos for campaigns and political groups, and videos witnessing actions and following political issues. So they were not made as art at all, they were made as activist videos, they had a certain urgency, those things had to be taped, and we taped them.

After moving to Amsterdam, I've not made any videos for several years because i did not feel that urgency. The political climate, however depressing it is, is not comparable to how things are in Turkey, and i felt a little ridiculous holding a camera in a demonstration in Amsterdam. The reason was hard to understand for me first, and i had to process it and understand why i felt awkward in demon-strations, and why i did not feel like filming any demo. Most demonstrations are cheerful and symbolic here, very few clashes, tear gas/gas bombs, the fight is not in the streets, very little immediate danger- at least when i compare it to the situation in Turkey-. So i felt there is no need for me to film anything, no urgency, i felt ridiculous filming people being happy hippy on the streets. And when it is a demo with 'serious' activists then it is either taking itself too serious, or too skeptical of everyone and everything, where i really felt utterly unwelcomed with a camera, which i respect since people don't want to be filmed and they don't see camera as a witness and a possible ally. i did not define it my task to make people feel comfortable with it either. So i had to develop a different kind of relationship with video camera. i started art school and also started making the type of videos i make now.

Production process did not change so much, i was a low budget video maker, that films and edits herself, and sometimes doing group projects, and now i still work the same way, my work process is very intimate now though and i do use myself most of the time, and i film and edit myself as before, but before i used to film crowds and outside.

Moreover i have read that you have studied Mathematics at METU, which stands for Middle East Technical University: i cannot do without asking you if you recognize a synergy between Science and Art... I make no secret that I have been ever fascinated by this controversial point: what's you opinion about this?

Science and Art, hmmm.. there is definitely something special between science and art but I'm not really exploring those connections, i think that will happen on a later stage, i don't

have much to say about it to be honest, unless you have a very specific question. But I can say that i'm not sure if it is a controversial point either.

Now let's focus on your works whose stills have been published in these pages: i would start from Black Out. Could you take us through your creative process when starting this project?

By the way, i almost always write the titles of my works in small letters, and my name always all in small letters as well.

How did black out start... I started writing a text, a very exaggerated version of my mood at that time, I wanted to reflect it to another person, and generalize the mood of an individual, a way to deal with it but also to understand it. Then i was not aware of what i was doing exactly. i don't have the discipline to write regularly but i always try to push myself to do it, and i really like writing. So... i wrote a text and i wanted to do something with voice. i was fascinated, and I'm still fascinated with the detachment of voice and how a voice can define a person. Once your voice is taken from you, you are not yourself anymore, once it is replaced with someone else's then you are more that

other person than yourself. i play a lot with voice in my work. So..I was trying out things, i asked someone to read the text, and i was correcting him while reading. Afterwards i tried to lip-synch his voice and filmed that, and that moment -when i corrected him- came and i just continued lip-synching, did re-takes including that moment.

When i was watching the clip, it was a little odd, i liked it but i was not sure what was in front of me, i cut it and it just fit perfectly. i knew it did work but i didn't know how and what, I didn't have words for it, just the feeling was right. It was a magical moment, and i was lucky to recognize that moment. i really like this work because it was a process where i surprised myself, and embraced a lucky accident. i believe that one becomes lucky in making art if one is prepared.

Trying out, thinking and concentration... they all increase your chances to become lucky. i try to remind this to myself all the time.

You often use a method of decontextualization & re-contextualization as a tool all to construct new meanings, and you have remarked that you

A still from Black Out

deliberately push towards the absurd: this is not an uncommon feature in contemporary art, and i have been ever wondering if it shows a kind of hidden contradictions that are intrinsically contained in our society... in other words: do you think that the method of decontextualization allows us to discover the absurdity of our Reality?

Oh, yes, definitely, it does help us discover the absurdity in reality we live in. i believe that we need to step a little backwards and see what it is that we accept as 'normal' and it is very hard to step backwards and not think about things in their own context, and that very context makes it so easy to live and be comfortable in this world.

There are those t-shirts with the text 'if you're not pissed off you're not paying attention' or something like that, i really think that is true. Absurdity is actually the normal life, irrationality is all over and rationality is a rare thing, and in a daily life situation we are in complete denial of this fact. This method of decontextualization helps me with my feeling of uneasiness, i know something is off but sometimes i can not point it out, and while playing around it pops up. It is a better way to deal with things than being constantly pissed off..;)

I also think you realize the context you live in, something that you are so used to not notice, when you are out of context yourself, I mean moving to another country can make you feel like fish out of sea, you have to adapt and you inevitably feel out of context, your context is back home, you make sense to others in that context, you don't need to explain yourself, and in another country/culture you need to adapt and explain and communicate yourself, and also try to understand the new context as well.

Another work on which i would like to spend some words about is Thank You: what was you initial inspiration?

'thank you' is a work where the original footage is not made as an artwork. I used to work as a freelance video maker and I was working for a campaigning organization, making a video for Western consumers. In that video, a worker from Indonesia was giving a message to the Western consumers about the working conditions in Indonesia, and about how to be in solidarity with the workers in the Global South.

During this filming session this worker was fed words to say in the video, and those sentences were prepared together with her. But at the same time she was corrected on one specific sentence for her pronunciation of the words in English. I went back to this footage some months later and picked those parts. It is a real footage and you see her struggling and trying to seriously do her best to say the sentence as good as possible, and it becomes ridiculous

A still from Thank You

as she says it in all different pronunciations and being asked to repeat again and again. It reveals the domination in several layers including domination of English language, and the irony of the message given to western audience, and her suffering, it makes the work powerful and painful to watch.

You defines yourself a video-activist and you are involved into lots of alternative political spaces for creative actions: I'm sort of convinced that Art could play an effective political role, but I'm not as sure if Art could even steer in a certain way people's behaviour.. what's your point? By the way, what could be the role of an artist in the society?

I'm troubled about this point, i want to believe art can have a role to play in steering people's behaviors in certain ways, but at the same time i don't have an answer about how that can even start to happen at this time, i mean practically and realistically. This makes me question what I'm doing and why.... i think an artist should be more than being an artist, and be something else at the same time, so that s/he can step from one shoe to the other easily and what s/he makes is not always framed in art, but also can become more than art, something that is part of everyday life. Then i think there is a chance for the artist to make a change.

I believe that an artist should be a figure like an intel-

lectual, someone aware and critical at the same time, i can not stand artists who are living in a bubble and not aware or curious about the world. i don't mean they should make political works, but i go crazy when artists say that 'an artist should not talk about politics', what else then? I believe strong characters and strong critical approach will bring art to a strong position in society, then it will be taken seriously, both artists and the artworks. I believe this is at many times lacking in The Netherlands. For You Loved Her you have used ”found” materials: not to mention that nowadays this is a very common practice. i often wondered about the personal contribution of the artist, in such case... it goes without saying that also white canvas, acryls tube and pencil, they are all material that already exists... roaming and scavenging through "found" material to might happens to discover unexpected sides of the world, maybe of our inner world... what's you point about this?

I don't think there is anything that is problematic about using found footage, it is as valid and valuable work. We are constantly remixing things in our heads, and being bombarded with images, and we need to find our ways through them. what is more valid to communicate using those images we are bombarded with? Nobody asks me if i want to see certain images, I'm just exposed to them. If that's

while working-tenten'den Aralik 2012 Ankara

A sequence of stills from Thank You

the case then of course they change the way I think and imagine things, and of course I'll make my art using them. It is to use the common memory we all have. i also think that found footage brings so many layers with it, that it can give you a rich material to work with, references and decontextualization becomes more interesting of course, because you sometimes don't know what you are really de-contextualizing and the result can be surprising and become more layered. i don't know about the 'inner world' you are talking about, but i can say that it is definitely interesting practice, also as an audience I'm a big fan of many artworks that use found footage.

And it goes without saying that in You Loved Her there's a veiled reference to well-known stereotypes about East... By the way, when you show your videos in Europe are you perceived as a Tur-

kish artist or an European artist?

This work is about the violence towards women in Turkey. At a certain period in the last year whenever you look at a newspaper you would read at least one news about a woman being killed by her 'loved one/s', i.e. the men in her family, or her father, brother, (ex-) husband/lover etc. And when you read the news, you would read those murderers talk about 'how much they love the women they killed'. It is sick.

Many of these women asked for protection from police and state, none got it, on the contrary they were sent back to their families or husbands and got killed shortly after by those people. It's a complete denial all over. It shows the relation this society has with what it means to love someone, what does love mean?

Feminists from Turkey were saying 'we hope no men love us, we want to live'. i was pissed off, every femi-

feminist was pissed off, and there was no easy or soft way to deal with this issue, i wanted to make a work about it, but then it was hard to make something as heavy as the issue itself, it is hard to translate it, and that was the time i realized once again the outrageous representation of violence towards women in television, films and series, old and new. i knew it but once i started collecting those images and watching them one after the other, voaaw... i don't watch television at all, so it was shocking. It was so explicitly shown, and portrayed as a normal act. It was both shocking and familiar in a very weird way. You realize how things can be deeply rooted in a culture, and how that culture can be rooted in yourself, how you grow up seeing things that does not get questioned in your mind till you are a bit more conscious, and even if you are conscious and critical (or you think you are), there is so much dirt planted in your head that you need to deal with one by one. And this is a very explicit example, there are many more slight but very deeply rooted strong examples out there.

I'm perceived as a turkish artist, i don't define myself turkish, I say 'i am from turkey', turkish defines an ethnicity, and i don't want to define myself from this or that ethnicity. In Turkey ethnicity is a much more complex question than here in Northwest Europe. So it's absurd that i'm seen as a turkish artist. Sometimes people think I'm from italy or portugal, and they have completely different associations with my work, and once they realize I'm from turkey they kind of get confused. I'm not really interested in it, i find it boring for myself to constantly deal with how I'm perceived, it is also tiring. i think it is the problem of people having boxes in their brains to categorize others.

About your question, the veiled reference to wellknown stereotypes about East.... It's difficult, because i made this video thinking a lot in the context of Turkey, i made it out of my frustration towards what's going on and it is made to be viewed by people in Turkey. And i also have an english spoken version of it to be shown outside of Turkey, and the work becomes something else in different contexts, definitely. Then it is not only me dealing with the culture i come from, but also me representing that culture. Does it become something conforming many people's stereotypes of that culture while being subversive and critical in Turkey?. i don't think so. It will not fit in a conservatism package. It is a feminist video, it talks about a menta-

lity that exists in the culture i live in at the moment as well, maybe representing men beating up women on tv is not common, but there is another way of denial here, many people think feminism is not necessary in the Netherlands, because they think we are in post-feminist times and Netherlands has had its feminist revolution already, it is done, over.

And now women have all their freedom and we don't have to worry about anything. How can you talk about post-feminism in a country that stopped financing abortion clinics, many women have difficulties seeing a doctor in a private clinic, but forced to go to their neighborhood hospital where possibly their relatives work or neighbors could see them enter. And combine that with someone being from a conservative family, or just someone who wants to protect her private life and decisions. Another example is recently in Amsterdam I've heard that a woman got raped early in the morning in one of the parks and another one happened late

A still from TURKS! Single channel video, 2010

in the evening around the canals in the center, that does not make you feel safe really as a woman. And what is the alternative here? 'The Reclaim the Night Run' organized by Nike that makes advertisements portraying women in stereotypical/traditional women roles? That's a big joke. You experience the problem on a totally different level here, there is no big evil to point out, it is another kind of cultural sickness, let's call it post-sickness.

As you have remaked in your artist's statement that precedes this interview, you use a visual language which is widely accessible to communicate not only to an art audience. How important is for you the feedback of your audience? By the way, when you conceive a piece, do you think to whom will enjoy it? And... uhm: i sometimes ask myself if the expectation of audience feedback is capable of conditioning an artist.... What's your take about this?

I work with feedback, and i react to feedback, many

times my works find their final shape through feedback in their making. So feedback is of crucial importance for my works. But i mean when i make a piece i also think of the audience, but not in terms of pleasing them, on the contrary, i work with tension and once i know the audience then i can shape my work accordingly, not to please them but to tease them.

In many cases it is very important for me to show my work to as many people as possible. i want the works to reach larger groups of people. But i would never shape my work to make the audience satisfied. It is something completely different than making works targeting certain audiences, and yes, I do always consider the audience in defining the way the works are exhibited. For me it's important to reach the audience.

question, but one that I'm always interested in hearing the answer to. What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I enjoy the most when something happens that i can not explain immediately but i know that it works, and i feel that something has happened, something much more than combination of the elements I put in, and it is totally exciting but i can not put it into words at that moment. i enjoy the most when i surprise myself, and get something totally unplanned and get excited by it. i enjoy the most when the work first talks to my senses/feelings than my intellect.

It is a hard to reach point and very precious! Well, then this is my cliche answer;)

Thank you very much for sharing your thought with us, Belit: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

It's my pleasure, nice to answer questions that are also interesting for me;) I'm applying for some long term residencies in The Netherlands and abroad, and I'm excited for that. Summer holiday and recharging time is always exciting;)

I'm also working on exhibition plans for the Fall, and have a show in the summer in Turkey that I'm very much excited about. Well, so far so good.. ciao ciao!

(Turkey)

Me

an artist’s statement

“Besides interests in video, installation and photography, I am predominantly working on painting and drawing. My artwork is based on personal history, on relationships and memory (dreams, space, geography, land). It is broadly related to memory, dreams, space and connotations. These topics are drawn from daily life as much as from unconscious thoughts. Essentially, I’m attempting to create images according to my own psychological needs. This personal history, both intimate and profound, is woven through the conceptual framework of my artworks.

“I express my vision and ideas through narratives, through symbols and figures. I like to use images symbolically, attributing different meanings to objects, or combining different elementsto create new atmospheres. Space and movement are vital for my art. Much of my work explores the relationshipbetween the individual andgeography. Be- cause geography is a human construct, which includes things like travel, memory and relationships, I use it in my work to interrogate personal history and the spaces we inhabit, physically and psychologically. “My interest in borders has led to a fascination with notions of settlement and states of belonging, as well as with the process of mapping. I’m interested in maps in a conceptual way, but I also use maps as metaphors and use the mapping process as a form of expression. Besides the conceptual frame of map, I consider the image of

map as an art piece. Maps as objects give me inspiration.

“Through mapping, I can refer to multiple notions at the same time. This is what I want to do with my art. Mapping is all about moving, settlement and transportation, and maps are works of art in themselves. They have become a framework for my projects around borders and settlement.

“Geography (nature, land, space) has emo-tional and political currency. As an artist and as an observer, I find that geography is a complement to personal history. I enjoy exploring the specific relationships between geography and individuals.

“Recently I did a short artist residency in the middle of Turkey, in a region called Cappadocia. The area is famous for its fantastic otherworldly landscape, natural textures, ancient frescoes, and for its medieval churches and the ancient settlement of civilizations.

“While I was there, I researched symbols and regional signs on early Christian paintings, and evidence of early Ottoman/Seljuk influence. I like to find common cultural signs and symbols and use them to create new stories and meanings. I paid attention to the ways in which the landscape leaves its mark on its inhabitants. From there, I began to work on a series called ‘Settlement’.

An interview with

Hi Ciğdem, a warm welcome to ARTiculAction. We would start this interview with our usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And what are the features that mark a work of Contemporary art?

I define work of Art as a way of touching people. Touching to feeling, to mind of the spectator. Touching create relationships and communication. I think contemporary art works touches people closer, enjoyable or stronger perhaps. But main thing for the artwork is must be honest; otherwise the touching will be irritating.

Would you like to tell us would you like to tell us something of your background? I have read that you have formal training: you studied at the Hacettepe University Institute of Fine Arts in Ankara... How much in your opinion training influences art? And how has your art developed since you left school?

That’s right, I graduated from painting department at Hacettepe Unversity in Ankara. But actually I start to get art education when I was 15 in my hometown Trabzon. It was High school in specialized in to painting and music. In Trabzon I decided to pursue doing art in my life. Then I move to Ankara for Fine Arts Faculty of Hacettepe Univer-sity and received MA degree in painting.

While I was doing MA, for one year I moved to Czech Republic where I studied Lithography by Martin Raudensky and conceptual photography at Faculty of Art and Design in Jan Evangelista Purkyne in Usti Nad Labem. Even though I had all this formal education, I don’t believe that formal training is necessary for becoming an artist.

Certainly the formal training is give a time (plenty of time) to me to construct a ground to stand on my own by learning artists lives, art techniques and materials and of course art history. Basically, in school, you learn how to look the world as an artist and how to look artworks and read them. Since I left school I feel my development as an artist got influenced a lot from my travels and places that I lived and people I met.

Before getting in the matter of you art production, can you tell us something about your process and set up for making your artworks?

In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

I start with an idea/ inspiring thing (moments, events, feeling) moves me to create. Each projects or series of paintings begin with a careful study of its concept. Then I make drawings, sketches according to my observation of the subject, this open my imagination. Drawing let me to explore and move further, for me drawing is a part of the research process. I am keen to make drawings, with drawings I turn the thoughts in to the visual forms, construct ideas on paper. I think drawing is a pure way of visual expression. I am visual artist who is basically using painting and drawing. In one of the project, I made series made of collage and

drawing on paper, which I played with quality of lines and transparency to visualize the matter of remembering and personal memory. Beside this constructive process, sometimes I start to work with an image in my mind. I visualized the picture before the work appeared. In this case, I tried to catch them move further. Through an evolutionary process, often with moments of spontaneity, the technic and convenient material indeed emerges from the ideas. The painting series mostly I used oil color on canvas as the traditional technique. My painting could be seen as figurative and expressive, symbolic, includes sort of surrealistic features. Painting even takes a big part in my installations and videos. I believe that each work calling its own material and technique, I try to listen what the works need. I could use any material, which is suitable for paint and related with the idea of the work. In my opinion the process of making art

means also communication between artist and the work. In the process of artmaking I am always keen to experiment, the process of making being integral to my work.

Now let's focus on the artworks of yours that our readers can admire in these pages. I would start from Bozkurt Mahallesi and Extracts from the Personal Map: can you describe a little bit about your creative process for these pieces? These pieces are different projects. But indeed has same idea which spaces that have more layers of meaning or relationships to people as well as other places.

I want to start with Extracts from the Personal Map. This project and basically the idea of using maps in artworks appeared in 2008 when I was in Marseille/France invited for an artist residency. This works is ongoing project. Since 2008 it consists 26 pieces, all mixed media and collage on small size canvases. Each pieces shows specific address, door number and images forms emerged from this place. I believe that place is not geographical location but also it’s lived space, its the big element of personal life. We produced place by our experiments, memory and Place produce us by influencing us with its location and features.

To emphasize the idea I used printed out map visuals from Google map applications, which is familiar to us in our daily life and accessible easy by Internet. Based on the relationship of memory and place and time this works questioning the state of belonging. I think the feeling of belonging is a big matter in contemporary life.

Made in Connotation, cloud room, France 2008

In our digital world, map could be seen accurate and highly accessible to use even in virtual way. Therefore our relationships with the place is changed. Even though, we see the same map, indeed everybody has their own personal map in their mind according to their relationships the place. In this concept, to create the personal map I picked up some specific accurate address that I have been there had a trace on me. I selected the places of my personal history that’s why the work called “Extracts of the personal Map”. Each of the canvases has different images according to the address. At the end all these pieces installed together, exposed in cartographical order. In this manner, you can see the reference to the theory of Foucault’s Heterotopia. In a short, Heterotopia is a concept in†human geography†elaborated by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe places and spaces that function in non-hegemonic†conditions.

In our Contemporary life, mobility and ephemerality playing a big role in relation to a space/place. From this aspect, I collect the remaining places and expose them in non-hegemonic condition by installing all the pieces on the same surface. Map visual shows the accuracy of the place and my drawings and symbols, paintings destroy the accuracy and reshaped it re addressed the place. I believe that place is not just physical location or not a neutral, place is always subjective. Like Henry Lefebvre said place is produced by person and person produced by the place. There is interplay between person and the place.

“Bozkurt Mahallesi” is one of my new works from recent series using original map. The Series basically collage showing different places in same time related to the visual memory, unconscious thoughts as foresights. You can see that it’s also rela-

Bozkurt Mahallesi

Ted to the heterotopia concept and subjectivity of the map. This visual simultaneity of the places shows the synergy of physical (here) and mental (there) spaces. The title of the work coming from one of neighborhoods in Istanbul I’m currently living. In the work you can see the map of that neighborhood and in the background of nautical map of South England. Using nautical map as a material is also related the idea of being here and there moving) by associating to navigation.

Another piece of yours on which I would like to spend some words is "The Door Of Pandora", that has been seemingly inspired by Greek mithology. Even though I'm a ware that the following analysis could sond a bit naif, I have to say that this piece has impressed me very much, not only for its visual impact, but also and especially because we use to associate the idea of Pandora's box to an action that turns out to have severe consequences... while opening your door we can admire a wonderful explosion of colors... it's an interesting semantic subversion...

Thanks for your words. The Door of Pandora commissioned by the Artium Gallery in Istanbul for the exhibition: Up and Coming. In that period I had something like an exploration/ epiphany in my personal life, in fact, this pulse me to do this installation. I would like to express the feeling everyone make it open to people. That was the idea of the work. As you noticed from the title, work refers to the story of Pandora Box. I always found the mythology as a stimulating and illuminating. Maybe as u said it’s a semantic subversion but is also invention of new myth.

I used the door as an entrance of the story in a kind of poetic way. Even though my works are mostly coming out from personal history, I would like to give blankness for viewer to communicate with the work.

Confined, 2010 gouache on paper, 25x30 cm

The Door of Pandora, 2011 installation

And we cannot do without mentioning your installations: in particular, would you like to tell us some-thing about Made in Connotation? What was your initial inspiration, and how have you developed this project? By the way, am I going wrong or the bed plays a role in your imagery? We can see a bed both in Hovering over the Bed, in Confined and in Yara-Wounded...

Exactly. Recently I realized that in my artworks bed plays a big role. As an object bed has a lot to do with individual and intimacy. Bed attributes intimate place of individual. Beside this, Bed a simple and convenient metaphor for my imagination. Well, it’s always inspiring in art scene as Robert Rauschenberg’s assemblage painting. “Made in Connotation” set up for the exhibition project in Strasbourg including the events of Turkish Season in France in 2010. This installation had a long process. Idea had shaped in Marseille 2008. This exhibition consists two room, one is had installation and video projection and the other one is shows drawings (extracts of video) hangs on wall to wall.

As the title referred to the country that produce goods in our consumption world, my main aim was to imagined Bed as a surface of a country, land or territory. In the instal- lation barbed wire framed around bed. From this border view you make stronger reference to the territory. Here bed is symbol of İntimate land that is forbidden to strangers, the land sheltered.

On the surface of the bed you can see the images run- ning and becoming like stop motion. This video reminds the people the dreams and thoughts pass like moving and blurring images. This video also called made in connotation. The entire project came out from the connotation and creates new connotations. I believe that everything that we see has something to do with our past, environment, and culture… as a Turkish citizen border is a big topic moving me creates the stories. My intention to investigate the meaning of borders appea-red here. Well, at the end I’d say that Gestalt psychology and the theory influenced my artworks.

Yara- Wounded Oil on canvas, 2007

Made in Connotation, installation

I would like to spend some words about the concept of "map” that you have elaborated in your artist's statement. Even though I'm aware that this might sound some strange to someone, personally, I'm sort of convinced that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal hidden aspects of reality, also and especially using imagination. And I can recognize in your concept of "map" something that has to do with research...

I use the idea of map as a functional metaphor for communicates with the world. In my opinion, map is a strong way of subjective expression and explanation based on the place. I see Map as a metaphor also for artwork also in means of the their art/map making process. Art process is kind of a journey through work.

Yes, I believe that in the background of idea of “map” is related to research, awareness, and witnesses of the relationship with place. I think reality portray itself with the place. And map, as its simple visual form is an aspect of reality. In recent

years I’m interested exploring the interplay of the place and our relationship to the landscape around us. This obviously has something to do with map idea.

You have remarked that the topics of your artworks are drawn from daily life, historical facts as much as from unconscious thoughts. So, is experience in your opinion, an absolutely necessary part of creative process?

Yes, Experience is vital for my art as well as research. Artmaking is a highly personal process for me, both informing and being informed by the course of my experiments and observations.

By the way, would you like to tell us something about your recent artist residency experience in Cappadocia? I've find very interesting the pursuit of common grounds between apparently different cultures:thesynergy-sometimesunforeseen-bet-

Hovering over the bed

ween ways of making art that seemed to have developed through different ways: again we need a map, isn't it?

Well, I was there for Cappadocia International Art Festival showing “Made in Connotation” installation. While showing my work, I had a time to see the place. I found Cappadocia very interesting and inspiring with its outstanding natural landscape. I met other artists doing residency there, than I went back again for 2 weeks to stay there and make research and drawings for my works.

Cappadocia is famous with the mosaics and old wall painting and images from byzantine times and even old. I also visited the one of first settlement near Cappadocia field.

Yara- Wounded Oil on canvas, 2007

The idea of Settlement series emerged from there. Yes, Settlement is highly related with the map.

Installing the work Up and Down

And here's our a clich question that we often ask to the artists that we interview: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I actually enjoy the process of the making artwork. Before the execution of the work, the process of research is so exciting. Simply I enjoy focusing on the thoughts transform them in an idea and giving shapes of ideas. This period gives the feeling something like between frustration and satisfaction and joy.

The duration of the process is changing but to experience this process always gives me satisfaction.

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Ciğdem. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Thanks for this interview. I appreciated your thoughtprovoking questions.

Yes, I have ongoing projects as Extracts of the Personal Map; I am adding new pieces to them. I’m also working some pictures belongs to series Settlement. I’d like to make artworks based on place that will be showed.

I consider that space will be playing important role in my future works. In the defining of artwork space could be part of the work. I could see that approach on my last show in June 2012, with “Up and Down” site-specific installation. The place gives me inspiration that ending up with orienting the works presentation itself.

Yatak, kapadokyasanatfestivali2011

Up and Down, installation