ARTiculAction Art Review // Special Edition by ARTiculAction Art Review

Anniversary Edition Special Issue

ANNABEL KÖNIG ELLE SMITH K RYAN GREGORY ORLI AUSLANDER DANIEL CHESTER JESSICA VORHEIS CHRISTOPHER FOWLER MAHSHID RAHIM TABRIZI VASILIS ANGELOPOULOS Nekyia Installation by Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C

SUMMARY

C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Annabel König

Christopher Fowler

Jessica Vorheis

Elle Smith

Vasilis Angelopoulos

K Ryan Gregory

Ireland

Latvia

USA

United Kingdom

Greece

USA

Interdisciplinary in nature, my practice employs a wide range of media. I’m not tied to any one discipline. In fact, my practice requires me to explore new and combined methods, thus discovering conclusions relevant to the work I wish to explore. In my work I often collaborate with other artists and with the general public. I look for technical assistance when I need it as my ideas can sometimes be complicated and require expertise I do not have.

My acrylic paintings are representational, yet surreal and dreamlike scenes of wilderness that set the stage for the figures I put on display. Although my paintings are dark, they are also rich in color. Ideas for my art come from my own feelings, experiences, beliefs or something I saw. The figures and the scenes I create work cohesively to convey a feeling, experience or belief. Through my work I hope to show people an aspect of life that they maybe hadn’t thought about before or had been denying letting themselves think about.

In order to get into the center of beliefs, rituals and obscurities, Vasilis is building images of faded glory, decay, ruin and death. He tries to understand the ritualistic state of religions. Putting himself on experiential ceremonies, he recreate the figures of non-iconic "gods", titans, tyrants and abstract concepts of chaos, justice or death.Each of the materials used in his artworks, has its own symbolism. He is reaching the point of abstraction by giving the most of the answers through the nature of materials.

My interest in photography began when I moved to the beautiful state of Oregon. Oregon encompasses landscapes that include coasts, lowlands, and mountainous regions that are all a photographer's dream. I started with very a cheap camera that I bought 12 years ago that has survived a pool drowning and a trip to Mexico. It’s exposure to the pool affected the black and white setting and it now takes some unique photos. This chlorine affected setting gave me a new desire and tool to seek out captures in nature that contrast light and dark. My desire to explore photography was inspired by all the amazing artwork I had been exposed to in Oregon.

Special Issue

ICUL CTION

SUMMARY C

Vasilis Angelopoulos

lives and works in Athens, Greece

Orli Auslander lives and works in New York City, USA

Annabel KĂśnig

lives and works in County Carlow, Ireland

Christopher Fowler

lives and works in Hope Mills, Nc, USA

Daniel Chester

lives and works in Dublin, Ireland

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi 104 Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

Orli Auslander

Daniel Chester

Iran

USA

Ireland

Abstract expressionism is the most prominent style in Iranian contemporary art, and is what I emphasize in my work. My work represents the dualism in ancient Iranian thinking. I attempt to show the passage from the darkness into the light, and essentially the victory of light over darkness. The first visual element I try to convey to the audience is the pictorial contradiction, and subsequently the contrast between the colors. Finally, I wish for the audience to become consumed within the strips of visual synthesis.

My form of expression began as a non- representational figurative, meditation of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transformative yet reflective depictions of uberconventionality, and quietly metamorphosed into a firmly surreal and redemptive stereotyping of the uterus and it's speculative, semihistorical culturally ideological backlash on social consciousness, while clearly deconstructing the pervasive integration of ambiguity in the 21st Century.

The current body of research is a visual enquiry into the effects of mans over consumption of natural materials and the continuous destruction and long term detrimental effects this is having on the rural landscape of Ireland. The research particularly focuses on the landscape on counties Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Mayo and aims to question what relationship can be connected between this overindulgent nature and our historical and sacred connection to the environment.

lives and works in Teheran, Iran

Elle Smith

124

lives and works in London, United Kingdom

Jessica Vorheis

150

lives and works in Portland, USA

K Ryan Gregory

166

lives and works in New York, USA On the cover Nekyia, by Vasilis Angelopoulos

Special thanks to Haylee Lenkey, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar, Joshua White, Nicolas Vionnet, Genevieve Favre Petroff, Sandra Hunter, MyLoan Dinh, John Moran, Marya Vyrra, Gemma Pepper, Michael Nelson, Hannah Hiaseen, Scarlett Bowman, Yelena York Tonoyan, Haylee Lenkey, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar and Robyn Ellenbogen.

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

V asilis Angelopoulos Lives and works in Athens, Greece

An artist's statement

n order to get into the center of beliefs, rituals and obscurities, Vasilis is building images of faded glory, decay, ruin and death. He tries to understand the ritualistic state of religions. Putting himself on experiential ceremonies, Vasilis re-create the figures of non-iconic "gods", titans, tyrants and abstract concepts of chaos, justice or death. Each of the materials used in his artworks, has its own symbolism. He is reaching the point of abstraction by giving the most of the answers through the nature of materials. Ash, soil, blood or fruit juice are some of the elements that can be found in his creations. He's not just put his comment in the vanity of religious hierarchy or finding some answers through his rituals, but (just like in

alchemy) also giving "life" in the medieval symbolism of ingredients. The artworks are mostly build on the shades of one colour, and the extremely abstract patterns portray the minimalistic aspects of the central "figure". The extra materials are mixed with paraffin and they're remains of rituals that Vasilis acts by his own. The divine nature of the artworks and the final non-iconic form, are given by the leftovers of the experiential rites. It's important for him to experience rituals of different cultures for one painting, and that will connect the different symbols to their one actual universal and multicultural meaning.

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Vasilis Angelopoulos An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Multidisciplinary Athens based artist Vasilis Angelopoulos's work explores the manifold realtionship between perceptual processes and supernatural sphere, to provide the viewers with an immersive and multilayered experience. In his NEKYIA project that we'll be discussing in the following pages, he conveys a unique vision of the underworld to go beyond descriptive symbolism, through a captivating way to combine the materials he wisely selects. One of the most convincing aspect of Angelopoulos's practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of providing with autonmous "life" the medieval symbolism of ingredients he widely merges into consistent unity: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his multifaceted artistic production. Hello Vasilis and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you graduated at Fine Art, University of West Macedonia in Greece: how do this experience influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, as a Greek artist, how does your rich cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general?

The first serious contact between me and art was through the experimental music and beatnik literature, as a teenager. It took me

some years to stare at the art itself and the first thing that I learn from art was Dadaism, futurism and expressionism. Those were the years that I knew I had a connection with. I was not sure if I wanted to be a visual artist but I surelly wanted to do something creative. That's the reason I do multiple stuff and I'm not staying only in visual arts. And that is also the reason that my experience with the University was the ground on learning anything I needed. The basis of all of my artworks came through the ancient greek mythology and philosophy. But since my work is multicultural is hard to say that I stay only in Greek culture. In my artworks one can find also symbolisms of late christianity or middle-aged paganism of central europe. So let's say that the starting point of many of my artworks are mostly on the Greek sphere but only in the first step. It is a fact also, that in philosophy, art is dichotomised in two contrasts. The Dionysian and the Apollonian which are showing us the difference between Chaos, Emotions and Logical thinking. Despite the fact that this philosophy is given to us by the German philosopher Nietzsche, one can see that is basically a Greek way of thinking. Your approach is marked with a compelling multidisciplinary feature that coherently encapsulates Painting, Photography and Sound to reveal an incessant search of an organic investigation about the notions of beliefs, rituals and obscurities. The results convey together a coherent sense of unity. Before starting to elaborate about your

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://vasilisangelopoulos.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process and set up, we would like to ask you how did you develope your style and how do you conceive your works.

The works are mostly a tangible answer on personal questions and the most of the time is spend on research and insention. The target is to create non-iconic pictures of abstract concepts and this is something that needs more than fantasy or personal opinion. So behind every "topic" of mine is a big "why" but also a big "how". In ancient civilisations humans were mostly connecting objects of reality with something divine, like gods or concepts of judgement creation - life or death. And that is how I knock-off the plan. There's a lot of freedom in art but each artist has to stay in a line that draws by itself, so I am trying to stay in a specific style. This is a personal ID for every artist even if his art has many similarities with the work of an elder artist or a movement. My style came after my attempt to create something solid of which textures will give the first impression. The communication I want to succeed through the materialism, creates the style by itself. I want the audience to imagine the feeling of touch, but also to connect with something that "happened" and not "created". And this is the reason that all of my works are connected also in the "birth moment". There is a connection between the artworks that exists because of the style, even if they are created with completelly different materials. For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected NEKYIA, an extremely interesting project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What

has at once caught our attention of your personal vision of the underworld is your successful attempt to extract an effective symbolism to accomplishes the difficult task of unveiling the manifold nature of human perceptual categories and to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. While walking our readers through the genesis of the NEKYIA project we would like to ask you why did you choose to center this body of work on the elusive theme of death and what does it represent for you.

Ah, the great question! Death will always represend the end of an era. Gore Vidal's "Messiah" shows a world that tries to understand death behind a Platonic prism. This is a great book in my opinion. It shows how the majority choose to understand that "death is something good" by commiting suicide, as a trend. Nekyia is not just a manifest on death. It is also a multireligious zero-point. In ancient Greece Nekyia was an act of Necromancy were the dead called and questioned about the future. The earliest reference came through Ulysses' Odyssey in rhapsody 11 were Odysseus acts a rite and went into the underworld to get an oracle from Tiresias. This act is decoded on the 6th piece of Nekyia, Altar. Altar is a "sculpture" or installation with materials such as wine and honey on a cow skull. I think that all the power of Nekyia comes through the immediate use of materials. This is also a part of the development of my style. In the case of Nekyia I worked also on the harvest of each object I used, either it was a bone or an insect. As an artist I am trying to experience and decompose the inner mysteries of cultural rites and Nekyia was the best "mediatior" for this. I think it was a great idea to put a pigeon in the point of "soul" on "Pluto" and create the colour of "Persephone" with juice. It was the fastest way to connect the audience with the

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Vasilis Angelopoulos

R e v i e w

Special Issue

"ritual" and the "inner-meaning" of Nekyia. I was pretty sure that the audience could understand abstract art if they could "read" the materials also. There are five mixed media paintings that composes Nekyia. Each of the paintings resembles four Gods of the ancient greek pantheon and one lesser god "Sleep". Based on the unification of symbols and rituals of different cults, I conclude in the creation of a sanctum to death. The demolition of Divine forms and archetypes of any cult and the emergence of death itself a tangible entity is accomplished with the use of Christian, Egyptian, Masonic, and Buddhist symbols and concepts and, in the end, shamanist and primitive rituals, all of which are combined at the zero point which is death. We definitely appreciate your insightful reference to metaphors and reminder to myths in NEKYIA and in your work in general.: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

Each artwork is a result of research on psychology, philosophy and culture or history. In the beggining I thought that it could be easy but after a day I was exhausted. There were so many "symbols" that I could use and I was lost in the middle of all of them. So the narrative of the artworks actually comes through the contact with cultures. It also came through the time as much as I use parafin as the main material. I think that parafine is very "damp" and "misty" and it helps me to conceive many of my subjects. Thomas Demand is a great influencial photographer but that quote was actually about photography. Speaking about art... Art will always be a way to "conjure the demon", so yes I will agree that the artist needs to communicate with his inner self as a strategy to create. In Nekyia I placed those five forms into a popularized order, identical with the one on the

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

altars in the temples of the Christian Orthodox churches. This is a way to put also the viewers into a psychological situation, same with the one that they could feel in a sanctum or a church. This is something that we can see in many artworks, the artists choose to put their audience in a psychological connection with the artworks. Especially in performance art, the audience is connected with the medium itself. I conclude that art itself comes to an inner psychological strategy either we talk about the artist or the audience, and this is something that is visible not only in Nekyia but also in the work of other recognized artists like Damien Hirst. The dialogue established by a wide variety of materials, as ash, ash, soil, blood and fruit juice is a crucial part of your style: in particular, the effective combination between the historical and symbolic nature such materials convey and the intense nuances of tones you create on your canvass sums up the mixture of thoughts and emotions. How much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a paintingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s texture? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

There are no big changes in my palette through the years... I mostly use earthy colours or shades of black. There are special cases to use a different colour, like in Persephone I use shades of red because I wanted to give the colour of pomegranate. Hades (or Pluto) tricked Persephone to keep her on the Underworld forever with a pomegranate, so it had to be in the "canvas". I took the juice of many pomegranates to colour the Paraffin but I used some oils too. So if a work has to be in earthly texture (like Pluto or Persephone) I use more soil and ash than any colour. The textures in my art are very important, because those are that finally turn the "gods" or the "abstract concepts" into tangible artworks. Let's say that the pallete is not nessesary since I mix paraffin

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Vasilis Angelopoulos

R e v i e w

Special Issue

with soil and ash. In my latest creations I use also limestone and cement as a base before the paraffin or the colour, this is something that gives you the feeling of

ground or wall. Cement is a great component, and it can be mixed almost with everything, giving at the end a solid artwork.

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Another interesting project of yours that

appreciated the way its inquiry into the

has particularly impressed us and on

notions of power and authority condenses

which we would like to spend some words

immediacy with reference that deserve a

is entitled Hegemon and we have highly

careful work of investigation. In a certain

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

sense, informations & ideas could be considered "encrypted" in the environment we inhabit, so we need to decipher those patterns. When addressing us to process the things we are sometimes able to catch you seem to suggest that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature: what's your point about this?

This is a big truth. Shamans calls it "EgoTrip" and the travel to an inner-nature is a part of our life, either the path is through experience or through philosophy. In Hegemon we can see a naked picture of authority. All the symbols and metaphors are solving the puzzle of faded glory and the vanity of the "rich" art of 14th century. The final question that came after the reaction of all that symbolism is: are we the hegemons of someone or something? But this is a question that art definitely cannot answer. Maybe because of the nature of art that will always be flirting with the elite. The inner Nature is something very personal for many people and art is a communication science that ofcourse can be the bridge between itself and the audience. But for every act the matter of the conclusion is the Reason. There is not only that art that will take you by the hand and will take you to the answer you need, and there are not all humans need or want the art as a guide to their inner selves. Your works convey both metaphoric and descriptive research and the way you combine elements from environment with evokative symbols, creates a compelling narrative that invites the viewers to a multilayered experience. A distinctive mark of the way you convey emotions into your works is the construction of a concrete aesthetic from experience and memories and symbols, working on both subconscious and conscious level. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion, personal experience is

absolutely indispensable as part of the creative process? Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

The experiencial process is necessary in my work. I call this process through the rites as "ritualism", because the final form comes after a number of cultural and religious rituals. The experience is the start of everything, and in my case is the only way to product some of the matterials that will be used. Without the experiential part of the production the artwork will not have the same meaning and its symbolism will be unstable. The idea of the experiencial process came to me after I came in contact with Yani's Christou "Metapraxis". Metapraxis or metaaction is any action that purpossefully performed so as to go beyond the current overall logic charecteristic of art. Metapraxis in Christou's music is something the audience could experience. In my art it's difficult to make the audience connect with the process of the production because its something that pre-exists of the art making. I believe that the conection between the audience and the "ritual" state of the production is something that works in the subconcious. The divine sense of Nekyia's set-up can assign the Metapraxis of the procedure to the audience, and that's how Nekyia works as a bridge. I cannot and I don't want to disconnect the experience of a rite from the creation of the materials. But if we stare to the mainstream art production, we can see that this connection is broken already, except some "crossbreeds" of performance with painting that Stephen Little in his book "Isms" labeled them as "Sensationalism". The way Periapsis addresses the viewers to the issue of conflict between man and the supernatural establishes a channel of

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Vasilis Angelopoulos

R e v i e w

Special Issue

communication between the subconscious sphere and the conscious one, to capture nonsharpness with an universal kind of language to trigger the viewers' primordial parameters concerning our relation with the relationship with perceptual reality and the realm of imagination: as Gerhard Richter once remarked, "my concern is never art, but always what art can be used for": what is your opinion about the functional aspect of Art in the contemporary age?

In Nekyia the relation between reality and imagination and between subconcious and conscious are succeeded with the rituals and the use of materials. In Periapsis which is a collective project, we tried to create a world in war, under anxiety, religous and army confusion and unknown future. This is familiar in many if they're fans of Japaneze anime. The scenario is putted in the sphere of science fiction and that's something that gave us the opportunity, as artists, to do something more "comercial". I choose the "Fall of Lucifer" as a base to create a rusty sculpture of something that can be a impaction in a futuristic city or a futuristic aircraft. I think that dipoles in art is something that can generate the question of Richter, because what can art be used for is hidden behind on the reason of why were used that way. I think that "The fall of Lucifer" is a interesting piece because of the solidness of the iron, even if it shows rusty or broken. In this artwork I worked in two scales. The first one was to draw and merge the pieces to create the first form of the sculpture, then I had to decompose the iron with acid. That was the hard part because I wanted the final form to be as solid as it was before the decomposition with acid. And this is how the spectators can see the function of art in contemporary age. The functional aspect of art is behind the way it communicates with its people and the creator itself. It doesn't matter if it is rusty, broken or non-functional, because the image itself generates a number of reactions.

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Creating direct relations with the viewers, Periapsis into draws them into an immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience?

Periapsis is one of those projects that have to be exposed as much as they can. The multidisciplinarity of the artworks is the reason that this project can be shown off not only in Galleries but also in Univercities, hotels or even the road itself. It is a project that brings for first time Concept Art in the Greek audience, but not only in a digital-visual way as it is ordinary in Concept art. We tried to keep the production in both graphics and fine arts also. The nature of Periapsis project gave us the opportunity to evolve the way was exposed, and now there will be also video, music and all those stuff that can make a Concept Art experience a complete exhibition. I believe that the viewing experience is a special profesion in art that the artists need to think before their exhibitions. The way that one chooses to show his/her work can make the artworks showed more than could be show in a house. Over these years your works have been showcased in several occasions, including your recent show "Periapsis" which started as an endeavour to get the Greek audience in touch with Concept art. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

I believe that art in general is the one that needs to receipt the audience and not the

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Vasilis Angelopoulos

R e v i e w

Special Issue

opposite. The audience will always get provoced by art. Especially when the art itself tries new media or new ways of communication. It is a crucial component, yes, for both the art and the audience also, but this is not something that I am thinking off when I make a decision on the creation of my artworks. But I am thinking the language-types of communication in my exhibitions, because I want the audience to be inside the "world" I try to create for it. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Vasilis. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your

future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Thank you very much for this opportunity. I just end up with my latest project "Chaos", a project that tries to put in order the meanings of chaos in science and religion as well. These days I am working on the evolution of my work itself, that means that I am experimenting with new materials and occasionally I do research for the next project. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Vasilis Angelopoulos

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

O rli Auslander Lives and works in New York City, USA

An artist's statement

am always reluctant to explain my creative process for the following reasons: I have a fear of ruining my natural impulse to make things and a fear of interrupting the mysterious process for myself. I also don’t want to bore the shit out of others. The work after all should speak for itself.

Today I struggle for an accurate definition of Art. The Art I see is either vague and esoteric, or it does not represent my female experience, so if what I make is Art at all, I suppose I might call it Visceral Art.

That said, I was born a female and can’t seem to shake it off, so my work trickles out of a neurotic battle I have with myself on a daily basis in trying to understand the world in which I’ve landed. I used to try to unload a fraction of my rage using pencils or paint but I found the use of one medium alone too limiting. I graduated to playing with dolls and discovered the joys of destroying their plastic perfection. The more I work, the more I permit myself to use whatever materials are necessary to extract the idea from my head. And of course most things don’t end up as I imagined they would, however that frustrating loss of control is something I’ve learned to enjoy and even look forward to.

After her strict Middle-Eastern father forbade her to act, dance, or sing publicly, Orli Auslander turned to drawing because pencils were one of the few things that couldn't be outlawed. At 17 she dropped out of school to earn money and fled her family's home in London, England landing in New York City. Auslander spent years building a business as a milliner, making hats for the Kentucky Derby, for Hollywood movies and clients like Bruce Springstein and Cynthia Rowley. Needing a change she left to become a Radio Personality on WLIR, New York.

Orli Auslander

In 2002, Auslander returned to her first love, drawing, sculpting, and painting. Auslander created her first graphic novel Vagina Money. Her artwork has been shown at numerous galleries nationally and internationally and most recently has appeared on the series Happyish for Showtime Television.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Orli Auslander An interview by Isabelle Scott, curator and Josh Ryder, curator articulaction@post.com

Cross disciplinary artist Orli Auslander's work explores the relationship between perception and experience to inquire into the amalgamation of the metaphysical nihilism juxtaposed by allegorical symbolization: her approach rejects any conventional classification and creates a multilayered involvement with the viewers, who are invited to force their perceptual categories . One of the most convincing aspect of Auslander's practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of exploring the liminal space in which symbols and sociopolitical analysis find an unexpected, compelling point of convergence: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production. Hello Orli and welcome to ARTiculAction. To start this interview, we would you like to pose you a couple of questions about your background: after moving from London to the United States, you spent years building a business as a milliner, making hats for Hollywood movies and clients like Bruce Springstein and Cynthia Rowley. You later left to become a Radio Personality on WLIR, New York and then you returned to your first love, drawing, painting, and sculpting: how do these experiences influence the way you currently conceive and produce your works? And in particular, does your British cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem?

I wouldn’t say you could draw a direct line from my professional experiences to the work I conceive but my cultural background certainly peppers everything I make. Leaving London for New York gave me one thing - freedom. Then I had to figure out what to do with it. Oh Fuck! So the professional experiences were attempts at feeling as much freedom as I could allow myself. Millinery involved a fair amount of sculpting using straws and other materials but the work is eighty five percent commissions whether it’s a store or a client only - at the end of the day, how many people are going to wear a three foot wide hat with a bird’s arse protruding from it’s crown? Making art affords me the ultimate freedom - I don’t make art to make money there are easier ways to do that, so all I have left is freedom - I can go nuts. Similarly, I went into radio because I thought I could pick the music, in a sense “design” something. Wrong. Then I thought, Well at least I can speak occasionally, voice my opinions. Wrong. I quickly realized I needed more than the thirty seconds allotted between commercial breaks. But that did give me a taste of what it’s like to have a voice, I decided I’d rather scream and be understood by a few people than talk thirty seconds of celebrity gossip to the entire tri-state area. I’d say my British and Middle Eastern backgrounds have equal influence on my work. The anger in the work is all Middle Eastern. The Middle Easterner in me is pissed off, sick of being silenced and needs

Orli Auslander

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

an outlet. Once she unloads the anger into the work, The Brit kicks in with a bit of a laugh to lighten everything up. The sense of humor - all Brit. I was lucky to have been born and raised in London where the national past time is to take a sledge hammer to all that is sacred. A good British piss-take. It really balances out my MiddleEastern venomous blood.

through your process and set up, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that such crossdisciplinary approach is the only way to extract the idea to achieve the results you effectively pursue. In particular, before starting to elaborate about your artistic production we would like you to ask you how did you developed the concept of Visceral Art.

Your approach reveals an incessant search of an organic investigation about the creative potential of a variety of materials you combine together: the results convey together a coherent and consistent sense of harmony and unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://orliauslander.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers

Visceral Art is simply the name I’ve given to the combination of the emotions that went into making my work and the viewer’s response to it. My emotions are always intense when I’m working on something especially when I’m close to finishing a piece - it can begin with some ferocity, and become quite light and funny (though that’s subjective of course, but I find them funny). In the same way when I began to show my

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Orli Auslander

R e v i e w

Special Issue

work, I noticed that people, especially women, had similar reactions - some would laugh, some would cry and some would storm out shaking their heads in disgust whatever the reaction good or bad, I noticed it was always visceral. A viewer’s reaction isn’t a consideration when I’m making something because I’m much too selfish for that… I make stuff to make myself feel better, lighter… but it’s

interesting to see someone relate to the point that they’re having similar feelings to the ones that caused me to make the thing in the first place. That feels good…to know I’m not the only one. I’m sure there are other ways to achieve similar results - after all there’s more than one way to wipe your arse but for me it takes some trial and error. Sometimes I

Orli Auslander

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

think the idea will be accurately conveyed with a pencil drawing and a bit of ink but then I start and quickly realize that’s not going to do it and more is necessary. Sometimes it’s a doll and sometimes it’s a bunch of teeth and I have to ask my dentist for a favor. You never know what’s going to work best but you know when something doesn’t look right. You tear your hair out making mistake after mistake until you

finally give in, use the thing you knew you needed in the first place but told yourself “that’s not a real medium”. For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected Backstreet Abortion Crucifix, an extremely interesting work that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. We definitely love the way you

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Maya Gelfman

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

question the tactile feature of images, unveiling the visual feature of information you developed through an effective non linear narrative that establish direct relations with the viewers: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

I try not to think too much about Art. Making Art is a totally selfish act, an essential act for me but selfish and narcissistic all the same. Perhaps that results in a “psychological narrative,” but if and when it does, once it’s done, it’s over for me. Then it’s up to the viewer to take it or leave it, to study it or bin it - but that’s not my concern. If I could make symbolic art, or art about art about art, I imagine it would be simpler and less painful - plenty of people make it and plenty buy it. Some people don’t want to go near something with a psychological narrative since often that kind of work is too painful or too visceral but fortunately there’s plenty of art for all different types of people - perhaps this is why I make art but don’t often look at it. The narrative for my work always begins with personal experience, whether it’s my upbringing, religious experiences or motherhood. Something hits a nerve in me, an injustice usually, and then I seek to alleviate the tension within by creating a piece that I can look at and laugh and feel like I’ve beheaded the injustice. Every piece is a “fuck you!”. So with Backstreet Abortion Crucifix for instance I’d read yet another article about a young girl in Africa accidentally killing herself after giving herself an abortion - she’d been raped. On the same day driving to my studio I noticed

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Reagan Lake

R e v i e w

Special Issue

an anti-abortion billboard which made me so livid that I drove straight to the dry cleaners who were happy to give me a bag of wire hangers. Once again, a visceral response giving birth to a very visceral piece of work. I’ve had people flinch when they see Backstreet Abortion, and some have walked out of galleries in which I’ve shown it but there are plenty of people who nod their head in agreement. You can’t win ‘em all - that’s Visceral Art. What has at once caught our attention of your work is the way, it accomplishes the difficult task of establishing a channel of communication between the subconscious sphere and the conscious one, to unveil the manifold nature of human perceptual categories and to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. This is particularly clear in Kill Switch, so we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

That depends on how you define “creative process”. Nowadays people refer to hair dressers as having a creative process but I doubt there’s much personal experience brought to the average hair cut. When it comes to “Art,” for me there is no separating the two. Whether you care to admit to it or not, you bring all of your life experience to what you make. Any decent artist from Louise Bourgeois to Joe Coleman has poured personal experience into their work. When personal experience is missing, I feel the result is dull and cowardly…and unfortunately often celebrated by the art world as Genius…this is why television is so popular. Kill Switch was a direct result of my experiences with the repression of memories and other hard to explain

phenomena that occurred in my childhood and that I was extremely reluctant to talk about. As an adult, in difficult times, the wish to attach a Kill Switch to my brain became a fantasy…and then a sculpture. The esoteric still fruible set of elements you draw from universal imagery you combined together for Barbie Guernica triggers the viewers' primordial parameters concerning our relation with physicality: as Gerhard Richter once

Reagan Lake

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

remarked, "my concern is never art, but always what art can be used for": what is your opinion about the functional aspect of Art in the contemporary age?

It seems to me that the function of Art of late is to make collectors rich. I don’t set out to make functional art but I do see Art as a form of rebellion, a way to scream. Charles Bukowski once wrote that he prefers people who scream when they burn, and I agree with that. Art is a way to

scream, the louder the better - whether this serves as any function for the viewer depends on whether they share any experiences or feelings with the artist. I once visited an exhibit of Van Gogh’s work in a quarry in Provence - it was the only time I’ve ever bawled while looking at someone’s work. I’m not sure if that was Van Gogh’s or the curator’s intention but it made you feel - many others at the exhibit had similar reactions. If the function of art

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Maya Gelfman

Reagan Lake

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Reagan Lake

R e v i e w

Special Issue

is to make the viewer feel then itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a job well done. When I made Barbie Guernica it was me who was feeling - rather angry as I remember - but I got a strange feeling of elation and satisfaction while destroying the dolls and watching the plastic burn. It was extremely toxic and I wore a respirator but it seemed very appropriate given the subject matter. Is it a functional piece? I suppose you could use it as a paper weight or to scare children but it depends on the viewer. If you happen to be person whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

experienced or even witnessed extreme physical violence then Barbie Guernica has a function and serves a purpose. Your successful attempt to create works that stand as record of existence allows you to capture non-sharpness with an universal kind of language, capable of bringing to a new level of significance the elusive still ubiquitous relationship between experience and memory, to establish direct relations with the spectatorship: What is the role of memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful

Reagan Lake

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

experiences, especially the unpleasant ones. I think some part of me hopes each piece can help me exorcise some of the hostility and injustices I have experienced. Everything’s Going To Be Aaaalright is a good example of a piece that portrays my feelings toward religion - not just the religion with which I was raised but all religions, and my memory of the year I spent studying in a seminary and “getting closer to God”. It always felt like I was fed one more pill to swallow, one more thing to perhaps kill the pain of reality. Hiding behind religion made me feel like I was briefly placated, protected, but like pills, that only lasts as long as you take the medication. But what did remain was enough to make a powerful piece of work many years later.

translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

Memory is definitely a starting point. Aside from Kill Switch, which conveys a wish to shut down my memory - sometimes there are things I’d rather not remember - much of my work starts with memory of personal experience and how I perceived certain moments in my life. The work isn’t literal - I don’t try to recreate moments of my past experiences but rather, I try to convey the emotions I felt as a result of certain

Another interesting work of yours that has particularly impressed us and on which we would like to spend some words is entitled Mum's Fine Chocolates and we have highly appreciated the way you manipulate the evokative function of the universal imagery. In this way, you seem to invite the viewers to personal associations, suggesting that informations & ideas could be considered "encrypted" in the environment we inhabit, so we need to decipher those patterns. When addressing us to process the things we are sometimes able to catch you seem to suggest that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature: what's your point about this?

The role of an artist is simple - it is to cut open her chest and pour out her insides. If the viewer can decipher his own inner nature within the mess that falls out, it is because like the artist, the viewer is hopelessly human. Mum’s Fine Chocolates makes a mockery of society’s attempt to control women. Funnily

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Reagan Lake

R e v i e w

Special Issue

enough, I had to lie to the person selling me the plastic fetuses, because they wanted them used only to protest abortion – more control! I think that when you make something, whether it’s a sculpture, a novel, a painting, or a movie, you reveal something of yourself intentionally or unintentionally, with what you include and what you omit, that’s part of the job. That said it’s a bit of a crap shoot. You can reveal something subtly and the viewer may miss it entirely which happens to me often even when I think I’m being obvious. - With Mum’s Fine Chocolates it can take people time to notice the chocolates are actually fetuses, and I’ve had people miss entirely an image that I’ve made, for example, of a breast-feeding woman, an image that seemed so clear to me when I made it. Of course then there are those who will see in your work things that aren’t really there or if they are, were completely unintentional. The viewer tends to bring his own personal agenda and experience to whatever is on display so you may as well forget about them altogether. The job for me is always about the part of myself I want to be free of, a confession of sorts, so the work, if it’s any good is going to reveal something personal about my inner nature. It's important to mention that you have recently produced a graphic novel entitles Vagina Money and we would like to invite our readers to visit http://vaginamoney.com in order to view an excerpt from this captivating work. We would go as far as to state that Vagina Money is pervaded with a very subtle but effective sociopolitical criticism: while lots of artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Jennifer Linton, use to convey open socio-political criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self-reflection

that may lead to subvert a variety of usual, almost stereotyped cultural categories. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or do you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society?

While Vagina Money is entirely personal, some of my work does have a sociopolitical aspect to it simply because it’s hard to keep it out. The sociopolitical aspect definitely isn’t a starting point for me but certain topics concerning women have been turned into a political debate and since Backstreet Abortion Crucifix, and Mum’s Fine Chocolates and in fact much of my work addresses my female experience it can definitely be sociopolitical criticism but it’s often subtle and always personal before anything else. In general I do prefer a politically neutral approach but when it comes to women’s issues it’s impossible. I have a vagina so I have an opinion on how we are dealt with politically - it’s not easy to shut up and take what’s thrown at you without reacting. As an artist I tend to explore the issues that concern me - art can be a powerful tool if one cares enough to use it. The U.S. is a fairly religious country despite the fact that we scream here about separation between church and state but people still get pretty pissed off when someone puts shit on the Virgin Mary. I think if an artist uses her work to express her opinion, sooner or later she’s going to criticize her environment and it’s injustices. And that’s both useful and important, after all, how is society supposed to grow and improve without criticism? For me though first and foremost everything is personal…maybe that’s because, when it comes to art, I’m a narcissist.

Reagan Lake

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Your works have been showcased in several occasions both in the United States and abroad and most recently have appeared on the series Happyish for Showtime Television. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

This is a tough question because it sounds completely egotistical to say that I couldn’t give a shit what reaction I get from an audience but it’s a double-edged sword. While you’re making art, the negative voice…your inner critic can be very loud and must be banished completely, shot down. If I’m going to make something worthwhile, the viewer cannot be crucial to my decisions. However, when you make something for television, it’s the same as a commission, so obviously there are certain parameters within which you have to work in order for the work to be seen and accepted. You can’t have someone pay you to make a portrait and then present them with the portrait of a dog - although Picasso seems to have gotten away with that. When I made work for Happyish, which my husband wrote and created, I was commissioned to make a few pieces which were quite specific. But since one of the main characters in the show was an artist, most of the work they chose to use was work I had made years earlier. As far as making work generally though, the audience reception can be useful and flattering as well as disappointing but it can never be a factor in what I make, how I

make it, what to use - all of that is too important to allow someone else to affect what you do. The piece decides for itself. The fact that much of my work drags the viewer in for direct involvement only tells me that more people than I imagined seem to understand my madness. That’s kind of nice to know…sometimes. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Orli. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Ha! The list is long and I doubt I’ll ever finish but in the immediate future I’m working on a series of sculptures that question the omission of female gods from history, and in particular what might have happened had the gods been able to birth and breastfeed children. I’m also working on another graphic novel - a memoir which is a lot less fun than I’d hoped but that when I finish, I’ll be a lot less bitchy. It’s hard to tell what direction my work will take. Sometimes I wonder whether my work will evolve as I get older. Perhaps someday I’ll get to the point where I’m happy making pretty watercolors of flowers and vases, or some abstract bullshit that says nothing about anything real, but at the moment I can’t see it going that way since every idea that comes up seems to involve murdering plastic dolls and disfiguring body parts. These are the things that I still want to see, the things that still make me laugh and seem to make me feel better after I’ve made them. So it’s not looking good for flowers and vases.

An interview by Isabelle Scott, curator and Josh Ryder, curator articulaction@post.com

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

A nnabel König Lives and works in County Carlow, Ireland

An artist's statement

nterdisciplinary in nature, my practice employs a wide range of media. I’m not tied to any one discipline. In fact, my practice requires me to explore new and combined methods, thus discovering conclusions relevant to the work I wish to explore.

The one underlying constant that does run through my work is the landscape. I may depict my surroundings in a documentary, direct and photographic manner or I will use the landscape to work through ideas to more abstract, interpretive and interactive conclusions.

In my work I often collaborate with other artists and with the general public. I look for technical assistance when I need it as my ideas can sometimes be complicated and require expertise I do not have. Yet often, in other work, such as the drawing show “I smile at Life” I have worked on my own, with my own demons.

I am interested in making work that hopefully touches people. I have many projects that I would like to do. Like many artists, there are ideas that never get to see the light of day and so they travel with me in the hope of some day reaching their fruition. Life as an artist is not always the most financially secure but it is something that I will do for the rest of my life and that is a brilliant thing.

The surrounding that I find myself in has always been part of my process, it enables me to select what I see, it is the centre point from which new projects develop. I currently live in a rural setting and that cannot but be part of what I make.

Annabel Konig

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Annabel König An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Irish multidisciplinary artist Annabel Konig's work explores a variety of issues, inviting the viewers to rethink about the notions of perception and of experience. In the Farm series, that we'll be discussing in the following pages, she draws from her daily experience in rural Ireland to involve the viewers into a multilayered experience in which directness, inventiveness and understanding of farmers are brought to a new level of significance. One of the most convincing aspect of Konig's approach is the way it condenses the permanent flow of associations in the realm of memory and experience: we are really pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating artistic production.

West Cork. As a child I would spend a great deal of time with my siblings, dogs and horses, wandering the fields and swimming in the cold sea. The landscape and it’s keepers has, since then, always been an integral part of my life. I did indeed study at three art schools and after quite a few years had the opportunity to go back and do an MFA. It was wonderful to be back in college, totally submerged and involved in art making, art thinking, art talking. Doing an MFA has changed the way I work in that I question my ideas and thoughts with more intensity, frequently connecting back with former MFA colleagues and bouncing ideas. I live quite rurally so this connection with other artists, be it in person or via the Internet, is very important for me.

Hello Annabel and a warm welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you studied at three art schools in Ireland and undertook an exchange scholarship to the Minerva Kunst Academie in Groningen: how have these experiences, as well as your work in theatre and television influenced the way your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your Irish cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem in general?

Working in television and theatre has made a difference to my work in both how I have become more aware of the ‘audience’ and in how I consider the realization of a project. When I am an art director on a commercial job, the audience in paramount, but being organized and working out how to make a client’s idea come to fruition, is very important and makes me think in the round. Simple ideas can often be complicated challenges. The needs and expertise of numerous professionals as we head towards a filming deadline, makes your decisions and solutions more acute.

Let me start with my background. I was born in the Netherlands but have lived most of my life here, in Ireland. . I grew up in a very rural, somewhat, at that time, isolated

In my own practice, the considerations of how an idea can become realised, is somewhat constrained by financial limitations, in comparison to commercial

Reagan Lake

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Annabel KĂśnig

R e v i e w

Special Issue

work, although, of course, they also have a budget to adhere to. My own budgets for projects require more inventiveness and the coming up with alternative solutions that still fulfill my own ambitions and need for excellence for the work. The question of an Irish cultural substratum is an interesting one. I have lived in Ireland for such a long time that, although one is never truly Irish unless you are born here, I feel that I have come to know the Irish peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s make up and modes of action. Ireland is changing, and it is interesting as it reflects on both the native born, with their open hearted nature and views as well as the political system which tends to strive to be linked to Europe and beyond. Many of those changes become part of my work, be this through the increased red tape and rules as well as the attitudes that I see altering. Saying all that, Ireland and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s people and the amazing landscape are what I find so inspiring, this is my home. Aesthetically I aim to capture that which grabs me, be it that wonderful landscape or the conversations/ observations in this quickly, changing country. I will always endeavor to make work that will touch an audience, to let them see what I see and experience a project from a different point of view. Your multidisciplinary practice coherently encapsulates several viewpoints and reveals an incessant search of an organic investigation about psycho-physiological importance of contemplation in nature and the results convey together a coherent and consistent sense of harmony and unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://annabelkonigvisualartist.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process and set up, we would like to ask you how did you develope your style and how do you

Annabel Kรถnig

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Annabel Kรถnig

Annabel König

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

conceive your works.

I don’t really fall into any of the categories assigned to artists. By this I mean, I do not feel tied to any one material or discipline. It’s not a case that I am trying to confuse the audience, it’s more that when an idea becomes a project, I explore that idea through a medium that I feel suits it best. Work often comes from previous work but the style or development of that particular idea, is often shaped by the materials that I end up using. I frequently work on several projects at the same time and each of the materials I use could be very different. This multiplicity of projects helps me to process and think. As I research or experiment, a solution will comes about. It could be seen that my viewpoints are very varied, but there is an underlying theme, a questioning of myself, asking myself how honest I am being in what I am working on, and that is the one thing that I always touch base on. There can be specific topics, which interest me for a specific reason. These can become a little obsessive until I, for that period of time at lease, have figured out a way to understand them. Topics such as the cloud formations, in this country of big skies (‘Is that you or am I talking to myself’), or how a train journey can see the same people daily in the same carriage, with a same destination be so engrossed in their own world of computers and headphones that they don’t utter a word of communication to fellow passengers (’The 6:56 to Dublin’ 2012). Conceiving work can come about from a sudden idea. It is in fact probably not sudden but has been resting in the back of my mind and one happening or action may trigger the realisation. I instantly then see a full picture of how the work may be on it’s completion. This picture may change as I research and think about things more, but

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Annabel König

R e v i e w

Special Issue

often it is still part of the end result. I am very interested in involving the ‘general public’ in my work. I have done this on numerous projects in the past, such as ‘Ice to Water, Water to Words’ (1992), ‘Felia, Felium’ (1997), ‘Generation’ (1999) and with more recent projects ‘Saved’, ‘Farm’ and ‘Nest’ which I am currently working on. style Photography is one of the main diciplines within my practice. It is a medium that I use to explore and develop ideas, which in turn can develop into works of other mediums as well as becoming a photographic project in itself. For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected Farm, an interesting project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention of this body of works is the way it brings the relationship between natural elements and human nature to a new level of significance, urging us to rethink the way we relate ourselves to such ubiquitous still elusive relation: while walking our readers through the genesis of Farm, would you shed light on the way your main source of inspirations?

Living in rural Ireland I daily experience the wealth of commonsense and warm heartedness of the farming people that live around me. Over the past few years I have been documenting the way in which the farmers use the natural elements on their farms as well as how they put their personal stamp on their daily practice. Farmers are in direct touch with the land that feeds us. Their easy approach to caring for and cultivating their farm is as individual as they are. It is this directness, inventiveness and understanding that appeal to me. Using hand skills and passed down knowledge, the farmers develop, repair and

Annabel Kรถnig

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Annabel Kรถnig

Annabel König

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

cultivate their land and animals. I am looking at the art of running a farm in an intelligent, clever and practical manner as well as honouring the men and women that spend their days producing food, which we so unconsciously consume. As the keepers of the land and stock, the farmers and their partners are often a hidden element within farming and food production. Each farmer has a distinctive place and proud history. Their connection to their land is deeply embedded in their history. Each farmer has a distinctive place, his or her own way of doing things, a natural relationship between the natural elements plus their own human nature. In my project ‘Farm’ I am keen capture the generation of farmers that are working now. The changes that are occurring in farming in Ireland are governed by red tape and directives from the European Union. The smaller farmers, with his or her few acres of land, are disappearing. The younger farmer is modernizing; farmers are going to college to learn how to farm. Using, hopefully, the farming skills learned from their parents and incorporating the ‘best practice’ rules now required, many hill farms, small farms and family farms are becoming extinct. It is this that interests the old way, the changes and me before it is gone and all we have is the future, which, in many respects becomes a little clinical. Saying that, I am not treating this work as a historical project but rather as a record of the labours that farmers do as a present day job, set in the historic practice of farming and lived in contemporary times. Drawing from accessible and evokative elements from universal imagery, Farm triggers direct relations in the viewers and accomplishes the difficult task of going beyond the surface of communication. We find this aspect particularly interesting since it is probabily the only way to snatch the directness you highlighted in this body of works, concerning both the individuals

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Annabel König

R e v i e w

Special Issue

and thier place in our ever changing societies: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, what kind of reactions did you expect to provoke in the viewers?

Farming, by many, is regard as a ‘manual labour’ occupation, yet it very much involves a quick thinking and creative mind. I know that the farmers I am working with will, probably, never visit a museum or gallery. In 2014, the ‘9 Stones Artists’ group with which I am a founding member had an exhibition in an old, deserted house in our local village of Borris. The house has a local history, as this is where the tailor once lived. We didn’t paint any walls white, we just cleaned up the rubble and let the work sit or hang in the space to speak for itself. We purposely chose this venue as it is where we live and where all our farming neighbours get their farming and household supplies. Even though we highlighted the event and exhibited work that related directly to our environment, very few farmers made it through the door. Those that did come where related to or descended from farming stock. It is fair to say that they had no idea what our ‘modern art’ would look like. Yet there are 9 of us living among them. The farmers that I speak with are very happy to talk. They tell me stories or show me their farms, and this is their direct relationship with me. If I were to give them a book in which they were featured, they would be delighted as a book is a safer art form than going to an exhibition. It is only by spending time with farmers, following them around as they do their daily tasks, that there is an acceptance of me and opening up. I start to see past the surface of the farm and hone in instead, on the way the farmer works. The naturalness of their mannerisms created by routine and accustomed actions present to me a

Annabel Kรถnig

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Annabel Kรถnig

Annabel König

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

different viewpoint. It is these viewpoints that I aim to bring the pubic sphere. How they react is really up to them, I know that there is sincerity in the farmers jobs and a dedication to the land they were given and the animals under their care. As Farm is still a work in progress, I don’t know yet how it will be presented in the end. Perhaps there will be a book with images and stories of the farmers who have so generously allowed me to see a disappearing way of life or perhaps this is one of those projects that has yet to reveal itself to me fully. You draw a lot from our universal imagery and your work is pervaded with a subtle but effective narrative that captures nonsharpness with an universal kind of language, capable of bringing to a new level of significance the elusive but ubiquitous relationship between experience and memory, to create direct relations with the spectatorship: what is the role of memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

Memory plays a large part in my work but it is mostly as a starting point rather than a faithful depiction of any person, place or thing. The only time, so far, that I have faithfully translated my actual experience was in 2007 when I made a series of 18 mixed media drawings for my show ‘I smile at life’. Even then, the visual subject matter was a series of stones, which represented the subject I was addressing. Memory is a personal experience but it is also a shared understanding. This is why I address topics that percolate through an audience’s memory bank. I use universal imagery because it will allow a viewer to recall a certain event, to notice a repetition in incidents, which I wish to

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Annabel König

R e v i e w

Special Issue

highlight. In works such as ‘Ice to Water, Water to Words’ and ‘ Felia, Felium’, I drew on the Irish people’s memories of political decisions and intense public debate to question how far we had come along the road of resolution. In ‘Boundaries’ (ongoing) and ‘100 snap shots’ (ongoing), it is the landscape that I ask people to recall. Ireland, like most countries, is steeped in history of land ownership, division, appropriation and occupation. These topics are seldom far from an Irish citizens mind. The aim of both the photographs and paintings in these projects is to look at the land with a, perhaps nostalgic, but also realistic eye. There is beauty in the most unusual of places, the small fields or hedgerows, the light on a wire fence or the lushness of a glimmering field. Memory has a way of shifting over time, so when I use memory as a starting point to return to topics began long ago I find that my memory has altered and will inform the work in a, perhaps, less faithful translation. Farm provides the viewers with an intense, immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience and how much importance has improvisation in your process?

The public can be a diverse range of people and all too often see work as shown in a gallery setting. Using more unconventional spaces appeals to me as often it evokes other reactions. In 2015 I showed work in an old Gate Lodge in Carlow town (Ireland) called ‘Larry the Gardener'. This work was site specific and focused on the last resident of this lodge. I am currently working on a piece for the Courthouse in Carlow town, which again, will be site specific. Work that disrupts

a public space will always cause a reaction. In my site specific work I intentionally place work in a particular area, thereby intentionally controlling the viewing experience as much as I can. The interpretation of the viewer is obviously completely individual but it is by placing work in an alternative, perhaps unnatural setting that it will and hopefully does, make the audience contemplate the art at hand and the subjects raised. Another interesting work from your recent production that has particularly impressed us and on which we would like to spend some words is entitled Red Tape and can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/146690806. As you have remarked once, this work is a comment on the obstacle of bureaucracy and we have appreciated its effective sociopolitical criticism: while lots of artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Jennifer Linton, use to convey open socio-political criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self-reflection that may lead to subvert a variety of usual, almost stereotyped cultural categories. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society?

'Red Tape’ is indeed a quiet, political comment on modern life. It comments on how the simplicity and spontaneity can be lost through the endless need for documentation and red tape, making even simple things difficult and joyful things tedious. Many of my projects contain a political comment, past works such as ‘Ice to Water, Water to Words’ and currently ‘Farm’. I am more interested in making subtle work that suggests that the viewer think about what is occurring rather than shout loudly and lose a large majority of the

Annabel König

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

audience. Speaking personally, I feel that I have a responsibility to make political comments in my work. Artists often see the world from a different perspective and then express their awareness in a visual, hopefully thought provoking manner. In an age of digital information explosion, many younger people have given up the act of reading newspapers, researching different angles on a topic or even taking the time to consider the implications of new laws and restrictions. In their world, images and perhaps ‘arty’ comments are more easily understood or absorbed yet it is their future that is at stake. In making work such as ‘Red Tape’ and ‘Farm’, I aim to make a quiet political comment to the viewers in contemporary society. Besides producing the stimulating works that have been discussing in these pages, you are also a founding member of the ‘9 Stones Artists‘, a professional group of artists based at the foothills of the Blackstairs mountains in County Carlow. It's no doubt that collaborations are today ever growing forces in Contemporary Art and that the most exciting things happen when creative minds from different fields of practice meet and collaborate on a project... could you tell us something about this effective synergy? By the way, Peter Tabor once stated that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of several practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between several artists?

The ‘9 Stones Artists’ group was formed out of the recognition of the need for mutual strength, discussion and inspiration. There are video, printmakers, sculptors and installation artists. There are a number of photographers who each interpret the landscape and it’s inhabitants in a different manner. The painters also use and respond to their local landscape. All the artists of the 9 Stones Artists group are deeply connected to the place in which we live although we have diverse

contemporary art practices and perspectives. A common thread to the 9 Stones Artists group is that we respond to the area and reflect new meanings and experiences of South Carlow to audiences; in the various media we choose, the themes we engage with or the practices and processes we undertake. In creative ways, the 9 Stones Artists look to define and enrich understandings of South Carlow; by examining its unique past, present and future aspirations; the geological, aesthetic and ecological rhythms of the area; the complex relations and sometimes tensions arising between communities, and their physical, social and economic spheres. Some of the 9 Stones Artists are concerned with art-making, some with extended or sitespecific studies of the area, others again work across non-art disciplines or connect and participate with non art-groups; all create works that transmit new understandings of this special area of Co. Carlow, still little known outside the county. Being one of the 9 Stones Artists allows me to have a link to a diverse group of art practitioners who each have their own skills and knowledge, which, considering my diverse use of materials and topics, gives me a support structure, which enables me to continue to experiment and evolve. https://9stones.wordpress.com Over these years you works have been internationally exhibited, including your recent show Postcards from the Edge, Sikkema, Jenkins + Co Gallery, NYC. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Annabel König

R e v i e w

Special Issue

your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station at Dunmore East, County Waterford, Ireland.

By audience I wonder which ones you mean. Much of my work incorporates thoughts and reflections of the ‘ordinary’ public and many of my past and upcoming projects involve an audience who would not see themselves necessarily involved with an art project. For example, I am working on a photographic and text piece, which need completion funding, that will focus on the

The lifeboat crew in Dunmore East, have little or no connection to the art world. Yet they have kindly given me permission to take their images as part of an art project. When the time comes I know how I will show the work, yet, it is not critical in my decision making process. What is important to me, is the concept and the work itself. I wish to

Annabel König

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

highlight these men and women’s courage and commitment

highlighting of the RNLI and it’s mission: to save lives at sea.

The RNLI organization has been very supportive of my project and I do know that when the project is complete they will use their publicity department and their print media to highlight the work. I am very appreciative of that but I also know that what their public will see are the men and women in the photograph. Having being able to do this work is, for me, an honour and the audience reception should be a

By working with ‘ordinary’ people, I work towards an art practice that aims to be inclusive. My aim is always to produce work to the highest standards but the content needs to be relevant and meaningful, to me and so to those who take the time to look properly. I try to make the work speak for itself rather than, lengthy texts in art speak, I aim to be honest. Who sees the work, when it is completed is never in my

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Annabel König

R e v i e w

Special Issue

thoughts when working, it probably should be something that I should consider but I just don’t work that way. When an idea grabs me, as they usually do, it takes on it’s own path, finding a solution through research, discussions with other people and time to be allowed to gestate in my own mind so that using various materials and methods present themselves as the ultimate, correct presentation. On the other hand, the audience reception for a project like ‘Nest’ is a crucial component of my decision making once I have progressed from the initial idea to the exhibiting process. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Annabel. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving ?

Later this year I will have a two-person show at the Spanjaardshof in The Hague, the Netherlands and a solo show at Galerie 44 in 2017. As I mentioned above, I am part of the ‘9 Stones Artists’ and we will be having a major show to celebrate 10 years of being a group. This show will be in Visual, Contemporary Art Gallery in Carlow, Ireland. I will be showing a project entitled ‘Nest’. This work will consist of large-scale photographs and collaborative work with the general public. How my work will evolve depends really on what topics concern me, what is happening in the politcal landscape and what my surroundings present me with. There are projects that I am currently working on, as detailed above, and they will keep me busy for the foreseeable future but I never close myself off interview to new ideas or opportunities. An by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Annabel Kรถnig

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

C hristopher Fowler Lives and works in Hope Mills, Nc, USA

An artist's statement

hristopher Fowler is expressionistic figurative painter hailing from rural southeastern North Carolina. His paintings seek to expose the vulnerability behind human figures and life while exploring the contradicting facades that humans are often forced to retreat behind. Christopher cannot trace back to the start of his passion for art; it grew from the “moment he realized what pens could do to paper.” His artistic renaissance burst forth in college when he stopped attempting to simply duplicate things well and began striving to create pieces that collectors could connect with. His artistic training took place at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art. His senior exhibit was titled “Glowing, Fluorescent Box of Air” and featured figurative mixed media works. He completed an independent study under renowned artist James Biedermann during his time at UNCP on oil painting.

With a keen eye for anatomy, Christopher’s works are typically comprised of portraits and nude subjects focused under his study of gender. He seeks to paint displeasing subjects in an appealing way – an homage to Francis Bacon’s dark collections of the 1950’s. His most recent collection features a muted color palette focusing on darker tones. He uses bursts of primary colors to infuse his works with high contrast. His style is reminiscent of the Southern gothic literary period, which focuses on deeply troubling sides of human nature’ themes of poverty, alienation, and violence; and androgynous figures. The duality of beauty and disfigurement represented within Christopher’s work mimics the true representation of human nature in life. Collectors of Christopher’s work have described his subject matter as “haunting,” “sexy,” and “unabashed.” One reviewer had this to say about his recent collection: “The figurative work with the masks and altered space feels intriguing to me, probably because if suggests a narrative and seems to provide more symbolic references.”

On The Rocks

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Christopher Fowler An interview by Josh Rider, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Artist Christopher Fowler's work accomplishes an insightful inquiry into a variety deeply troubling sides of human nature’ themes, as poverty, alienation, and violence, walking the viewers through a unique, multilayered experience, to provide the viewers with a multilayered experience. Drawing from universal imagery, he explores the elusive relationship between the subconscious sphere and the conscious level, urging to elaborate personal associations. One of the most captivating aspects of Fowler's approach is the way his intriguing canvass incorporate both evokative elements and rigorous patterns to trigger memory and imagination: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his multifaceted artistic production. Hello Christopher and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview would you tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art, that you received form the University of North Carolina at

Pembroke. You later nurtured your education under renowned artist James Biedermann during his time at UNCP on oil painting: how did these experiences influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general?

I’ve always loved drawing and painting but early on it was about meticulously recreating images. I was obsessed with trying to produce something exactly as I saw it with my pencil. During my time in college I slowly let go of this. I think that this was the single most important thing I learned during that time and something that all of my professors were instrumental in. I quit trying to prove how well I could draw with each piece and focused more on working from an emotional place. In a way I feel that only then did I become an artist and everything I did before that was more like a trade, like a blacksmith or architect. Not to say that photorealism is not art or that I cannot appreciate it. I just took a different path.

Basement

Tar

Christopher Fowler

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Assorted Gynoids

Olga

Your approach condenses an insightful and unconventional inquiry into the liminal area in which beauty and disfigurement find an unexpected point of convergence: the results convey together a consistent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. We would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.cfowlerart.squarespace.c om/ in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up? And in particular, how do

you select the characters you extract from your imagery to provide them with autonomous life?

Every painting begins with a feeling. Its not always something I can put my finger on like love or distress but it is definitely a feeling that I let guide me and shape the initial idea. So, in the beginning I will do several sketches to try and find the right look to convey what is going on in my head. As for the subjects of my paintings, I like to choose interesting-looking people. I can

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Christopher Fowler

R e v i e w

Special Issue

pose the figure to suit the needs of the painting but I’m not really interested in painting the obvious choice. By that I mean the sort of people we see on TV or on a runway, those flawless and classically beautiful people. It seems I can’t come to terms with any sort of instance of perfection in my work, quite the opposite of my work from many years ago. What has at once captured our attention of your works is the way the insightful juxtaposition between intense tones provide the canvasses with a dynamic and autonomous aesthetic, to communicate an attempt to transform tension to harmony, and it's really captivating. While walking our readers through the usual genesis of your pieces, would you shed light on your main source of inspiration?

I was told years ago that you never want your work to be “sleepy”. I’m not consciously following all of those rules and principles of art that they teach you in school but often times i stand back after its over and there they are. I suppose that can be attributed to time, experience, and feel. As for inspiration, that comes from quite a few places. I have my favorite artists both classical and contemporary which inspire me. The fear of becoming stagnant, dull, and a hack is quite motivating. I’m not interested in painting as a hobby. I

Triplets

just have desire to create, even if no one cares to look. The dialogue established by colors and texture is a crucial part of your style: in particular, the effective combination between intense nuances of tones sums up the mixture of thoughts and

Christopher Fowler

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

emotions. How much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a painting’s texture? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

I would say that I’m a very hard person to get to know. I’m fairly introverted and probably a bit complicated at times. Maybe that has something to do with my painting. Just like with the models I choose not to paint, I tend to stay away from what I feel are obvious

Peacock

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Christopher Fowler

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Bodhisattva

Apoc

color choices. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m always trying to do away with those primary colors and use the ones that no one pays attention to. The texture of a painting depends on the mood of the work, just like the color or the pose of a figure. Sometimes its smooth and other times the gesso and paint are applied in a rough manner.

strategy: rather, you seem to invite the viewer to find personal interpretations to the feelings that you convey into your paintings... this quality marks out a considerable part of your production, that are in a certain sense representative of the relationship between emotion and memory. What is the role of memory in your process? And in particular, do you try to achieve a faithful visual translation of your feelings?

While exhibiting a captivating vibrancy, your paintings often to reject an explicit explanatory

Wallflower

Funhouse

Christopher Fowler

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

can almost remember. I’m not so much concerned with the audience feeling what I do, as long as they feel something. Your paintings are rich of symbols and evokative elements. When playing with the evokative power of reminders to universal imagery your approach establishes direct relations with the viewers that goes beyond any conventional symbolism: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

Astral Projection

I read somewhere that each time the brain recalls a memory it is different than the last time because you are no longer recalling that memory but the memory of that memory. I feel like this relates to what I do in that I attempt to a fleeting feeling. I’m intrigued by that feeling you get when you can’t quite recall how something went or a dream that you

I would agree with that. To me art should say something and lead you somewhere. Some of my favorite artists are portrait or landscape artists but if I were to focus exclusively on this type of subject matter I would feel that I sold myself short by not saying something with my work. I’m trying to tell a story with my work, but not the whole thing. I try to give the viewer a few pieces and let them fill in the blanks. The idea that everyone can view a piece in a different and personal way is one of the great things about art.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Christopher Fowler

R e v i e w

Special Issue

We have appreciated the way your expressionistic figurative paintings convey an emotional vision, wisely balanced with a careful attention to the equilibrium concerning the composition: when drwing inspiration from rural southeastern North Carolina, you invite the viewers gives a sense of permanence to the intrinsic ephemeral nature of the feeling you convey on your canvas. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

I don’t create art based on what I think other people may like or trends of the times. I simply make the art that I want to see. I think that if you do something that you are passionate about there will be someone out there who connects with it. Starting out in North Carolina, I probably could have chosen to paint a different and more conservative subject matter and been successful but that just wouldn’t me.

I would say its indispensable. Personal experience is what makes a piece of art. Its how we can look at a painting or sculpture and immediately recognize who did it, even if we’ve never seen it before. I suppose the two could be disconnected but for me that would lead to a very uninspired piece. It seems like a very impersonal way to create and little depressing to think about.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Christopher. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Over these years your works have been showcased in several occasions, including your recent participation at the Schwa Show, in Greenville. One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create an emotional and psychological involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition

I feel like I’m a baby in painting and I’m eager to grow. I don’t know where my work will go from here and that’s exciting for me. Other than painting, I’m working on my own animated film so hopefully those who enjoy my work will like this just as much.

No Red In Sight

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

D aniel Chester Lives and works in Dublin, Ireland

An artist's statement

he current body of research is a visual enquiry into the effects of mans over consumption of natural

materials and the continuous destruction and long term detrimental effects this is having on the rural landscape of Ireland. The research particularly focuses on the landscape on counties Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Mayo and aims to question what relationship can be connected between this overindulgent nature and our historical and sacred connection to the environment. As part of this area of interest I am also fascinated in the reality of the “Commons in Society” and the connection between the moral responsibilities of the community towards the landscape. The ownership of parks, greens, lanes, walkways and rural areas that is open to the public. My current area of research also extends to an enquiry into traditional drawing and painting of the landscape, in particular the idea and notion of romantics within the rural landscape. Areas of continued interest include artist

such as Casper Fredrick, William Blake and German romanticism painting, In particular my work is influenced by paintings “Monasty Graveyard In Snow (1819) and The Abbey in The Oakwood (1810) by Fredrick, other influences include Dutch painting in particular the work of Pieter Brugel. The recurring theme within my work focuses on notions of disillusion with materialism, return to the natural world, death, destruction and resurrection. The choice of aluminium as a medium in which to paint on is deliberate one, although this material is not one of traditional use I find its coldness and dampness a direct connection to the landscapes and subjects I choose to paint, the aluminium also enables me as an artist to show the process of painting i.e. brushstrokes, additional liquids each work is very much unique as the experimental development can very much change with each painting.

Daniel Chester

wishing tree

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Daniel Chester An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Drawing inspiration from the environment of his native country, Irish artist Daniel Chester's work accomplishes an insightful a visual enquiry into the effects of man's over consumption of natural materials and the continuous destruction and long term detrimental effects this is having on the rural landscape. In his recent body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages he provides the viewers with a multi-layered experience capable of walking them into the liminal area in which subconscious level establishes a symbiosis between the conscious sphere. One of the most captivating aspects of Chester's approach is the way it incorporates both evocative elements and and rigorous patterns to investigates issues that look at contemporary Ireland within the framework of social, political and economic conditions: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating and multifaceted artistic production. Hello Daniel and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview would you tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you hold a Masters in Visual Arts Practices, that you received

from the College of Art and Design, Dunlaoghaire, Dublin: how has this experience influenced your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum due to your Irish roots inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general?

Hi ARTiculAction, first of all I would like to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to discuss my practice with you and showcase my new body of work to your readers. Yes, a graduated from IADT in 2010 and prior to that had gained a degree from Sligo It in Fine Art. I suppose the main grounding i received from Sligo was a good technical training, understanding drawing and painting techniques and the course itself really instilled an opportunity to explore all avenues within these areas, other modules such a printmaking and photography were also keenly developed during my four years there, At the time of my degree i had some excellent lectures such as Ronnie Hughes, Dermot Seymor, Mark Joyce and Nick Miller all were practising artists and becoming well known on the Irish and International art scene so it was an exciting place for a very young student, They were all painters and it has defiantly influenced my own practice over the last few years, The choice to

MARMALADE CAT PHOTOGRAPHY

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Approaching Snow Storm

undertake a Masters was born out of the need to contextualise my work within a framework of contemporary practice, The MA offered a far more theoretical grounding of my ideas and how I wanted

my work to be viewed by my intended audience. Because the MA in Visual Arts Practices was split into different threads ie curatorial, art making and curatorial writing I believe I gained a better

Daniel Chester

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

understanding of my practice as a whole. Again it was a very exciting time in my life, my choice during this time of study was to really open my mind to all aspects of my work, not to get bogged

down in the process of making art but to really aim to understand what was my target audience and what was i trying to convey in my artwork. I suppose also I was far more mature as a person and an

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

artist when I was undertaking the Masters, The influence of having our first child, working and trying to study defiantly put a lot of things into focus, time management became a key factor, Its still a key factor to where and how my artistic practice situates itself at the present moment. In relation to being an Irish artist and understanding how my practice relates to this situation, In general the Irish art scene is still emerging from the effect of the Celtic Tiger downfall and economic recession that has devastated Ireland over the last six years, The art world in Ireland can be very small and many artists just canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sustain a living from their own practice, I work as a teacher part-time just to sustain my practice and this can be tough for obvious reason such as residences, exhibiting abroad etc. Your approach condenses a variety of mediums ranging from drawings and painting to photography: the results convey together a consistent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. We would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.danielchesterartist.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between opposite viewpoints is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore.

During my Masters I would have spent a lot of time thinking about this idea and how some artists manage to develop a multi-disciplinary practice in order to

convey their ideas or common thread within their work, I personally donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel i work that way as an artist, Most of my work reads as a timeline, I have always been fascinated in drawing and tried to push my drawing practice to another level during a number of years of research studies, it gave me a great grounding not only as a technical ability but also to tease out a number of Ideas that were floating about in my head. I suppose passion is a huge factor within my practice and i have always been passionate about painting and after been away from it for so long during this intensive drawing research i was keen to return to my painting practice. I love going to all types of shows in galleries or museums that showcase all aspects of visual art practices, If an artist needs to use various mediums with their practice to convey their ideas of ambitions or their theme then that is fantastic, but sometimes I have been to shows where it becomes too cluttered with mediums, the artist has stretched themselves too far or has been convinced by a curator to show more work than the audience needs to see, less is more. I admire contemporary artists such Phil Collins and James Coleman who are experts in using the narrative of film and video in order to convey their thematic approach, viewers are drawn into the works almost painterly vibrant colours and playful aspect of both artists approach to their work. For this special issue of ARTiculAction we have selected

Daniel Chester

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Approaching Snow Storm

some of the works from your recent

readers have already started to get to

series and would start to focus

know in the introductory pages of

beginning from The timing of the

this article. What has at once caught

Clocks and The last wish that our

our attention of your investigation

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Green Bogland Mist

about the theme of the landscape is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of establishing a channel of communication between the

subconscious sphere and the conscious one. So while asking you to walk our readers through the genesis of these pieces, we would

Daniel Chester

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? My influence is always the Landscape itself, I live in stunning beautiful area of West Ireland called Dromahair which is one of the most northly parts of rural Ireland, Its wild and rugged and sometimes very socially isolated, but there is a fantastic collection of all sorts of people who live here, artist, writers, musicians, nurses, lectures and doctors. This influence defiantly drives my work from one that is of experience. I mountain bike or hike through the mountains and bogland’s often during week and this direct contact with nature has a huge effect on my work. The new body of work derived from a number of years just drawing and trying to understand the effects of light and tone on the landscape, the process of drawing a similar environment became a key strain within the studies, viewing a landscape again and again made me think harder about what was I looking and how was it influencing my art making process. In 2011 a huge fire destroyed much of the landscape that i had been studying, initially i thought this was going to stop me making studies of the area but the opposite happened, the landscape changed and other interesting aspects emerged from the ashes, at the time of the fire the Irish economy and political landscape was also undergoing a huge shift and transformation of its own,

unemployment was at an all-time high, immigration of young people setting off for Australia, Canada and the States was effecting every town and village in Ireland, it was hard not to be effected by this and I suppose this was rubbing off on my work, The studies “The Uncovering” and “The Quarry” were intense small ink on paper drawings that looked at the landscape as a barren rubble environment, harsh and unforgiving, notions of Patrick Kavanagh “Stony grey soils of Monaghan” came to mind in regards of the youth of Ireland and the reality of emigration, leaving an environment you love but knowing you can’t stay for financial reasons. In 2014 I started moving from drawings toa return to painting, a number of reasons were made for this decision, primarily to bring in a richer palate into the work. “Green Bogland Mist” was constructed in 2015 and it has kind of paved the way for a lot of my current body of work, I was interested in the survival of plant species in the aftermath of the 2011 fire and noticed that the so called weeds and wild fauna were the first to spring up through the forest ashes, the landscape in the painting is wild, hints of a lake are seen in the background but like a renaissance portrait painting the wild weed is given centre stage, Its strong, elegant and standing up to the elements. “The timing of the Clocks” and “The Last Wish” again play into the notion of survival but also on hope and strength. In Ireland to blow on the Clocks or Dandelions before they germinate is to make a wish, Influenced by notions of Romantic artists and in particular Casper Friedrichs work

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

“Stages in Life” timing of the clocks looked at birth, life and death of the dandelion flower. “The last wish” offers the audience a chance to blow out the last of the seeds, make that last wish in life, whether it comes true or not. When unveiling the connection between the moral responsibilities of the community towards the landscape you seem to accomplish a subtle but effective socio-political criticism: while lots of artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Jennifer Linton, use to convey open socio-political criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self-reflection that may lead to subvert a variety of usual, almost stereotyped cultural categories. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society?

Yes I do feel that the work does hinge on a political sphere, again I am not an artist or person that aims for huge political reform but rather as you say to “hint the direction” People are not stupid and most of the time can make rational decisions in regards their future, this seems to be forgotten when it comes to some of the policies that we are governed with by our elected representatives. I try to convey both a sense of impending doom within my work and a sense of hope, Inviting the viewers to self-reflect in a body of work is paramount I feel for any artist, Its

Brascia Negra in Yellow Storm

doesn’t have to be overtly political but it should challenge. The dialogue established by thoughtful nuances and texture is a crucial part of your style: in particular, the effective combination between intense nuances

ICUL CTION

Daniel Chester

C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Leitrim lowlands

of tones sums up the mixture of

determine the nuances of tones you

thoughts and emotions. How much

decide to use in a piece and in

does your own psychological make-up

particular, how do you develop a

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

painting’s texture? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Taking a number works as a reference point such as Red Leitrim Sapling or Lake Side Saplings the main focus of the work was bleakness, The weather in Ireland can often be very wet and windy especially in the north west of the country, the background of these works is one of wilderness with heavy clouds or fog descending on much of these new works backgrounds, there are no real horizon or reference points the titles themselves are really the only give away to the location of the saplings, The saplings themselves are painted in a realistic manner but often times i am trying to convey a sense of decay of the sapling leaves, again leaving the viewer to decide on whether the sapling will survive or not. I am fascinated in the history of painting, Dutch classic painting in particular , the use of light, materials and subject matter have become more indented within my own work, richly influenced by the artists such as Vermeer and Rubens, my own painting style has become far more loose and relaxed, I am interested in a sense of the mark of the brush and the rendering of the oil paint against the medium of aluminium, The texture and tone of the brush strokes and how the source of light can be found against the subject matter. The choice of aluminium is a conscious one, the cold dampness feel of aluminium works well with my chosen subjects and environment i am interested in. Although aluminium is not a medium that is traditionally used

within fine art, metals such as copper plates were used in the golden age of Dutch painting to produce some beautiful work. The aluminium compared to traditional canvas allows me to build up a painting texture and in the piece” Leitrim Lowlands” I can use the aluminium itself to reflect the rivers surface. While exhibiting a captivating vibrancy, your paintings often to reject an explicit explanatory strategy: rather, you seem to invite the viewer to find personal interpretations to the feelings that you convey into your paintings... this quality marks out a considerable part of your production, that are in a certain sense representative of the relationship between emotion and memory. What is the role of memory in your process? And in particular, do you try to achieve a faithful visual translation of your feelings?

The invitation to the viewer to find their own personal interpretation is key to most of my work, I understand that not all will like or even try to understand my work but thats ok, in the past i may have found this hard to except and would have added a lot of text or dialogue to the works titles or exhibition information sheets in order to allow the audience to greater understanding of what i was trying to convey. In more recent painting such as “The Clearing” I have added a lot of space and depth to the paintings surface, minimalism is key in this work, bog, tree, sky and water, a storm may be approaching. In a sense i am trying harder now to connect the emotional response between the viewer’s feelings

Daniel Chester

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

red sapling(storm forming)

and the atmospheric element of the paintings. In â&#x20AC;&#x153; Wishing Treeâ&#x20AC;? i was also trying to tap into our own cultural beliefs, even pagan or religious beliefs

that we would have grown up with and its connection with the sacred and the environment. The wishing tree or rag bush was somewhere to pray or leave a

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Mayo Marshlands

wish, a curse would be put on anyone who cut down a wishing tree. A historical connection is one element of my practice i am very interested in, the

connection between the landscape and its people, What role is the social and technological age having on landscape? and in particular on the next generation,

Daniel Chester

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

will the ideas of walking in nature be so far removed in the future. As can be identified in an early question my practice is influenced by early romantic art and in particular romantic landscape artist such as Turner, Friedrich and Church, this sense of question in their work also lingers within my own except maybe within a more contemporary framework. Your works are rich of symbols and evocative elements. When playing with the evocative power of reminders to universal imagery your approach establishes direct relations with the viewers that goes beyond any conventional symbolism: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

In my early student days i would have been influenced by the identifications of symbolic representation, I grew up during much of the conflicts in Northern Ireland and was close enough to the borders to see the relationship between a symbol of Irish nationalism and symbols that gave rise to hatred and high emotions such as the orange marches/flags of William of Orange/ Union Jacks etc. With my father being English and Protestant within a predominately Catholic Irish community this was always a conflict of interest during my teenager years and one that sometimes still resonates within my

work. The use of symbolic imagery played a part in early works mainly because it was a way of connecting with my audience, but I feel this has changed dramatically over the past few years, evoking or to quote Thomas Demand “probe psychological, narrative elements” has become more apparent in works such as “Approaching Snow Storm” in this particular piece my aim is convey the narrative of the landscape, something is about to happen, its unavoidable we are in the storm courses and best choice of action is the get shelter. Again the colours in this piece are become more subtle and also aim to evoke a physical connection to the narrative of the piece. Referencing Friedrich “Arctic Shipwreck” as a strong influence within my work the structure of the painting is paramount to its narrative, the ship is in the ice, will it ever be free? What happened to its sailors? All questions i feel compelled to ask when I view this work. In earlier pieces such as “ Brasica Negra in Yellow Storm” i often use the decaying plant and bring it into the studio, working from live material is far more challenging and one I feel more confident working with. The plant itself is centre stage and the work evolves from the colours of the subject. One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create an emotional and psychological involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

The issue of audience reception is an interesting one, sometimes I will produce a piece of work and think “ok got something here” but the response to the work is different to what i thought it would achieve, I think this is where the audience or viewer identifies with the work on a whole different level than the artist had perceived possible. Titles are important within the context of the work understanding. In the piece “Burning the Gorse” the process of the act evokes a variety of emotions from the viewer, the act of deliberately starting a fire in order to open up feeding areas for animals Is a controversial topic within rural Ireland, some landowners believe its their right, where’s others believe it causes mayhem and is a deliberate environmental destruction. This area of conflict interests me within my practice, although a lot of my work is aestically pleasing on the eye, I try not to make this the main focus of the work. In one of the new completed piece “Mayo Marshlands” the viewer is confronted with a wasteland, beautiful greens and blues a lush landscape, the oil paint is very fluid and loose in this work and there is only a hint of bulrushes growing in this environment. But the reality of this landscape is that it under threat, vast areas of natural beauty has been bought by oil companies in order to bring gas in land from off sea drilling, its

controversial, it causes rifts in communities it’s a continuous source of conversation. In Ireland the term “A Terrible Beauty” was born out the long history of turmoil that has effected Ireland, years of oppressions, famine and wars have had left its influence on generations of Irish both home and abroad, It contradicts the beauty and sublime of the landscape. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Daniel. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Again thank you for giving me the opportunity to discuss my practice in great length and showcase my new body of work to your readers. This year is set to be one of my busiest I have had in good few years I a group show coming up next week in Co Mayo, A solo In Chimera Gallery Mullingar and a solo in the NAGgallery Dublin, All galleries are in Ireland. In November some of my work is going over to Edinburgh, Scotland for the 2016 Art Fair and I have a number of various projects and exhibitions still in the pipeline for 2016 but yet to be confirmed. The main focus for my practice over the next twelve months is to get some more exposer to an International audience, I would love to exhibit the work in North America or Asia and have been in contact with a number of galleries in Hong Kong but its early days yet. My work has been selected for some short listed competitions and hopefully this expose

Daniel Chester

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

The Clearing

will promote my practice. The landscape aspect of my work is one I see evolving over the next few months, Paintings

such as “Approaching Snow Storm” and “Leitrim Lowlands” are areas I would like to concentrate on and develop.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Daniel Chester

R e v i e w

Special Issue

The last wish

From general audience and viewer feedback the work is been positive, sales have been very good and this helps to

push my practice in order to make it work both financially but also for confidence. The art business can be very

Daniel Chester

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

lake side sapling

challenging but thankfully its going well for me at the moment, I enjoy the challenge and hopefully with more

positive exposure my practice can gain further momentum.

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

M ahshid Rahim Lives and works in Teheran, Iran

An artist's statement

Tabrizi The most evident shift away from overt figurations have taken place in my work. My art pulverizes the familiar identity of the objects and visual elements, and essentially overcomes the chaos and enters a world filled with customs. In a way, the mixture between the contemporary and the traditional worlds creates a new abstract way of seeing shapes.

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi An interview by Josh Rider, curator and Isabelle Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Artist Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi's work explores the dualism in ancient Iranian thinking to pulverize the familiar identity of the objects and visual elements: her approach rejects any conventional classification and crosses the elusive boundary that defines the realm of Tradition from Contemporary Abstract Expressionism, to create a multilayered involvement with the viewers, who are urged to investigates about the ubiquitous order that pervades the reality we inhabit. One of the most convincing aspect of Tabrizi's practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of creating a deep synergy between our limbic parameters and our rational categories: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating artistic production. Hello Mahshid and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and you nurtured your education with a Bachelor degree of Painting: how has this experience influenced your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your rich Persian cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the way you conceive your artworks and to the aesthetic problem in general?

Initially, I used color to illustrate forms and was at the service of realistic

figurative illustration. Over the years, my style of painting changed its course toward improving the surface colors, meaning that the components of color were directed to enhancing our minds view and not in capturing reality. I have always struggled to combine my countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past culture with the aesthetics of the contemporary world even if, at times, this was not possible. Yet through a unique way, using symbols and cultural signs in order to create a combination and interaction to integrate two historical eras on one hand, and an interaction and disintegration of various theories with my art on the other, I have attained a type of artistic result with an ultimate synthesis. In my opinion, it is not possible to separate personal experience during the artistic creative process from the direct external experience as well as external contradictions and contrasts. Actually, artistic creativity finds a new meaning in relation to them. Your approach coherently encapsulates several techniques that reveals an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent and consistent sense of unity: so before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.mahshidrahimtabrizi.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

R e v i e w

Special Issue

process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between opposite viewpoints as well as different disciplines is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore.

Yes, I also believe that artwork can be placed beside a variety of viewpoints and the combination and interaction can at times, through use and integration, create a consonant and harmonious

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

composition made up of various approaches. Yet this excludes the logical world and is limited to the world of images and the illustration of symbols.

For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected Will the Butterflies Return Home?!, a stimulating piece that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

R e v i e w

Special Issue

attention is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of bringing to a new level of significance the pictorial contradictions, to unveil the manifold nature of human perceptual categories and to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? pictorial contradiction

In my opinion the experience of an artist and the idea of creativity in the arts are things that cannot just appear in a vacuum. And they cannot be separated from direct external experience and the conflicts which exist in an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment. I believe this can take place properly at the time the artist learns to combine his life experience in regards to the external world, at which point his work takes on an enriched depth. A more colorful and complicated pallete is the result of the effects of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s peripheral over-view of the surrounding symbols. The way you create an effective combination between traditional and contemporary imagery provides your pieces of a subtle but effective narrative that captures nonsharpness with an universal kind of language and brings to a new level of significance the elusive but ubiquitous relationship between experience and memory, to create direct relations with the spectatorship: what is the role of memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

It must said that for the creation of creativity and in order to make a stronger impression during the process of combination and the collection of traditional elements, including

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

past traditional ones as well as ones from the contemporary world, I have been in search of a universal language. I have also struggled to take my own personal language, which arose from my cultural past, to a universal level and in this way to stabilize my external experiences on the foundations of memory/souvenir in order to differentiate my contemporary experiences, which I have to a point been successful at. I see that you have alluded to this in your key questions which have motivated my search for new answers. The abstract expressionism that marks out your artistic production conveys dynamism as well as physicality: this is something that seems to have held back a lot of the more formal abstract painters of our time. How much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

It seems that you are saying that there is a possibility that Modern Abstract Expressionism emerged from a formal abstract movement (official and geometrical). I also believe that this is true in some aspects, and this shows itself in some contemporary abstract expressionist movements, especially the neo-expressionists who show this affection much more clearly. In the second part of your question concerning the psychological aspect, my personal environment has been affected the abstract expressionist movement and this is seen with the emergence of a more fragile and detailed tonality in my work as well as connected nuances of objects that meet my eyes which resulted in a new color palette. These nuances that

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

R e v i e w

Special Issue

stemmed from such objects and the developed tonalities that followed were the keys to opening new worlds for me. When addressing the viewers to pulverizing the familiar identity of the

objects and visual elements you seem to suggest that informations & ideas could be considered "encrypted" in the environment we inhabit, so we need to decipher those patterns. When inviting us to process the things we are

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

sometimes able to catch you seem to suggest that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature: what's your point about this?

I believe one of the most important and fundamental tasks of a painter is to see objects more deeply until they are able to penetrate the sense of the objects and phenomenon to show our inner essence and existence. It is clear that an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

R e v i e w

Special Issue

‘take’ is personal and relative and is coordinated to their ‘reading’ of issues; if the painter is truly a painter. Logically they must with their abilities, comprehensions and discoveries, show

the public the hidden and extraordinary aspects of nature. You earned a wide experience as a teacher and In the past 15 years you have taught to numerous classes: as you have remarked once, your aim is to

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

teach people of all ages the art of painting: How did this experience impact on the way you relate yourself to art making? In particular, have you ever happened to draw inspiration from the ideas of your students?

Any subject matter or idea can be inspirational to an artist although I have yet to have such an experience. You were selected to create five elaborate wall paintings that span across the main streets of Tehran: how do you

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

R e v i e w

Special Issue

see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience?

What is important is that such works of art, specifically murals are very important. And there are two kinds of people who find a relationship to murals (come into contact with them): Pedestrians or travelers in motion; although they only pass by the mural and might not seem to pay any attention to it, they will always subconsciously be affected by the mural. People who come to stand and observe a mural and accept it as a work of art and take the messages of the mural, whether sad or joyful, with them back to their work or home. Over these years your works have been showcased in several occasions, including eight solo exhibitions. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

In my opinion, every valuable piece of artwork must create a unique relationship with the observer or witness. Regarding my artwork, it was first I who was there, then my images, then the canvas. I never had any notion of an observer or critic to help me choose what my artwork would be. In all the exhibitions that have shown my work I have been there only as an audience to observe if I have been successful in expressing what I had in mind. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Mahshid. Finally, would you like to tell us

Mahshid Rahim Tabrizi

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

readers something about your future projects? Where do you see yourself and your work going in the future?

I will begin with the point regarding my new work which will be digital transmissions which are images in my mind that in their extreme simplicity are placed side by side where each one is dependent on a different place in relationship to the others, but they are

adjacent in a way that they will be dependent on a specific atmosphere. More specifically what I wanted to say in relation to digitalizing my work was that my relationship with computers is only is a mechanical one and my imagery comes from my mind. This is one of my projects. 2- I eager to see and explore the public hidden aspect of nature, so my goal is to travel and experience.

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

Elle Smith Lives and works in London, United Kingdom

An artist's statement

ew artist Elle Smith brings a strong new vision to the scene, despite having only discovered her natural ability to paint in 2014. She works in oils on canvas, producing very compact portraits plus pieces of abstract and conceptual artwork. Self-taught with no formal training, Elle simply paints from sight but with remarkable results. It’s a sharp departure from her years in academia, though that history provides her with great insight and empathy in the themes she embraces. Elle’s intuitive connection to her subject shines through in portraits and the themes of her abstract. Elle’s inspiration has been shaped from her own life experiences. With work that’s accessible to all, she nevertheless tackles everyday and complex themes to give her audience pause for thought on the deeper message conveyed. Born and bred in the United Kingdom, Elle has also lived in the South of France and is much travelled. She is currently based in London.

With a conceptual approach, Smith wants to amplify the astonishment of the spectator by creating compositions or settings that generate tranquil poetic images that linger, balancing lightly the edge of recognition and alienation. Her works directly respond to the surrounding environment using everyday experiences of the artist as a launching point. Often these are framed instances that would likely go unnoticed in their original context. Her works often appear as dreamlike images - where fiction and reality collide, merging well-known tropes as the past and present fuse. Time and memory always play a key role. A mother, sister, friend, partner, career woman and animal lover - Elle connects with her audience through her imagination and expressiveness in modern media. Though new to the art world, already she is having an impact and sparking ripples amongst the community now applauding her work. You can find her art at: http://www.inspiredbyelle.com

The Conflict Tree Oil on canvas, 16 by 12 inches

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Elle Smith An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Multidisciplinary artist Elle Smith's work explores the thin line in which imagination and experience merges together to cross the elusive boundary that defines the area of perception from the realm of imagination. Her work ranges from painting to poetry and aims to create a multilayered involvement with the viewers, who are urged to investigate the non-linear, still ubiquitous narrative that pervades the reality we inhabit. One of the most convincing aspect of Smith's multidisciplinary practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of creating a deep and autonomous synergy between our limbic parameters and our rational categories: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production. Hello Elle and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? As an artist you are basically self-taught and you simply paint from sight: however, your paintings reveal a deep connection with your subjects that shows a particular care in the way you conceive and produce your works. How does your cultural substratum inform the way you create such empathy and influence your relationship with the aesthetic problem in general?

Hello ARTiculAction Team and audience. Thank you for kindly introducing my work in your magazine. My life has afforded me a wealth of experiences and I have been lucky enough to have several professions, including within the accountancy and legal fields. Culturally, I was exposed to an eclectic mix of ethnicity and religion as well as travel to various parts of the world. This has given me a greater understanding of issues and people. I always take great interest in people, understanding what is important to them both economically and socially. My empathy is probably one of my greatest and hardest assets, as on one hand I am able to truly understand people and issues, but sometimes find this a poisoned chalice as I literally ‘feel their issues’. I always give each painting much thought and investigation of the core topic, as I feel responsibility to portray the issue correctly. Yes, of course my cultural knowledge does better place me with the subject, as to me, it’s like watching a movie. Let me explain this more thoroughly. Most people observe what is going on and form an opinion, and I do is this too. The difference is, that I seemingly jump into the situation and view it from the perspective of the characters within the movie looking around and experiencing everything.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Love in any Language Oil on canvas, 16 by 20 inches

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

This has the effect that my paintings and even poetry deeply connect with the subject. My culture does influence my perception, as do the many cultures that I have experienced. However, this ability to look from the inside outwards is probably one of the most precious attributes I could be gifted with. Multidisciplinarity is a key feature of your approach, that coherently encapsulates several viewpoints and techniques and is marked out with an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between imagination and representation, conveying together an unconventional still consistent sense of unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit https://www.inspiredbyelle.com/ in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between opposite viewpoints as well as different techniques is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore.

Firstly, let me say how impressed I was by the fact that you have observed my work in such detail. I was amazed that your Team has examined my work in such detail, and more importantly understood what I have tried to achieve in my art and poetry. I possess a very elaborate and vivacious imagination, which often means that I feel overwhelmed with ideas, perspectives and creativity. I find I have to carry numerous notepads. These are in fact to note all of the many ideas for later investigation. Imagination is all-important

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

to reality, as everything that is created has to first be imagined. The difficult part is combining my creative ideas and inspiration into an actual piece of work. Often I can do this as if on autopilot, but sometimes it can take weeks or months for a work in progress to come together. The ability to view opposing viewpoints is probably as a result of my training at the Bar (not the alcoholic one - but the barrister one!) One of the lessons I was privileged to learn; was that viewing an issue or situation from many perspectives would ultimately provide the truth or key issues. I never realized this skill would come in handy for art, but you have clearly identified that it affords me the ability to view opposing viewpoints and ways to express an idea. I would also say that I naturally possess an ability to view situations uniquely. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say that out of ego, but that I am extremely unconventional which is part of my remit when I work. My aim was to produce art, which was different, intelligent and give something meaningful to everyone. Have I achieved that, I guess only time will tell! For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected The Sun never sets on Conflict and Memories of Venice, a stimulating couple of paintings that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention is the way your brushstrokes accomplish the difficult task of unveiling the manifold nature of human perceptual categories. As you have remarked once, you draw inspiration behind from a dramatic sequence of events and life changes. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your

opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process both to create and to snatch the spirit of a piece of art... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I think the answer is unanimous, as without my life experiences I would not have such an appreciation of the topics covered in my artwork. Clearly, I have experienced a somewhat colourful life thus far, where I have either directly experienced situations or met others who have been affected. A few events come to mind, like a soldier who became a friend. He recounted how returning home, he would wake on full alert expecting gunfire or bombs exploding, when he heard fireworks in his neighbourhood. He expressed a loneliness of no longer being the same as others, as his eyes had indeed seen too much devastation. I assisted a family who fled civil war in their country, as they needed asylum away from hostility. This family lived â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;in fearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; through alienation from their home. These interactions have given me great insight to the human cost of conflict, for example. Personally, I always connect with the spiritual essence of the people or situations that I paint. There have been some instances where I have had a total disconnect, and struggled to paint the subject. These instances are very challenging, yet I am disciplined enough to literally demand of myself that I step in where I would otherwise be reluctant. This has happened with a handful of issues, like dementia. I literally had no

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

The Sun Never Sets on Conflict, Oil on canvas, 12 by 10 inches

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Memories of Venice, Oil on canvas, 8 by 10 inches

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

direct knowledge and felt that I did not want to do any injustice to the feelings of those sufferers. Therefore, I wanted to be respectful and yet express the challenges experienced from the inside out. The poem was written in a few minutes, and when I read it back was amazed as I had captured those feelings perfectly. The artwork is still a work in progress. However, when I connect with a subject even for me the results are remarkable, even where I do not necessarily have the knowledge of the subject matter. Given I have no training in art, I have viewed this as a gift, that I can connect with topics in this way. I do believe that the creative process will not always rely on direct experience. However, direct and indirect experiences both enhance, and give a unique connection with the subject matter. I would add that experiences of any description train the mind empathetically. ‘The Sun Never Sets On Conflict’ was my first conceptual artwork. It was driven by realization that war and conflict was increasingly present across the globe. The use of planes from different eras and different soldiers alludes to the fact, that war breeds more conflict and destruction. The broader message is that conflict is not just of a military nature, as it may exist between individual people. Similarly, my painting ‘Memories of Venice’ was inspired by the idea of capturing a moment in a bubble. This one is supposed to take viewers back to childhood playing. Then to reminisce over blowing bubbles, watching them intently, whilst hoping they will go on to infinity and never burst. My idea was to ‘capture a moment in time”, or in fact memory of

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

a location, and place it in a bubble. In this case my romantic memories of Venice, were encased in a bubble forever. Your work is pervaded with a subtle but effective narrative, and the insightful combination between images and written words you created for The Conflict Tree captures non-sharpness with an universal kind of language, capable of bringing to a new level of significance the elusive but ubiquitous relationship between experience and imagination, to create direct relations with the spectatorship: how would you describe this synergy in your work? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

Firstly, let me express my excitement that you selected and have indeed grasped what I portrayed in this painting. I am very proud of this early piece of abstract, as my idea here was to show the audience visually what they perhaps miss from emotional involvement in situations. Most people believe without question, that they understand why conflict occurs, especially when it is personal to them. This is fallacy as most never attempt to jump into the shoes of those involved. Conflict is now a global issue, and yet also a personal one, which should be considered in this way. Individuals who are emotionally developed will process in this way, being able to ask challenging questions of not just them but of the situation. More importantly they can then apply their knowledge and understanding to resolve the issue.

Bird of Paradise, Oil on canvas,20 by 8 inches

My legal training is playing a part, as I

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ConnectĂŠ en Cercles, Oil on canvas,12 by 10 inches

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Rising Stars, Oil on canvas, 12 by 12 inches

studied dispute resolution for a short while. Deliberating for many hours, I realized that the same basic issues are evident in all forms of conflict. The next step was to categorize them, and give

order and inter-relation between those elements. My imagination likened conflict to a tree with the basic, main or even initial issues as the first, lower branches sprouting in that tree. Later branches

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Purple Rain, Oil on canvas,12 by 12 inches

would reflect deeper, later or subsidiary issues. I then conducted research to understand what factors caused conflict, applying my own experiences as well. I was able to visually show connection,

and how very minor differences were the origins of conflict. Clearly, it was not enough to simply have differences, the human element has a major part to play

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

as to how people perceive differences, and ultimately change as a result. This painting has some more subtle elements, like the pain of conflict being embedded into the painting, as well as the mental thought surrounding issues depicted by the shades of purple. You may have missed this element, but there is a lady attempting to conciliate in the painting. I wonder how many people will have spotted her? My artwork invites the audience to not only engage with the art, but to question the wider issues and themselves. I truly believe that we cannot improve our own being and the world, unless we do question and reflect with the aim of finding solutions. In answer to your final point, my memories and experience of course influence my work, but I am mindful not to form bias based upon these experiences. I always attempt, and hopefully provide a balanced viewpoint for others to examine the topic. My starting point is always the subject or issue, rather than experiences or memory. We definitely love the way you juxtapose symbolic elements in Love in any Language, creating an effective channel of communication between the conscious sphere you draw from for your references and the subconscious level. This creates a compelling non-linear narrative that, playing with the evocative power of reminders to universal imagery, establishes direct relations with the viewers. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that, "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Carnival in Caracas, Oil on canvas, 8 by 10 inches

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

I must say that I am again impressed that you have considered my art so thoroughly. I always look for unique ways to express a topic, as I think symbolic imagery is much more evocative than purely linear art. I want people to be able to look at my art and connect with the topic in a meaningful way. This painting was asking why love looks the same wherever you view it, even without the senses present. Love is somehow invisible and visible at the same time. Recently, I remarked that ‘love is invisible’, as it is unaffected by material things or our physical body in that it is a soul connection. This social media posting gained a lot of attention, but was me simply arousing the psychological ideas of love. In answer to how I conceive my art, well I probably consider things deeply most of the time, as well as trying to expose myself to many experiences through travel, life and just simply engaging with people wherever I go. The narrative for the various artworks simply arrives in my mind, as I view the world through the windows of my eyes. I like it this way, as it is totally natural, and never contrived. Drawing from universal imagery, your works combine accessible elements and we have highly appreciated the way it condenses a symbiosis between intuition and freedom of composition. Your approach reveals unconventional features in the way it deconstructs

perceptual images in order to assemble them in a collective imagery, urging the viewers to a process of self-reflection. Artists are always interested in probing to see what is beneath the surface: maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your view about this?

Precisely, art for me has to be about more as I try to deliver paintings that are multi-faceted, inquisitive even as to the nature of the subject. For example, I have painted a collection of animal portraits but wanted them to somehow be more than just that. I decided there must be a purpose to this collection, and it was to highlight endangered animals by somehow displaying their personalities. One of the paintings that come to mind is the Sumatran Orangutan, whose name in Malay, means ‘Man of the Forest’, displaying a gentle temperament as he disperses seeds. Ironically, man has critically endangered this species by deforestation. My art had to somehow show the nature of the Orangutan and engage the audience. I love this painting as he poses for his portrait with the most alluring eyes, however his smile is the element, which truly engages you. This painting certainly highlights those similarities to humans in a stunning way. Equally, I seem to have a natural ability to capture the soul within my portraits, as displayed from the eyes. My first portrait was of the person who inspired me to paint. This portrait has never been publicized, as it is very precious to me. The eyes are “captured” so perfectly well, that I could not possibly share him. The strange thing about my portraits is

Reagan Lake

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Winter 2016

9 8 inches Sumatran Orangutan, Oil on canvas, 102by

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

that I have an ability to paint eyes in such a way, that they literally follow you around the room. In answer to your question, yes I do believe that artists should reveal the inner soul or unexpected aspects of nature within their artwork. Art should be capable of indeed touching your soul when you view it, and in turn give you much more than a superficial image. Besides producing stimulating paintings, you are also a prolific poet and we are particularly happy to introduce our readers to your poems. To start off, would you shed light on your process? In particular, do your poems tend now to come out of imagination rather than out of your own life?

My poetry really developed from the need to express the inspiration behind my artwork. Maybe this will surprise you but I have always lacked confidence of my writing skills. This originates from my school days, and being ‘categorized’, even though I later realized I have a high IQ. I was very nervous of writing, particularly because I knew I needed to somehow convey my ideas to the audience. I overcame my fears and wrote a poem called “The Importance of Words”. This poem expresses what I came to realize all these years later, that words can be painful and immobilize you. Most of my poems come out of experience, although I can compose poetry through my ability to empathize with topics as well. I am proud of a poem that I wrote called “Dementia” in which I literally jump into the body of a sufferer, and express how they feel, what they sense and ultimately

the detachment of being in the grip of dementia. Of course, imagination does come into play in some poems, which reminds me of my poem “This Day”, which is unpublished thus far. However, on reading this poem to some female friends, they instantly requested use of the poem for their wedding day, or that I write unique vows for them. The poem ‘This Day’ ends by saying….”These words were never needed, as this day I owe to you.” In My Secret Box you have accomplished the difficult task to combine rhythm, sound and evocative reminders, and to draw the readers into a multilayered experience. Do you think that the harmonic fusion between different features could be the poet's goal? Or is the goal to make people look at the sphere of experience in a different way? Is it to touch their soul? Is it for them to feel delight?

My work is always about multiple layers of everything. I always try encompass as many elements into whatever I do. Thank you for confirming that this poem has done this, as this poem was written to probe into those difficult feelings we all lock away, and to say: “it is okay!!” I wanted to create a platform where my readers would feel harmony or even safety, to open those feelings and examine them to know it was acceptable to retreat. We live in times where life in played out in full glare, so concealing your true feelings is regarded as being taboo. I created an upbeat theme and allowed the reader to remember, and gain acceptance that

ICUL CTION

Elle Smith

C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

A smile

Invisible Footprint

A smile can cause a thousand actions to flow, as they bring gleaming light, to make you otherwise glow. They are warm and welcoming, offering an ‘invitation to treat’, which is simple and open, yet somehow complete.

My words reverberate, I must pause before I say. They have impact and meaning, they crystalize in shape. People act on those words, behaving a certain way. Powerful and challenging, they ripple like the waves. I reach out to touch, making senses come to life. Hands are actually organ grinders, a multitude of tasks they perform. The world’s greatest movies, as many an actor is born. Our deeds are always noticed, intangibly they entwine. One random act another moulds, in life cannot be denied. We all take the same path, leading from cradle to grave. Those impressions left behind, as an invisible footprint is made.

A smile transcends worries and woes, melting even the hearts of would-be foes. They adapt during each occasion, changing appearance like a chameleon, with a gentle cuteness to tickle your toes. You confirm your contentment, as your heart feels special, with heavenly enchantment. A smile is universal, so the whole world can share, This delightful emotion, which extinguishes all care. It requires no training and is simple to perform. Once conveyed the effect is dynamically electric, making complex, disputes forlorn. Ultimately, a symbol with worldwide recognition, and the most powerful tool… against ‘war’.

Dementia Love Me Back How can you love someone, when they don’t love you back? Unrequited love is really cruel, as always, we allow them, to act the fool. Some wounds just grow even deeper, no matter what is said or done. It hurts when they ignore you, their heart eagerly you try to win. You cannot help to whom you fall. Love always chooses when to begin. The chosen never really understand, as your devotion they cannot return. One-sided love is very painful, shredding you relentlessly inside. The ability to love like this is a blessing, from which no one should ever hide.

My head is in muddle, my words are in a blur. I see things in the shadows, but nothing is really there. I have no concept of time, or even words I have said. I don’t recognize my children, which makes me full of dread. Even worse people don’t understand, the pure confusion I feel. I know that I am me, but “ME” at times seems surreal. I shout instead of talking, but my volume is at loud. I used to be respected, eloquent and even proud. Each day I seem to worsen, falling further than in reach. I am losing my lifeline, as quickly I reach the deep.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Palette of Colour

Teardrops

I paint the world, with a smiley face. Sunshine gleams, cold, ice melts. The grass is green, fertile and pure, Water is everywhere, pollution no more. Cruelty removed, towards the beasts. Religions are equal, as are all beliefs. Colour as in race, is no longer seen. People know love, hatred displaced. The world is happy, as ever itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been. Creativity added, our planet is safe.

A teardrop is rich, as many a feeling it contains. It is telling the world, in your heart there is rain. My tears were shed, as in acute pain was I, unable to bear anymore, I started to cry. The departure of love, drives you over the edge. Reason departs, while fear enters your head. Losing someone dear, is never easy in life. The loss is enormous, causing you many a strife. Teardrops are precious, as the pain draws away. They restore your balance, and make you feel okay.

Time to Leave

My Secret Box

How did I get here? What did I do wrong? I know that the love is there, but at times it seems just too hard to bare. I feel so desperately alone..

I carefully locked them all away, within a huge box until one day. Hurt and sadness will consume, inside you feel dread and doom. Sometimes it is the only way, concealing those feelings to another day. Situations in life can leave you hurt, by others who would treat you like dirt. Always know your true worth, never settle for less esteem than from birth. Unless you take pride and earn respect, it will always elude you, unless kept in check. Each time you allow power to another, something dies and is lost forever. Realize that there is strength in retreat, this never means that you are beat. Battles are never won in one day, taking time to re-group is the better way. The day will come when that box you open, and know for sure YOU will draw the final curtain.

No one to call on the telephone. They would never understand. I try to keep things content, as quarrels come when I lament. I feel so desperately alone.. When I sit down alone to cry, My thoughts just say why, why, why. What a mess my life has become, dependent to this relationship I have succumb. I feel so desperately alone.. Surely my life should be better, I try over and over not to fetter. Everything must always be perfect. This principle I must do my best to respect, I still feel desperately alone..

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

dealing with difficult emotions on another day was okay. I do try to touch the soul of my readers, to feed and excite the soul. I love that I have an ability to conjure images and feelings, package them in such a way as to give a reader a multi-faceted poem. I write poetry with simplicity and minimalism, yet conveying strong emotions. Often it is like conversation, or a gentle flow of thoughts and feelings, delivered in an elegant way. Many of my poems contain hidden meanings and metaphors, allowing different readers to gain varied insight from the poetry. The poems even develop new meanings over time, so it is funny to watch how they evolve. This is important to me, as I love poetry to inspire much more than words.

political issues. However, as you correctly indicate, this is done in such a way as to neutrally identify and ask the audience to reflect. Indeed, we are living in difficult times, which in my opinion means that creativity is more important not only as an escape or sanctuary, but to allow the audience seek alternatives. This is why I am keen to make art accessible and relevant to everyone. Art can be an educator, in that this medium can paint perspectives, or inspire emotional development. My endangered animal videos, which introduce the art paintings, are certainly educational regarding the respective species. There are still people who dismiss ‘creatives’, however as I wrote recently,

Palette of Colour speaks of a peaceful world, which is nowadays a more and more utopic scenario. While lots of poems from modern and contemporary scene, as Nazim Hikmet or Pablo Neruda, used to convey open socio-political criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self-reflection that may lead to subvert a variety of usual cultural and perceptual categories. Do you consider that your poems could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society?

“Is Creativity the Solution to 21st Century Issues”. This viewpoint is on the premise, that there is usually some element of creativity involved in the current world issues. It follows that maybe creativity in different forms can conversely be applied as a problem-solver.

This is indeed another great observation of my poetry. You will appreciate that all of my work seeks to ask viewers and readers to become involved through reflection. Art cannot escape the world around us, thus I do interrogate socio-

My aim is to always lift the spirit with my work. Life is challenging enough, so creating positivity in art and poetry even when dealing with challenging topics is invariably my aim in everything I do.

Your poems could be considered as reportages of human experience and often convey struggle as well as tenderness, as in Love Me Back: what does it mean to you to incorporate opposite feelings to find a coherent point of convergence?

In one word - Hope.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Feelings have their natural opposing forces, as we experience anger with those we love, because we care. Happiness is coupled with sadness, as we shed tears when we have an overload of joyous moments. My poetry simply recognizes this reality within the words.

question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

I have experienced challenges in my life, and realized that you can either look up with positivity, or down with negativity. I have faced life-challenging medical issues and emotional situations, however view these experiences as a ‘cocoon-stage’ to my current path. It is important to recognize causality in life, as we should view every minute as an opportunity to learn and develop. We all face adversity in life on some level, and maybe need to view this as a stop on route to our utopia.

For me art is all about engaging with my audience in a meaningful way. My consideration is not just about language, perception, imagination but also one of quality. I want to deliver ‘emotionally intelligent art’. Now, this term may not actually exist however maybe it offers a concise explanation of my work. Consideration is always given to engaging with a wide sector of the population. Art should be accessible by everyone, irrespective of means, age and language. I design videos to support my work, as I appreciate that young people enjoy multimedia.

My viewpoint is non-conventional in most respects, especially in ‘Love Me Back’, where normally people view unrequited love as a weakness, I show that it is ultimately strength. This poem captured the sentiments of several people on social media, and I was pleased I was able to express their feelings in my dialogue, and show them another perspective. Many people find feelings difficult to explain and express, poetry is a concise and meaningful way to convey emotive topics. Of course, empathy is also a key component to poetry, and thus far I have been able to connect successfully with many topics, even the ones where I had no experience. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a

There are some unusual aspects to my art in regard audience participation and engagement. Firstly, my art is multidimensional to allow accessibility by a broad mix of people. Interestingly, I was surprised to see that my audience is about 70% male. My art is deliberately small and compact, which not only makes the pieces precious but equally accessible to more people. The animal art is only 8 by 10 inches, which I think is really special. My poetry is always written in language, which is simple and elegant, making it accessible to a wide range of people. Personally, I can see no point in using complex language to somehow appear more eloquent. Despite the simplicity of language, my poems evolve and can have different meanings to the readership, on both an individual basis and with the passage of time.

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Red Ignition, Oil on canvas, 12 by 12 inches

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Elle Smith

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Elle. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Well, I would like to thank Articulation for selecting to feature my work in their publication. It truly made me feel absolutely chuffed to know that you have understood my creativity on so many levels. This is great validation of what I am doing. Now future projects are an interesting topic, as I have so many ideas for the future. My mind literally filled with ideas, so much so that I have to close the tap at times. Anyways, the first project to mention is my poetry and art book, which tells the life story of a woman’s empowerment, where she is almost broken by a devastating situation and past relationships. However, she learns from these situations and gains confidence to take ‘The Way Back Home’. I am currently trying to get a publisher interested, and remain hopeful, as it is a lovely book with many great poems, like ‘This Day”. Some of my poems are actually songs, although I did not intend this when I composed them. I would love to work with someone in the music industry to make the songs come to life. I have been working away designing greetings cards, as I see a gap in the marketplace for cards with meaningful words, which identify with the readership. Alongside this are some endangered animal cards, as I feel this artwork can highlight those species.

I love fashion but like to dress uniquely, so I am planning some clothing items. Shortly I will launch a silk scarf with one of my designs. This scarf has sophistication and style, and is a bolero jacket too. This will be perfect for summer nights, stylish beachwear or for looking slick in the city. Beyond this I would like to design a t-shirt and poncho range for my younger audience. These will offer a reasonably priced product allowing access to art by a younger sector of the population. I am writing a book, which several people have asked to be given first copies, after I did the ‘elevator test’ on them. Clearly, I do not want to reveal much but if written well this book could bring something entirely new to the marketplace. There are many other things that I have in mind, and would love to bring to fruition, like designing clothes, a coffee shop and working with a brand like Coca-Cola. I would welcome collaborations with other creatives, as I love to innovate and evolve. As you can see I have much planned for the future, and hope that this interview provides more insight into my art and poetry. Clearly I love being creative, so do watch this space, as I have many more ideas to make reality in the future. Thank you ARTiculAction!

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Elle Smith

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Pink Success, Oil on canvas, 12 by 12 inches

ICUL CTION C

Dalia Smayze

J essica Vorheis Lives and works in Portland, USA

An artist's statement

ainting is something I do because I enjoy it. The process and the struggles that come with being an artist and painter is oddly enjoyable to me. Finishing a painting and getting to look at the colors, textures and marks I made definitely makes the ups and downs of the process worth it. Mostly though, I enjoy the dialogue caused by my work and getting to hear what my audience sees in it.

Through my work I hope to show people an aspect of life that they maybe hadn’t thought about before or had been denying letting themselves think about. I am interested in giving people something they didn’t have before they saw my art. When I share with a person my art, I share with them myself. What a person sees in my art truly is pieces of me. It’s a vulnerable position I’ve put myself in, but I can’t help but be honest. Pass or fail, my art is bits of me.

Jessica Vorheis

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

Jessica Vorheis An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator articulaction@post.com

Artist Jessica Vorheis' work explores the relationships between faith and spirituality to draw the viewers into the liminal area in which subconscious level find an unexpected point of convergence with perceptual sphere. Vorheis' canvases are colorful and dark and conveys both the urgency of communicating a wide variety of feelings, and the need to establish a quiet, calm channel of communication with the spectatorship. One of the most convincing aspect of Vorheis's practice is the way it creates unconventional and autonomous to speak to our limbic parameters as well as to our rational categories: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her multifaceted artistic production. Hello Jessica and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview would you tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and after your studies at Columbia Basin College you nurtured your education attending Secret Knowledge in Portland, Oregon: how have these experiences influenced your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general?

Hey there, thanks for having me! You know, honestly when I went to college I still had a very ignorant mentality. I wasn’t

the best student because I just wasn’t super willing to learn. So during my painting and drawing classes in particular I hardly took any of the advice or direction my instructors gave me, like to really refine my sketches before starting my process of executing said painting. I do understand some artistic practices are more spontaneous, but for what I was wanting to do and still do, preliminary sketches are important and helpful in pursuing my vision for each painting. It wasn’t until about two or three years ago that I actually started to take being an artist seriously. I’ve always loved painting but I would tend to settle for mediocre instead of fixing and changing and pushing what I saw needed to be changed. Moving to the Portland area and being submerged in more of an artistic culture then where I grew up helped foster my pursuit of really being an artist. One day I sort of just realized I needed to push for excellence in everything I did. Now I feel that if I let a painting be less then what I know it can be I would only be cheating myself and that’s not cool. Painting is what I’m supposed to be doing right now and if I don’t give it my everything then not only am I loosing out but so are many others. Your approach coherently encapsulates a personal vision on spirituality and refined painting, revealing an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results convey together a coherent and consistent sense of harmony and unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.jessicavorheis1989.wix.com/arti st in order to get a synoptic view of your

Jessica Vorheis

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you why did you choose to center your artistic production on such deep exploration of the sphere of spirituality.

Well, my process used to just be “thrown together” quite honestly. I would have an idea and a really terrible scribble of it, then I would sit at my canvas and paint. Now I start with really terrible scribbles to get my idea down that poppped into my head and then I refine that sketch many times until it’s basically a decent drawing of everything exactly how I want it to be. At that point I sketch everything onto the canvas and start filling it all in with color. It’s a fun process to me, mostly because it usually isn’t easy. I love seeing my vision become more clear with each sketch. I’m not this super critical “everything has to be perfect” artist, I definately let the paint do the talking at times. Especially with my skies that I do. There is a color pallete in my head and more often than not the pallete seems to go in it’s own direction and I love it. Art making for me is about being true to myself. I don’t paint what I think other people would like. I paint what is inside of me and if people don’t like it, then that’s ok. I’m not here to please everybody, I’m here to paint what I feel inspired to paint. That’s where my spirituality comes in to play. I ask God for inspiration, I invite him to be part of my process. Alot of the work has been centered around him but there are also other pieces that although have some relation to God and my faith have more personal tones to it. God and I are inseperable so to try and seperate him from my work will bring an end to my work. I also think that my work is centered around such deep explorations of spirituality because it is a hugely important aspect to my life. My faith in Jesus became more than just a belief when I moved to the Portland area and began experiencing that faith in a true and deep way. It became my own and it has influenced most everything I do. It drives me, fills me and leads me, so, naturally it comes out in my artwork. For this special issue of ARTiculAction we

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Jessica Vorheis

R e v i e w

Special Issue

have selected some of the works from your recent series and would start to focus beginning from Light Of The World and Lamp Unto My Feet that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention is the way your inquiry into the realm of spirituality is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of establishing a channel of communication between the subconscious sphere and the conscious one, to unveil the manifold nature of human perceptual categories and to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I think a creative process doesnt require an experience although throughout our lives there are moments that influence our creative process for sure. Years and years ago I would create art that I felt would intrigue people—that was my drive in art making. For me it was fun at times but I knew something inside of me was lacking something in that process. Then long story short, about four years ago a seed was planted in me that I really should just create what is inside of me. Those experiences four years ago shaped what I do now and why I do it and why I do it with excellence. Exhibiting a captivating and at the same time thoughtful vibrancy, your pieces seem to gently invite the viewers to find personal interpretations to the feelings that you convey into your paintings... this quality marks out a considerable part of your production, that is in a certain sense representative of the relationship between space and physicality: do you try to achieve a faithful visual translation of your feelings?

I definately think so. Like I’ve said, my art work is true to myself and what I’m inspired

Jessica Vorheis

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

Jessica Vorheis

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

to create, so every step of the way it’s all about honesty with my paintings and I believe my feelings in it are true as well. I like that you used the word “gently”. I’ve noticed with the last eight or so pieces I’ve created that there is a calmness about them and I’m glad for that. It seems critical that they would have that quality about them. Your paintings are pervaded with a recurrent reference to faith and wide reminders to universal imagery that capture non-sharpness with an immediate kind of language, to create direct relations with the spectatorship. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your artwork isn’t a reflection of the place you spent most of your life: How would you consider the relationship between imagination and memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

Imagination is the best way to describe my starting point and I think that’s why my artwork can take on surreal aspects to it. I piece together things I want to see in a painting whether real or imaginary or a blend of both. For example, in the painting “Hope In Him” with the eagle, my husband and I were driving on our way out of town and there was an eagle flying over head. I leaned and looked out the windshield watching this eagle soaring above us and immediately I was hit with inspiration. My mind imagined what I ended up painting and the arrangement of the images I chose very much represented something personal to me about faith and myself. The way the eagle is shown in the painting and the girl in front of it; her face and her arms and even the entire background all are put there with a reason of purpose and feeling. The colors I use for my paintings are sometimes imagined or representational but are simply what I find visually pleasing yet also are chosen purposefuly to evoke a particular feeling.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Jessica Vorheis

R e v i e w

Special Issue

In your upcoming Experience The Light series you have accomplished an effective investigation about the point of convergence between obscure imagery and colorful scenes, to probe the expressive potential of the relationship between imagination and representation. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

I don’t like the word “no” and “art” in the same sentence first of all. To push new boundaries in the art world then I can see that art has to be something new and can’t be something old and already done. To say art can’t be something anymore and now has to be something different is only right if personally an artist is trying to be the next Warhol or something, trying to be the next artist that completely flips what art is on it’s head. But art is art, just make it! That’s why I loved my art teacher in highschool, she didn’t set any rules on us, she just let us pour out what was inside and it was so freeing to me. I don’t overthink the subjects or narratives of my artwork, I just try to let the process and inspiration be natural. I love all types of artwork but if I tried mimicking certain subject matters or themes that aren’t already inside me would be difficult. I would have to force it, and then it most likely would have no personal connection to me and I don’t really like that. We definetely love the dialogue established by colors and texture, which is a crucial part of your style: in particular, the effective combination between nuances of tones and freedom of patterns sums up the mixture of thoughts and emotions. How much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a painting’s texture? Moreover, any comments

Jessica Vorheis

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

Jessica Vorheis

R e v i e w

Special Issue

on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Colors are more than just a logical choice, they are a psychological one at times. My palette hasn’t changed much over time. I’ve always gravitated towards dark colors, deep blues and greens especially. I don’t care much to analyse why I choose those colors even though I’ve heard that when your sad or depressed that those colors are theraputically helpful and I can see that, since I’ve always struggled with those feelings. I was asked one time a few years ago to do a painting for someone. She was very particular about the palette she wanted me to use for the piece—light olive-green and orange. I tried and tried, but it just looked so ugly to me. I told her I couldn’t do it. Those colors and what she wanted just didn’t inspire me. The colors I use in my paintings and the things I choose to paint so easily come out of me becuase they are something I feel. I can’t create out of a place that doesn’t exist for me in a personal way. When inquiring into the relationship between faith and spirituality, your work sheds light on the necessity to rethink such erratic concepts on an unitary viewpoint: how would you describe the nature of the cohexistence of such universal aspects in our unstable, everchanging contemporary age? In particular, do you think that Art could nowadays play a crucial role when attempting to reconsider the notion of being human?

I think art has and always will play a role in us humans reconsidering who we are in simple and complex ways. In today’s world I feel change happens more frequently then ever and art either helps in flowing with that change or helps us escape the changes we don’t want to see happening. Over your career your works have been showcased in several occasions, including your recent participation to the group

exhibition "The Red Show," at the Drew Boy Creative Gallery in Richland, Washington. One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

An audience for my work is icing on the cake. I love hearing what my work evokes in peoples hearts and minds. It’s interesting, it’s exciting, it makes it even more worth it to have painted what I felt called and inspired to paint. Audience recepetion of my work isn’t a crucial component of my decision-making process but I sure do get nervous how it will be recieved sometimes. That is the battle with being yourself though, you have to embrace being nervous and unsure and continue to press on being who you truly are. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Jessica. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

I have two projects I’m working on right now. One is a series called, “Experience The Light” which will be showing later this year. Just follow me on social media or sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be sure to hear all the details on that as it unfolds. The second project I’ve barely scratched the surface on is called “He And Me”, it is take on a selfportrait series in a less than literal way. I see my work taking on some lighter tones as it evolves and only slightly, but I really don’t know. I just go with the flow of inspiration and keep making the vision come to light. Thank you so much for having me!

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

meets

R e v i e w

K. Ryan Gregory An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator articulaction@post.com

Drawing inspiration direct experience Portland based artist K.Ryan Gregory's work explores a variety of feelings walking the thin line between reality and its perception to cross the boundary that defines the area of perception and memory from the realm of imagination. In The Color In Pain series that we'll be discussing in the following pages he accomplishes the difficult task of creating a multilayered involvement with the viewers, who are urged to investigates about the non linear, still ubiquitous narrative that he extracts from the ever changing reality we inhabit. One of the most convincing

aspect of Gregory's practice is the way it generates autonomous aesthetics challenging the viewers' limbic parameters rational categories: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating artistic production.Hello Ryan and welcome to ARTiculAction: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? As an artist, your are basically sel-taught: are there any particular experiences that have influenced your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to artmaking and to the aesthetic problem in general?

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

My name is Ryan Gregory and I was raised in Kodiak, Alaska. My interest in photography began when I moved to the beautiful state of Oregon. Oregon encompasses landscapes that include coasts, lowlands, and mountainous regions that are all a photographer's dream. I started with very a cheap camera that I bought 12 years ago that has survived a pool drowning and a trip to Mexico. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exposure to the pool affected the black and white setting and it now takes some unique photos. This chlorine affected setting gave me a new desire and tool to seek out captures in nature that contrast light and dark. My desire to explore photography was inspired by all the amazing artwork I had been exposed to in Oregon. My interest in

digital art developed after viewing an exhibition at Newspace Gallery here in Portland. Since childhood I have been surrounded by magnificent landscapes and the desire to capture it was both exploratory and creatively driven. Your approah to Photography reveals an unconventional still consistent sense of unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit https://rgregory.see.me in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production. We read that you own a very old camera that got dropped several times and that now takes some very unique black and white photos: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you what is your ideal

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

K. Ryan Gregory

R e v i e w

Special Issue

set up. In particular, how would you describe your relationship with digital technologies?

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m completely certain that my love for technology led to using a camera and editing programs as my tools. The scale and availability of editing software gives every artist the tools to push their creation to new levels which generate unique visual experiences of their work. My series starts with an original digital photograph from various locations in Portland which are then uploaded and edited through software. I view each picture as a mold that has the basic structure and elements but my goal is to push the intensity of the barbwireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sharpness in contrast to another element such as light, flowers, or colorful backgrounds. I

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

K. Ryan Gregory

R e v i e w

Special Issue

specifically look for locations that offer the best setup to frame each photo

that accentuates the harsh barbed wire in view of the impermanence of nature. I

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

acceptance within the changing elements.

want the viewer to see the pain as a sharply twisted struggle in search of

For this special edition of ARTiculAction we have selected The Color In Pain, a stimulating project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. This project explores the trappings of anger with the barb wire representing the emotional barrier that anger can place us in: your exploration of the oniric sphere unveils a channel of communication between the unconscious level and the conscious one. So we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process both to create and to snatch the spirit of a piece of art... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

K. Ryan Gregory

R e v i e w

Special Issue

notion of landscape in your opinion stands as an autonomous entity?

I believe that everybody processes reality and experiences individually with their perception being the drive behind any artistic expression. The imagination is quite powerful but without direct experience I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see a work of art as having the same impact. That poking and prodding to find shape is a very direct experience in my opinion and even with work that evolves naturally or freely we are still using a developed sense from direct experience.

My view is that nature is an autonomous entity if your goal is to capture what is happening in nature at a particular moment. My choice of landscape was purely due to its availability. The use of digital effects with my landscape photography occurred later and was more experimental. There was no emotional attachment but a goal of pushing my digital captures into more surreal realms.

Most of your photography inquires into the theme landscape and your work is pervaded with a subtle but effective narrative, that captures nonsharpness with an universal kind of language: why did you choose to center your approach on this theme? And in particular, does the

We have particularly appreciated the way your unconventional photography accomplishes the difficult task of capturing the elusive substance of the subjects you center your attention on: while inviting the viewer to elaborate personal interpretations,

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

K. Ryan Gregory

R e v i e w

Special Issue

you do not reject a gaze on aesthetics: the dreamlike quality of suspended time creates a lively combination between conceptual and beauty. How important is the aesthetic problem for you when you conceive a work?

The human struggle never ceases to exist and you must assess, fight, and find the existential fit for yourself through it all. There is much struggle but also beauty and from the start I wanted to relay that through this series. My art incorporates flowers, leaves, and vine elements that are in different stages of growth symbolizing the journey of life. This series is constantly trying to find beauty within and around an obstacle that causes a searing prick. Drawing from universal imagery, your works

combine accessible elements and we have highly appreciated the way it condenses a symbiosis between intuition and freedom of composition. Your approach reveals unconventional features in the way it deconstructs perceptual images in order to assemble them in a collective imagery, urging the viewers to a process of self- reflection. Do your works tend to come out of imagination rather than out of your own life?

I have been working on this series for four years with the first two years very much representing my feelings of anger and pain. The more years that pass the more the series moves toward a new reflection of deeper processing and adoption of what has occurred. The most recent pieces are now changing with different edits of fading

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

which give motion to the barbwire showing a disappearance of the clear view of sharpness that was so much a part of the series in the beginning. As you have remarked once, a series of yours took shape after walking home from the grocery store one night and seeing some barb wire against flowers and brush: How would you describe the role of memory in your process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

My sister had committed suicide about a year before this memory and from what I can recall I had been attending a suicide support group and observed that myself and others could hardly find the words to describe the anger and pain that we were all feeling.

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

K. Ryan Gregory

R e v i e w

Special Issue

This series for me was a way to not only express those feelings but also to remind myself to look for the light and peace during this time of mourning. The barbed wire represented the process of learning to control the anger so as not to push support away...an unchosen psychological trap inside the mind and outside of the body desperately trying to cope with a very stigmatic action. It felt as if others were judging my sisterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s action and in dealing with my grief these comments led to social isolation to avoid further hinderance in the healing process. Your works could be considered as reportages of human experience and it carries an insightful inquiry into the ephemeral nature of image in the digital era. Artists are always interested in probing to see what is beneath the surface: maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

K. Ryan Gregory

R e v i e w

Special Issue

sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your view about this?

This entire series developed with wanting to express a

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue

occurring all at once. Humans are naturally social creatures whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s direct or not. The inability to relate can leave certain members of society isolated and alone during times of indescribable agony.

need for others to understand the anger, guilt, pain, and rage that was

Over these years your works have been showcased in several occasions around the Portland area and one of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

K. Ryan Gregory

R e v i e w

Special Issue

I continue to experiment with different ways of presentation but my original framing consisted of wiring a print into the middle of the frame with barbed corners. I knew that the series would continue and that it needed a unique presentation and although I knew I wanted to display my work with real wire the use of barbs developed naturally as the series grew. A few pieces of my work are displayed with barbed corners which usually includes a cautionary sign stating, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Caution: Sharp Points.â&#x20AC;? I believe that this not only intrigues the viewer but also emboldens my art pieces. We would all love a warning of coming pain but life teaches us to adapt after different types of loss.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Ryan. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

I first want to say Thank You for the breadth and depth of this interview and your support of myself and other artists. The future has many opportunities and I want continue to find new ways of framing, presenting, and using art as a medium for others to cope with anger and An interview by Josh Ryder, curator pain. As Scott, a student and Barbara curator with Portland State University I articulaction@post.com was very fortunate to work with a publication called The Beat Within that publishes the art and writings of juvenile offenders and I hope to work in that type of capacity in the future.

K. Ryan Gregory

ICUL CTION C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Special Issue