Landescape Art Review - November 2013 by LandEscape Art Review

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November 2013

NATALIE REYNOLDS HANK FEELEY REMI DELAPLACE ARIS KATSILAKIS ZAVI APFELBAUM ADAM SHER BAHADIR UCAN SHAN SHAN VICTOR PARDINHO MARTINA SIMKOVICOVA Obvod, digital photography artist: Martina Simkovicova

The Worryball, Interactive Artwork artist: Thomas Marcusson

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Summary

Our net review presents a selection of artists whose works shows the invisible connection betwen inner landscapes and actual places. Apart from stylistic differences and individual approaches to the art process, all of them share the vision that art is a slice of the world to be shared. An artwork doesn't communicate anything: it simply creates a mental space. Language, gestures, or rather a masterly brush-stroke of a painter are nothing but ways to invite us to explore our inner landscapes". Thirty years have passed since this Borgesean deep and at the same time provocative statement has been written by the fine Italian writer Giorgio Manganelli.

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Adam Sher

(Ukraine / Israel)

N o v e m b e r

Habibi

Zavi Apfelbaum

(Israel) “I often find myself pulled into perpetual motion, experiencing the world in glimpses, flashes of impressions as I pass by. Scenes call out to me from my peripheral vision as I travel by, observing from the passenger seat of the moving car.” How To Keep Bees

Aris Katsilakis (Grecia)

“My personal artistic research lies in my attempt to express through my work anxiety and concern to me is the changes in the genetic material of organisms to adapt to the demands of the modern environment.”

Mutation

Shan Shan

Shan Shan is very interested in the visual experience that can't be contented by conventional dialogue: “The most rewarding part for me is the process of making work. The act of experimenting is the most stimulating moment. And the experiment is an end itself.”

Natalie Reynolds (Canada)

a glimpse

Through an investigation of form and interplay of dark & light, I make reference to the dichotomies of randomness and chaos, vs. balance and renewal. I aim to capture the immediacy of expression resulting in unexpected subject matter. Growing up amidst a forest, in a house of glass walls and contemporary art, has provided the inspiration and sets the tone for my work. Magenta Orb

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Summary

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Hank Feeley

(USA)

the artist enters the hallowed halls of art

Remi Delaplace

(France)

I make the proposal of the true image because imperfect. I create images contrary to the images imitations of the reality or the readymade. The true image is made the expression of an internal movement, in touch with the felt.

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Victor Pardinho

(Brazil)

Imprint is a piece about lost places and thoughts, it mixes the edition of lost places footages with a generative post- production, textures and lines that uses codes and programming soft-wares to make it synchronize and behaves accordingly with the sound of the music made by Iridescent. Seeking for this mixture of the natural and organic with the digital generative and synthetic going deeper within the musical piece.

Genius Loci

Imprint

Martina Simkovicova (Austria / Slovakia)

Breh Dunaja v Petrz alke

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe in the totality of the image. I stand strongly against the belief that an image can stand for itself. In order to create impact, it needs a context. In my pieces, I work with the context of an image, be it social or sociological, or be it the context of an environment, time, space, context of other images and of course the context of the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience.

Bahadir Ucan

(Turkey)

III

N o v e m b e r

Inside, outside,

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Adam Sher (Ukraine / Israel)

In the artwork Habibi Adam Sher explores through video how light affects and defines its surroundings. The work shows a film set that functions as a night time meeting and time pass place for Eritrean asylum seekers, the same kind which serve migrant communities around the world. The visual aspect is the focus of attention: the light inside is present and dramatic. A chain of colorful lights â&#x20AC;&#x201C; cheap decorations used for covering the poverty, illuminate in a changing cycle of the three basic colors of red green and blue on cheap plastic chairs, which in turn reflect the light back as patches of color. With an edited and unnaturally prolonged soundtrack of an Eritrean song where a longing woman asks her man to return after a long absence, sounds that cannot be attributed to a specific culture are formed. These create an illusion of a distant land, a sort of isolated site where the feeling of being a stranger dissolves and make place to a sudden feeling of community.

A still from Habibi

them outside. Sher recognizes this, giving the term 'strangers' a dual meaning. The strangers are both inside and outside. Light and sound draw this borderline, but mark more than just territory â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they bring up much deeper conflicts. Between first and third world, east and west, between citizens and those who have no legal status. A heavy load on these #196 smallWinter places that only try

What is used as means to make a safe environment and give a feeling of homecomfort for immigrant communities, defines all others as strangers, keeping 4

Adam Sher

to sell a feeling of belonging to people with no roots. The rich colors of the artwork, the focus on small details and the light that looks almost unnatural, are all made with no digital manipulation, but with the camera lens alone. This is a fundamental issue of staying loyal to reality, even when this reality looks impossible. This approach allows to feel the light in a more true, direct way. Sher creates abstract images in his

reality by converting the light into patterns of color, by following the mechanism of the light and manipulation of sound beyond its original duration. Sher translates the way the space operates to formalistic principals, in order to refine the simple means available to those who wish to confirm their existence in foreign land. 5

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Adam Sher

An interview with

Adam Sher Hello Adam and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

A work of art in my eyes is part of a way of life, or "lifestyle" â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it covers all aspects of life, and therefore is made by someone who is dedicated to the 'art' way of life. For me, art has an inner logic, which must be relevant to the time it is made in and the person who made it, hence, making it contemporary. Making art can be an occupation, but I try to see it as a method of checking the borders of reality. Art does not have to be so practical; it is a non-economic activity. At some point, I believe art stops dealing with the real world altogether, and moves to replicating the world in its own terms of thought and practice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; aesthetics and rhetoric.

an interview with Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you started to paint at a very early age: moreover, you have recently received your MFA, from "Hamidrasha" The School of Art, Israel and you hold a B.A. in Design Studies, Illustration and Graphic Design. How have these experiences of formal training impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity: what's your point about this?

Adam Sher

Adam Sher (Photo by Yonatan H. Mishal) Born in Ukraine and immigrated to Israel in the age of 20. Lives and works in Tel-Aviv. As a former immigrant, Adam Sher deals in his art works with the issues as immigration and the complexity of being an immigrant. Founder of the "Saloona Artists"- group of young, activist artists who initiate art events, exhibitions and community programs. Participates in various solo and groups exhibition.

For a long while I was doing more design and illustration, and gradually moved to art, feeling the dramatic difference between art and design, where in design you work for a client, and in art the client is me. As a designer, I worked in New York for a start-up company, this was during the recession, and I found myself unemployed. In the long period of looking for a job, I took a break from the rat-race, and suddenly had time to walk the streets of the city and just be inspired. Until today, my work reflects this urban feel, of an outsider looking at a culture.

Education: Postgraduate program of "Hamidrasha" The School of Art, Israel (2013) Graduated (B.A.) from "Vital" Center for Design Studies, Illustration and Graphic Design Department, Israel

Adam Sher training as an artist. The program I just graduated at HaMidrasha art school, was a catalyst for opening up my art work to new mediums. I came as a strict painter, and was able to start to work with other mediums, like video-art, installation and sound. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I work with an idea that has been wondering in my head for some time. I never stand before a white piece of canvas thinking "what should I do". Sometimes it takes weeks and sometimes months, but eventually the idea will come out. At this point - I let it go, and leave a space for all the mistakes that can happen in the process of making art. Sometimes, from these mistakes, my next work is conceived. I try to connect these ideas and works to a flow, building myself a staircase, where I can step up from one work to the next. As I mentioned, before the actual work, there is a phase of observing, I aim to let the viewer observe the same way I did in the first place. And saying that, if you

As a former immigrant myself, I deal a lot in my art with the issues of immigration and the complexity of being an immigrant. It gives me a sort of an outsider perspective, which allows me to drift from place to place, somewhat in a Walter Benjamin style without the rush of getting from point A to B. I believe the formal education gives a solid background and an understanding, which in turn enables the artist to create with a reference to the art evolution. An artist can be intuitive in his creative process, while the education provides the framing of the work process and art work. The fact I studied design affects my work and even my way of work, of course. But I consider it to be more a part of my biography than of my professional

Untitled, Acrylic and graffiti spray on canvas 120x120cm, 2012

Adam Sher

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A sequence of stills from Habibi

look at my work, you'll notice it's not about real eyesight â&#x20AC;&#x201C; my work is based on light, color and sound, three fundamental aspects reality breaks down into when I observe it. So technically speaking, I translate what our eyes see into what they would see, if sight was delayed just a bit longer than it is. Our eyes have a 'frame rate' speed, I just extend it.

settings serve immigrant communities around the world. Cheap decorations are used for covering the poverty. It was the false feeling of grandeur that was hard to replicate in the movie, it was a challenge. Ultimately I tried to create that environment I felt standing outside the place I found, creating that unique transition, where immigrant communities feel at home, while defining all others as strangers, keeping them, and me, outside.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting work Habibi, an arabic word that means "my beloved", whose stills have been admired by our readers in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

The term 'strangers' receives a dual meaning. The strangers are both inside and outside. Light and sound draw this borderline, but mark more than just territory â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they bring up deeper conflicts, like first and third world, east and west, between citizens and those who have no legal status. I don't touch on these issues directly, but they are built in already.

I was riding my bike in a poor area of the city, populated mostly by African immigrants, when I stumbled upon a display window of a coffee shop, full of colorful lights. The place was empty; all I saw were the cheap plastic chairs and the led-light chains. From inside I heard oriental music. It totally made me feel like a stranger. Halting my ride, I realized immediately this is an installation here. In my mind, I saw a minimal artwork, since this kind of art can use the elements I work with â&#x20AC;&#x201C; light, audio and color.

As the images, also the soundtrack plays a crucial role in this video, and it establishes a fruitful synergy with the light. As you have explained, it's an Eritrean song where a longing woman asks her man to return after a A sequence of stills from Habibi

In my actual work, I did not film the real place, only the minimal elements that give the place its atmosphere. If I can elaborate on this part. The reason I find these elements so exciting, is that I can explore through the video how light affects and defines its surroundings. In this case it is a place for Eritrean asylum seekers, but the same kind of

#196 Winter

Adam Sher years we have seen a great usage of digital technology, in order to achieve outcomes that were hard to get with traditional techniques: do you think that an excess of such techniques could lead to a betrayal of reality? By the way, have new technologies as DSLR and digital editing impacted on your process?

Photography is never 'real'. Any frame and decision made before clicking the camera is superficial to reality. I try to keep myself restricted to this â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and not add any other manipulation to the original effect of light. The technic I use in video is not meant to be realistic, but to recreate the impact of light on specific items or on the sensors. It is the base of my search in art, it is seen in my paintings â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I don't try to paint realistic pictures, but recreate the meeting of spray and canvas

long absence: I have to admit that this has reminded me the Greek myth of Ulysses, a man is metaphorically searching for his way back home...

I tried to be very generic with the audio. A colleague of mine, that is originally from Uruguay, mentioned to me these places remind her of gathering places of Korean immigrants she remembers from back home.

I think that it's important to mention that you have founded the "Saloona Artists" a group of young, activist artists who initiate art events, exhibitions and community programs in your country. I'm sort of convinced that -especially these days- Art could play an effective role not only in facing political and social issues, and I would go as far as to state that Art could even steer people's behavior.. what's your point of view? By the way, what could be the role of an artist in the society?

Many of these immigrants are men, desperately looking for a job to support the family left behind. The distance is always present, they are torn between there and here, the new location and their old home. They don't belong to the culture they live in, and will never be accepted. They will be accepted as servants and cleaners, not as civilians with full rights.

The artist reflects what he sees in culture, and in return people can see culture through art. This is not a cliche, looking at what you already know from a new angle can be very powerful, and as you say even steer peoples behaviors. I don't think art is political in that sense. If it would be, art couldn't change any perspective â&#x20AC;&#x201C; people come with very strong standpoints and agendas, which only a 'neut-

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, the rich colors of Habibi, the focus on small details and the light, are all made with no digital manipulation, but with the camera lens alone: you have underlined that this is a fundamental issue of staying loyal to reality... In these last

Adam Sher

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Police #1 Acrylic and graffiti spray on canvas, 90x120cm, 2012

ral' field of aesthetics, such as art, can change. I don't mean to raise social questions in my work, only allow people to see things in a more deep perspective, that perhaps they never had a chance to see before. A group, like the one I founded, has the ability to enhance your personal work, and to implement bigger art project focusing on specific issues. Beyond big ideas, it is great fun to work with other people.

an interview with that feedbacks and It goes without saying especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an awardcould even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Night #2 Acrylic and graffiti spray on canvas 120x

personal connections, his ability to promote his work, and so on. At the end, people see art at galleries, but I'm not sure the awards reflect the best art and artists. There is no alternative reality to this, so part of an artist's success is based on reading these signs and taking part to some extent in the politics of the art world. I try not to work by this code, but if I'd like to see my work shown, I have to play by the rules. There is no art without audience, I have no choice. Still, art is really not about rewards or recognition. It has to be accessible to a wide variety of viewers.If I, or for that matter, artists I respect would only work with feedback on their mind, they wouldn't be making art but something else I can't name. Paintings, photographs, all that, but it won't be

Awards, feedback and, I would hesitantly add, money, are the tricky parts of art, aren't they? There is always politics in the awarding of artists, it has to do with the institution awarding, the person and his

A still from Habibi

Adam Sher

Police #2 Acrylic and graffiti spray on canvas 160x120cm 2012

afraid to try new things, or do something totally different from what I previously did. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Adam. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

160cm 2012

art, since art is a mechanism of thought and practice, not products up for review and sale. There's a cliche question, that I can't help without asking to the artists that I happen to interview: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I just finished my studies, and am working now on my graduation exhibition, coming next month in Tel Aviv. It will take me a little time, after two intense years, to think what my next step will be. I show my work at different occasions, like a videoart festival in Varna last month, or a show at Dubai at the end of this month. Even though in Israel there is a tendency to do very local based art, due to the intense situation of daily life, I try to work on universal themes, making my work shown more in international venues. The world is open to my kind of art, and with fast communication, I can fortunately achieve this.

It changed over time. I used to like seeing my work finished. I enjoyed watching how my ability to make art was becoming better, technically and theoretically. Later, I started enjoying showing my work in exhibitions, being on the front of the stage. Today, I'm teaching myself how to detach from old works, and to move on quickly from one work to the next, with no sentiment to the previous one. It gives me satisfaction not being

An interview by landescape@artlover.com

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Zavi Apfelbaum (USA / Israel) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

I often find myself pulled into perpetual motion, experiencing the world in glimpses, flashes of impressions as I pass by. Scenes call out to me from my peripheral vision as I travel by, observing from the passenger seat of the moving car. I have always been drawn to roads, especially roads that turn the bend, leaving the end of the journey shrouded in mystery. A journey to a destination that is yet unknown serves as a metaphor for a possible new reality that can be waiting for us just around the bend. It offers the enticing promise of possibilities that we cannot even imagine from the point of view of where we are standing right now, and it fills me with excitement, a bit of trepidation but most of all a renewed motivation to continue on the journey. Zavi Apfelbaum Zavi Apfelbaum was born in the US and studied visual arts at Columbia University. She immigrated to Israel in 1990 and continued to develop her art, as well as earning a master's degree in Communications and Journalism from the Hebrew University. Her works are in oil and include landscape, still life and cityscape motifs. Through the primary medium of oil paint, observation and memory, she sculpts her vision as it evolves on the canvas in a melding of light, impressions and emotion. Her works have been shown and feature in private and public collections in Israel and abroad. Selected shows: Group shows: Stern Gallery, Tel Aviv 2013 Jerusalem Theater gallery, Jerusalem 2013 Stern Gallery ,Tel Aviv January 2012 Stern Gallery, Tel Aviv June 2011 Jerusalem Theater, Jerusalem October 2010 Antea Gallery, Jerusalem May 2009 Jerusalem Theater, Jerusalem September 2007 Hadassah Berry Gallery, Jerusalem January 2006 Jerusalem Theater, Jerusalem September 2004 Jerusalem Theater, Jerusalem October 2002 Solo Exhibits: Biblical Museum, Tel Aviv April 2011 Yael Rotenberg Gallery January 2010 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem February 2004 12

Zavi Apfelbaum

Jerusalem landscape, oil on canvas

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Zavi Apfelbaum

An interview with

Zavi Apfelbaum Hello Zavi, and welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

As long as a work is a genuine expression of the artist's truth - an emotional truth, an introspective investigation of a state of being or an authentic observation- it a work of art. The term contemporary art is an interesting idea. By definition any work that is created now is contemporary. It is the universal body of work being born right now and topics that are engaging artists today. It is not our place to deem certain trends, techniques or genres that were being used years ago as not fitting into what is considered contemporary art. This view an interview with distorts our understanding of contemporary art by not considering the full spectrum of artists whose works are being created today, and does not give an accurate reading of what is holding the interest of artists in our time.

Zavi Apfelbaum development of your artistic practice? Moreover, how has moving from the United States to Israel impacted on the way you produce your art nowadays?

I have always had a need to express myself creatively and am very grateful for the people who have encouraged me along the way, like my high school principal who encouraged me to participate in a summer university art program in California where I learned etching and other techniques, watching my father, who was a lithographer, working in his shop.

There is nothing new under the sun, no question, artistic or philosophical, that has not yet been asked. Yet at the same time each and every one of us is a unique individual with a unique voice. Because of each unique time, place and person, the way we choose to explore and express a certain motif or thought is completely new and therefore contemporary.

My art studies in New York as well as continued studies with various artists in Israel gave me new perscpectives on developing my artistic voice. In addition to formal training, every expeirence I have had - the people I interact with and the places I live and work impact on who I am and inform my artwork. Ultimately my artwork is an extention of myself and my spirit. Each experience in our lives adds another note

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You are currently based in Israel, but I have read that you have studied visual arts at Columbia University and then you earned a master's degree in Communications and Journalism from the Hebrew University: how have these different experiences of formal training influenced the de-

Zavi Apfelbaum

Trees, oil on canvas to our voice and who we are - an ever changing work in progress.

trol or speed up â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all I can do is be attuned. Often a certain view from my immediate surroundings or one that I pass everyday on my way home will catch my attention. When it consistently catches my eye over and over again it becomes clear that this is what I need to focus on, that this is the starting point. When I feel that something is calling out to be expressed, that is when I start the process of paying attention to see what is going to come out of it. At this point I try very hard to step back and get out of the way. When I succeed in taking my limiting thoughts and ego out of the equation I am able to make room for something much bigger to enter.

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Usually deciding what I am going to focus on takes up the lion's share of preparation time. I cannot simply pick a motif but I wait for a motif to call out to me. This is a process I cannot con15

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Red Storage Bin, oil on canvas

It is not my job to understand it, just to make room for it to come and express itself on the canvas. This is what is most exciting to me because I never know what it is going to be. What attract me initially varies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; sometimes it is about light, and I am often fascinated with reflective surfaces. Another subject that draws me is the nuances between very similar colors and tones and the world of nuance that lies within that limited palette. Sometimes I just fall in love with a certain color in a landscape and start working from that point limiting the intensity of the surrounding colors to keep that original note that called my attention and moved me central to the work.

Still life with sunflowers, oil on canvas

Moreover, since our art review is called "LandEscape" I would pose you a simple question: what is the significance of the landscape in your art?

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Landscape Trees and Jerusalem Landscape, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: could you take us through your creative process when starting these pieces?

At one time the landscape was the equivalent of a cityscape today. It was common â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what one saw out of the window. Today most of us do not have the opportunity to be surrounded by nature. We must leave the concrete and pavement to seek out nature. A trip to a nature reserve or park marks a type of pilgrimage often involving travel and preparation where we seek to commune with something uncommon. Something pure and nourishing to our soul. To me being surrounded by nature

In both of these pieces I was working plein-air. My focus was to keep the movement fluid over the entire canvas, to create a sense of movement and balance. By following the movement of my eye over the landscape I addressed the motif as an abstraction made up of many points of focus that come together to create unity and a sense of motion. 16

Zavi Apfelbaum

Clique 4, oil on canvas

mit that the first time that I happen to admire this interesting painting it suggested me the idea of an explosion... By the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

My pallet has varied significantly during different periods of my life. At one point I could not get away for warm earth tones, even when I tried. Then suddenly my pallette opened up and let in a lot more greens and blues. When I have a kind of shift in my work I sometimes notice the change in my palette before I am aware that something has changed in the rest of my life. Is my litmus test for personal growth. is a spiritual experience. When I am calm and grounded I become more attuned and it is easier to notice the beauty and intricacy of the visual world in which we live as well as absorb a difference type of energy, something bigger beyond just myself to take back to the studio. Another pieces of yours on which I would like to spend some words are part of the series Still Life: a feature that has particular impacted on me is the nuance of intense red, that we can notice in Cut Pomegranate and in Clique 4, as well in Red Storage Bins and especially in Library, which is one of my favorite pieces of yours... and I have to ad-

Library, oil on canvas

Zavi Apfelbaum

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Road from Beit Shemesh, oil on canvas

Moving to Israel also had a big impact on my palette. One has to contend with a lot of intense light as it is very sunny here most of the year. Because of this most of the fields get burnt out quickly. There is a very short window when the hills are lush and green before the landscape turns ochre. This might be one of the reasons why I get so excited by the transitions seasons an with in spring when the suchinterview as the few weeks almond trees are in riotous blossom in the area where I live, as seen in the "almond blossom" series, or during the fleeting fall season when I happen on some bright red foliage, as in "Library". The red storage bins that you refer to are near the trees by my home. They draw my attention because though they are artificially placed and manmade they have become part of my landscape and dramatically compliment the green of the forest nearby.

Road to Sea, oil on canvas

of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

To me nature opens up a portal in myself and allows me to hear both my inner voice as well the voice of a more universal consciousness more clearly. What call out to me is very individual. Sometimes when I succeed in working from a place that is connected and I am true to what I feel something in that truth resonates with the viewer making them see or feel something else entirely, something that they need to see â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an individual message just for them.

And we cannot do without mentioning Dead Sea and Road from Beit Shemesh: as you have remarked in your artist's statement you have draw inspiration from the roads that turn the bend, leaving the end of the journey shrouded in mystery... I like this concept and moreover I'm sort of convinced that some information is hidden, or even "encrypted" in our environment, so we need to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially 18

Zavi Apfelbaum

Zayit, oil on canvas

and am able to let in some type of energy that is bigger than me. When this happens it leaves me feeling energized, rested and very attuned to color and beauty. For a few hours after I see the world through a different set of glasses. On another note it is always a gratifying for me when I see that my work has touched a viewer or elicits some kind of emotion. It is not my primary goal but when it happens it confirms to me that I am on the right path. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Zavi. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

to the artists that I happen to interview, and I have to say that even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

Thank you as well. This month I am participating in a group show in the Jerusalem Theater â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all are welcome - and I am represented by Stern Gallery in Tel Aviv where some of my work can be seen. I am always open to new venues to share and show my work.

about the journey. When I am painting it is the only time when I successfully stop thinking. The state that I am in when I work is very spiritual and meditative to me. When I "come out of it" I am often surprised at what I find on the canvas. While some part of me is obviously thinking and making decisions, I am mostly working with a lot of intuition

http://www.saatchionline.com/zavi http://www.sternart.com/artist.asp?ID=192

An interview by landescape@artlover.com

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Aris Katsilakis (Grecia) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement Human development and the environment. A relationship interwoven, a dual relationship, sometimes identical and harmony and other conflicts. The human development comes in response to environmental instability, perhaps many times to the same causes. Since the beginning of mankind there was always the battle of survival of the fittest. Ie How could a man survive in a continuously changing environment, creating an endless vicious circle. My personal artistic research lies in my attempt to express through my work anxiety and concern to me is the changes in the genetic material of organisms to adapt to the demands of the modern environment (genetically modified organisms, genetic pollution, mutant Products ...). An environment that was looted or destroyed by human greed for the sake of evolution. Inspired by the environment (plants, nests, cocoons, vitals, fruit, biota ...) and through different angles of observation and perception, through my personal aesthetic constructâ&#x20AC;&#x153;biomorphic formsâ&#x20AC;?. But do not try to copy the external reality, instead I want to feel the complete freedom of creation. Besides not enough anymore sculpture shown in space, just pleirei specific aesthetic standards. Today, the project aims to awaken the conscience, and the new form born involve and Art. An art called today more highly than other seasons, to emphasize the need for harmonious coexistence between man and environment. The result of my work comes through changing their original identity avoiding a naturalistic rendering but indirect and allusive, in my effort to give them a new status to show the tragedy of a teratogenic process of nature by its own structures so the viewer to decode through its own optical prism and to raise up to its responsibilities, the modern bourgeois of megacities. The bourgeois who directly or indirectly experiencing the impact of culture created as victimizer and victim. The basic material of the works are colored wrapping paper that through a process of successive layers of paper and glue into molds and gives the final color result of my works. R ecyclable materials are cheap, marks a highly consuming society, industrial remnants of the modern world, such as plastic, rubber, cardboard, newspapers, twine, raw wool, materials often bear the traces of time, which is already loaded with memories inside , with a process of transformation, reconstruction and transformation of the substance, I give them a new life and become part of the integration process of the sculpture in my attempt to pay as I a "new reality." A reality that aims to pique the viewer to not remain aloof towards the work, becoming a participant, a co- - perpetrator, and part of this ugly beautiful, whimsical "nature" I want to believe that it reflects the reversals suffered by organic life of modern man. Aris Katsilakis, sculptor

From the Mutation Series, 210x70x60 cm

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Aris Katsilakis

An interview with

Aris Katsilakis Hello Aris, and welcome you to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

It is very difficult to give a precise definition of what is a work of art and how it is determined nowadays. Movements , Trends , Artistic movements in the past have given individually their own definition. Perhaps I could mention who in my opinion is the Artist . Artist is the one who like a magician manages to transform the work , the environment in which we live in a new image. An image that contains its own inner truth . He is the one who manages to provide the viewer a different reality that the viewer an interview with may have never perceived .

Aris Katsilakis

Would you like to tell us something about your background? After graduating at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tinos, with a major in Marble Sculpture, you have continued your studies at the Athens Faculty of Fine Arts: moreover, you have attended several workshops, both in Sculpture and in Photography: how have these experiencse of formal training impacted on the way you currently produce your Art?

Born in 1974 in Romania from Greek parents. Repatriated to Greece in 1980, and since then he lives and works in Serres. In 1998 he enrolled at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tinos (marble sculpture). He graduated in 2001 with a scholarship to continue his studies at the Athens Faculty of Fine Arts. He studied at A Sculpture Workshop Department with Professor I. Papagiannis and attended the Photography Workshop by Prof. M. Babousis. He has presented his work in two solo exhibitions: gallery Kaplanon 5 (Athens 2010) and House Papavasiliou (Serres 2010) and in numerous group exhibition By selection: Baton 7 2012 (remember?), Gallery Zoumboulakis 2012 (Big city), Gallery Myro 2011 Want / win (Environment - picture - Form), Gallery Kaplanon 2011, House Shina Serres 2008, 8th Festival Amphipolis 2007, Municipal Gallery of Kallithea "Wisdom Lambrakis" 2007, 12th International Month of Photography, Athens 2005, 11th International Month of Photography, Athens 2004, Biennale Internazionale in Vicenza, Venice 2002. His works are in private collections and public spaces. From 2007 to 2011 he taught sculpture as Lecturer (407/80) in the Department of Sculpture of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Western Macedonia and since 2011 teaches Plastic and Pottery as a laboratory assistant in the Department of Interior Architecture, Interior Design and Drawing Objects in TEI Serres.

I would like to convey my childhood. Where perhaps unconsciously starts the way of observing nature through a different eye. My father, an artist himself, he often resorted to solutions for the integration of ceramic works through the study. Although I lost him in my teenage age he gave me my first visual stimuli. The Marble Sculpture School and the Laboratory of Photography gave me the means of my first Visual attempts. The marble carving 22

Aris Katsilakis

From the Mutation Series, 210x70x60 cm

learning me how to tame a natural material and photography how to 'trap' my surroundings in an image. Maybe all this unconsciously have passed in my work . Maybe not. Consciously, as a student of the School of Fine Arts in sculpture workshop of Th. Papagiannis I discover nature as an inexhaustible reservoir of ideas in response to a series of Department's exercises. This was the starting point of creating my first organic forms.

I have said through the observation of Nature. I design and synthesize organic elements of the environment before starting to construct the three-dimensional project. The plan for me is the basis of creation, though not exactly follow to complete the sculpture . There are times when the time of the creation of a work in clay add ideas from past designs. The time for completion of work is influenced by many factors. I conclude the basic form of the sculpture in clay, followed by plaster mold into which I wring colored packaging papers constantly brushing them with glue.

The days the paper will remain into the mold is according to the weather conditions (humidity, hot weather , etc.). When my basic work comes out of the mold I start to compose in this every scholar recyclable material such

The initial conception for all my work comes as 23

Aris Katsilakis

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From the Mutations series, 60X40X70 cm

as plastic, rubber, cardboard, newspapers, rope, wool ... to get the desired result. By the way, do you visualize your works before creating? Do you know what it will look like before you begin?

From the Mutations series, 130X70X45 cm

tes and continues to evolve everything around us with so harmonious and magnificent way. This observation gave me the stimulus for my first 'organic forms' . That was my original 'food ' for creation which continuously feeds new questions. The environment is not detached from human evolution. Nowadays, in the era of globalization, overconsumption and the Crisis at all levels, human values are altered , declining for the sake of salvation and sacrificed at the altar of money and profits. The "Inside" but especially our external environment transforms , looted or destroyed for the sake of evolution. My work mutation involves my agony in this fast changing world.

Yes the basic form of the project is predetermined. I know from the beginning of the creation of the sculpture the appearance of the central paper core onto which I construct the best assembled materials which consist the total project. But I could not know its absolutely accurate face since recyclable materials that I use almost always lead me to the final aesthetic result. Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with your stimulating project entitled Mutation, that readers have started to admire in the starting pages of this article: could you tell us something about the genesis of this work? What was your initial inspiration?

If I have been asked to choose an adjective that could sum up in a single word your art, I would say that your it's "kaleidoscopic": I

Since my student years my interest is piqued that nature is the ultimate sculptor who crea24

Aris Katsilakis

even after the end of my figural performance. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, one of the aim of your art is to steer your audience to live a reality that aims to pique the viewer to not remain aloof towards the work, becoming a participant, a co-perpetrator: how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

In my opinion,there wouldn't be the artist without the viewer. Artistic creation for me is originally a way of psychoanalysis. But the performance of this internal investigation into matter, I really want to share with the public. The viewer is the driving force to continue what I do. But I have never thought what is my target audience. For each work of art, there is always someone viewer who will be left to share and feel the artistic concerns of the author.

can recognize an effective symbiosis between apparently contrasting forms, that establish a productive energy capable of giving autonomous life to the artwork itself... and at the same time it forces us to meditate about the inner struggle between opposite forces, that seek for an equilibrium... an human harmony that comes in response to environmental instability...

Yes, "kaleidoscopic" in the sense of trying to give the final version of my project to multiple reading of the viewer. For me this is very important because I think that with the way the project itself draws the energy of the beholder, and opens a channel of communication beyond the purely visual relationship. I want the project to give the impression that continues to grow, mutate,

From the Mutations series, 60X195X110 cm

Aris Katsilakis

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From the Mutations series, 50X20X28 cm

Besides producing your artworks, you also teach at teaches Plastic and Pottery as a laboratory assistant in the Department of Interior Architecture, in Serres: how this influences your career as an artist? And have you ever happened to be inspired by your students? an interview with Aris Katsilakis

Teaching keeps you awake. Trying to get into the temperament of each student when you're in front of the work. Trying to brighten the purely personal way. To find ways to make him see the environment with a purely research glance. This relationship cannot leave me unaffected neither as man nor as an artist. I am inspired by my students and I admit that I learn and gain a lot from our relationship. There's a clich question, that I can't help without asking to the artists that I happen to interview, since even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answersâ&#x20AC;Ś What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I do not really know , maybe because every time I am in front of the work I begin to create it absorbs a lot of my energy but also gives me an incredible satisfaction when it is completed. It is something that is ubiquitous in the process of creating my works. 26

From the Mutations series, 60X60X85 cm

Aris Katsilakis

From the Mutations series, 25X25X30 cm

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Aris. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next fot you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I have no specific plan. I work in my lab to get my next section, which I have not planned where and when to show up yet. I would also like to thank you very much and wish you all the best.

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Shan Shan An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

Shan Shan is a visual artist and live performer. Her film and installation work has been shown in the US and internationally. Working with both analogy film and digital video, Shan Shan is very interested in the visual experience that can't be contented by conventional dialogue. Her recent focus has been live visual projection. She participated in serval workshops and electronic festivals in Europe and collaborated with many international artists throughout the years.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most rewarding part for me is the process of making work. The act of experimenting is the most stimulating moment. And the experiment is an end itself.â&#x20AC;?

Shan Shan #196 Winter

SHan Shan

Unstable… Summer… (2013), Installation,

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Shan Shan

An interview with

Shan Shan Hello Shan Shan and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Art is one of the most complicated human activities and it’s changing over time. As a young artist in my rebellious stage of being an artist, I’d rather not think about trying to give a clear definition on what a work of art really is. This may sound cynical, but the moment I understand every aspect of art, this is the moment art is dead to me. Contemporary art is a living form of art. It is contemporary to us. I often think it’s such a challenging time being an artist. Digital technology removes us from the object, the reality. The overwhelming of digital media an interview phenomenon with should make us return, for just a moment to the term “medium” itself, as it implies an inbetween stage, a translational space. In response to change, artist often find a way to deviate from the original purpose of a medium and develop a totally new direction.

Shan Shan A large reason why I went to college and majored in cinema was because I was constantly seeking a way to articulate my imagination. In college I discovered my love for analog film, and from there I realized film is my medium. It is my partner. It is a transformed world of make believe where shadow is fixed permanently on film strips that move at 24 fps.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a B.A degree in Cinema that you have received from the Binghamton University and you're currently enrolling in Duke University's MFA in Experimental Documentary and Visual Arts Program: how have these experiences of formal training impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity: what's your point about this?

I tried all kind of jobs in creative fields before returning to graduate school. Art gallery, music studio, production company and even antique store. I lived in New York at that time and it was just what I needed to survive. In graduate school, my practice moves across moving image to expanded cinema, soundscape to live performance. I’m relentlessly searching for an alternative world. For me, higher education in the arts, especially in graduate school is more about self-development than the actual education. It’s almost like an extended artist residency.

I was a lonely child growing up. My parents were very busy all the time. So I retreated into my own imagination and lived life inside my head. 30

Shan Shan

Shan Shan, Live Performance, Electro Camp Festival, Venice , Italy, 2013

Beckett once said: “To be an artist is to fail, as no other dare to fail.” There is no better place than in graduate school to explore and experiment everything I haven’t done before in my art practice.

with their own momentum. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting work Unstable...Summer... whose stills have been admired by our readers in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Unstable...Summer... was a dual-channel installation I developed during my artist

Perfection is dull. I always enjoy errors and all those strange ways to distort an image. My work is the result of a set of experiments. It is of major importance that I keep the freedom to act in an unconstrained way, like a child playing with toys. I normally don’t know where it will lead me in the end; instead the ideas develop naturally,

located in the northeast of Iceland for one month. I was very frustrated when I first got

landscape there is naturally a large scale abstract painting. In that sense, it was difficult for me to find the necessary transformation 31

Shan Shan

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A still from 1:3

Another work of yours on which I would like to spend some words are Come, See the Real Flowers of This Painful World a piece that I like very much and that I suggest to our readers to view directly at http:// shanshanshanshan.com/index/. One of the visuals that have mostly impacted on me are the warm nuances of ochre that gives a tactile feature to the image. Would you like to tell us something about the development of this video?

which I always look for and try to subvert that in my work. But one thing struck my attention was the absence of time perception cause by the unique 24 hours daylight in Iceland. The philosophy of time as a discontinuous moment made me wonder what really happens? What is our experience? Where is memory? In Unstableâ&#x20AC;Ś Summer... I mixed fragmented footage, electronic sound waves, and layers of filters to investigate the space between mechanical possibilities and material reality. The fundamental concept was thinking about the camera as a mechanical eye. It records and replaces moments of human emotion, eventually transforming them into a digital form of memory. In the virtual world this multiplies into infinite possibilities. No feelings of temperature; no feelings of heat; no feelings of sensation.

I tend to think about moving image as a performative medium. I see it as painting in time. My puzzle is to try to get to that point where I transport the sensibility for others to see as well as to me. Alongside my love affair with analog film, I spent most of my time in college taking literature and poetry classes. I recognize the poetic vision continuous leak into my film. Come, See the Real Flowers of This Painful World, was initially inspired by #196 Winter an old 16th century Haiku. 32

Shan Shan

A still from Come, See the Real Flowers of This Painful World

It was tremendously liberating to construct nonlinearity and fragmentation in moving image the same way it is in poetry..

ric aspect of art. Through metaphor it builds up a complex relationship that contains multiple layers of meaning. There is a conscious, self-reflective, and spiritual moment in art I am always trying to reach in my work.

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you are often inspired by your own dreams and in particular your art practice is an approach to experience the characteristic of reality, such as color, sound, and emotional qualities... Do you think that Art, besides providing a platform of expression of an Artist, could also play a role "outside" the mind of the Artist herself? In other words, do you think that Art could effectively play a role in facing social and even political issues?

And we can't do without mentioning 1:3: I like in particular the way you have been capable of establishing such a dialog between light and darkness... I can recognize an effective symbiosis, rather than a contrasting dichotomy... and even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, but this stimulating work makes me think to the concept of Yin and Yang...

I believe all art comes from social content. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a philosophical approach to day-to-day existence. Artists explore different methods of approaching the way they see the world. Some are more straightforward than others. I find myself more interested in the metapho-

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m glad you mentioned Yin and Yang. I never thought about it but there is certainly a connection. By nature, the projected image, whether it is analog film or digital video, is an abstracting medium that has a gap between what is seen and what is shown. I was interes33

Shan Shan

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A still from Sunday, 3:05, (2013), Super 8mm

ted in exploring the gap by experimenting and creating a kind of object that reflects its own fabrication. Can light and dark exist without each other? Can analog film and digital video become one object? 1:3 was created by manipulating cinema’s most basic elements of light and structure to discover a new way of using form. Your works have been screened in all around the world: it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering an interview with if an award -or better, the expectation of an awardcould even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

A still from Come, See the Real Flowers of This Painfu

The art industry can be very problematic. How do we earn money from telling people listen with your eyes and watch with your ears is the

struggle every artist is facing. There are much easier ways to acquire money and fame than being an artist. You just have to believe in yourself and keep creating. Having said that, winning an award is very important as well as moving on from it. Central to my work is process and medium. Audiences are a part of the process, the experience. I try to conduct a dialog or a study between medium and audience. I resist instructing people on how to see, feel, behave, respond and relate to my work instead I wel-come them into my work and allow them to be part of it. Then the art becomes a collaborative space with a collective experience. I think

A still from Sunday, 3:05, (2013), Super 8mm

Shan Shan

Unstable…Summer… (2013), Installation

of making work. The act of experimenting is the most stimulating moment. And the experiment is an end itself.

l World, 2012

this is the major reason why I recently took a sudden shift to live visual performance. Making image and sound live allows me to experience the most creative freedom where the audience, time- line and the actual space is part of the process. It’s intuitive. It’s real.

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

Thank you for your very insightful questions. I am currently working on my MFA thesis exhibition to conclude my two years of critical thinking, research and experiments. The exhibition showcases my transformation in art practice from analog film to live performance. It will run from March to April next year in multiple galleries in Durham, North Carolina.

without asking to the artists that I happen to interview, since -even though it might sound the simpler one- I receive the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

The most rewarding part for me is the process 35

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Natalie Reynolds (Canada) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

Through an investigation of form and interplay of dark & light, I make reference to the dichotomies of randomness and chaos, vs. balance and renewal. Shapes, quirky brushstrokes, and contrasting colours become unintended characters in loose enigmatic narratives, woven via layers of paint. I approach the act of painting with a barrage of material on canvas, then revisit the work at a later time to refine with a more controlled technique. I aim to capture the immediacy of expression resulting in unexpected subject matter. Growing up amidst a forest, in a house of glass walls and contemporary art, has provided the inspiration and sets the tone for my work.

Natalie Reynolds Vancouver-based emerging artist Natalie Reynolds, was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her interest in the visual arts was ignited at a young age by attending classes at the Edmonton Art Gallery. She studied Environmental Graphic Design, and worked as a graphic artist for 15 years until recently choosing to focus full-time on her painting and mixed media pieces. She works with a varied colour palette, and although her art is largely produced in a spontaneous, non-objective manner, she credits a strong sense of composition in imbuing them with a visually compelling, narrative feel. Her works are found in several private collections across Canada.

#196 Winter

Natalie Reynolds

Arc, 2013 Acrylic, Oil, mixed media on panel, 24" x 24"

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Natalie Reynolds

An interview with

Natalie Reynolds Hello Natalie, and welcome to LandEscape. I will start this interview with my usual intro-ductory question: What in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what are the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Hello, and thank you. With the advent of digital cameras and the internet, the definition of a work of art has become more loosely construed. Anyone can take a photo or document his/her work, present it as "art", and upload it to a broad audience. Anything seems to go, really (!), and so I believe a work of art can partly be defined by its labelling. What I mean by this is that it is purely the intent of the creator to present something as art that defines it as such. This does not mean that anyone who uploads an image can be called an artist as this takes a larger vision, a specific set of skills and abilities, practical application, in addition to feedback from a critical an interview audience. Art is not with strictly an aesthetic, nor does it have to express some grandiose political statement or element of shock value. Art simply conveys a feeling or idea, and its subjectivity is evident in that each viewer will take something different away from it: anger, bewilderment, a sense of tranquility or energy, etc. The bigger question is what defines good vs. bad art, and this is infinitely more complex. Throughout much of art history, contemporariness has, I suppose, been about pushing boundaries and going beyond the norms of the time: an innovative brush stroke such as Pointillism, lack thereof in the case of Jackson Pollack's drip paintings, or a politically-motivated artist like Ai Weiwei. As I've said, I do not think all (contemporary) art is about pushing buttons or shock value. Another way of looking at contemporariness is the artist's level of digital literacy and ability to use social media and the internet, as this is significantly changing the art world. 38

Natalie Reynolds Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there particular experiences that have deeply impacted your evolution as an artist?

Several experiences have impacted me. I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, and as a child attended art classes at the Edmonton Art Gallery - this definitely set me on a creative path. My parents met in an art class at university, so their interest in the visual arts (and art collecting) provided an enriching home environment. This, coupled with several years at art school and university have contributed to my "evolution". I also take a yearly trip to my favourite city, New York, and immerse myself in galleries/museums and this provides me with the energetic charge needed to keep the pursuit going. Do you have formal training, or are you selftaught? Do you believe one is more important than the other? ie. formal training vs. being self-taught...

I have both formal training and am self-taught. For me they have been of equal importance. I have a two year diploma in Environmental Graphic Design from an art college, Grant MacEwan ( now university ), and a couple of years in General Arts at the University of Alberta. It was nurturing to be around other students. The fundamental teachings in college: design, colour and art theory, drawing classes, plus the development of strong essay writing and critical thinking that university provided was an essential combination for me. As for technical painting study, I have taken 2 courses in Continuing Studies ( Emily Carr University of Art + Design ), so I really attribute the progression of my painting to handson application, surrounding myself with an abundance of art literature, viewing artists' works online, and attending local galleries. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell our readers something about your process and setup for making your artwork? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on in your work? And how Natalie Reynolds

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Prodigious No.1, 2013 Acrylic, mixed media on paper 24" x 18"

much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I start with several cups of coffee to energize me believe it or not this is a prerequisite for me (!), and then head to my studio which is a 20 minute drive from my home. I wish I could say that I was well prepared and methodical in my process, but I'm not. I am extroverted and have a short attention span, so I like to work quickly and as spontaneously as possible. I enjoy being bombarded with stimuli, either visual or auditory, as I feel it helps the creative process. I don't have any preconceived plan of what

Tangled No.2 2013 18" x 12" #196media Winter Acrylic, mixed on paper

Natalie Reynolds

my piece will look like and rarely do a sketch beforehand. I have many different types of paint brushes and tools along with panel board, paper, and canvas, so I will just use whatever moves me at the time. If I choose canvas or board I will quickly prep it with a light gesso and start the painting process. As much as I approach my art with integrity, I try to remain emotionally detached ( I call it a "happy detachment" ! ) from my pieces. This detachment really helps me stay objective and to not overvalue what I'm working on. If I were methodical, I would be too worried about my work to truly enjoy the process or outcome. I probably have an equal number of spontaneously, quickly finished canvasses that I do not edit, as I have unfinished ones that I will go back to and paint over or embellish via a fresh perspective. Now let's focus on your artwork: I would like to start with Arc, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article. Would you tell us something about the genesis of this piece? What was your initial inspiration?

Last year I started a series of paintings entitled "Orb". (ORB: a spherical body; especially : a spherical celestial object. ) I was painting a lot of organic, spherical shapes, but they became much more than just arbitrary round shapes to me; they had depth and a physical presence, and exuded an element of intrigue. I wanted to label them as such and that's where the title, "Orb" came from. Arc started with one of these organic shapes and then a "protective" archway developed above it. I've always loved Abstract Expressionism and Color Field paintings, and try to embrace these styles. I gravitate to some sort of semblance of composition which creates a loose, narrative feel. As much as there is a duelling energy between the colours in Arc , I tried to communicate a harmonious quality as well. One of the features of your works Tangled No.1 & No.2 that has impacted me is the intense, lovely red - a color that is very recurrent in your works. We can see a vivid nuance of it as well in Prodigious N.1 - it suggests a tactile physicality. By the way, do you have any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

I like to create texture and an energetic presence in 41

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Magenta Orb, 2013 32" x 32", Acrylic on 4, 16" x 16" panels

my work. I put very little thought into the colour selection and end with up using cool colours with an interview warm, and often mix the paint directly on the painting surface. Apart from basic colour theory training in art school, it is primarily an intuitive process. I don't know if I would officially be considered a strong "colourist", but the colour combinations seems to workâ&#x20AC;Ś for me at least !

Entropy, 2013 18" x 24", Acrylic on canvas

piece do you think about who will enjoy it?

I have no scientific background, but I can see how this piece might spark interest in someone involved with scientific principle. My work is often metaphoric and symbolic, and I try to convey a connection between the mind and emotions with a more literal physical landscape, or an "otherworldly" narrative feel. In Entropy I'm suggesting the relationship between the chaos in nature and varying emotional states, and I was able to deliver a vivid light source emanating from the core. As much as I communicate my inner "messages" through my art, It is equally the audience's role to determine what the piece conveys to them. People have viewed my paintings and told me that they see literal

I gravitate to black/white, vibrant red, hot pinks, orange/yellow, and green, as these colours are predominant in my work right now. I used to use a lot of black and darker colours, so my palette has definitely lightened and become more vibrant in the last year. Another work of yours that I would like to mention is Entropy. I have attended classes in Engineering, and perhaps this is why I find this piece absolutely stimulating, not only from an emotional side, but particularly because of the intellectual involvement it suggests. By the way, what do you try to communicate through your work and what role does your audience play in the process? When you conceive of a

Natalie Reynolds MagentaOrb, which is one of my favourite pieces of yours. I have been very intrigued from the initial viewing by the effective synergy you have been capable of establishing between apparently opposing elements. The darkness does not just play as a background, but it communicates with the light colors on the centre of the canvas...

Thank you, I enjoy contrasting dark with light and creating a relationship between the two. Once again, this is the "Orb" series that I've worked on â&#x20AC;Ś enigmatic principles of organic shapes combined with colour, and light vs. dark, via a quicklydeveloped composition. I have painted this on 4, 16" x 16" panels which can be configured in any combination, vertically or horizontally. I create my work with the ability to be positioned in any direction and not lose the message or aesthetic value - this is the beauty of creating non-objective art ! This was painted rapidly and I'm hesitant to do any edits. This is an example of a piece that I probably will not go back to change as I like the immediacy I have capturated.

objects: dogs, conductors, eagles, etc. I find this so interesting as I rarely employ any representational object or theme â&#x20AC;Ś I interpret this as I'm doing the right thing ! As an emerging artist my audience is not large, but no, I don't think too much about who will enjoy it. I am self-critical, and as I've said maintain an emotional detachment from my work. If I'm somewhat satisfied with the final product, I will put it out there as I know I'm developing as an artist and will always have new work to present. Of course I would like if every viewer enjoyed my art, but that cannot be expected. I do get a good dose of positive feedback and that's enough for me right now. And I can't do without mentioning the work

Mythos, 2012 20" x 16", Acrylic on canvas

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Natalie Reynolds

I have found your dyptic Veil No. 1, 2 to be a bit different from your other works and I would daresay that this piece, more than speaking, forces us to speak. It also suggests a form of meditation. I'm convinced that some information is hidden, or even "encrypted" in our environment, so we need to decipher it. Maybe one of the roles of an artist is to reveal unexpected sides of nature, especially of our inner nature... what is your opinion on this?

Absolutely. As I've said, I like to blur the emotional landscape with the more literal. This diptych does have a meditative, mysterious effect and I think it is produced by using lighter "veils" of colours on the surface which mask, or make way for a deeper and darker landscape beneath. Many artists have used metaphors and/or symbolism in their work. The artist, Francis Bacon, has a wonderful quote: "The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery." I like an artwork to pull me in and create visual and emotional intrigue - I hope the Veil series an interview with succeeds in doing this. There's a cliche question I can't help asking the artists I interview, and although it might sound a bit simplistic it gives me back the most complex answer: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most and what gives you the greatest satisfaction?

I actually like the simplicity of this question ! What gives me the greatest satisfaction is feeling an impulsive desire to paint and doing so with no expectations. If I simply embrace the process, yet come out of it with a new style, brushstroke, use of colour, or if the end result turns out positively, this is the ultimate for me.

Atmos, 2012 70" x 36" Acrylic on discarded vinyl

Natalie Reynolds

Veil No. 1, 2 , 2012 24" x 18" each (diptych) Acrylic on canvas

Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us, Natalie. My last question deals with your future plans: What's next for you? Is there anything coming up for you professionally that you would like our readers to be aware of?

Once I feel I have achieved this I will apply for an art residency and seek gallery representation. Painting on a daily basis is something I'm aiming towards, but it can be challenging. In general, I just want to keep the focus and inspiration going â&#x20AC;Ś.

Thanks so much, it's been a pleasure. In mid-November I will be involved with a yearly Visual Arts Festival in Vancouver called "Eastside Culture Crawl" http://eastsideculturecrawl.com/artists/nervart. As for future plans, I have several: Foremost, working towards a solid, consistent body of work.

http://natalie-reynolds.com

An interview by landescape@artlover.com

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Hank Feeley (USA) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

It's not about what my paintings mean. It's about what you see. My painted collages are all about color and composition. Those are the mainstays. I draw from all sources. I'm kind of a nut about collecting images. I have boxes and boxes of them. All jumbled up. There are photographs I've taken, sketches I've made, fragments of my old paintings, doodles, things out of newspapers and magazines, pieces of fabric and found objects. Whatever catches my eye. They are out of our culture, mythology, art history, whatever. I go through these things every time I make a new painting. But when I see them again, reshuffled and out of context, I get new ideas about them. That's the inspiration. I take images that weren't meant to go together and put them together into a provocative and colorful composition that is aesthetically pleasing, at least to me. As one writer put it : "Feeley has a unique way of disorienting the viewer so we can see again, now with our perception refreshed." Hank Feeley 46

plein jane aire

Hank Feeley

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Hank Feeley

An interview with

Hank Feeley Hello Hank, and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Hi. Thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. A few years ago in New York, I had a show titled “Forbidden Froot” for which I wrote some verse: On the eighth day (after rest and reflection on the meaning of creation) God said “Let there be Art.” Adam said “What is Art?” Eve said “Art who?” Kafka said “Crack Nuts.” and so it goes. Now the reference to Kafka regards his thought on what constitutes a work of art. In so many words, he said that if someone says that nut cracking is their art, who are we to say that it is not art. I’m with Kafka. To be human is to be an artist. Thatwith doesn’t mean that everything you an interview do is art, but it does mean that if your intent is to make an “Art” out of your coping with the mystery of your humanness, than you are an artist creating art. Whether it is objectively any good or not, whether it illuminates the human condition in any meaningful way, is for the world and history to decide. Contemporary Art is usually defined as art that occurs during one’s lifetime, but at my age that would include Norman Rockwell and Grandma Moses. So, I’d rather think of contemporary art as art that is new, art that attempts to build on the art of the past by supplying a new and imaginative vision that challenges and transcends the orthodoxies of the time. Ok now, after all this philosophizing on my part, let’s get simple. Art is love. That’s it, pure and simple. Art is love. End of story. Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there particular experiences that have impacted on the way you produce your art nowadays?

I’ve always thought of myself as and artist, although my life looks different from the artist’s normal trajectory.

Hank HankFeeley Feeley 48

Hank Feeley My earliest memories are of making art with babysitters trying to keep me occupied. Early on I became a really good landscape painter and had shows and won awards. I was always the school class artist. But my mother was of an Irish immigrant family and my dad was an FBI agent, and their vision was that their only son would be a lawyer, not an artist. So, instead of art school, I was encouraged to follow in my father’s footsteps: traditional college, Navy, law school, etc., with the idea of joining my father’s legal advisory firm. But my father died early and I decided that I didn’t want that. So, after the Navy I tried to get a job in advertising with the thought of being an art director. Instead the Leo Burnett Company offered me a job in consumer research. I needed the money, so I grabbed it. For the next 28 years I rose up on the business side, married a great gal, sired four great kids, and did my art quietly on the side as a hobby. But I always had this gnawing feeling in the back of my mind that I had made the wrong decision by not pursuing a life of art. At the ripe old age of 53 I couldn’t stand it any longer so I quit the business world to scratch the itch. To get back in the artistic swing of things I enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Here I was, a traditional landscape painter at perhaps the most avant garde art school in the world. I had an epiphany. My whole concept of art changed. Intensive study of art history opened my mind to the evolution of art ideas. I came under the influence of a number of wide ranging avant garde teachers and mentors. And the brilliant students, who were younger than my own kids, opened my eyes to astonishing new ways of thinking about art. I went from just making pretty pictures because I could to seeing myself as an inheritor and part of the progress of art history. As presumptuous and unlikely as this may sound, my life goal now is to have some influence, however small, on the history of art. Impossible? Probably. But hey, why not go for it? Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I inhabit two different worlds: the art world and the non art world. People in the non-art world, business associates, non-artist friends, etc, aren’t really sure what 49

Hank Feeley

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the artist enters the hallowed halls of art 95 96x120

I’m doing. They tend to think in terms of business productivity: How long does it take you to do a painting? How many do you sell? How do you price the work? How many do you make in a year? Early on people in the art world weren’t sure either. One guy told me that he and other artists thought I was a spy. But over time I have been accepted in both worlds. As a result of this two world dichotomy, I tend to approach my art making in a disciplined business like way. I put in a five or six day work week, arriving at the studio about 10 am and working usually until around 6:30 pm, but sometimes later depending on what’s going on with the work. On average I spend about a third of my time studying, planning or otherwise thinking about my art. The other two thirds is spent at the easel or work table making art. At any point I have four or five paintings in process. Some may be years old because I keep going back and changing them. Others may be at various stages of paint slapping.

testing the waters 60x36

the painting, in a way, takes on a life of its own. What comes out at the end is never what I started with. Things are always in flux. I surprise myself. General Eisenhower supposedly said: "Make a plan, but when the action starts forget the plan and deal with what’s facing you.” As to how long does it take me to make a painting, I always like to quote James Whistler. When asked how long it took him to make one of his beautiful nocturnes, he said, “All my Life”.

When it’s time to approach a blank canvas I spend considerable time going through my many boxes of images hoping that something catches my eye. I’m looking for shapes, colors, abstrac-tions, etc, as well as serendipitously sparked memories. I then think about how those thoughts and images might be juxtaposed in a different context to give them new meaning. In a sense, I’m trying to build a visual puzzle for myself; another reality, if you will, a mystery. Out of all this I form a bunch of potential visual arrange-ments in my head. I then start with a loose compositional sketch on the canvas. As I develop the painting things merge and change as

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with testing the waters and plein jane aire, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: could you take us through your creative process when starting this piece?

Well, Testing The Waters is really a good example to start with. There is a lot going on. A color feast. A lot of eye movement. Second look discoveries. Puzzles and unsolved mysteries. When I was in college I tried out for the rowing team 50

Hank Feeley going to step on something so I put in these floating circles, one with the Arabic symbol for peace which we all dearly want. The unicorn doodle over the bottles relieves the boredom of just a set of bottles. The ellipticals in the sky eventually move the eye around. Did you see the face in the water disturbed by the oar? Plein Jane Aire started with the bird imagery that Charlotte Bronte used to set the tone for her character Jane Eyre. But in our time “bird” is a jargon term for an airplane. Jane has become a famous literary character, but she was rather common looking, sort of like the famous Coke brand with the common looking bottle. Shaped like a woman’s torso I might add. Jane spent a lot of time looking out the window thinking about herself so I doubled up on her; a formal compositional repeat. The feminine flowers add compositional color and weight to the lower left. The neon sign in the upper left adds a color energy diagonal to bring the eye to the corner. Some literary pundits have compared Jane’s Rochester to a fairy tale Frog Prince, so I have her staring down at Kermit. Another pieces of yours on which I would like to spend some words are Teatro del Phantasmagoria and Dactylic Hexameter. An important and recurrent feature of these works is a deep emotional and especially intellectual involvement, that in my opinion forces the spectator to fill with her/his own personal experience... what do you try to communicate through your work and what role plays your audience in your process? When you conceive an artwork do you think to whom will enjoy it?

but I wasn’t very good at it. But I always admired the precision and beauty of that thin arrow boat slicing in pulses through the water. Years later I was in Philadelphia for a Thomas Eakins retrospective and saw some of his rowing pain-tings. They stuck in my mind. I loved them. Then even more years later I photographed a woman’s rowing team practicing in Chicago’s Lincoln Park lagoon. I made several color sketches and then threw them in a box.

This may sound strange, but my main audience is just me, myself and I. If other people like my work and find meaning in it for themselves then that, of course, pleases me. But, while I do expect a “deep

Eventually I came again on these sketches and decided to make them the center point of a painting. The rowers make a strong center diagonal, but I needed some “bookends” to the main image. For the left side I choose those colorful bottles based on the yellow color merging with the sky. The water on the right side seemed to need some Christlike walking on, so I made up some funky pants and shoes to do it. The other things in the painting are on the order of compositional doodles. The shoe looks like it is

Dactylic Hexameter, 56x132

Hank Feeley

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Teatro de Phantasmagoria 60x144, 2004

emotional and especially intellectual involvement” in the work for myself, I can’t be responsible for that occurring with others. Like Robert Rauschenberg, I don’t explain the “meaning” of my paintings. I can and do talk about what a viewer sees. But like Rauschenberg, I believe that giving my own meaning limits and, in an interview with someways, interferes with the meaning that the viewer may want to arrive at independently. When I look at Hieronymus Bosch, a Chagall, a Miro or a Dali, I don’t have the opportunity to ask the artist what the meaning is, but I do, nonetheless, have my own meaningful experience with their beautiful paintings.

lows the rhythms of the form Homer used in his epic poetry. It was inspired by a critic who said I painted everything but the classic nude. So I went back to the fourth century B. C. and painted a Praxiteles Venus into the Homeric rhythms. By the way, to add to the mystery, I will give away that Teatro Del Phantazmagoria is really a self portrait. I’m pictured three times and the entire painting is a geography of my soul. As you have remarked in the starting lines of your artist's statement, you draw from all sources and you use to collect lots of images. Not to mention that usage of "found” materials is nowadays a very common practice, and

Another collagist, Kurt Schwitters, said: “The picture is a self sufficient work of art. It is not connected to anything outside.” My work uses images that do have meaning in their own right and in their original context, but I collage them together to give them a new context of color and composition that creates an enigmatic whole. The satisfaction I get is when the pieces work in rhythm like a Mozart or Stravinsky composition. Think of the poetry of e.e. cummings where the sound of the words is sometimes more important then what the words mean. Or the collaged imagery of a Paul Auster novel. If what I do forces the viewer to fill in their own personal experiences, then that is good too. Dactylic Hexameter is a “rhythm” painting. It fol-

flag waves, 2006 36x48

Hank Feeley

so up to nuts, 2007 112x44

I often wondered about the personal contribution of the artist, in such case... it goes without saying that also white canvas, acryls tube and pencil, they are all material that already exists... while roaming and scavenging through "found" material -personal materials, as well- might lead an artist to discover unexpected sides of the world, maybe of our inner world... what's you point about this?

venture toward the sublime.” He also said: “Shadow boxes become poetic theater or settings wherein are metamorphosed the elements of a childhood pastime”. Obviously this artist was using found materials to go deeper. When you look at one of his little boxes you can’t ask him what it means, but that is not important. His little worlds of recontextualized and orchestrated images awaken in the viewer a flood of memories, nostalgia, aesthetic sensibilities and mystery. A maple leaf or a marble that you might walk over with no notice become, in Cornell’s little worlds, the conduit to something more beautiful and perhaps even sublime.

Well, as Einstein said: “Mystery is the source of all great art and science” Perhaps the greatest “found material” artist between Picasso and Rauschenberg was Joseph Cornell. He said “Beauty should be shared for it enhances our joys. To explore its mystery is to ad-

And I would like to mention BEHOLD, which I have to admit is my favourite work of yours: one of the visuals that has particularly impacted on me is the nuance of intense red which creates an intersting contrast with the electric blue: by the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Thanks I’m glad you like it. Behold brings together a lot of what I hope to achieve. The hand is the blue hand of Krishna, the dominant god of India. This image was inspired by Barbara Rossi, a friend and one of the original Chicago Imagists, who wrote a book about the art of India. In Indian mythology blue is the color of power and, as we all know, red is the color of passion. Power and

fan mam fut 36x48

Hank Feeley

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Skiff 60x111 '04

passion, now that’s a mighty serious combination. But then I counter it with a mixed bag of pretty unserious stuff, including the bathroom picture of Kilroy. So here again I am juxtaposing colors and unrelated images to deepen the aesthetic experience. As to palette, I would hope to think that it has become more experimentally colorful over time. I constantly seek out and experiment with new colors and color combinations. I try for a color experience that brightens the emotional response. As Ivan Albright said: “Color is as strong as the impression it creates.” You have worked for 28 years at Leo Burnett Company, the international ad agency headquartered in Chicago, where you rose to the rank of vice chairman... So I cannot help without asking a question that you might have probabily benn asked for a thousand of times: what are some of the challenges for a sustainable relationship between the business and arts?

Hey, let’s face it,the purpose of business, as an institution, is to produce profits for its investors by providing something that the public values. Unless the business is providing something related to the arts, there is nothing in the basic business genome that requires or obligates a relationship with the arts. However, if a relationship with the arts is seen as a means of increasing profits, then you will see a relationship. For instance, companies will support the arts if it results in gaining a business deal advantage, or it allows them to hire more desirable employees. But that it is hardly a “sustainable” situation. Witness what has happened in the recent recession where support of the arts diminished as a profit requirement.

BEHOLD, 48X36 ,2010

Hank Feeley I believe that the only way to create a sustainable relationship between business and the arts is to stop thinking that business as an institution should care, and start thinking about making individual business men and women care. How? Education in the arts and art appreciation, of course. Starting at the earliest age and continuing for life. Why? Because common sense and many studies have shown that an art sensitive society is more thoughtful, creative and productive. And this does relate to the business of making profits. Unfortunately, our education system, at least in the United States, is reducing art education in favor of subjects that are seen as more directly practical to the technology age. The bottom line is that the arts community needs to reach out more to the general public as well as business leaders to convince them of the values of an education in the arts. that I happen to interview, and I have to say that even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I’ve already said that I get satisfaction when my paintings work. That is, when the rhythm of color, composition and image juxtaposition come together as an aesthetically pleasing whole. But I must say, as trivial as this may sound, that what I enjoy the most is the simple act of slapping paint. I enjoy paint. The physicality of it. The mixing, the brushing, the blending, the movement. It sounds mindless and it may be, but I love it. Sorry for not being more complex. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Hank. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

And thank you for listening so patiently to such a raving painter. As for what’s coming up, after recuperating from the recent publication of my new book “Painting the magic of Sleeping Bear Country” (available on Amazon.com), my one man show in Chicago last August, and a museum group show in Traverse City, Michigan that opens tomorrow, I am now preparing for my next New York one man show which will open sometime next year, as well as working on my second book to be published in 2015. Busy, Busy, Busy! An interview by landescape@artlover.com 55

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Remi Delaplace (France) An artist’s statement « Which we see, looks at us » With the theme " Inside, outside ", I question the visible and the felt, the "sensitive" image. I create fictitious landscapes worked by my imagination. My theme questions the idea of landscape as space of consciousness for it I use the tectonics as pictorial metaphor. The geographical accidents, the breaks, the abysses, the « « plis » and « deplis » of the ground are so many representations of the stigmas of the human or social body. Ground scars and seismic plates speak about the felt, the emotion, the feeling, the consciousness. With landscape, the journey becomes possible. It is about give to the spectator a time for himself to reflect the situation of the artistic proposal. The sensitive pictorial image. I make the proposal of the true image because imperfect. I create images contrary to the images imitations of the reality or the readymade. The true image is made the expression of an internal movement, in touch with the felt. I touch the sensitive, both in my creative process and in the relation in the other one, the spectator. For it the language of the forms and the colors has to show itself powerful and authentic. The practice of the dance contact improvisation soaks my pictorial creative process. I look for the means to end in a singular and authentic expression. To the technique I prefer the internal movement, the just and creative expression which ensues from it. The object of my approach touches the heart of the body by the realtions with the others and himself.

Inside, outside,

www.delapalceremi.com

89X130cm, acrylic, 2013

Remi Delaplace

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Remi Delaplace

An interview with

Remi Delaplace Hello Remi and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Since Marcel Duchamp we generally define a work of art by the choice of the object exposed, its designation as a work of Art. This is the vision of the curator of an exhibition, of a gallery owner but also of anyone who decorates their interior with such and such an object, exhibits it to express a view, social status, their idea of art. Any object exhibited becomes a work of art, from an ordinary object displaced to the work created by an artist. Wouldn’t any work created by an artist accede to the status of work of Art by its recognition, its exhibition? The artist, who I am, wants to be a creator of art. This, in my eyes, defines my work as a work of Art. The artist defends a vision, an idea, a view, through an interview with his work. What makes a work of Art is the capacity of the work to carry its own idea of the artist, powerfully. The artist questions the value of his work: what in his work makes it an oeuvre, that is, makes sense of his research. We have therefore on one hand those who exhibit art, for whom anything can be art, in the service of an idea external to the work; on the other, the artist who is seeking to incarnate his idea into his work.

Remi Delaplace background? You hold a Masters Degree in Contemporary art and new media, that you have received from the Paris 8 University, how has this experience impacted on your evolution as an artist? By the way, what’s your point about formal training? Sometimes I happen to ask myself if a certain kind of training could limit or even stifle a young artist’s creativity…

I define contemporariness in comparison to newness. Newness is the creation of a new image, that is, forms which carry a different approach. This implies knowledge of the history of art… I differ between contemporariness and topicality. Many works use elements, signs or images, which come from present designs. Copying/pasting the latest creations in architecture or furniture to include them in a painting or a photograph for example does not create an image of the present. To become contemporary, it must bring with it new aesthetic as well as philosophical questions, new because different.

The profession of artist is my second life. After my working day I followed night courses at the Beaux Arts de 1a Ville de Paris, an academic training. In 2005 I decided to concentrate full time on painting. My academic training was an essential element of my approach to contemporary art and to the comprehension of its stakes and its diversity. It has allowed me to have points of reference, to situate myself. It has given me above all a method of critical analysis of works. This has been a period of great intellectual stimulation. What a chance

Would you like to tell us something about your

Remi Delaplace Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I work in series, even if to an outsider they take on different forms and techniques, nevertheless for me they are the result of a long progression of my thoughts and my choices of techniques to express them. In my work I leave an important place for the unconscious. When I say ‘a place’, that is to say that it is delimited, expected: there is a time for creation, a time for putting into form, a time for completion. I define the theme: breakage, the abyss, the ripping, strata…The significant elements attached to the themes appear in the form of automatic writing, words, drawings, research of composition. To compose the canvas, I think in advance about the pictorial process: the order of the layers of painting. The composition already in mind, I often carry it out directly with the brush without applying preparatory drawings, gestures and hazard taking their place here. For me, the process gives the pictorial form. I’m obsessed by light and composition. I start off with a luminous, even fluorescent background, so that the light comes from the painting. In my paintings there is often a reverse perspective. I reverse the usual order of representation of the perspective: dark subject on light background for a dark background and a light foreground. The finishing part: adjusting the forms and lighting, details of the lines, is often the longest. I rarely have the chance

this has been to find myself surrounded by artists and researchers, speaking only of the subject which I’m passionate about: art. My artwork has been focussed. The experience as curator of an exhibition has brought to me an opening onto the risks and rewards of the exhibition, an interrogation as to its place and the superposing of the discourse of the artist, the curators, and the critics. It’s clear for me that artists are becoming more and more professional; the self-taught artist is becoming rare. If we observe a certain formatting or the use of recipes to “make art” or “make contemporary art”, nevertheless, we are in a period which is not only prolific but also rich in works of art. This wealth also brings complexity, the multiplication of forms of expression and their crossings opens the stakes to which only formation, that is information may give the keys.

Inside, outside, 89X130cm, acrylic 2013

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Inside, outside, 65X100cm, acrylic, 2012

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your project Inside, Outside, that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

For me pictorial forms are the vocabulary, which allow me to express ideas. I’m in a constant back and forth between what I show and what I want to say. At the beginning of my project I worked on the theme “Vibrations”: abstract works all on energy where repetition was very present. The numeric work of John Maeda at the Foundation Cartier in 2005 of Michaele Rovner spoke to me of loops, of random order, of memories. Reading Gilles Deleuze created a link between these problems and philosophy. From there I looked for something which played between consciousness, sentiments, sentimentality. This resulted in a series on the memory of Corps Morts, then Still Life. I started in dance contact improvisation. The result was the series Inside Outside. The dance impregnated my pictorial process, as much in the carrying out as in the gestural (I should say the opening to the world) and in the themes (the fall, collapse…).

Inside, outside, 97X130cm, acrylic, 2013

the human and social body. With the influence of the dance, I looked for means to arrive at a singular and authentic expression in my painting. To technique, I prefer interior movement, the just and creative expression that comes from it. The object of my approach touches the essence of the body in the relations of others to oneself. One of the features of your works that have mostly impressed me is the liveliness of colours, which gives an inner dynamic to the canvas and moreover suggests such a tactile feature: by the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

The feelings, the bodies, the otherness took form beneath the seismic of the plates. Strangely the image which came to me was that of tree bark, its texture. The landscape and tectonics have become metaphors for sentiments, consciousness. Accidents of geography, the rift, the abyss, the folding and of unfolding of the earth are as many representations

I try to affirm the presence of the work, its aspect. 60

Remi Delaplace onto my palette. These are rare and precious moments. I have found really stimulating the lines that I have read in your artist's statement about the idea of landscape as space of consciousness and I'm sort of convinced that some information is hidden, or even "encrypted" in our environment, so we need to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature: our "inner landscape"... what's your point about this?

The status of a painting is marvellous in that, under our cultural codes, it is often regarded as sacred, everyone should stop and pay attention to it. The an exchange, a dialogue with the viewer .. I like the idea that the contours of the landscape would be fashioned by the accidents of life. A little like the scars on our bodies are witness to our personal history: breaks, chasms, valleys would be the traces of collapses, break-ups, the angers of our sentimental life. The idea is poetic. Like the landscape, our bodies are formed over the years, and by the heritage of other bodies. Nature fashioned by man, artificial nature is made of signs and speaks to us. Don’t we speak of nature as sick as we would speak of a sick body? The symptom is the surface sign which is visible. There’s no smoke without fire, a break without an opposing force. Exterior signs exist only as signifying our veiled or hidden interior states. The landscape becomes alive, emotional and sentimental and we refer to the image of our own body.

I try to make the work come to the spectator: “what we look at sees us”. For me painting is color, the force which comes from this mixture: form, density, light. I get bright colors by using pure pigments: I don’t mix them. I’ve chosen not to break my colors by adding white. I’m searching for a density in my colors which I get by multiplying the layers of paint. My palette of colors is effectively limited: it lets me unify my work. It’s part of my sign language, or rather my pre-language before words. I try to make it simple to be powerful: avoid the anecdote, the narration, to reach an evident awareness. Actually, I love discovering colors: that is, appropriating and integrating new colors

Inside, outside, 65X100cm, acrylic, 2012

Remi Delaplace

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Inside, outside, 97X130cm, acrylic, 2013

You have had the chance to show your artworks at the Exhibition "Forward", at the International Art Exchange of Museum, Hangzhou, Chine: what impressions have you received during this experience? By the way: it goes without saying that feedback and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an awardcould even influencewith the process of an artist... so an interview I would like to ask you: how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

I was proud to exhibit in China. The experience of this exhibition in China was a valuable education. I had simply not imagined that I could be the foreigner. The foreigner was the others, not me! It was a question of making a parallel between the traditional Chinese artists facing the western artists. It was interesting from the viewpoint of globalization and uniformity, to see the existence of actual cultural identities. The critics used the word ‘collusion’ to speak of our meeting. The problem of the recognition of my work is important to me. I spoke before of the role of the idea of value to define a work of art in my eyes as an artist. To be chosen for an exhibition by a gallery owner gives me reassurance: I’m not mistaken in what I do. I often answer calls for projects, and these are elements which stimulate the spirit. It also can become a game. Refusal is often followed by self-questioning.

Inside, outside, 89X130cm, acrylic, 2013

Remi Delaplace The question is how to evolve, to go deeper: I’m incapable of repeating myself. I’m organizing a festival: “les Rencontres du Land Art et la ville” (“Meetings of Land Art and the City”) with a call for projects. I’m obliged to recognize that the competition is stiff but the result is good dossiers. I give a lot of importance to the opinions of my artist friends or professionals. I’ve the impression that we’re made from the same stuff and we understand each other. asking the artists that I happen to interview, since even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

What pleases me is to be in a state of research and creation. That is, taken by the subject, be ‘inside’. This is in relation with the dance I’m doing, being in a state of attentive and creative awareness, free from tensions, not focused but open to receive and transform things into a movement of spirit and gesture. Thank you for your time and for sharing your thoughts with us, Remi. My last question concerns your projects: what’s the next step for you? What is coming up for you professionally that you’d like to share with our readers?

I’m trying to internationalize my exhibitions: gallery owner friends and curators, you’re welcome!! News: I’m exposing at “Parcours d’Artists” at Pontault Combault from November 5 to December 20 http://www.lespasserelles.fr/Parcours-d-artistes-2012 I’m From October 26 to November 3 I’m co-curator of “des Rencontres du Land Art et de la Ville” in Paris http://landartaparis.over-blog.com/ My next paintings incorporate a reference to the 3d image, and I work on the theme around the angoissse face destiny by addressing the "Rogue wave" series

An interview by landescape@artlover.com

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Victor Pardinho (Brazil) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

With a background in Design, research and works with technology and audiovisual searching for the production of new experiences in several fields like projection mapping, LEDs, interactivity, audiovisual performances and others. Acts in the academic field participating on national and international events like Interaction South America and N Design Rio de Janeiro, also as a professor in the fields of design and new media in SESC, Instituto Europeo di Design among others. Currently works alongside the collective BijaRi in commercial projects for events and clients like TEDx, Absolut, HBO and others. Also working and collaborating in the art field alongside artists like Helena Martins-Costa and art spaces like Galeria Choque Cultural

Imprint

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Imprint is a piece about lost places and thoughts, it mixes the edition of lost places footages with a generative postproduction, textures and lines that uses codes and programming softwares to make it synchronize and beha-

ves accordingly with the sound of the music made by Iridescent. Seeking for this mixture of the natural and organic with the digital generative and synthetic going deeper within the musical piece. 65

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Victor Pardinho

An interview with

Victor Pardinho Hello Victor and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork

Hello and thank you for the invitation to join this LandEscape issue. as I don't come from an artistic background from the beggining and I'm always between art and comercial works at the same time, in my opinion a work of Art is that one that you make with a true passion and an open mind, without restrictions of public, brands or clients, is that work that you just want to do, the one that don't need big reasons to be made, you just want to make it and feel it. The contemporariness of an artwork in my opinion doesn't mean that it has to be really technological or that it uses some technic that has never been done before. Althought I love this kind of things that put the an interview with technology on a higher level, I believe that the contemporariness really comes when people see it and they feel something that they had never felt before, they get that "open mouth" effect like Zach Lieberman, for me one of the most awesome contemporary artists today, once said.

Victor Pardinho I was really enjoying the research project. After a year or so training this stuff, I was working everyday with programming, videos, lights and everything that I still love and try to use on my artworks.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you have degreed at the Centro Universit rio Senac in Sao Paulo: how has this experience of formal training impacted on the way you produce your artworks nowadays?

By the way, you currently work and collaborate alongside artists like DMV22 Collective and art spaces like SESC spaces: this has reminded me a quote of the artist Peter Tabor who once said that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between several artists?

I started studying graphic design on college and after a year or so I was starting to get really bored of graphic design and the way we usually work to make something. That was when I entered on a research project based on technology and interactivity, and there I met a great professor named Romero Tori that had introduced me to Processing and other programming languages made for designers and artists and it was love at first sight. At that time I wasn't caring too much about the graphic design course anymore and

I totally agree with Peter Tabor and my collaborations with other artists and spaces has a lot to do with my work and my life, because every project 66

Victor Pardinho doing everything by myself, so I'm always trying to call some friends to do something together and I feel that it's nicer when you do something with others than all alone. For example the work "Teto e Tinta", that was asked to be featured here, was done in collaboration with Rodrigo Fortes and Pedro Piccinini, which are two great friends and designers now based and studying in Sweden, and Henrique Perigo which is another great partner, video designer and programmer. So I really believe that when you join good people to do something, it will surely comes pretty good and when you're doing it aside your friends it is much more fun. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Well, I love the creative code and the new media community so I'm always using softwares and things that come from this scene, and I always try to find someways to blend my video or light work with interactivity, generative stuff or something like that. Thats why I usually use computational things that few people know about, some prototyped softwares or some programming and blend it all togheter and the process of the work also comes from this ideas. is something new and I get to know new people and learn new things. It's also interesting to notice that in someplaces like Choque Cultural, the official gallery of the artwork of BijaRi where I currently work on commercial projects like Planeta Terra that is featured here, my collaboration is pretty much technical, like a "solving technical problems" style and the works with DMV22 collective and the SESC spaces where I teach sometimes, there's some technical stuff but, at the same time, has a lot of conceptual things to care about. I can feel this difference of posture, sometimes techical and sometimes more conceptual through all the process of these different works and to find my place and identity in it is being a big challenge for me right now. There's also a collaboration with some friends and I love this kind of work because I don't really enjoy

Untitled (She Gave Her Body to Science), 2013 Triptyque, technique mixte

Victor Pardinho

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Imprint

I'm really into Vjing and performances - doing things live. So I give a lot of care on the preparation and process of the work and the creation ends up coming very easily. I believe that the process of the work is very important, sometimes much more important than the final result. You could think about a little program where you make some particles behave diferently and you just throw them togheter to see what happens that's how I like to work. I try to prepare everything and the creation comes in a fluid way, that you can collide, fall and raise and then watch what has come out of it.

Craca project

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your interesting work Imprint that we have selected for this issue and whose stills have been admired by our readers in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

Records. He came to me asking if I would like to make a sort of video clip for a new EP that his label was launching for the artist Iridescent, named Leave no Trace. By that time all I had was the music. I didn't knew and I had never talked to Iridescent and the ideia was to just listen to the music and do whatever I wanted to. So my first inspiration was to listen to the music a lot and start to imagine and draw freely, letting it guide me to some places and it definitely took me to a lot of foreign places.

This work started with an invitation of a good friend and desginer named Frederico Floeter that comands a brazilian music label named Step In

One of the visuals that have mostly impacted on me of Imprint is the skilful usage of the red tone that -in many interesting nuances- suggests such a tactil feature to the image... Would you like to tell us something about the development of this video and -if any- the works that have influence you?

Audio-reactive pieces is one of my biggest research and interest field. When I started doing this piece I just had the music to follow so I started to experiment on catching some frequencies of the

Imprint

Victor Pardinho

As you have remarked, Imprint mixes the edition of lost places footages with a generative post-production. Not to mention that usage of "found" materials is nowadays a very common practice, and I often wondered about the personal contribution of the artist, in such case... it goes without saying that also white canvas, acryls tube and pencil, they are all material that already exists... while roaming and scavenging through "found" material personal materials, as well- might lead an artist to discover unexpected sides of the world, maybe of our inner world... what's you point about this?

This subject is delicate and is always in a constant change. I guess authorship and remixing will be those kind of things with never-ending discussions for years. But if we looked some years ago we would see that using someones footage or sound or anything was almost unacceptable and nowadays it is kind of cool and the creative commons really active nowadays, famous artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails doing stuff without charge and releasing in a creative commons and non-autorizing style I believe it is great! I like to believe that it is somekind of not-knowing collaboration. I've learned a lot about this when I was working with some computer scientists in my college time and also with the creative coding community, because there's a lot of people doing interesting things and just releasing it, for example some software piece and just throwing it on some undeground forum. They don't want to charge money or say "this is mine, don't touch it". They just want to make it and see people doing

sound and generating some real-time graphics. By this time I already knew that I wanted to do a video mixing foreign places footage, that I had some editing already done. So I catch this edition and started to link some modulations, like contrast and saturation, with the nuances and frequencies of the sound using programming and a very good new software called TouchDesigner. That's where this red tone came and that's what I liked about it, making variables and being surprised by the result. The lines and textures that move throught the video are also linked with the frequencies, so it was all a work of preparing the connections and then seeing everything flowing generatively. My biggest influence of course was the music itself and the musical work of Victor Lucindo (Iridescent) who later told me that this music was indeed about foreign places so it was linked beautifully even without we getting in touch before. Other artists that nowadays have big influence in my work are mainly Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, Pablo Valbuena and Ryoichi Kurokawa. 69

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Bijari planeta terra something nice with it, and for me this is simply beautiful. I love the ideia to make something here in Sao Paulo using another thing from someone in Norway and someday receive some message like "hey, I've seen you used my thing on a project, that's awesome!". Of course there's a problem when it comes to commercial works, because it isn't fair to use something released free on a big money project without letting the others know, but well, that's a subject that we could stay the all night an interview with discussing. But yes, for me the possibility to use something from other place without concern is great and it can elevate your work and your mind, in some way you are connecting with the others and things are growing together. I'm not doing a video art work for nothing and the other guy aren't filming a lost cabin for nothing - everything bounds together sometimes and something beautiful comes out of it. This is one of the most exciting possibilities of our contemporaneity.

Teto e Tinta you take the incredible work of Theo Jansen for example it is pure technology and there's not a single digital touch; other good example is the work of Jacob Tonski named "Balance from Within" which consists of a victorian sofa that balances itself beautifully in one leg. It has taken three years for the artist to find the right spot and there's a big technological magic behind it to make the sofa hangs itself on just one point. This work was one of the best showed this year on the biggest new media festival of Brazil in Sao Paulo and has no computers, no screens or and digital stuff in it.

Your work, both as an artist and as a teacher, has a lot to do with the synergy between Art and Technology: I'm sort of convinced that soon or later new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between Art and Technology....I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what s your point about this?

So it depends on what we're calling technology and the name "new media" makes us think what this "new" is. There are somethings being made now that are considered new media but were done many years ago, so is it new conceptually or technically or something else? I guess these things are so contemporary right now that we'll be able to discuss it right only some years from now, when we'll be looking back and seeing things from the outside.I suppose we just need to

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

In my opinion art and technology are assimilating one to each other from the very beginning. People tend to think that technology means digital but it doesn't and we don't need to go to far to see it. If 70

Victor Pardinho is growing more and more vague. Do you think that this "frontier" will exist longer?

Yes, I also feel that this frontier is blurring more and more. Of course that for some people Video Art and Cinema will always be different things but I don't care much for this labels. In my opinion the interesting thing is that the Video Art right now is catching a lot of good things from Cinema and making a lot of very nice works to happen. This is making the video artist start to forget this thing about a "man with one bad camera" and to start playing with contemporary cinema equipments and post-production that these days aren't impossible to use. This makes a lot of new kinds of work to happen. And on the other side the Video Art is making the cinema producers think about it on a different way, trying to incoporate something that they've seen on some art work to the cinema, making it feel different from what they are used to. I myself use some classic cinema footage on an audiovisual performance named Craca, a project from the musicians Felipe Julian and Jovem Palerosi, that when used on the context of a video perfor-mance you almost forget that this was first cinema. It works pretty nicely if used in a video art style and is a good example of this exchange so I think that this frontier should be pulled even more.

remember that technology, especially the digital technology, is here to help. You can make a woodcut in the most old fashioned way but in the end you'll scan the print to show everyone and send it to the world using the most digital tech or this would be lost in the basement of some gallery. What I don't like from what was happening in the last years is that art works were all based on the digital or technological technique, so for you to enjoy the work you've had to read and know how it was made and all that mattered was that it was made using the most high digital technology.

Other media that has always got my attention and is always impressivily adding good things from Video Art and Cinema is the Video Games scene and I'll give here the tip for our readers to search the works of the new independent and art games scene. You would be surprised with the pretty cool stuff they're all doing.

For me, however, what matters the most is the concept and the emotions it makes you feel. If to achieve this you're using a high level technology and you are pushing it to its boundaries that's even better and really awesome but still artists shouldn't use the technique as an excuse to a poor conceptually work. By the way, in these last years we have seen that the frontier between Video Art and Cinema

Bijari brasilia

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Victor Pardinho

Your works have been screened in several important events like Interaction South America and Virada Cultural: it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an awardcould even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Well, I could say for sure that I wouldn't try to be an artist if there wasn't any awards, feedbacks or festivals to back me up. Actually here in Brazil it is almost impossible to live from your artwork without these things to back you up, so yes, this is extremely important. Besides that's from where you get to travel and meet new interesting people, which is what I like the most when working with art. This influences in the process very much. You could see a nice call for an event and do a work just for that call or do some piece just for you but always see if there's some place that you could show it. I'm not the kind that wants to make art to be forgotten In the basement. I like to make it to show it, to bring people some emotions. So this way these kind of things have an interview with a lot of impact in my work and they help me a lot to show and spread it around. Yes, even my work being sometimes very personal and introspective I always think on the audience, even if it happens subconsciously, and especially if you're making an interactive piece you have to think on your audience all the time because the piece is just alive when they're using and interacting with it. So even when I'm trying to get the inspiration from deep inside the audience has an important role on the process. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Victor. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Teto e Tinta

Our readers can take a look and follow my work on my website: www.vpardinho.comwww.vpardinho.com. I'm always up for questions, chats or works with new people. Right now I'm doing some live Vjing in some events and shows, either by myself or with

the Craca project. Doing some commercial projects in the BijaRi studio, and working now with DMV22 collective on a new dance performance that mix contemporary dance with video art named TREPP that should be 72

Victor Pardinho

touring in Europe on July next year. Thank you for the invitation to be in this beautiful issue, it was a very fun interview, thank you readers and thank you guys to give new artists the chance to be seen.

An interview by landescape@artlover.com 73

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Martina Simkovicova (Austria / Slovakia)

An artist’s statement

I don’t believe in the totality of the image. I stand strongly against the belief that an image can stand for itself. In order to create impact, it needs a context. In my pieces, I work with the context of an image, be it social or sociological, or be it the context of an environment, time, space, context of other images and of course the context of the viewer’s experience. There, the private connects with the public, individual traits with collectivity, the past with present and future, all of those creating a rich base for a shifting experience. In part of my artistic practice | deal with the issue of identity and, more specifically, with the sense of belonging. I question forming of our identities in relation to the Other, especialIy when the Other does not differ "too much" from Us.

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Martina Simkovicova

the corridor I, 2012

The Tree that Fell that No One Heard, 2012 single-slide projection site-specific installation (Aula of the Academy of Fine Arts,de Vienna) rouleau casse, texte, Dimensions variable

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Martina Simkovicova

An interview with

Martina Simkovicova Hello Martina, and welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

A work of art means for me a way to discover something new about the world around us, complementary to science, using own methods and tools. It's an experiment with perception and communication, with a question - how much is what I do and feel shared by the others?

Martina Simkovicova, photo by Dasa Bartekova

And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

solutions to the 'East,' long discussions upon Com-munism and politicization of almost any memory related to it…

If we are to question the contemporariness of an artwork, we would have to question the contem-porary situation of our society as well. While reflecting on phenomenons shaping these times, we need to be very specific about an interview with the scale and context.

On the other hand, I feel that there's a growing emphasis on individual approach, on possibly personal connection to the topic, to the person/people depicted… Technique and technonology become inconspicuous… and omnipotent at least at creating an illusion.

What I perceive as being contemporary in the art I have the chance to see around Vienna and Bratislava, addresses mostly post colonia-lism, gender & queer topics, sustainability of the way we use resources, the political distinction of East and West, the transferability of 'Western'

Therefore, although the question of technology of any artwork remains important, unless it's supporting the narrative, it's becoming rather a background information. What was for really fresh was a selection of Venezuelan artists working with internet and Skype as a way to express their critique against the regime and how it affects their personal lives. There was one series of Skype portraits showing people in their everyday situations and at the same time referring to features of traditional portrait painting. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You are currently based in Vienna, where you are studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, and besides this, you holds an MFA in Visual Arts, that you received from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava: how is formal training influencing the development of your artistic practice?

the corridor I, 2012

My formal artistic training at the Academy of 76

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the corridor I, 2012 single-slide projection site-specific installation (Aula of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna)

graphy studies which a more practical approach I loved to do moodboards, interdisciplinary recherche with focus on the artistic intent.

Fine Arts in Bratislava was focused mostly on creating own visual language while trying out all the classic photography disciplines. It was important to show a finished artwork, the path to it was for us to discover.

Third influence came with my staying in Vienna. It was a relieving experience for me that artistic practice can be a work of art itself and that even a work which seems 'finished' will always be somehow a work in progress, bound with time.

First influence for the artistic practice came with taking lectures in graphic design - mainly in how to do a recherche on the topic not only in content, but also in how we are used to visually perceive certain phenomena. The second shift for me has been a one year stay in Germany. The University of Applied Arts and Sciences in Dortmund was offering a Photo77

Martina Simkovicova

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From the << W - BA >> book

Morever, are there particular experiences that have impact on the way you produce your art nowadays?

I was inspired by different people, not only artists, who, with great modesty and using simple materials and techniques, are creating deep works. There came the decision to work with equipment which is easily available to me and to leave the complex thoughts for the concept. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks?

It's about finding one's own rhythm and timing. I like to work in two parallel modes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the first one consists of long-term projects with 'internal' deadlines, involving reading diverse related texts, talking to people, undertaking experiences related to them, producing the actual work. It's a slow process. The other mode is more intuitive and short-term. I react to possibilities for display by thinking out a project and pursuing it. It's more fun but also stress. I rather draw inspiration for my artworks more from fields of sociology and anthropology than from other artists or art theories. Reflecting the already reflected experiences in forms of the works of art seems to me to be somehow a dead end, though important to know. As an artist, I think one should feed themselves with things that interest them and seek for inspiration in everyday life, 24/7. More than about including or excluding certain things, it's about mindset to your environment, it's your life as a whole which you involve when creating values. 78

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

Generally, the visual quality of the image is important for me. It has to fit to the artwork. I can't let this loose. I work with photography - I shoot analogue (35 mm and medium-format color negatives) and digitally too, I like to work with projections and to create books. I also like to include little technical imperfections â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they don't have to be exaggerated, a slight 'off' look is enough, to denote a look 'off the beaten road' such as the digital print adding own offset structure to already grainy photographs included in the book << W - BA >> which you can see in this article. How much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

While collecting usual information sources as well, I often check Facebook for updates of various people with diverse interests related to specific topics. I try to engage my everyday life to my topic. For example, for the work << W â&#x20AC;&#x201C; BA >>, I took a job as a distributor of leaflets in bars and cafes. While on duty, I saw spots in Vienna which wouldn't occur to me to visit by myself. I have usually many ideas which I try out in a small scale, then take a break from it. After it, I decide what would be the best way to do it and then I produce the project. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with the interesting installation entitled The Corridor I, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: could you

obvod // Bezirk, from the << W - BA >> book

Martina Simkovicova

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From the << W - BA >> book, Assocreation: â&#x20AC;&#x161;Freedom Reloadedâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;

take us through your creative process when starting this project?

First thing that existed was an analogue picture of path leading up the hill taken in the northern Slovakia. I took it as a part of an ongoing project called 'The Monarchy Travelogue, a travel diary which I photograph in the countries which belonged once to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, searching for parallels and similarities of this geographical space. an interview with A few months later, our Art and Photography Class in Vienna was invited to show our works in an exhibition in the Aula (a festive gathering space) of the main building of the academy. The building's been built at the end of the 19th century in the Neo-Renaissance style by the architect Theophile Hansen under the rule of the Emperor Franz Joseph I, the 'father of the monarchical state. The ceiling is painted with mythological motives. Walls are made of marble. Why should I hang a picture on a wall if I can 'touch' this material in a more direct way?

From the << W - BA >> book

// Slavin, Denkmal zur Befreiung von Bratislava

of the wall could melt into the photographic picture. To finish the play with the illusionist idea, I scanned the negative, distorted it and let the distorted image to be produced as a slide. When projected asymmetrically, the image appears undistorted. At the same time, it allows the viewer to approach and examine the projected image from the front view. I like projecting images. It frees the picture from a medium, brings it closer to a thought, a concept, an immaterial vision made of pure light. At the same time, and that's the fun of it, a heavy gear is needed to produce this vision.

I was already trying out possibilities of simple projections. Then there were then circa 2 months of trying out pictures from that film strip. My idea was to connect two spaces (interior - exterior, here there) and to create also a connection to the figurative paintings on the ceiling. I was considering firstly to project it digitally, but the structure of the pixels projected on the stone surface seemed to be somehow disturbing. I wanted to cite classic landscape painting and to create a simple aesthetic reference to it. By projecting it as a single slide, the structure

Another piece of yours on which I would like to spend some words is << W - BA >>, an interesting conceptual work that deals with comparisons of two cities, your native Bratislava, and Vienna, where your are currently based, which are just 60 kilometres from each 80

Martina Simkovicova political power. There are plenty of examples to both approaches, we could speak on Joseph Beuys's Free international University and IRWIN's fictional state, we could discuss how Vaclav Havel's background as an artist influenced his political decisions and to reflect Miroslav Valek's political and artistic career (Miroslav Valek was a Slovak poet and Minister of Culture in Czechoslovakia in the years 1969-88)... I see a possible way for me in developing participatory and community projects with a further focus on a small-scale change of everyday life. One inspiring thought, or rather a question, comes out from the field of visual research in anthropology. If there's an artistic idea/visual research topic and method which involves other subjects than the artist, how to make the research/art project not 'done' to them, but 'with them'? What can they gain from the participation? Isn't the concept of 'empowering the subject' bearing in its very title a certain inequality? The concept from the 70s or 80s reportage and journalistic photography which stated that the journalists are giving the voice to the people who don't have it by photographing them, has shifted. There are many projects in field of visual research as well in the field of art which collect and evaluate data collected from their subjects by letting them draw/photograph... we decided to give the voice in this way to the marginalized groups of people. But we decided to give them the voice based upon our presumption what that may mean.

im Jahr 1945 durch sowjetische Soldaten other, but the Iron Curtain caused great differences... I'm sort of convinced that Art could play a crucial role not only in speaking about sociopolitical questions, but even and especially in steering people's behaviour... What's your point about this? Do you think that an Artist could play a political role?

This is a question I'm recently dealing with. I think in a certain way, an artist, being a citizen too, always plays a political role, even if they say they want to be out of game. Also through their position in the art scene/art market, they take a stand. But working with it intentionally, one can either engage politically as a politician, taking all risks connected to it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or will work on an independent basis, thus creating comments on the actual politics in form of events/actions with a societal impact while maintaining an intellectual authority without seizing (or being seized by) a particular

Breh Dunaja v Petrz alke -- Engerau Ufer

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Martina Simkovicova

As you have remarked in the starting lines of your artist's statement, in order to create impact, an image needs a context: I think that this mostly evident in pieces as Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee... Would you like to elaborate this concept for our readers?

<< W – BA >> is a photo book whose strength lies not that much in single pictures as in the whole story. Photographs work together as a kind of movie, showing space and in-between-space of these two cities. It's a complementary book to another one, called 'Domov(ina) – Heim(at).' This title is a word game both in German and Slovak, both words mean 'Home(land).' The book which I am not showing in this magazine is dealing with the perception of home and homeland and how is this being formed in places away from the original home(land). The 'home' project, as I tend to call it informally, consists of interviews with people from Slovakia living in Vienna for different periods of time. In those talks, we focused on their personal stories on what creates the feeling of home and sense of belonging. There was also question in thewith background if there's anything an ainterview 'Slovak' that contributed to the feeling of home. The people, ranging from ca. 20 – 70 years of age, were mentioning also certain places and connected their experiences to them. It became clear to me that I should examine those places visually. It would be a subjective journey as well as a shared pictorial psychogeography of historical events. Both books are originally in Slovak and German – the standpoint is shifted more to the in-between position, but I can't deny it is influenced by 'the East.'

From the << W - BA >> book

and this reference somehow remains till today. Yet, this memorial, placed in Viennese inner city, is also a place where people meet, talk, kiss... it's a shared wound with different outcomes.

Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee is a photograph which should be seen in connection with the picture called Slavin. Both show a memorial to the Soviet soldiers which 'freed' the countries from Fascism in the WWII, one stands in Vienna and one in Bratislava. With Slovakia being a Communist country once, the existence of the memorial is somehow an obvious thing. It's set, together with the military cemetery, on a hill with a wonderful view over the city, making it a landmark. Meanwhile it became a popular meeting point for couples, skaters, tourists, having picnic on the grass covering the graves... Vienna had been occupied by Allies (therefore, by Soviets too) until 1955. Their presence in the occupied state was rather tolerated than welcome

And we cannot do without mentioning 4. Obvod (4th District), one of my favourite pieces of yours: in particular, I have been struck with the contrast between a sudden light and the expectation of an endless darkness, which is clearly suggested by the nocturnal location...

This picture is one of the 'oho, this is so strange!' moments. There's no particular historical or political context, rather it is an observation of a star of Betlehem accidentally flying over one Viennese street, which could be also flying over anywhere else, but by the will of God, or the city developer, it flew over right there in that moment. 82

Martina Simkovicova

From the << W - BA >> book

There's a cliche question, that I often ask to the artists that I happen to interview, and I have to say that even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

I love that to communicate an idea, I need to swap many skills and roles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the thinker, then I have to turn off the thinking and use just passion, then I become an interviewer, manager... n Armee

When creating my pieces, I'm searching for cooperation between reason and passion. The moments of biggest joy are those when my feelings and intentions which I put into the work are lived through my audience (shared, confronted...). Then I know I escaped my shell.

What is the significance of the landscape -or, I'd better say- the environment, in your Art? I would as far as to state that it doesn't play the role of a mere background, isn't it?

The environment in my pictures means a stage for something that just happened, happens or should happen. It's an open-end story. Due to the aperture, composition and framing, most pictures in this series have the meaning equally distributed in the picture plane. In other words, every part of the image is important, there's nothing like background and foreground in terms of content. A picture of an environment means to me a phragment, a small, framed view of reality. What is its connection to another phragments? How can it gain a larger context by re-materialization (as in projections)? A space has a memory and a message to uncover. However, I prefer to leave its message hidden and to present it as such.

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

I'm working on my online portfolio, together with a great designer and a skilled programmer. Google me out in December to find out more! :)

An interview by landescape@artlover.com

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Bahadir Ucan (Turkey)

An artist’s statement

A caricature is a simple image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others. A caricature is the satirical illustration of a person or a thing, but a cartoon is the satirical illustration of an idea. Cenap Sehabettin, defines caricature as the reality of life. For Semseddin Sami Kamus-ı Turkı, caricature is the modified picture made for entertainment and fun. For Cemil Cem, one of the greatest caricaturists of Ottoman, defines caricature as the most valuable part of art [1-2]. Caricature experienced its first successes in the closed aristocratic circles of France and Italy, where such portraits could be passed about for mutual enjoyment. Considering the concept of caricature, by the years of 2000’s caricature has changed on style and content with the effects of digitallization.

were named as "50th Generation" in Turkey. 50th Generation brought new concepts and applications to caricature with improved democracy in Turkey and caricature had found its place as an active expression language. Ferruh Dogan, Suat Flame, Cetin Yalcin, Nehar Tublek, Tonguc Yasar, Bedri Koraman, Oguz Aral were powerful caricaturists of 50th Generation [3]. In 1960s, Turkish caricature entered a period of stagnation. The interest of readers decreased to caricature. Newspapers and magazines started to publish the caricatures of international caricaturists and only the famous caricaturists in Turkey. The idea of caricature for entertainment replaced with the caricature for the idea of philosophy. As a result, humor magazines had less number of readers. By 1970s, caricature became popular again. Semih Balcıoğlu, Turhan Selcuk and Ferti Ongoren established The Cartoonists Association. In the process of self-renewal in the early 1970s cartoon, young artists had the chance to publish their caricatures in different magazines. In 1975, Turkey's first Cartoon Museum was founded in Istanbul. In 1980 to 1990, political events and economical crisis had affects on Turkish caricature. In 1980, Gırgır, one of the most demanded magazine of Turkey was closed. By 1990s, libertarian atmosphere is formed politically and caricature occured as an important communication tool. The starting point of digital period of caricature in Turkey can be considered as 1990s with the development of technology especially computing systems. Digital period is started with 1990s and affecting today’s caricature perceptions. In 1990s, the presence of computer technology affected Turkish caricature with changes in the formal and contextual. In the 2000s, the popular humor magazines such as Uykusuz, Penguen, Gırgır and Leman have digital formats both on internet as offi-

The realitionship between caricature and graphics are highly exceeded. Online books, online articles, online humor magazines are becoming popular. Internet makes caricature achievable freely and with the aid of social networking sites, digital caricatures can reach more people than the published ones. New approaches, styles and the interaction between computer and the drawings divided caricature into periodes as analog and digital. Analog period of caricature in Turkey is starting with the Republican Period of Turkey to 1990s. With the technological advances in 1990s, analog period is almost ended and digital period is shown up. To discuss the history of caricature in Turkey, Teodor Kasap was the first caricaturist who published Diyojen in 1870. Caricature developed lately in Turkey as a result of the monarchic system in Ottoman Empire. It was hard for caricature to develope in a system opposite to criticizm. Selma Emoğlu, Mim (Mustafa), Ali Ulvi, Semih Balcıoğlu, Turhan Selçuk were the names of caricaturists that drew for humor magazines. In 1950s, caricaturists

Bahadir Ucan

Puzzle

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cial websites and both on social networking sites as new media products.

digitalized world, has its effects on humor and caricatures.

Then, magazines had the opportunity to a reach higher number of readers with digital formats than published, analog formats. In addition, the caricatures have been occured as interactive communication tools that readers have the chance to comment on them. Online magazines are available such as Fenamizah, Obur mizah in Turkey that can be read freely. 21th century is the century of information and communication. Also with the adventage of social networking sites, as well as the digitization of technological convenience mission, socializing on issues such as human relations have become a platform utilized and has become indispensable. All of these innovations and rapidly

Carticatures become one of the most demanded sharing units on social networking sites. With the emergence of e-magazines and new drawing techniques, humor and caricature had serious changes. My drawing technique and works are mainly be categorized under digital period or may be named as â&#x20AC;&#x153;digitally modified caricatures and illustrationsâ&#x20AC;?. They are all digitally converted into illustraitons more than traditional caricatures with related computer programs mostly on painting. They are also announced on online formats, articles and social networking sites.

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caricature, 02.03.2013 (2) S., Cosar,Caricaturized Literature, International Periodical For the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic Volume 5/2, Spring 2010. (in Turkish). (3) S., Balcioglu, Turkish Caricature in the 75th Anniversary of Republic of Turkey, Turkiye Is Bankasi Kultur Yayincilik, Istanbul,1998. (in Turkish)

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Bahadir Ucan

An interview with

Bahadir Ucan Hello Bahadir, and welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Art is the product of an artist having his/her own tools and methods such as painting, drawing, filming, etc. reflecting his/her own creativity. Art should contain an idea inside and a style of defining that idea which can be named as the creativity. Your style surprises or shocks the audience and the level of that shocking is directly related with term “creativity”. So, in my opinion creativity has the most important role on defining a painting, caricature, sculpture, video, etc. as an artwork. Creativity is the artistic perspective. An artist should also have an amateur spiritual desire to draw, paint or to produce his/her artwork. The interview words “caricature, animation, illustration” an with make me excited anytime I heard. An artwork should contain such feelings inside and I’m sure that spectator, reader or the audience will share your excitement. Art is not an individual story, never. It is shared with friends, colleagues, spectator, generally the receiver. In caricature the receiver is the reader of humour magazine or the spectator of the exhibition. Art is a collective process but the way you feel on creating or producing is special to artist. Moreover, many other definitions are available for the term art. It can be hard to directly define any kind of word but mostly the hardest one is art. It has a magical sounding.

Bahadir Ucan

Bahadir Ucan was born in 1990, Beyoglu. He was graduated from Kadikoy Mustafa Saffet High School and Marmara University Metallurgy and Materials Science (Eng). His master’s degree is on Communication Design in Istanbul Kultur University. He had won some rewards on painting during his primary school years. In 2006, his first caricature book, Cizgili Koyun Kavalcisi was published. His first caricatures were published in Gırgır Humor magazine in the section of amateurs. In Leman, Gırgır and Uykusuz more than 50 caricatures of him were published. He prepared the link of ‘Modoko with Caricatures‘ fort he official web site of Modoko, Turkish popular furniture company. He drew caricatures for Dragons Den Turkiye, a programme in Bloomberg HT.He became the humor editor of Marmara Active. He is also drawing caricatures for International Humor Magazine Fenamizah. He is a research assistant in Yildiz Technical University in Art and Design Faculty, Art Department. He is working on graphics, animation and illustration.

To continue with the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork, a contemporary artwork should refer to modern or the new. An artist should always be in contact with developing world, technology and what it brings to socialization, politics, human being and of course to art. As an example, before photography, the best artist was the artist who could copy the nature in the most possibly realistic way. Drawings and paintings are

Bahadir Ucan it is important for giving you the vision of being a designer. It is also critically necessary to meet lecturers and have the chance to work with them. I found myself a bit lucky of being a part of one of the best university of Turkey. As a master student in a big university, you are able to taste the atmosphere of the campus, both social and educational. Formal training provided me to find other ways on defining the same concept. Once you have learned how to think as a designer or an artist, it is more possible to get suitable technics or devices. It is more about to get that perspective and surely formal training is effective on that. Creativity is something you need to put on and education is a key for that. I disagree with the idea that formal training or education stifles the creativity even if it is not strictly true to put certain lessons and courses for areas such as art and design, art students cannot be considered as being a lawyer or an engineer. Within your courses, an artist may benefit from many things, as an example envoirenment. I mean your imagination or creativity is depended on many other issues. Your envoirenmantel awareness becomes valuable if you are studying on caricature or humour since your answers are hidden in your life. It is also related with how you observe the world, the Dalgin in London

the illustrations of the nature. Photography gives us the chance to copy such kind of images immediately as a nearly perfect method. And today “style” is a parameter of contemporariness and the idea under the artwork gains its popularity more than ever. Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you hold a master’s degree in Communication Design, that you have received from the Istanbul Kultur University. How has this experience of formal traning impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? Moreover, what's your point about formal training? Do you think that a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity?

Actually, I have transferred my master’s degree to Yildiz Technical University on the same branch Communication Design where I am working as a research assistant. Academic studies and formal training may not be much helpful on technical but

Dialogue :

-How did you become a magician? -Once I was a rabbit in the hat as you. - Wow!

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Dalgin in Galata Tower

de and the world inside of you. There you may get the idea or an humourous imagination. I think that it's important to remark that besides your studies in Communication Design, you graduated Metallurgy and Materials Science: I personally find absoutely fascinating the symbiosys between Art and Technology, maybe because I have myself a scientific background... so what's your point about the contamination between Art and Science? Do you think that there's still an inner dichotomy?

Before Marriage - After Marriage

Engineering background or as you named as scientific background contributes you on gaining analythical thinking. Analythical thinking is necessary on solving problems and increasing the capacity of yours with supporting courses such as Physics, Maths, Materials Science, Chemistry, Linear Algebra, etc. During my undergraduate years, I was unconsciously gathering the benefits of engineering on my art and I am regretful on not taking the courses more seriously. To be honest, any time I found the space or got the chance, I stopped listening the course and started to sketch on my notebooks. Even though, I was a quite successful student so my freinds generally got my notes to study. They both have formulas and caricatures on same pages. Consciously or unconsciously, those are all contributions to your art and to you to gain different prespectives. When it is for the relationship between art and technology, technology may not be understood only with computers, laptops, cellphones, etc. Technology is everywhere in our every moment. A pen is an high technology product in fact

By the invention of pen, we can now draw or write on papers. Books can be published with the discovery of printing press and there are chairs for people to sit on. Technology is a huge concept. As I mention my thoughts on photography, no one may stand against technology. Technology and science contaminates to art in many ways. Art is to be changed and developed with technology from the period of drawing pictures of animals on cave walls to bronze age, from the ancient Greek and Egyptian period to renaissance, from Leonardo Da Vinci to Andy Warhol. Relationship between art and technology goes back to the Paleolithic Ages. The first examples of the art of painting, cartoon and caricature may be found in Paleolithic Ages. With the discovery of fire, the pots and pans were produced and the production of ceramics had started. Metal ores were processed by melting and glass was formed from sand. After human 88

Bahadir Ucan tion, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I found my answers at nights and generally when I am on bed, half sleeping. I really don’t know the reason but humour and the imagination of caricature (or the idea if it is an illustration) pops up in bed. For such cases, I woke up immediately to take notes. If not, I usually forget the caricatures planned to be drawn. One of the hardest thing in caricature is to find the humourous idea that will be the basement of your drawing. It is not easy to time that process. It may take a day or a week, even a month. The second process is drawing. It is the most enjoyable process resembling a fantastic journey in your imaginary world, the world of cartoons. Once the idea is sketched, then you start to enjoy your journey mostly spiritually. I usually draw on common A4 papers or 25 x 35 cm, 120 gram ones. While drawing the place of the story in a caricature ( a park, street, forest, etc.) I get help from Google to find real pictures of such places. After, I caricaturize the real pictures due to my style of drawing. It takes about a day or two to complete the drawing process ready to be colored. For coloring, the drawings are scanned to computer and now, they are all digitalized. The digitalized caricatures are colored with related programs and their tonal transitions and shadings are prepared.

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being were able to come over their needs such as food, housing, etc., “aesthetic” and “beauty” concepts became important for them. One of the best examples of the relationship between art and technology is the industrial revolution and modernism concept affecting our lives even today. Modernism is a result of the industrial revolution in the 18th century. By industrial revolution iron-steel, textile industries were born, mechanization was begun and the agricultural society had converted to industrial society. Labor class and the capitalism were born. Technological advances have changed the social life and art completely. In today’s world, the interaction of art and technology is at the top level. There is not a strict dichomoty between art and science, in fact they both are the major elements for people and countries to develop themselves.

Dalgin in Bosphorus

Before starting to elaborate about your produc-

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Bahadir Ucan

To conclude, after the humourous idea is planned, a piece of artwork may take a few days. Many caricatures of mine are to be sent to magazines (fenamizah monthly e-magazine and some others), so it is important to finish them in a suitable time. If it is an artwork for a personal exhibition, there I have more time and flexibility for rethinking on the idea or redrawing the caricature or illustration. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with mechanized and digitalized caricature, that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article and that I would suggest to watch directly at http://bahadirucan.com/ in order to get a more complete idea: could you take us through your creative process when starting these interesting pieces?

Let me start with a story of my momâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. When my mom was pregnant to me, she told me that she had an unstoppable desire to paint. Till that day, she never drew or painted seriously. In fact, painting was her worst lesson during her primary school years. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like I started drawing even before I was born. I find this true story interesting anytime I listen. My father was a lecturer and working for university (as I do now) on electrics-electronics an interview withwere my sketch papers engineering and his articles to draw on.

Bahadir Ucan

Since my childhood, Walt Disney cartoons attract me. Their character designs, colorful books, encyclopedias can be suggested to children who have interest on drawing. With the inspiration of Walt Disney and many other cartoons, my first original characters and stories are occurred. I was 16 years old when my first caricature book was published: Cizgili Koyun Kavalcisi. In the book I had my selection of caricatures which are drawn between the ages of 12 to 16. Yalvac Ural, a popular caricaturist, paid attention on my book and his critics about Cizgili Koyun Kavalcisi were on a newspaper: Milliyet Pazar.(05.11.2006) A writereducator Levent Saray, referenced my caricature book as one of the books to be read for children (Anne Baba Bilgeligi, September 2008) both in his book and both in internet. So, my interest on caricature goes back to my childhood.

I was an engineering student, there was no one to help me around in the school. One day, while I was surfing on the internet, a news took my attention. It

During my undergraduate years, I felt that my drawings need to be leveled up. I should find expert cartoonists or caricaturists to take their advices. As

humour magazine, was ready to be published with

Bahadir Ucan cartoon and art had its first steps through professional scale. Furthermore, I took courses on animation in my free times in 2009. With animation, I got the opportunity to model my characters by 2d or 3d programs. And animation effected my drawing style. As a result, mechanized and digitalized caricatures of mine were figured out. It was the time I met computer and it contributed to my artworks. Humour plays a crucial role in every caricature, even and especially when the subject wouldn't suggest such a comical feature, as regarding social and political questions. By the way, I'm sort of convinced that Art in these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... what's your point about this? Do you think that it's an exaggeration?

Humour is the significant parameter of my artworks. Humour may change its role with idea if the piece is more likely to be an illustration. Humour is the main starting point of all caricatures actually. To continue, I strongly agree with your opinion: Art can steer peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behavior. To add, art can go further since art has that power. Art can be used as a manipulation tool. Artists have the power to control and effect the audience and the society under his/her idea by disregarding the values of past to get their attention and gain popularity. Actually, every artwork is a manipulation since it involves the purpose of the artist. Manipulation emerges as an important phenomenon in contemporary art, design and applications. In industry and communication age, the shocking events may occur at any time that make previous applications ordinary. In this case, the artists as social beings are affected on that issue before anyone else. It is an obligate of futurism and modernism for artists to apply manipulation on their artistic design. Manipulation that can be accepted as a starting point against status quo based of research and development and it makes an era mentally and emotionally. The most effective feature of contemporary art and design is to â&#x20AC;&#x153;come to terms with the past and exceed the past.â&#x20AC;? This approach does not deny the rules of the overall aesthetics of the past, and perhaps it Captions 4,year is a deliberate omission on the universal axis, to

mechanized and digitalized caricatures its new caricaturists after it was closed in 1980 for the second time. Then I search more and find the

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present works which are accessible for immediate feedback on a wide scale and attract massive attention. Their authors rarely claim them being the works of art or seek a legitimacy from the artworld, even they often act anonymously... maybe that the challenge could be to rethink individual authorship so that it is no longer synonymous with capitalism but rather with what Guattari calls ‘resingularisation’, an individual or collective struggle against homogenisation of institutional domains... what's your take about this?

To summarize, in today’s world, art is mainly related with manipulation, questioning the issues, steering people’s behavior or manipulating them under their thoughts or ideas.

Internet and social media have contributed to art both possitively and negatively. In fact, as I am a bit “supporter of technology” , I mainly focus on what possitively an artist uses the internet and social media and their tools. There are such problems on copyrights mostly for musicians, as an example, the sales of albums are decreasing day by day and concerts are becoming the only

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, as consequence of modern digitalization, the caricatures have been occurred as interactive communication tools that readers have the chance to comment on them... If we look at the online ecosystem, we are stricken by an enormously great number of web services that

Bahadir Ucan (http://www.aydin.edu.tr/ijemme/?id=32) and (http://www.tojdac.org/tojdac/HOME.html) are the links that readers may have a look. The most impressive achieved results were from analyzing the most popular Turkish humour magazine: Uykusuz based on the perspective of the relationship between social media and caricature. There are 1.295.777 fans of Uykusuz on facebook 308.529 followers on twitter due to 12.06.2013 dated analyze. And those numbers are gathered from Uykusuz’s semi-official fan pages that they are established within the knowledge caricaturists of Uykusuz. There are many other non-official groups and websites. The number of Uykusuz’s weekly sale is about 65.000. The difference is too much. 65.000 people are buying Uykusuz as a published article, millions of people are following Uykusuz by the internet. So, caricatures are digitalized already in many ways and digital formats of magazines are gaining popularity of published formats should turn to digital ones. If it is for “resingularisation” or thinking on authorship, in spite of criticizing or standing against internet or social media which are the facts of today and the future, other solutions should be searched. You have earned your first award when you where a child... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, encouraging her: I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an awardcould even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

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way to earn money. On the other hand, to gather the benefits of technology, the interaction between artist and the audience become possible as you mention : “immediate feedback”. Feedback is important for an artist to define his/her level, mostly you may get valuable critics to progress yourself. If it is about critics, also you need to be selective but internet also can be a way to reach experts in your area and to get their comments. If an artist is succesful on his/her are, it is better to listen her/him because he or she the one who have managed and got the authorities’ attention. Is there any other easier way to meet such people as you did with twitter, linkedin, facebook, etc.?

An award, or the expectation of it, the feedback of audience are motivation units for sure. Actors of theatre play their roles to be applaused. But the difference is, an actor of a theatre or a singer during his/her concert, get the reaction immediately. For caricaturists, if your caricature is published in somewhere, you never know the meaning of it for the reader. First of all, the reader should buy the magazine, see your caricature and react on it, laugh or like the idea. But how can I find the chance to see their smiling faces? Our interaction is harder but necessary. So, I show my caricatures to my family or to my fellows and there they become my testing

It seems impossible for a young artist living in far east to communicate with his/her idol American or French artist, as an example. I am interested with social media and its effects on caricature that I have two publised articles about it. 93

Bahadir Ucan

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are with your own caricaturized world, nothing makes sense: only your characters are valuable. That’s why I can’t quit drawing, even think of that. The feedback, awards, exhibitions, being a faculty member, etc. are the results. The satisfaction is mainly gathered during your creative process. It is enjoyable and what makes it private is the feeling you get from drawing, creating, imagining is special for you, special for each artists. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Bahadir. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I am preparing for my first personal exhibition with the name “Digital Humour” that will be open to everyone from December 9 to December 20, 2013 in Yildiz Technical University Yuksel Sabanci Art Centre Besiktas, Istanbul. I will also attend to some group exhibitions in Turkey, Italy and Germany. “Fictional Narratives” are our group exhibition that can be visited in Yildiz Technical University Yuksel Sabanci Art Centre Besiktas, Istanbul in the dates between 21 to 30 October 2013.

The Snake Dancer

units. If I laugh of my own humour, sometimes I can refence myself. I mean, if I like it, I am sure more people will like it, too. What I realize with my drawings is, children enjoy my art more than any other groups. Maybe that’s why my first book is announced or refenced by Levent Saray as a book to be read for children. an interview with Their colorfullness, exaggerated caricaturistic figures attract them somehow. But some of my illustration works and caricatures are for adults due to their content.

Under the name of Immagine Arte in Fiera, there is a contemporary art exhibition open to anyone between the dates of 25 to 28 October 2013, in

artists that I happen to interview, and I have to say that even though it might sound the simpler one, it gives me back the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

The biggest satisfaction is started by the time you sit on your chair to draw the idea or humour that you have planned. It is like meditating. You could feel depressively, maybe you argued with the girl you love or could not succeed on your lesson, had problems in your office or anything else, even if you had a very unlucky day, when it is for to draw, all others are meaningless. I fully concentrate on what I am drawing by isolating myself from the real world and anxieties of it. It is like praying for the God or meditating in deep, surrounded by nature. Now, you

Workshop for children in Kardiyum AVM

Bahadir Ucan

Dalgin in Troja Centro Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Arte, Nello Stand 86, Il Piu Grande Della Fiera, Bologna. My another artwork of illustration will also be exhibited for Kunst 2014-Berlin (19-24 February 2014). International Symposium of Art, Design and Manipulation (2013)

http://www.cac.ca.gov/artistcall/acdetail/id/25984 is the link of Kunst 2014 where you can get more information. My new caricatures may also be followed in fenamizah monthly digital humour magazine: www.fenamizah.com.

Sempozyumu- International Istanbul Historical Peninsula Symposium, (2013)

I will also be lecturing for three symposiums in Turkey, in the region of Marmara. My academic program as in below:

Captions 4,year

in Folk Culture (2013) 95