ART QA ISSUE #8 - SPRING 2017
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ART QA ISSUE #8 - SPRING 2017 ART QA - QUARTERLY MAGAZINE - FOUR ISSUES A YEAR SPRING - SUMMER - AUTUMN - WINTER
5 EDITOR’S TEASHOP 7 ARTIST INTERVIEW 15 SOAPBOX 19 FEATURED INTERVIEW 27 CINE SPOT 30 UPCOMING EVENTS 31 ART SPOT
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EDITOR’S TEASHOP
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We thank you for checking out ART QA Magazine - D. MANCINI
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FIONA MACLEAN
fifi-maclean.com
ARTISTS INTERVIEW
ARIS KATSILAKIS THE INTERVIEW AQA: Where were you born and where did you grow up? ARIS: I was born in 1974 in Klouz-Rumania to Greek immigrant parents. In 1980 my family was repatriated, and since then I live and work in Serres-Greece. AQA: Where do you live now? ARIS: I live and work in Serres. It is a small city of around 100,000 inhabitants in Northern Greece, 80 kilometres away from Thessaloniki. AQA: Do you like living and working there? ARIS: Yes, I indeed like it here. I live with my wife and our two children in a house with a rather wide yard, where there is also my studio. I consider it as rather advantageous, since it allows me to easily share my life between my family and sculpting activity. Living in the country, one might miss lots of career opportunities that life in a big city might offer. Yet the quality of life here is incomparably better. AQA: What got you started making art? ARIS: I consider myself fortunate, since I grew up in a ceramics studio. The germ of the observation of nature from an alternative viewpoint has its unconscious roots in my childhood, since my father, a visual artist himself, had resorted in the study of nature to get solutions for the completion of his ceramic creations. AQA: Did you start with sculpture or another medium? ARIS: Sketching was my starting point. Besides, sketching is also the medium on which one is assessed in order to enter the school of Fine Arts in Greek Universities. Since then, I have never stopped sketching together with my sculpting activities. Sketching also helps me to discover, study and complete the initial idea that triggers my artistic praxis.
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Aris Katsilakis INTERVIEW
Aris Katsilakis INTERVIEW
AQA: You went to art school I believe. What was that like for you? ARIS: I began my studies with my enrollment at the Tinos School of Art, where I was taught classical marble sculpture. After my graduation in 2001, I received a scholarship to continue my studies at the University of Athens School of Fine Arts. Studying sculpture there, I was fortunate to have exceptional teachers such as Theodoros Papayannis. It was also there where, having to correspond to a series of the faculty's tasks, I begun to consciously recognize nature as an incessant storage of ideas. This marked the beginning of the creation of my first organic forms. I owe a lot to my teachers there. I have to repeat that Athens School of Fine arts is an excellent place to study, and provides the prospective artist with plentiful tools for his or her career. AQA: What is your work about to you? ARIS: Today, I struggle to express through my work my agony and restlessness about the mutations that the genetic matter of organisms undergo in order to become adapted to the constant technological changes of modern environment. (i.e. genetically modified organisms, genetic pollution, technically mutant products, etc.) AQA: Your work is very complex in its form and interworking. Does that have a deeper meaning or is it simply the product of your process? ARIS: My works mainly derive from a constant observation of nature. However, I avoid the naturalistic mode of their depiction. I rather seek to grant my forms a new substance; an entirely new identity. AQA: Share with us, what is your process? How do you get started with one of these works? ARIS: Drawing is, almost permanently, my starting point. My drawings continue to form a major part of my work. However, when I move to other media, I do not subject them to a complete guidance of my initial drawings. Instead, I let the particularities of any expressive medium I use to lead me to new forms in the whole process of the completion of a work. AQA: What do you wish for the viewer of your work to think or feel? ARIS: It is my wish to achieve, through my work, a constant challenge upon the audience. In fact, I wish that the perceivers of my sculptures become capable of decoding my complex forms through their own personal and subjective prisms. AQA: What are your favorite subjects or ideas? ARIS: I draw elements from the natural environment (plants, cocoons, living organs, fruits, living organisms), as well as from industrial material and residues of the contemporary world. Then, through a variety of optical angles, I observe, conceive, and finally proceed to the fabrication of my "biomorphic forms". AQA: Are you working on something new, new subject matter, different than the work you’ve done so far? ARIS: I insist on the same subject matter. I also continue working with clay; I think that it still has a lot to offer me.
Aris Katsilakis INTERVIEW
Aris Katsilakis INTERVIEW
AQA: What are your favorite mediums? ARIS: My new series, titled "Findings�, forms a development of the previous series, titled 'Mutations". It contains works created through using, as a basic material, coloured package paper, as well as recycled cheap materials such as plastic, rubber, cartons and newspapers. Today, the works of my new unit are made by using white clay as their sole material. This natural white matter, flexible and yet fragile, offers me the possibility to structure my works free from any compromises and limitations, thus managing to avoid the rather ephemeral character typical in the works of my previous series. AQA: How do you see the role of social media? Good or bad, or what, as it relates to art these days? ARIS: We live in an era of globalization. It is well known that the composite of various civilizations is more widespread than ever before. So, the benefits derived from the rapid exchange of information provided by the social media are indisputable! However, I feel that their abuse on the one hand, or their senseless use on the other, may lead to adverse and unfavorable results, such as estrangement, while abundance of unmanageable information might lead to mental confusion or inertness. AQA: What is your favorite food? ARIS: Pastas! In all their forms. Well, I cannot identify any conscious reasons for this, but the unconscious motives might prove interesting to be looked at! AQA: How do you see the art world and art market? ARIS: We have entered a difficult and rather grim time period. In our days, anything concerned with art tends to be considered an expendable luxury. It has to be noted that the artist in Greece experiences a cultural crisis long before the advent of the economic one. I feel that new artists need to be freshly motivated. Most artists in Greece are unable to meet their basic living needs with their work alone. Galleries, and art houses in general, are dramatically dwindling, since the number of people interested in buying pieces of art grows progressively smaller. To many people, it might sound weird that in such a discouraging socio-cultural context there are people who still talk about and favour artistic creativity. However, lots of expressive trends emerged in periods of great crises. Let's hope that this will be the case nowadays and that modern plight will not prove detrimental to artistic inspiration. AQA: Who are your favorite artists, or those you admire? ARIS: I could mention a number of artists that I admire. Yet, among them, I distinguish Yannis Kounelis, a great artist of Greek origin, who, having recently passed away, deprived the work of art of a really significant figure. An excellent artist indeed, who, having been consistently loyal to Arte Povera, managed to create establishments replenished with profound meanings. I also feel that I ought to express my admiration of Chen Zhen for his sophisticated and elaborate amalgamations of Oriental and Western cultural symbols.
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Aris Katsilakis INTERVIEW
AQA: Do you have any exhibits coming up soon? ARIS: Yes, this March I shall be in Athens, where I am going to exhibit my recent work in the exquisite gallery, ”Alma”. - D. Mancini
ArisKatsilakis.com
SHINGO FRANCIS
WWW.SHINGOFRANCIS.COM
SOAPBOX BY ANNA DOWELL
CRAVING IMMERSIVE ART In today’s culture, technology and social media influence so much of our communication and way of life. What is a way that artists can create art that speaks to the people influenced by this way of life? What is an experience that is fitting for this technology driven culture? How can there be a performance that bridges the gap and creates the personal connection people long for in a world that is connected through screens? The immersive dance theater experience by Saint Heron and No One Arthouse that I went to in Los Angeles was a creation that answered the above questions. The creators considered the culture of today and thoughtfully created a way to connect with the audience in an engaging way. Let me give you a glimpse into the experience. We walked into a crowd, waiting in line next to building that looked like a redone warehouse. We chatted about how this was an interesting venue and how we were curious about this immersive dance performance experience. What was it going to be like? In the middle of the line, a woman started dancing to the side. It became clear that this was part of the experience. People gathered closer together to see her. Some could see her dance, others could not see. It was a taste of what was to come in this immersive dance performance experience. Once they let us in the doors and we all crowded into the room, there were no seats for this performance. The
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performance started, and some people crouched down while others looked over shoulders to see. So many of us were taking pictures and videoing the performance on our cell phones; this was part of the experience, with the directors encouraging us to share with certain hashtags. At times in the performance, I was very appreciative of being able to watch from my cell screen as it could be challenging to view over shoulders at moments. One of my favorite moments was when some of the dancers were dancing on a top level. Looking up, we could see their dancing through the frame of the windows, and at the same time there was a live video feed of their dancing being projected onto the wall. There was another point where a dancer interacted with one of the audience members, doing a sort of dance with him. A fun part of the experience was after the dance performance was over when we closed the night with a dance party, dancing the night away together. I really enjoyed being engaged in a new way in this immersive experience versus a regular type of dance performance. I can see how engaging the viewer in a more interactive experience could really interest people today. People are longing for deeper and more intimate connections, and perhaps getting closer to the performance and being engaged with the performers in a closer way creates a more intimate experience.
SOAPBOX
Perhaps it creates an experience that stands out to people, making it more meaningful in some way. Plus, involving the cell phones videoing and Instagramming as part of the whole experience is smart. We are already doing this kind of thing as part of our everyday life; why not make it part of the art viewer’s experience? It’s a way to view through a lens in a way we are used to, bringing the technology of today into the performance and making it relatable.
by breaking the barrier of separation between audience and performers. In a culture so oversaturated with screen-to-screen connection, it’s nice to know that people still will show up and find deeper ways of connecting together ‘in the real’, even if integration of cell phone sharing is part of the whole experience.
This new way of viewing and experiencing a performance is a great reaction to our technologyinduced culture. It acknowledges the technology as part of our lives, and instead of denying this fact, it instead includes the technology and creates a meaningful way to use the cell phones as part of our engagement. This interactive experience also gives us a more intimate person-to-person experience, which we are looking for,
— ANNA DOWELL
ELIZABETH HARRIS
ElizabethHarrisstudio.com
FEATURED ARTIST INTERVIEW
ORGANIC GESTURE - ERIK SOMMER
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Erik Sommer FEATURED INTERVIEW
THE INTERVIEW AQA: Where are you from? SOMMER: I was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, and then moved around a bit before returning to Minnesota for college. AQA: What was it like growing up, living there? SOMMER: Duluth is great. It is on the north shore of Lake Superior, and has a cool music and art scene. I still have a lot of friends in bands from there. AQA: Where do you live now? SOMMER I moved to New York City for my MFA in 2004 or 2005, and have been here ever since. My studio has been in East Harlem for the past 10 years. AQA: Do you like living and working there? SOMMER Absolutely, I love New York. The energy, the freedom. Since I don’t really use traditional art materials anymore for my work I rely on certain neighborhoods for my supplies, like street posters and other found objects. The city spoils us, and I try not to take it for granted. AQA: When did you start making art? SOMMER When I moved back to Minnesota after college, I started a band and did that for a few years. It was during that time that I really got into the ‘80s thing in New York, Basquiat and Schnabel and the like. Eventually I decided to focus more on painting than music, partly because I wanted to create something physical and partly because the solitariness of the studio was appealing. AQA: Did you start with painting or sculpture, or another medium? SOMMER I started out painting, but from the beginning was attracted to and attempted to create rough, broken, super textural work. I added gravel to my gesso, stuff like that. Eventually, I began layering my work with cement, which naturally cracks and expands as it dries, which gave me the stucco-like feel I was after. Sculpting came a little bit later, once I started asking how to turn my paintings into actual environments.
Erik Sommer FEATURED INTERVIEW
AQA: You went to art school I believe, what was that like for you? SOMMER My MFA experience was great. I went to The City College. I knew I wanted to move to New York, and I knew I needed a private studio, so it ticked off both boxes. It was, and still is, a small and challenging program. I got the attention I needed from the instructors but was also left alone to play and mess up and figure stuff out. AQA: What was one thing you learned while at school that was key for you and your work? SOMMER Two things come to mind: that drawing can be so much more than just a pencil on paper, and to start viewing my work as more than just paintings but as installations and environments. AQA: How do you see your art? SOMMER My work is about challenging the viewer to see common materials or moments in time in new, unexpected ways. AQA: What got you into using drywall, and why? SOMMER The drywall street poster paintings are the newest development, after the cement installations and the more traditional paintings on canvas. I was trying to figure out how to recreate a wall, or a side of a building, but still allow for destruction and decay. Using drywall became my final layer, the outside wall that is chipped and broken and peeling and old. Drywall itself covers a lot of surface, and can be viewed as a single, uniform mark. AQA: What are your sculptures about? Meaning, are they about history or texture? SOMMER The cement installations are, to me, the most challenging pieces to make, and in a lot of ways, the most fun. They need to be accurate, both historically and visually, and they need to create a scene that makes the viewer feel as though they are intruding or trespassing. Their details are very important. To me, they are about history, and controlling time, and making the viewer uncomfortable. Depending on where they are being shown, they can be about the history of the space (what it was used for before becoming a gallery), the history of the neighborhood, or just an everyday scene that when seen in cement causes the viewer to pause and reflect. AQA: How did you get into sculpture? SOMMER Yes, the installations came after the paintings. It was a way to take my paintings larger, to the next logical step. AQA: What do you wish for the viewer of your work to think? SOMMER I hope my work causes the viewer to pause, reflect, think, smile, laugh and be mad.
Erik Sommer FEATURED INTERVIEW
Erik Sommer FEATURED INTERVIEW AQA: What are your favorite subjects or ideas? SOMMER I like decay, and the natural aging of material. The most challenging part of my work is to make it look like it aged naturally, and over time, as opposed to being made in a studio in just a few months. AQA: What or who are any other influences regarding your art? SOMMER New York City as a whole is pretty inspiring; its history and architecture and the way it is constantly changing. Specific shows, too, come to mind: Andy Goldsworthy’s ‘White Walls’ at Galerie Lelong in 2007 is one I still think about. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s ‘Valley Curtain’ was an early influence. AQA: Are you working on something new? SOMMER Right now I am focused on the street poster paintings and cement installations. AQA: What are your favorite mediums? SOMMER My aesthetic is toward the rough and peeling, so really any material that will help achieve this. I like combining materials in unintended ways in order to encourage cracking and flaking. AQA: How do you see the role of social media? SOMMER Instagram is probably the one I use the most, and it is pretty remarkable. It has introduced me to many new artists around the world, many of whom I have met while traveling and now consider to be friends. I think social media does have a role to play in the art world, but at the same time I try not to get hung up on my number of likes and followers. On some levels it is still fake and not real. AQA: What is your favorite food? SOMMER During the summer I can live on watermelon or other fresh fruit, but during the winter probably some sort of comfort food. Something warm that is fun to make. Lasagna comes to mind. AQA: How do you see the art world and art market? SOMMER I’m fine with the art market. I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this gig. One thing I will say, though, is that today it seems that reputation or having a name or trending on social media can be more important than making good, interesting work, but I think that will even itself out in the next 10 years. AQA: Who are your favorite artists, or those you admire? SOMMER I spend a lot of time looking at my friends’ work: Anthony Miler, Susumu Kamijo, Taylor White. Tess Williams is interesting, Daniel Arsham too. Mark Bradford is great. I love what David Hammons is doing. AQA: Do you have any exhibits coming up soon? SOMMER We are beginning to organize the next cement installation for this summer in Brooklyn. It is going to be the biggest, most ambitious piece yet. Stay tuned! Details to be announced shortly… - D.Mancini
Erik Sommer FEATURED INTERVIEW
ErikSommer.com
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www.fearnfineart.moonfruit.com
MARK FEARN
JEFF FAERBER
JeffFaerber.com
CINEMA SPOT
What films to see? We have two picks!!! How about this cinema work by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang
Above: Still from Ju Dou (1990)
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CINEMA SPOT
How about this cinema work by Martin Scorsese
Above: Still from Ragging Bull (1980)
Pedro Leger Pereira www.PedroLegerPereira.pt
UPCOMING - THINGS, PLACES, EVENTS DRUNK SHAKESPEARE This can be fun for almost anyone. One actor has 5 shots, or more maybe, of whiskey and then attempts to perform in a Shakespearean play. You can check out the hidden library featuring thousands of books on the 4th Floor. The Drunk Shakespeare Society meets almost every night to drink and do some Shakespeare. Tickets start at $35 and you can get tickets on their website, which you will find below. THE LOUNGE 300 West 43rd St, Level 2, New York, New York Near 8th Avenue Runs year around in 2016 and 2017. drunkshakespeare.com
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TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL Moviegoer? Check out some of the newest films at this international film festival. Featuring buzzworthy premieres, to the under-the-radar indies. Ticket prices for essential screenings are $10 for matinee, and $21 for evening and weekend viewings. When: April 19th to 30th, 2017 Where: Various venues around NYC. Tribecafilm.com
WASHINGTON SQ. OUTDOOR ART EXHIBIT Artists take over the park and set up shop , s h o w i n g t h e i r w o r k s . H u n d re d s o f exhibitors, from students to professional artists display their paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and woodcraft. When: May 27th thur 29th, 2017, Starts at Noon. Where: Washington Square Park
WashingtonSqPark
ART SPOT
ABOVE: “Alternate Reality” Photographic art by ARTIST KASIA DERWINSKA (2016)
KASIA DERWINSKA IS ONE OF OUR PICKS FOR ARTISTS TO CHECK OUT.
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ART SPOT
ABOVE: “GOLD” PAINTING BY ARTIST PHILIPPE VIGNAL(2016)
PHILIPPE VIGNAL IS ONE OF OUR PICKS FOR ARTISTS TO CHECK OUT.
Scott Everingham
www.scotteveringham.com
ART QA WE THANK EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS MAGAZINE.
THANK YOU!