LandEscape Art Review July 2014 by LandEscape Art Review

A r t

R e v i e w

July 2014

NICK NABER MOSHIK HAYMAN IBN KENDALL GUDMUNDUR R. LUDVIKSSON THEODOROS ZAFEIROPOULOS SARAH CHOO MANDY WILLIAMS PRISCILLA DUARTE GUERRA JIM OLSON From TELEALTERIMAGEM, Priscila Duarte Guerra Telematic Installation (Image by Daniele Akemi Magori)

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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.

landescape@artlover.com

Priscila Duarte Guerra

S P E C I A L

I S S S U E

(Brazil)

The research with the shadows called SHADOW: means of investigation in Art, acquires a clear anthropological character connected to the memories of individuals who passed by a certain space, marking their territory in a given place and time, with forms that do not allow an identification of its wearer, are enigmatic. From TELEALTERIMAGEM

Nick Naber

(USA)

Piken på broen

From the Lucid series

Ibn Kendall (USA)

J u l y

2 0 1 4

From the Dream House series

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos (Greece)

My works give answers to some of the major ques-tions that in nowadays derive from many different fields of theoretical studies, sciences and disciplines. In that sense I feel that I am following this current problematic. I would better suggest that this dichotomy could be indicated on the bridges that link us with the past.

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Moshik Hayman (Israel)

J u l y

‘Dead bent’ is a series of sculpted poles made to act as a Photoshop brush or a stamp tool, those Poles, made out of Foam, onto which I paint and then seal in plastic packing materials which hold it into its sculptured shape, folding the pictorial space into production standard units. Die wachklige Gebärmutter

(Iceland)

Through multi-media installations, I endeavor to directly involve and engage participants—as opposed to “audiences” or passive viewers—in a creative and collaborative process of city building.

2 0 1 4

Gudmundur R. Ludviksson

Imprint

Alice Zilberberg

(Estonia/Israel)

Imprint

Thomas S. Ladd (USA)

The camera has lead me to understand that the surface of things are endlessly beautiful; that slow and careful observations of the external world will lead one to deep introspection; that the tension between the photograph and the ‘real’ world will never cease to engage peoples’ imagination; that photography is a form of thinking; that, nothing is ever what it seems to be; and that, one’s intentions never materialize… something more exciting always takes over.

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I S S S U E

Los Paramos

S P E C I A L

I choose to narrate the story as well as participate in it, placing myself as the dark haired heroin. She is not saved by a prince, but alone and in despair, or even dead. Playing the role of the girl character, I challenge conventional ideas about how a women should act, look and be like.

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Priscila Duarte Guerra (Brazil) An artist’s statement The research with the shadows called SHADOW: means of investigation in Art, acquires a clear anthropological character connected to the memories of individuals who passed by a certain space, marking their territory in a given place and time, with forms that do not allow an identification of its wearer, are enigmatic. Works made in various media and supports such as drawings, videos, and photographs, distinguish this series, showing a strong experimental character. The TELEALTERIMAGEM project continues the exploitation of the shadow in the field of New Media Arts. This Telematic Installation comes to free the public from their ” platonic caves” so that the artistic experience makes it possible to let be judged by others. The others can be found anywhere in the world and watch us in real time, through the spatiality of a dematerialized holographic image. This confluence of subjects that activate the artwork is what forms the idea of self-‐knowledge as the field formed from the relationship between the self and the other. The projection of the shadow of the viewer who enters the ambience of the work, in real time and in displaced spaces, proposes the experience of identity. The shadow occupies a central role in my work. In both series, aspects related to the symbolic and psychological definition of shadow, defined as bearer of negative aspects of personality that we recognize, are discussed. The contact between enigmatic shapes moving through time and space and viewers, creates a communication capable of building the idea of self-‐knowledge.

Priscila Duarte Guerra http://priscilaguerra.tumblr.com

TELEALTERIMAGEM consists of creating two environments that communicate the idea of presence. In the first room (dark and empty), a computer camera connected to Skype points to the front door. The light illuminates the individual behind his back, creating a negative of its shape. In the second room, a transparent glass plate 75 cm x 95 cm lies under a white surface table, at an angle of 45°. The images taken by the computer of the first environment shall be communicated simultaneously to the computer from the second room through a projector (perpendicular to the ceiling). The white surface of the table reflects the projection onto the glass, creating an optical illusion effect. TELEALTERIMAGEM is a work that cherishes the communicational factor and thus democratizes access and interaction with the work by enabling a contact between individuals in various locations on the planet. It provides also an interaction between museums and galleries potentializing the dialogue between both spaces. Within a single exhibition space, there is also the possibility of exploitation of the environment in the exchange of two rooms used for the work. The impressions produced are given differently when we enter in the first environment and then in the second, because we don't know exactly what happens, only that something is wrong with our presence in space. On the contrary, when we initially enter in the second room, and then in the first, we know what will happen to the image, and the feeling is of discomfort about how it is being seen by others. In the room where the shadow of the visitors is projected onto the glass, we attempt to create an identity to the participants. When we observe their shadows, we try to figure out who are those people, what they're thinking and feeling while they walk into that space, in addition to creating expectations about their reactions when they find out they are being observed by others.

#196 Winter 4

Massimo Cataldo

TELEALTERIMAGEM, 2013 Telematic Installation (Image by Daniele Akemi Magori)

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Priscila Duarte Guerra

An interview with

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

Hello, it is a great pleasure to be here. I would like to thank you for your interest in my artwork. I believe the responses to this question vary according to historical period. Analyzing the art history we have for example a specific type of model of art and beauty in the time of Plato and Aristotle and these models were rethought and questioned with the passage of time, according to the social and cultural reverberations of a given epoch. From these definitions, to me what defines a work of art, is its potential to communicate the values of an era, communication between people, an interview with causing sensations and actions, be those feelings of astonishment in front of the work, or of discomfort and reflection.

Priscila Duarte Guerra

different definitions to demarcate periods with different questions and problems. We can still observe some traditional artists but they mix with contemporary ones. It demonstrates a gradual evolution of art, a complementarity from a period to the previous one, showing a new feeling about limited definitions of historical art periods.

Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? Do you think that there's still an inner dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

I believe the definition of contemporary art was born to describe changes in art and society. This is a more liberal period compared to the previous one, where artists can use any material to create their works, such as bricks, concrete, land, among others. This provides an incredible opening for artists on both technical and conceptual points of view. What marks the contemporariness is the possibility of choices and the artistic freedom of expression as well as artworks that bring ÂŤhiddenÂť critical ideas about social values, concepts behind the works. I would not say there is a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness, I think they are

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a Bachelor Degree in Visual Arts, that you have received from the State University of Campinas, and moreover you recently gained a Scholarship from the UniversitĂŠ Rennes II, France: how have these experiences impacted on the way you currently produce your Art?

The fascinating thing is that I have been interested in becoming an artist since long before starting a formal training in this area. I started at the age of

Priscila Duarte Guerra Silveira: contestation of space) that my practical production was defined. Regina Silveira also works with shadows, however these are shadows from objects displaced from their actual presence in space. My personal work followed a more anthropological path, the human shadow has become my main focus (and the portrait, human identity followed me also in this step). The orientations of Sylvia Furegatti, a professor at the State University of Campinas, enabled me to follow up on a work trial, initially seeking through the use of various media, observe the manifestation and the transformation of the shadow. I can say that my academic background made me look at my role as an artist committed to the society, namely, that all my work has a larger sense of purpose. My experience at the University of Rennes was completely different because the teaching is distinct from that found in Brazilian universities. In Rennes, my interest in New Media Art began to dawn, the teaching was very focused on this theme, so I learned what was being produced by the artists, as well as theoretical concepts related to the subject. Besides, the course had a multidisciplinary character which enriched the debate on a same subject. This experience had a huge impact on my production. I started to make some more complex works in terms of accomplishment, as for example TELEALTERIMAGEM, uniting the baggage of experiences I had at State University of Campinas (with the study of the shadows), to new media. TELEALTERIMAGEM, Â&#x20AC;2013 Telematic Â&#x20AC;Installation

By the way, what's your point on formal training? I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

12, making ultra-realistic portraits of influential women who live in different locations on the planet. my production took a completely different direction after I went to academy. I believe it has been a personal growth, since I got to know the production of various artists, the techniques used by them, and the commotion, action they intended to spend. It was from a theoretical research, based on the work of the renowned brazilian artist Regina Silveira and its relationship with the space (Regina

I think in some cases the formal training may end up stifling the creativity of the artist, it all depends on how this training is conducted by the Higher Education Institutions of Art. Institutions should provide choices and show the various possible paths that an artist can follow, without restricting any type of personal choice, which often does not occur. I believe these recently graduated young artists, who were suffocated by the Academy will always seek to follow the style that they always 7

Priscila Duarte Guerra

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an interview with TELEALTERIMAGEM, 2013 Telematic Installation (Image by Daniele Akemi Magori)

had more affinity, after getting their diplomas. This kind of situation did not occur to me. I always thought of analyzing the various possibilities of action and the various techniques that were taught to me, such as printmaking, video, among others and use them according to my formal and plastic interests.

sonorous and theoretical references. Therefore, a film that I see, I song that I hear or even a text I read can serve to influence my production. After an elaborate idea of what I would like to present as a work, I start to make several sketches to arrange how the project will be organized. This always occurs in any type of artwork, be it a photograph, an installation, a video, etc. Normally in three dimensional art projects, as installations and sculptures, I also produce mockups.

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?

Thus, the artworks production process take a long time before their final step and exposing. In order for this to happen it is necessary calculations and planning in advance. It is usually a very pleasurable process, because in this way I can observe the project taking shape and being finalized.

My working process is marked by the use of visual, 8

Priscila Duarte Guerra

TELEALTERIMAGEM, 2013 Telematic Installation Image: Daniele Akemi Magori

resting series that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest them to visit your website directly at http://priscilaguerra.tumblr.com in order to get a wider idea of this stimulating project... in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this work? What was your initial inspiration?

Besides, many of the sketches become parallel projects, since they acquire relevant aesthetics qualities and show other points of view on the same work (for example installations that are designed in mockups, acquire a different meaning and a different point of view, because they are created in a small scale). These points are the reasons why my work is multimedia, because I usually use several types of techniques to produce an artwork, but the main point that I always try to keep in mind is to use the technique in favor of the project and not the opposite, it means that the technique is only a support for the desired aesthetic and functional effects.

At first, I did not know very well how to deal with the shadow in a plastic form, by getting rid of what has already been done by other artists who used the same theme. I started with experiments in printmaking, but the results were not as expected. I had already done the Pandora's box in 2010, which started my questions regarding the shadow and its psychological meaning, defined by the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, as the negative aspects of perso-

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Space/Shadow, an extremely inte9

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Priscila Duarte Guerra

nality socially stipulated, which we deny to accept. My works have an implicit autobiographical charge, my mother is a psychologist and my dad is a philosopher, and so having a curiosity in this two fields I ended up joining these two other disciplines in my own working process. Pandora's box, was held with 10 wooden boxes of 6 cm x 6 cm in 2010. I registered shadows of people who passed by me, on my walking routine. People did not know they were being photographed, then the character of the appropriation. These pictures were printed and placed inside the wooden boxes. When exposed, the boxes could be assembled into the desired shape under the table, almost like a game, taking into account the spectators participation. When they were opened, people would unexpectedly find shadows of unknown individuals, showing the character of surprise. The symbolic idea contained in the work was that in the moment where people opened the boxes they would appropriate the negative aspects contained in the personality of the individual registered, this would happen through the observation of its shadow. This work boosted me to follow-up a survey linked to theinterview psychological with and dark aspects of the shaan dow. To do this, I researched its psychological, philosophical, historical and scientific meanings to better understand its formation and meaning. All this explanation to show my route to Space/Shadow. Space/Shadow arose from the desire to unite the shadow to the ideas of Place, time and memory. My interest was to register at different times of day and in different localities, the trail left by the person (his/her shadow) who passed by that place, at that particular time of day. This enigmatic form that sharpened the curiosity to know who was that person, also tells a story. Thus, I thought I would start my work with photography. I set up a route to register the shadows of the pedestrians who passed-by that way. I intended to observe the shadow at different times of the day and their marks left on the pavement along this path. The images became differentiated if I changed time, as for example during the morning or during the night, and varied depending on the location, (different cities but also my position when registering the work).

PANDORA BOX, 2010 Boxes of wood, black acrylic Ten 6cmx6cm size boxes

Some photographs i took by placing myself behind the individual, in others it was necessary to climb a higher building to achieve the desired result. The major concern was to eliminate visual elements of urban space that interfere with the visual attention of photography, so the landscape and the surrounding environment of the shadow were taken into account. Other works derived from this research, such as Shadow Designs 2012, where the visual character

Priscila Duarte Guerra Since our review is called "LandEscape", I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the environment suggested by your work: most of the times it doesn't seem to be just a passive background... and I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- 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... what's your point about this?

I completely agree with you. What I seek in my works is that reunion with our inner nature in its most raw and pure state. It has a lot to do with the question of the already mentioned shadow, that in its socially symbolic sense would represent our essence, our dark and enigmatic side that when observed, can generate a self-knowledge. I try to provide it through my artwork, and I think many artists seek to reveal an unknown side to the public, new points of view about themselves through works that put the body on discussion, stimulating the senses and the action, most of the time via provocative images that make the viewer reflect about a particular subject. The artist definitely has this role of mediator of the encounter with the self.

paint, printing on bond paper

of the shadow changes according to the passage oftime. This is a series of drawings depicting a same person standing in one place. The only thing that is modified is his shadow and the brightness during the passage of time. These drawings were the basis for an animation. Other works in the form of video and installation were also produced. According to Giorgio de Chirico: «In the shadow of a man who walks in the sun, there are more enigmas than in all religions, past, present and future ».

Space/Shadow VI, 2012. Series “Space/Shadow” Photography, 80x60cm

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Priscila Duarte Guerra

Another interesting work of yours that have particularly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words is TELEALTERIMAGEM project, which is in a certain sense such an evolution of the aforesaid Shadow... Maybe because I have myself a scientific background, a feature of your art practice that has particularly impacted on me is the deep synergy that you are capable of establishing between traditional techniques and digital technologies ... so I would like to use this occasions to ask what's your point about he contamination between Art and Science... By the way, I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between art and technology and I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your point about this?

I believe that this contamination is inevitable and began to occur after the Industrial Revolution. Artists have always had and will always have a concern with the contemporary, with the issues that arise with human evolution and the different characteristics of historical periods. The technique has been used by man since the prehistory, but took a different direction with the conquest of space, and the human expansion to new places, beyond Earth. Many of the technologies that were built for science have been and are being used by the artists, even if they need help from specialists in other areas to carry out their works. I do not think there is a dichotomy between art and technology, I think the new media are enabling the development and the complementation of the art that uses an interview traditional means. with As you have remarked once, these works comes to free the public from their Platonic caves” so that the artistic experience makes it possible to let be judged by others... and moreover, they are both strictly connected to establish a deep involvement with your audince, both on an intellectual aspect

TELEALTERIMAGEM, 2013 Telematic Installation Duration: 22 sec.

Video: Priscila Duarte Guerra 12

Priscila Duarte Guerra

TELEALTERIMAGEM, 2013 Telematic Installation Mockup

and in a physical one... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Absolutely! Personal experience is fundamental for the work to occur. In TELEALTERIMAGEM, without the personal and collective experience the project would never have worked. We need this activation of the work by the action of the public. The responses and actions will always be differentiated, according to the experience and point of view of each one. In TELEALTERIMAGEM, people who entered the first room and then on the second one had an entirely different response when the reverse situation occurred.

TELEALTERIMAGEM, 2013

Upon entering the first room, they did not know what was going on, they found only a computer in a desk and an empty room. When they proceeded to the second environment and conflicted with what was going on with their images, they reacted in different ways, many felt embarrassed, began to laugh, others just found strange everything that was happening. And when the experience was changed, i.e., the public watched the shadow of others be projected in the second room and then moved towards the first one, it was also possible to observe a feeling of discomfort, because they knew what was occurring with their images but they did not know how to act in that space, causing a feeling of nervousness.

Telematic Installation Image: Daniele Akemi Magori

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Priscila Duarte Guerra

As artist, I could also experience the same feeling of awkwardness and indecision on how to act in the first room, empty and dark. TELEALTERIMAGEM was created thanks to a large planning, however, the work was enriched much more from the contact and personal experiences that might have brought unique contributions and differentiated responses in front of an uncomfortable situation. It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, encouraging her/him: I was just wondering if an award -or even the expectation of positive feedbacks- could 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? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

I do not think much about the public when I do my works, I just try to make them, worrying about technical characteristics, as where I am going to expose, when, what materials I will use, graphical material to be printed, among others, and then deliver it to society, being as sincere as possible with what I produce and what I believe. But I confess that the response from the public in front of my work is very important and when that happens, it is usually as expected, i.e., it causes the discomfort that makes people think about their role in society. What makes me happy is seeing people increasingly going to exhibitions and interacting with the artworks, going to see what has been prepared for them. I believe that the public acceptance of new media is successful because they are in a certain way the artists of the work as well. It demonstrates a great possibility for the artists to explore the questions behind the works that make us think about the benefits and dangers of technology. I do not have much experience with awards, actually only one, of Best Portrait in 2004, but I think we get back to the initial question of this interview when an artist accounts only with this type of situation to produce, the question of « what in your opinion defines a work of Art »? It is always great to win awards, but we must bear in mind that is not only they who dictate the quality of a work. The artists should not only stick to this to produce and believe what they do. 9) Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Priscila. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I plan to continue my research in the field of art and new media with theoretical and practical approach. I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to present my work.

Priscila Duarte Guerra

TELEALTERIMAGEM, 2013

Telematic Installation

Pop Up Book. Size : 21,0cm x 29,7cm 12

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Nick Naber (USA) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

Severe, meandering, overwrought lines engulf the paper. Forms and spaces stretch, expand, and integrate to create structural abstractions. Walls crisscross, meander, and offer countless circuitous passages. The enclosures leave the viewer imprisoned, yet the multiple layers keep the viewer adrift in the space. The drawings give glimpses of a way out, but do not offer any real escape. The placement on the page is primary: the viewer is placed outside of the paper project, and I ask them to imagine what it would be like to be trapped inside. The result can be a feeling of claustrophobia and anxiousness. The viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anxiety is a remnant of my own uneasiness. To this end, dichotomies are crucial: dark-light, interiorexterior, and positive-negative. Tension is created through these contrasts. In my work, specific neighborhood elements are joined to unrealized paper projects to form imaginary dystopic structures. Their scale and design communicates a sense of unease, intense competition, and the desire for power. I aim to reconcile my artistic process and the experience of my lived environment. My work borrows from my surrounding architecture of the urban landscape: corporate skyscrapers, industrial buildings, brownstones, and shipping warehouses. I focus on the extremity of their structural elements through the use of severe lines and strict repetition. Fenestrations, sculptural elements, and the severity of industrial buildings find a place in the work. The artwork harkens back to multiple architectural histories: prisons, Brutalist architecture and the drawings of Piranesi. These sources and my imagination come together to create the work.

Nick Naber

#196 Winter 16

Installation view of Construction, December 2012 at OPUS Projects New York, NY 2

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Nick Naber

An interview with

Nick Naber Hello Nick, and a warm welcome to LandEscape. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what does in your opi-nion define a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artwork as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

A work of art needs to illicit something in the viewer. By that I mean a response that is emotional, intellectual, or something more visceral and deep-seated. There also needs to be some sort of intention from the artist in the work’s concept and execution. Contemporary art is art that has an awareness of art from the past, but it is work that is being made now. It engages in a conversation with both. In many ways tradition and contemporariness go hand in hand. an interview with In my own work I think the tradition comes out in craft. That is to say, I am interested in the craft of drawing. I think knowledge of art history and the tradition of the media you are working in is of vital importance to contemporariness. Extending a tradition is an important part of art making. I know this sentiment isn’t shared by a lot of people in the current “anything goes” art world. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a MFA of Painting & Drawing, that you received just a couple of years ago from the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn: how has this experience impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, I sometimes wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your opinion?

I started out thinking I would be an architect. After my first studio course as an undergrad I realized it wasn’t for me. I am more interested in the history and theory of architecture, rather than the nuts and bolts of engineering. I switched my major to painting and drawing, graduated, and then headed to Pratt for my master’s. 18

Nick Naber

Pratt definitely impacted the way I work. I have always had a strong studio practice, but Pratt gives you a lot of time alone in the studio, both to make work and to really delve into your ideas. I think that was one of the biggest things I took from my time there; how to be independent in the studio, and to work though ideas. It’s natural that some of them fail and some of them succeed. Formal training was pivotal for me. It is important if you’re going to say you’re a painter that you know the basics, and continue to improve, and gain more knowledge by making, and seeing other paintings. I don’t think that a traditional training stifles a young artist. We have been using the Bauhaus method of foundations courses in our universities for years now. There is a good reason; it prepares artists with at least a working knowledge of various media. Then it is up to them to pursue the medium that speaks to them. One of my favorite analogies for this is: would you go to a doctor who never went to medical school? Of course not. We want people to be experienced in their fields. 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?

The process leading up to making work varies. I always use my sketchbook. I draw the world around me, the surrounding architecture of any given place. I photograph things that I find compelling. Again, it tends to be architectural, but I find that people can also be amusing subjects for the lens. Technically, I focus on details. I bring those details together in my work though the use of a straight edge. I always begin the work with drawing, whether it is a thumbnail sketch or the piece is intended to be a drawing. I am fascinated with architectural drawing, which is inherently technical. I like to play with the restraints of the straight edge, and within the rules I have set up for myself in the work.

Nick Naber

Each of my works come out of the previous work, in many respects. So, it could be said that each work takes hours of preparation. While I am creating a work I veer far away from my initial sketches, as my work happens organically on the page, or on the canvas. Each move of the pencil informs the next line, or form. I like to respond to previous sketch or work, and to respond to the lines that are being made on the current work. 19

Nick Naber

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Caption 1

an interview with Structure 9, 2013 graphite on watercolor paper 22 x 30 inches Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from your "Structure" series that our readers can admire in these pages : I would suggest to our readers to visit your website directly at http://nicknaber.com/ in order to get a wider idea of your current artistic production. In the meantime, would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

for me in their conceptual framework. As I said before, I am drawn to the surrounding architecture of the places I live. New York City is an amazing place full of weird and amazing spaces. I have been focused recently on warehouses, and the skyscrapers of Downtown Manhattan. I live on Staten Island and I take the ferry everyday to work. I began noticing these buildings and drawing them; I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a specific intention in mind at the time. I began to put the various places together, and create these kind of Frankenstein places: an amalgamation of various architectural forms and their details.

The Structure works are drawings that come out of my earlier series, Constructions and Developments. I felt this earlier series of drawings had gone as far as I could take them, but they still held an interest

Nick Naber

Construction Wall Drawing 1, 2012 graphite latex on wall 8 x 18 feet /(96 x 216 inches)

A feature of your works and especially of your stimulating "Construction Wall Drawings" that has mostly impacted on me is your capability of creating a deep intellectual interaction, communicating a wide variety of states of mind and I can recognize that it based on a deep involvement of the viewer and his per-sonal perception of the space around him... I would like to ask you if experience is an absolutely indispen-sable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

And since our review is called "LandEscape", I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the landscape suggested by an interview with your work: most of the time it doesn't seem to be just a passive background and one of the features that has mostly impacted on me is the way you have been capable of recontextualizing the idea of environment itself... I'm sort of convinced that some information & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- 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... what's your opinion about this?

As an artist, I make artwork about my life and my experiences. They inform so much of what I do. It is a way to order my world, and to make sense of the information that I take in daily. My experiences of place and my emotions and feelings manifest themselves in my work. For me, there is no way to disconnect myself from the work that I make.

Totally. I am concerned with positive and negative space. The negative space is the â&#x20AC;&#x153;landscapeâ&#x20AC;? of the work.

Nick Naber

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Facades 11, 2012 acrylic on canvas 28 x 48 inches

The way that they are drawn or painted has a direct effect on the way that the surrounding area is activated. In some cases there is no “landscape” visible, only the drawn or painted image, which then becomes overwrought and predominant in the work. I tend to focus on the place, and its details rather than information that’s happening peripherally when I create a work. I don’t want them to seem like dollhouses, or models sitting alone on a barren landscape. That is why I am conscious of the entire support when I make anything. Everything has to have a purpose in the work. In many ways, this way of working does what your question is asking. It reveals certain information in the work, but it also conceals a lot of information. It’s interesting to create these places from my mind using sources from the world. It becomes a sort of encrypted language that can be deciphered by the viewer only over time.

Structure 7, 2013 graphite on watercolor paper Closure 22 x 22 inches 22

Nick Naber

PurBlue Structure, 2013 watercolor on watercolor paper 7 ½ x 11 ¾ inches

Now let's deal with the tones of your pieces: in particular, I have appreciated the intense, lively blue -a color that is very recurrent in your works: we can see a vivid nuance of it also in "PurBlue Structure"- and that suggests me such a tactile physicality... By the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Over time, I think the palette has improved the more that I paint. I did a whole series titled Façades when I was in grad school based on toned black. Some paintings had over 20 different blacks within them, and I like that this only became clear to the viewer after close-looking. More recently, my palette has opened up more and isn’t quite as dark. The watercolors allow me more play when it comes to color. The way that I apply the watercolor changes the way the color looks after it dries. Not to get too technical but if I were to do wet on wet application the color would turn out much differently than if the paint is applied to a dry surface. Right now this experimentation with watercolor has been fruitful yet frustrating.

My palette has always been somewhat the same. I am drawn to blues and purples. There is an inherent richness to those colors, and such a wide range of possibilities using their compliments. I have returned to Albers’s color theory in the past couple of years. I have been working predominantly in monochromes, and in complementary and tertiary color. 23

Installation view of Tension, February 2012 at Dekalb Gallery at the Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY

Nick Naber

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Facades 13, 2012 acrylic on canvas 36 x 96 inches / 36 x 48 inches each

So far your works have been exhibited in several occasions and I think it's important to mention that you are going to have a solo at the OPUS Project Space, New York... 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 influence the process of an artist...

feedback about my work whether it is good or bad. Some criticism you take and some of it you forget about. Everyone has different opinions about every-thing. If I start to hear the same thing from more than one person that’s when I begin to listen, because then the work is hitting on something for multiple people. As for making work for the audience, it does come into what I do but it isn’t the driving force of my art making.

An exhibition definitely motivates me to work a lot. It creates a goal that I work up towards. My production goes up when there is an exhibition on the horizon, because I want to have as many options as I can have for that exhibition. This added output contributes to new things that happen in the work, which gets used or discarded over time.

... and I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

Business and art have a long history; it’s something that I deal with in my life because I work in a gallery. It is difficult for me to see art as a commodity, something to be bought and traded, auctioned, re-bought and sold again. That system is something I find troubling, but unfortunately that’s the world we live in.

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

Feedback from the audience is important. I want 26

Nick Naber

Complementary Structure 3, 2013 watercolor on watercolor paper 11 Âž x 8 Â˝ inches

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Nick. Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to chat with you about my work! I have a few projects in the works. As you mentioned, I will have a solo show at OPUS in 2015. I also have a few group exhibitions on the horizon. I just launched a studio visit/exhibition review website called The Coastal Post with another artist, Francesca Cozzone. (thecoastalpost.tumblr.com) Where we will be doing monthly studio visits with people from the East and West Coast and periodic exhibition reviews. I am definitely keeping myself busy!

Construction Wall Drawing 3, 2012 graphite on wall 12 x 12 feet /(144 x 144 inches)

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Ibn Kendall (USA)

An artist’s statement

I went back to the family farm in Jamaica last winter for a change of scenery. I was sorting through the family album and was struck by the photos of my great aunts, uncles and family friends. From the 1940’s to the 60’s, I was amazed to see they’re stellar but delightful expressions in the face of this period in time. They never had much but possessed the costume and countenance of movie stars. My grandma used to say, “jus because you are broke doesn’t mean you need to show it”. People of color in the colonized world have always had to take the discarded and reinvent oneself and culture to create a sense of pride, a sense of self and plan just survive. Even though things has gotten better there are still many remnants of this alchemist behavior in our country today. Examples of this creativity can be found everywhere in the culture, like soul food. A title giving because one has to put ones soul into items like pig feet, chicken feet and chitlins (pig intestines) to make palatable. This resourcefulness does not just exist in the tangible world but also in the intangible world like language. Taking a word like nigger and changing its context from an ethnic slur to a term of endearment is alchemy. This work is an illustration of this, the ability to make something out of nothing. Bestowed onto people of color by slavery, I call this gift and curse Coon Alchemy. My recent work re-enacts this process. Using discarded objects from my neighborhood, I combine them with enlarged photographs from my family’s photo album, who themselves and many other people of color have been discarded and still fight to matter.

#196 Winter 28

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Ibn Kendall

An interview with

Ibn Kendall Hello 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? Do you think that there's still an inner dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporariness?

Defining a work of art is pretty simple: The work should always be changing and growing a little bit everyday; if not, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just decorative. We can't truly evaluate a new work of art being good or bad in the same way we couldn't distinguish this in a newborn baby. We need time to judge. There are many more storytelling mediums with which contemporary artists can tell their story than in theinterview past.The choicewith in mediums is one of biggest an differences between traditional and contemporary art. The second difference would be a slight shift in aesthetic chops and conceptual judgment. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a BFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia: how has this experience of formal training impacted on the way you produce you art these days? By the way, I sometimes I happen to ask myself if a certain kind of training could limit or even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point about this?

I was born in Brooklyn and moved around a lot growing up. I ended up going to Brevard College in North Carolina on a track scholarship. I did very well there and made nationals both years I attended. But I had a change of heart thanks to my art history class. Seeing little to none of the Black-American experience in the art we studied caused me consternation. This spotty representation became much more pressing to me than track. Ibn Kendall 30

Ibn Kendall

So, I transferred to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. To this day, University of the Arts has been my most significant schooling aside from life itself. The most valuable gift they gave me was the ability to see for myself.

Caption 2

Ibn Kendall lives and works in his native Brooklyn. He holds a BFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia P.A. Solo exhibitions include Lichtpunkt Gallery in Munich, Germany, and Salon Ciel, New York, N.Y. Selected group exhibitions include 31 Grand Gallery, Exit Art, and Gale-Martin Gallery. 31

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an interview with an interview with

Now let's focus on your artworks that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: and I would suggest them to visit the website of the Gallery that represents you directly at http://gallerydriver.com/index.cfm?method=A rtist.Statement&artistID=0EA32624-19DB-5802E0302BB48B82310E&GalleryID=BB816FD0115B-5562-AAB880EE7307395F in order to get a wider idea of your Art... in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your an inspiration? interview with initial

In your recent pieces, you use discarded objects from your neighborhood, combining them enlarged photographs from your an with interview with family’s photo album: not to mention that usage of "found” materials is nowadays a very common practice, and the personal contribution of the artist, in such case gives a new life to discarded objects... roaming 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?

The title is "PSA-B," and most of them start with a snapshot. I pride myself in being comfortable in just about any social setting. My snapshots allow me to revisit past social encounters. I've always been obsessed in documenting my life. Having a visual diary allows me to see where I’ve been, who I’ve known, and who I am. Whether it's a guy using heroin in his hotel room, me getting drunk, or just looking out over the Manhattan Bridge on a stroll, all of these experiences captured are reviewed.

Before I started my "PSA" project, I was previously working a project titled "Coon Alchemy,” which was inspired by photos of my relatives dressed to the nines from the 1940s-60s that I found in Jamaica in one of my old family albums. The magical ability to take the discarded or easily accessible and reinvent it, along with oneself, has

I then pulled from the stockpile of diary photographs the ones that compel me the most. The time it takes to complete my process varies depending on the size and ratio of photography, drawing, collage, and painting involved. Generally, it takes anywhere from a week to two months. 35

Ibn Kendall

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been the fundamental coping skill of colonized people in the New World. We see this, for example, with soul food items like pig feet, chitlins (pig intestines), and collard greens or with hip-hop incorporating turntables because musical instruments weren’t attainable. I wanted to keep that historical pastiche of what’s been discarded in the work. So I combined disregarded and found objects from the streets and antique stores and incorporated them on canvas with blown up pictures I found in the old family albums.

Their movie-like qualities and the subjects’ noble carriage was such a juxtaposition within this dystopia. I remember my grandmother used to say, "Just because you’re broke doesn't mean you need to show it.” Your artworks have been exhibited in many important galleries, both in your country and abroad, and I think that it's importanto to mention your solo at the Lichtpunkt Gallery in Closure it goes without saying that feedbacks Munich: 36

Ibn Kendall

and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, encouraging her: I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of positive feedbacks- could 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?

then itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard for the work to mature. For instance, my show in Germany perplexed the audience. This was due partly due to language and cultural barriers. But some also felt the work was lewd and prurient, while others praised it for its ability to be honest and informative. The viewers were forced to use their personal experience and taste as a filter, and to compare their own biases to my sardonic questioning of our social tenets. I often use humor as a Trojan horse to broach different social taboos we have difficulty discussing openly.

Feedback is always a good thing, favorable or unfavorable. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just receiving pleasantries, 37

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Theodoros Zafeiropoulos (Greece/USA)

Born in 1978. Graduated with honors from the School of Fine Arts, Aristoteleian University of Thessaloniki (2003). He participated in the Erasmus program in the University of Barcelona (2001). He graduated with honors from the MFA program of the School of Fine Arts in Athens (2006). He graduated and honored with the Paula Rhodes Memorial Award from the MFA program of the School of Visual Arts, New York-USA as recipient of the Fulbright, Gerondelis and Al.Onassis Foundations scholarships (2009). Participated in Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2009). He is a current PHD candidate in the School of Architecture, University of Thessaly. Since 2001 he has presented 6 solo shows and has participated in more than 50 international group shows, residencies and projects in Greece, USA and abroad. He received commissions to create sitespecific installations in many institutions and Foundations including the Morton Arboretum in Lisle Illinois, USA, the Museum of Civil Aviation in Athens and many more. His works belong in many public and private collections in Greece, Switzerland, London, USA and abroad. Articles, reviews and critics for his works have been published in many Greek and International magazines, newspapers and web-media. In 2013 he was resident artist in the Flux Factory in NYC and the USF residency program in Bergen, Norway. In 2013 he was selected to represent Greece in the 16th Biennale of European and Mediterranean Young Artists entitled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Errors Allowedâ&#x20AC;?, Ancona, Italy. Lives and works in Athens and NYC. For more information please visit: www.theodoroszafeiropoulos.com #196 Winter 38

How Far Have We Gone, 2011 In situ Installation Materials: Sliced Norway Spruce, PVC strap, stainless steel attachments. Location: Nature Unframed, The Morton Arboretum Lisle, IL , USA. Caption 1 Curated by Anna Kunz

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An interview with

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos Hello Theodoros and a 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? Do you think that there's still an inner dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

First of all I would like to thank you very much for inviting me to present my work in LandEscape. For my humble opinion a work of Art can be defined only by its hidden “ontology”. I am referring to this philosophical term since it includes historical, conceptual, formal, morphological and metaphysical issues that through methodological practices formulate the values (aesthetical and contextual) that are an interview with embedded on each work of Art. The features that stimulate “how close an art work is with the current international dialogue” are the algorithm that creates its contemporariness. My works give answers to some of the major questions that in nowadays derive from many different fields of theoretical studies, sciences and disciplines. In that sense I feel that I am following this current problematic. I would better suggest that this dichotomy could be indicated on the bridges that link us with the past. Art with no background is a candy bar with no sugar or beer with no alcohol. Tradition is a burden and also a legacy. In both occasions is our lifetime companion in every new step forward.

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos - Paper faces Project Organized by VYCA

currently produce your Art? By the way, what's your point on formal training? I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You graduated with honors from the School of Fine Arts, Aristoteleian University of Thessaloniki: how has this experience, along with your MFA program that you later attended influenced you and that impacted on the way you

My formal studies in Fine Arts began in 1998 and I am practically still a student. I received my BFA with honors in 2003 from the School of Fine Arts, Aristoteleian University of Thessaloniki, in 2006. 40

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos

During my stay in the US I meat Prof. Filippos Oraiopoulos who was at that time visiting faculty in Princeton University. He is an architect and philosopher with huge knowledge and intuitive perception in the field of contemporary Art. He became my personal mentor and one of the persons that influenced and inspired me more than any teacher ever had. In 2009 I returned in my homeland Greece and I started working with him in the School of Architecture, University of Thessaly my PHD dissertation. My Thesis focuses on the “Failure of Materiality” and it is a combination of practical studies and theoretical ex-amples that concludes on a methodological tool of failure over the field of Art and Architecture. In each stage of my long studies I handled every program as an interrelated project. A quick overview on my web site can inform the viewer about the entropy and the evolution of my practice within this decade. My current bodies of works are transformations and development of initial ideas that through further research and elaborate manipulation formulates circles of thematic chapters. Additionally I am creating autonomous works that derive from documentation of each one of these gigantic projects in order to be presented in many solo and group shows all around the world. My decision to concentrate on a PHD level and write a Thesis is my latest challenge and also a unique opportunity to expand, reevaluate and rethink over my artistic process and categorize my practice in a more scientific and interdisciplinary level since my arguments combine anthropological, sociological and philosophical references and broad research. I never felt so far that this continuous institutional discourse could harm my creativity. I consider myself more as a renaissance’s persona of artist who was always anxious to be creator through the lens of a scientific orientation.

Presented in Art-Athina International Fair Courtesy of Nitra Gallery Thessaloniki.

I graduated with honors from the MFA program of the Athens School of Fine Arts and straight afterwards I moved to NYC as recipient of the Fulbright and Onassis foundations scholarship in order to attend a second MFA in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). I graduated in 2009 and I awarded with the Paula Rhodes Memorial Award for outstanding achievements in graduate level.

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

I am always setting as a starting point the observation of unpredicted incidents or controversial events. I am investigating and collecting all the materials and elements that are surrounding each one of these phenomenons and from this position I am starting to match together the pieces of the puzzle rearranging a visual narration. Tornados, fallen trees, mythological stories, natural or human failures and transcendence are some of the themes that are embodying my practice. I am trying to elaborate on the execution of my project using a wide range of technics and materials. Performative video footage, photographs of community collaborations, interviews, bonfires, laser carving on wood and sculptural interventions are some of the technical aspects that my works include. My projects require a great amount of time in terms of preparation and also an enormous effort on the postproduction stage. Usually I am working on each piece from 6 months to a year including the editing, the transformation and the manipulation over numerous digital archives that I am collecting during each process. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Rolling Archives that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest them to visit http://www.theodoroszafeiropoulos.com/index.php/pro jects?layout=edit&id=35 in order to get a wider idea of this stimulating project... in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

an interview with

I visited first time the specific area, the former Athens Airport “Hellinikon” in 2009. The airport complex closed in 2003 and moved to a new location in Athens. I was shocked facing the image of all these abandoned buildings. Most of them were burned down due to an “unnoticed” fire. Dust and debris were all around me. But still the prestigious and the modernity perfection of the building were somehow still alive. A. Onassis built the complex in the early 50s and established Olympic Airways that was for decades one of the best and most luxurious air carriers in the world with silver and 42

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos porcelain on board services. Into a basement I discovered huge piles of archives of an air-company that closed because of bankruptcy. Over 1500 folders with names, tickets, flight plans and time tables. I started thinking that this material had to see for one more time the sunlight, so I carried them and stacked them into a mechanical stairway formulating a “companion of memories”. The piece was the pioneer and the symbol of the creation of the Museum of Aviation that a few months afterwards was established in the area. The installation was kept on view for many years and attracted the attention and the nostalgia of many viewers and employees in retirement of the airport. Currently the area has turned into a major development plan and all the surrounding buildings, and therefore the piece will be demolished and transformed into a yacht marina and luxurious condominiums. Unfortunately, memories and history maintenance is always subject of gentrification. The feature of this project that has mostly impacted on me is the way it is capable of establishing a presence and such an atmosphere of memories, using just little reminders of human existance... I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Absolutely yes, personal experience is the corner an interview with stone of every creative process. Eye witnessed involvement in each site-specific location insights our ability to understand the unique spiritual and aesthetical impact of every different condition. Experience can be divided into two separate units, to all memories, histories, testimonies and background information that we recall when we are engaging with a theme or a space and on the other hand our physical appearance and existence imposes our personality through the method that we use to reinterpret the atmosphere and the hidden mysteries in each project. Gadamer's argument in the book “Truth and Method” is directed to showing that understanding the kind of "truth" that belongs to experienced fragments has the character of an event, that is, something that belongs to the specific

Rolling Archives 2011 In situ Installation Materials: Rolling stairway filled with the Flight’s Archival Folders of Olympic Airways Location: Former Athens Airport “Hellinikon”, Athens, Greece.

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"Water Wash", Sanatorio Project, 2011, In situ Installation

Location: Chania, Pelion, Greece.

Materials: Plastic hoses, water, animal droppings.

Curated by M.Chantzinikolaou, N. Podias

temporal nature of our human life. If we disconnect the live experience from the creative process we are unable to speak coherently for the apparatus of the location and use the valid metaphors. Imagine someone describing the horror of the war without ever being into a battlefield.

ning of the 20th century. There, patients suffering from “Koch bacillus” sought for deceleration of the symptoms of a chronic infectious disease, i.e. tuberculosis or “consumption” as it was known, due to the slow and consistent calamity that causes to the organism. The building itself, as a modern ruin, demonstrates in the best way the effect of decay due to its perennial abandonment. Since 1980 the building occupied by local shepherds and the thousands of livestock filled the building’s floors with animal droppings. I found extremely interesting the fact that a hospital have turned so violently into stable so I recalled the myth of Hercule’s labor 5.

I noticed that an important mark of Sanatorio whose video can be viewed by our readers directly at https://vimeo.com/36402238#at=0 is the re-contextualizing the idea of landscape and of environment, in a wide sense... And since our review is called "LandEscape", I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the landscape suggested by your work: most of the times it doesn't seem to be just a passive background... and I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- 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... what's your point about this?

Hercules in order to accomplish the labor he dug wide trenches to two rivers that flowed nearby. He turned the course of the rivers into the yard. The rivers rushed through the stables. Following the numerous metaphors of this action I built a small ephemeral dam in the nearby small creak and I used a system of hoses in order to transfer the water on the roof of the building. The final result was the creation of a spectacular waterfall washing out the droppings and also providing a very refreshing feeling to the visitors orchestrating a sculptural visual-acoustic concert. The water flow reached soon the nearby village and the inhabiClosure tants started wondering where that mystic river

Sanatorio Project constitutes an artistic project that deals simultaneously with the imperfect, the present, and the future progressive in human and natural tenses. It took place in an old sanatorium, which was established by doctor Georgios Karamanis in the city of Chania, Pilio, in the begin 44

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos

"Water Wash", Sanatorio Project, 2011, In situ Installation

Location: Chania, Pelion, Greece.

Materials: Plastic hoses, water, animal droppings.

Curated by M.Chantzinikolaou, N. Podias

was coming from. Through this natural intervention I believe that I revealed occasionally some unexpected sides of the surrounding landscape and I stimulated an inner perception over the natural balance. And I couldn't do without mentioning How far we have gone, that I have found extremely interesting and that I have to admit it's one of my favourite pieces of yours...By the way, multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your art practice... while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

I commissioned the project in 2011 after receiving

Water Wash 45

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invitation from the Chicago based artist and curator Anna Kunz. The Morton Arboretum Lisle, IL, USA is a natural preservation park established in the late 19th Century and since now is a site of research with more that 100 scientist and researchers who are working systematically over the maintenance and development of the local plantation. The stunning beauty at the Arboretum, features the largest collection of flowering ornamental trees in the Midwest. The project revealed how a tree can develop a diverse and surprising set of creations based on a series of transformations that lead into a floating path. The stuff of Arboretum pointed out some trees that had to be taken down in order to help the surrounding population to grow. This large scale harvesting method is called “thinning” and is often used after detailed classification in many ecosystems all around the world. The particular tree that I chopped down in order to formulate my sculptural installation was a 99 years healthy tree. This Norway spruce is a large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 35–55 m (115-180 ft) tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1-1.5 m. The Norway Spruce grows throughout Europe from Norway in the northwest and Poland eastward, and also in the mountains of central an interview with Europe, southwest to the western end of the Alps, and southeast in the Carpathians and Balkans to the extreme north of Greece. My artistic process accomplished through continuous collaboration with many different scientist and stuff of the Institution. Every step of my procedure had to be staged under the surveillance of sincere examination followed by absolutely solid and strict parameters. We all had to examine very carefully the liability, personal and public safety, all the aspects of impact in the natural balance, the selection of supporting materials (stainless steel screws, non toxic marking paint and straps) plus mathematical calculations in order to achieve controlled smooth flow of the log slides. The productive synergy between different disciplines metamorphosed an artistic project into a community based collaborative event. The collective spirit endured the mutual understanding between the engaged members and helped us all to understand and achieve unbelievable results during the procedure of installation mainly because

How Far Have We Gone, 2011, In situ Installation Materials: Sliced Norway Spruce, PVC strap, stainless steel attachments.

it was the first time that an artistic production intervened so drastically into a such controlled and stabilized environment. After all I am positive that my initial proposal and project logistics were expanded further more, fact that broadened my horizon of concept evolution and enriched my future orientation on similar project management. By the way, as you have remarked once, the process behind How far we have gone results in an artistic endeavor that reflects the anthropological, social and environmental conditions of such a creative process... even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naïf, I'm sort of convinced that Art in these days

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos Are like communal cities were each citizen or resident feel the hostility, the comfort to adapt and the safety of a well-planned system of functions. The tree that I am currently using for the sculptural installation is the vessel that can carries us to an other stage of existence, an experience of the symbolic, a spatial and conceptual decomposition, further from the principles of physics or the ontologism. Trees are temples of hidden mysteries. I am attempting to turn my work into, an implication for epistemology where the measure of time would be Walter Benjamin's "mystical now," and "where the symbol would absorb sense” into its hidden material that assumes initially a structure and shape that allow it to adjust to changes and hence continue to exist. The work makes public something other than itself; it manifests something other; it is an allegory. In the work of art something other is brought together with the thing that is made. To bring together is, in Greek συμβαλειν; the work is a symbol” (Martin Heidegger, "The Origin of the Work of Art," in "Poetry, Language, Thought", trans. Albert Hofstadter (New York -Harper and Row 1971) 19-20; quoted in Craig Owens, The allegorical impulse, Toward a theory of Postmodernism "October" 12, Spring 1980). Artist’s role in all the periods of human history is to guide our interest to the unnoticed or the unknown. During my stay in Arboretum I had the chance to meet and communicate with many people (stuff, volunteers, artists, visitors). Every time I was trying to explain my process and inform them about technical issues I discovered that beyond the obvious descriptions there was always a hidden desire for personal interpretations. Every viewer was mirroring his own narration and approached the work from a complete different angler. I found extremely valuable that each visitor had to add an extra layer of exaggeration. A work of art is becoming political only if is capable to attract the fully attention of the viewer, only if it has this magical potentiality to pose questions more than giving answers.

Location: Nature Unframed, The Morton Arboretum Lisle, IL , USA. Curated by Anna Kunz

could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion about socio political issues: I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can even steer people's behavior... I would take this chance to ask your point about this. Do you think that it's an exaggeration? And what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in our society?

I will quote a paragraph that was written at that period for the particular work: “The project has initiated a series of “experimental devices” through various orchestrated stages of transformation based on progressive modification. Trees TELEALTERIMAGEM, through my perception 2013 are structural organisms. Telematic Installation Image: Daniele Akemi Magori

During these years you have received several grants and your artworks have been exhibited both in your countries and abroad, as in the USA and across Europe: I think it's important that you have recently participated to the 16th Biennale

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of European and Mediterranean... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, encouraging him: I was just wondering if an award -or even the expectation of positive feedbacks- could 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? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

It is truly important to mention apart from my professional development the participation in international residencies including the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME, USA (2009), the Flux Factory in NYC (2013) and the USF in Norway (2013). In all these remarkable programs I had the chance to meet amazingly interesting artists, curators and people from all around the world. This experience honestly changed my life since I received feedback, critics and networking from diverse communities with a complete pluralistic (cultural and identity) point of view. Grants, scholarships and awards worked catalyti-cally in the evolution of my artistic production. It was impossible for me to study in the US and fund my ambitious projects without financial support from the Fulbright and A. Onassis foundations. "The Arche of an Archival Archive", 2014, 156Î§240 cm

I now feel very honored as alumni that I must acknowledge my gratitude and transfer to younger generations the knowledge that they helped me to earn. My participation in Biennale in conjunction with lectures that I am often invited to give in Universities and Institutions is a unique opportunity to get exposed to a larger audience, defend my opinion and stimulate a personal stigma in the international art scene. For an artist the feedback from all audiences is the eco in his dreams. I love when people are telling me honestly their opinions and I hate when they are trying to be polite. I feel so alive when I am working in my studio but in the same time I spend a huge amount of time trying to reach applicationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deadlines for grants, open calls and submissions and I am becoming very stressed during the days of the results. I am in the same time manager, administrator, psychiatrist and nurse of my self.

Materials: Laser carving on Oak parquet. Location: Digital montage of 148 images from

Now, in terms of business I must admit that the galleries that represent me in Greece (Elika gallery in Athens and Nitra Gallery in Thessaloniki) are working very hard in order to promote my works especially during a period were Greece faces probably the greatest financial Crisis in his modern history. It is so important to have people around that support you morally and financially while believe deeply in your oeuvre. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Theodoros. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for

Theodoros Zafeiropoulos ments, artists, events, projects and other wondrous forms of conviviality. I had the chance to visit the area and collect last year a huge photographical archive. Through digital manipulation I reformed imaginary landscapes from the particular area. The new archives were carved with Laser on oak parquet. The first work of the project was presented recently in the Art-Athina International Fair. The second project entitled: “Quest of Query” in collaboration with the Budapest based curator Eszter Szakacs is a multifunctional narration on political and sociological observations that is planned to be presented in many venues. The project was created in Bergen Norway and constitutes more that 500 hours of footage and millions of photographs from social observations, performances and testimonial material. The first presentation of the project will be in transit.hu in Budapest entitled “The menace of the Obvious” opening on June 6th 2014. Following the core idea that “landscape is not innocent,” in the first instantiation observatory attitude and metaphorical readings are in focus. Three videos will be presented at the exhibition: King Kong, 24 Hours of Pride, and Landscape is Not Innocent. They all appear to be documentary footages: King Kong is the documentation of a rafter amidst ships at sea; 24 Hours of Pride seems to depict a national celebration, against a backdrop of a succession of flags, while Landscape is Not Innocent offers a series of interrelated speech acts and image descriptions.

the Mildred's Lane area in Pennsylvania, USA. Digital manipulation: G. Boulasidis. Courtesy of Nitra Gallery Thessaloniki.

On June 11th 2014 the second part of the project will be presented in Erika Deak Gallery in Budapest entitled “ Scrolling Topo-graphies”. A large-scale video projection of 759 panoramas in scrolling motion will give the viewers the scene of a panoptical endless internal space while 40 drawings with pencil on rice paper all depicting the interior as an utopian landscape will be on display. For next year I have already planned 2 solo shows in Athens and Thessaloniki and a retrospective presentation of the “Quest of Query” project in the State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki. News and updates will soon be uploaded on my web site so stay tuned.

you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

am currently working on 2 new projects. The first is the called the "The Arche of an Archival Archive" The project constitutes a digital montage of 148 images all taken from the Mildred's Lane area in Pennsylvania, USA. Mildred’s Lane is a rustic, 96-acre site deep in the woods of rural northeastern Pennsylvania, in the upper Delaware River Valley, which borders New York State. Since 1998 when Mark Dion, J. Morgan Puett, and friends discovered the land, it has hosted many experi-

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Moshik Hayman (Israel)

An artist’s statement

Subjecting a unifying linear principle to the visual potentials and possibilities of Raw materials and patterns is what I examine in recent works. Making the line itself a surface onto which paint can be applied. ‘Dead bent’ is a series of sculpted poles made to act as a Photoshop brush or a stamp tool, those Poles, made out of Foam, onto which I paint and then seal in plastic packing materials which hold it into its sculptured shape, folding the pictorial space into production standard units. This thematic exploration began with an earlier painting of mine named “soft skin/ sound waves” (the name is drawn from a poem in which the narrator is seduced by a tree into a violent symbiosis. facing this transformation, he is naming all of the things he would leave behind.) The Painting is a depiction of a nightmare i had: a room that suddenly started to change form, vibrating, flickering, the objects in the room had started loosing its specific attributes and started to rapidly exchange their potentials and characteristics. I like to think about the horror and the prospects of those states of becoming. The line between material and data, and between technologies of communication and information, is the line I investigate in an earlier work: ‘Rosewood cut’ (part of a series) is an arrangement of charcoaled- like wooden beams; it is a Study of a display from a factory catalog. The wooden pattern was created through marker “filling-in” on a spray painted background, creating a pictogram like image. Currently, I am continuing exploring new materials and themes within the ‘Dead bent’ series. My next goal is to be able to make this method into a medium through which I can pack variant aspects of visual reality into a standardized shape, examining the conformity between Materials-abstraction and production.

Moshik Hayman

#196 Winter 50

Gate/Flag Ink, wax, oil paint, 250x250 cm 2013 51

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Moshik Hayman

An interview with

Moshik Hayman Hello Moshik and 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? Do you think that there's still an ineer dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporariness?

I would say that art is an inquiry of ascetic truth, possibilities and potentials but it is mostly contextualized trough the medium- as in the medium of the work or of the presentation such as the space it presented in. I think that things become more complex with time, traditional methods become standards to play with in a contemporary practice. It seems to me that to an interview suggest a dichotomywith between Contemporariness and tradition is to amply a notion of progress but I think that as we move through history and gradually loose the scene of a clear direction or a notion of progress, it become less about an inner division and depends on our current perspective, speed and varieties. the rapidness and the overflow of variations is what mark Contemporariness.

Moshik Hayman

urgency meets formality. Unfortunately this feeling can be experienced in many occasions even after formal training

2Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a B.F.A that you have received from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design : how has this experience of formal training impacted on the way you produce you art these days? By the way, I sometimes I happen to ask myself if a certain kind of training could limit or even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point about this?

For me it is always easier to study by myself and always with a certain work in mind. I fell I control a lot of mediums/ methods ext.. But never in a professional way. I often think that artist supoused to take the macro point of view on the world rather than go with the trend of professionalization. But I guess thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also just my point of view and the way I function, it obviously has it's downsides.

Yes, Bezalel wasn't even emphasizing formal training and I still resented having to sit through nude drawing class or something like that just to get a pass, and it's not like I don't like nude, I think as a student there is this absurd feeling when

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 tech52

Moshik Hayman

Rosewood cut markers, acrylic 70x90 cm, 2013

nical 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?

A few times the preparation means learning a new medium while working on it and that also takes time. I used to let myself spread to video, jewelry, animation, products. But at least for now I am trying to focus more on things that are not necessarily too demanding in terms of preparation.

Usually the image I have in my mind is connected to the way I want to execute it. I often see it clearly but I usually keep room for errors in the production procedure. This is something I am trying to perfect lately - this balance between a very structured form and a more open to accidents, more material driven process.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Gate/Flag, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: and I would suggest them to visit your pesonal 53

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Last summer a friend invited me to participate in a show about real estate in a gallery she opened in Israel. I made this a heraldry portcullis. I was thinking a lot at the time at Israel’s relatively new advanced defense system 'iron dome' - it's a short-range anti rockets system capable of autonomous maneuvering, really ground breaking technology at the highest technical level. The medieval portcullis was build not just as a gate but as a double gate that allows to trap the enemy between those gates and attack them. Traditionally, the portcullis heraldry symbolizes protection and safety, but to me it signified a technological superiority of on group on another: the people inside and the people outside. I often think about Israel’s contribution to future combat, due to unique situation in Israel a lot of those weapon developments are aimed for conflicts not against an army but against civilians. Israel is now like a big laboratory for weapons: drones, robots, rockets, as well as for surveillance and controlling tactics and those technologies are tested in Israel and are proving to be functional they are being exported to many other countries and privet companies.

Soft Skin/Sound Wave Oil on canvas, 120x155, 2013

an interview with

Currently, I am working on developing the image of a gate it into a series, I think about the feedback mechanism of self-identification .as it take the shape of borders or other heavy materialized objects it also reflect on our mind and our soft tissues and again, making a full cycle. It allows me to explore the duality between a flat hard- line object and it’s actual curtain-like qualities

are going to assimilate one to each other... an interview with what's your point about this?

Yes, I think they already are assimilated and continue to assimilate over and over again in all sort of ways, but I don’t think that it would be an historical event. I think that the roll of art is to suggest various models of how this sort of incorporation could be implicated.

Another pieces of yours on which I would like to spend some words is Rosewood.cut where you investigate the line between material and data, and between technologies of communication and information... By the way, even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between Art and Technology and I will dare to say that Art and Technology

I see art and technology as having the same origins, when a hominid take a stick for the first time and realize he could grab ants with it for food- this is technology, but the drive to do something with this stick, something that isn’t there yet comes from the same place as in art. I was thinking a lot about those sticks actually. How even as simple raw material they hold meaning. 54

an interview with an interview with

Stacks, color pencils o paper, 61x44 cm, 2012

Painting as the interesting Soft Skin/Sound Waves to charcoal as in Stacks, to objects as Blanks: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

I think the way of producing dead wood into those three dimensional lines, since a wooden beam is an idea of a structure, a pure technological function it is already in a way- lines in a sketch of something that doesn’t exist yet. I based this series on a picture I found in a wood supply factory website, presenting there merchandize and was thinking it's interesting how this presentation of technology, of raw material already looks like a text, like a pictogram.

That’s funny because I try to not be so shifty now, I mean I could never stick to one discipline and to create everything through it’s lanes but lately I am more interested in the two dimensional aspects of reality, in the surface and I try to focus on that, even when I do objects.

I think it's important to remark that you shift between media: your art practice ranges from

Moshik Hayman

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Dead bent Paint, Plastic, Foam 600 cm, 2014

an interview with

And I couldn't do without mentioning your Dead bent series, which is one of my favourite project of yous... as you have explained us, you sculpted poles made to act as a Photoshop brush or a stamp tool. An important and recurrent feature of these works is an involvement both on intellectual side as well as on physical one, that in my opinion forces the spectator to fill it with her/his own personal experience... So I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

As an artist I think it's hard sometimes, I was filling a few applications lately where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been asked to extend on my work, other then for them to see if I can articulate myself I don't always think it's necessary or even beneficial for me. I would rather have others to tell me about their experience of the work.

Sometimes I have a clear notion of the spectator and how I want him to move through the space, a lot of the time we experience things that are engineered to direct us. For example in architecture, people can often thinks they are being autonomous when actually they are driven by the way the environment was designed for them to act. In other kinds of art I usually prefer works that are more ambiguous and not fully resolved.

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Moshik Hayman

Collide

Space Groups acrylic on cardboards 70x100, 2013

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 positive feedbacks- could 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?

you? Anything coming up for you that you would like readers to be aware of?

Lately, I really enjoyed learning some basic programing. I’m always trying to think of a way to become more political active But since I’m not so fond of demonstrations, I want to find some way to do it in my own terms. I started designing a wiki mobile website just to practice some programming stuff and it became QRIsrael.org. I wanted to test a couple of ideas using very plain technologies: QR codes that are being used mainly for advertising but could also be used for spreading ideas and information offline

Yes, sometime I have a particular person in mind that I like to see the work and then I really care about what they think, sometime my editing proses is going according to that. I think feedback, as a concept is exactly as it sound, this kind of looping affect is constantly influencing reality and building future circumstances in a new way. There is nothing hermetic in the world. Obviously you can also loose this correlation with the world with depression or maybe also with positive things that I hasn’t thought about yet.

And GIF images that i tried to use as small compressed articles knowing that at least potentially they could be spread fest and since they are fun to do they could be very engaging. So basically this website is more between fun educational tool and street art but that’s what I spent my lest two month on. Hopefully this project will be finished by the time this issue published, I think it’s a good motivator.

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Moshik. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for 57