RADart Contemporary Art
EDITOR’S NOTE I think most will agree when I say art is everywhere. It comes in all shapes and sizes, colours and textures and is constantly being produced. RADart is here to investigate and celebrate the world of contemporary art. We are based in Scotland but with an international team, we bring features from all around the world. Not to be confused with modern art, which is a movement in itself, contemporaryart is about what’s being created right now. From street artists to students, we’ve looked at some of the most current creators around. This issue is filled with unique talent and something new on every page. We hope you have as much fun reading it as we did creating it.
L. Wheeler
MEET THE TEAM
Lauren Wheeler Editor
Camilla Giannoni Features Editor
Kirsty Hunter Design editor & Sub-editor
Paul de Villepin Production Editor
Aleksandra Semjonova Writer & Photographer
Daron Fatah Pictures Editor
Sarah Lamon Writer
CONTENTS Issue one | Summer 2016
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Saving Medieval Art
The Letter Man
Pre-Degree Show: Gray’s School of Art
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What Does Your Front Door Say About You?
PanamArt
Art in the Granite City
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Art and Globalisation
Art School Girl
The Streets of Italy
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Saving Medieval Art Words: Camillia Giannoni Image: Camilla Giannoni
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G
oing down the SP 168, a steep road that leads to the village of Parodi Ligure, Italy, between one turn and the next, it is possible to admire the Medieval abbey of San Remigio.
abandonment of the abbey.
Once a year the association Amici di San Remigio (“Friends of San Remigio”) organises the Abbey Contemporary Art, an exhibition which is hosted in the monument.
For the following 23 years, the medieval building was closed, as no more functions had been celebrated there. The lack of control and maintenance led to the collapse of the central aisle in 1982.
One of the volunteers, Gianni Balestrero said: “Through our work we give to people the opportunity to discover an important piece of the local history and architecture, that would otherwise remain hidden.” Built in the 11th century, the medieval masterpiece of Roman architecture has not only been an important religious centre, but also a cultural and economical crossroads, gathering people together from the neighbouring villages. After centuries of prosperity when the migration of rural people to bigger cities started, the isolated position of the abbey, in the middle of a valley is no longer seen as an advantage. The inhabitants of Cadepiaggio, the nearest village which is under the municipality of the slightly bigger Parodi Ligure, were pushing to build their own church. They finally got permission in 1959, the year that determined the definitive
Mr Balestrero said: “It was just more comfortable for them to have their own church within the village rather than have to walk up to San Remigio every time.”
From that day, many cultural associations and the municipality, whose attention has been brought back to the monument by the terrible accident, have started a collaboration collecting funds to allow the refurbishment of the abbey. In 2010 the Friends of San Remigio started organising concerts, theatre performances and other events in the monument. The most popular one, which is at its 6th edition this year, is Abbey Contemporary Art. The exhibition gathers several works of art by artists from all over the world to this tiny village of only 300 people, just for the event. The curator of the exhibition, Michele Dellaria, collaborates with painters, sculptors, photographers and other creative talents, inviting them to bring their works to San Remigio.
Each year he chooses a different topic which is linked to an event that happened in the area. Last year’s main theme was the disaster of the dyke of Molare in a nearby village that broke in 1935 killing 111 people. Balestrero says collaboration between local and foreign artists is “a good occasion, especially for the artists who are not from here, to learn and at the same time to teach something about their home countries through their interpretations and works.” Solidarity is the main ingredient to the success of the Abbey Contemporary Art. Many artists in fact expose as volunteers, as the only funds Michele Dellaria manages to raise come from sponsors and the association Legambiente, however these are not enough to cover travel expenses and accommodation for the contributors. The project is currently evolving and gradually including more and more people thanks to the enthusiasm of the organiser. As he explains: ”I am confident that the project will constantly improve in the next years, I will keep working hard for it. “It is so extremely rewarding to see how people are still interested in art and here is an example of how art can save other art.”
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THE LETTER MAN Words: Kirsty Hunter Images: Kirsty Hunter & Ciaran Global
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“ I think that’s more down to my personality than the fact that it’s not beneficial. I would have liked to go to art school but I just don’t think I would have been successful there. ”
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C
iaran Globel has had a natural gift for art, specifically lettering and typography, since he was a young boy, but in recent years he has managed to turn his hobby into a career. From his workshop in the city centre of Glasgow, Ciaran creates works of art in the form of sign paintings, interiors and designs for businesses around Scotland. How did you get involved in sign painting? “Well, artistry has always been in my family, my dad did an apprenticeship as a sign painter when he was younger and then became a technical drawer, so craftsmanship has always been in my family. My granddad was a sign painter as well years ago, so I’ve always had that. There must be something in my DNA, or maybe it’s just my personality, but I’m quite anal when it comes to precision and stuff like that. So that lends itself better to using this kind of material, because you can be far more accurate with enamel and brush than you could ever be with spray. So there was that, and also there’s better money. You can make a living off being more diverse than just using
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one material, I think. The more diverse you can be, the more jobs you get. And I’ve managed to make a living off it, I’ve not had a nine to five job for about seven years, so I’m doing something right I think.” Did you study art? “No, no, the closest I came was working at the student union of the GSA [Glasgow School of Art] in the bar. I worked there for years. That was about as close as I came to being an art student. That kind of helped me decide that it wasn’t really for me, because I came to be quite close friends with a lot of the students and the more I met and the more background I got on what they were doing, the more I kind of knew that the academic stuff wasn’t something I think I could have pursued. I think that’s more down to my personality than the fact that it’s not beneficial. I would have liked to go to art school but I just don’t think I would have been successful there. I was a bit older by this point so I think that it had been too long since school, I think that if I had gone back to uni, and been told to get up at eight in the morning and get to class,
it just wouldn’t have worked. I would’ve just dropped out or been kicked out. From what I knew from my friends who were studying there, a lot of it wasn’t applied so, if they studied like visual communication or graphic design, they wouldn’t actually be studying how to work photoshop or illustrate and they definitely wouldn’t be learning how to render typography by hand, it was all quite theoretical. I guess that’s good but it was more about the ideas and less about mastering the practical skills. So that was also one thing that led me to just apply myself.” Do you have a certain job that stands out as your favourite? “I do a fair amount of work for G1 Events and there’s a variety of stuff that they get me to do. And there is a painting that I did in The Grosvenor [Ashton Lane] and I quite liked what I did in there. Its very simple, but the techniques that I used to do it were quite new, I didn’t use enamel, I used household gloss paint, and I used just like a synthetic brush, which is quite rigid. It was quite hard to get the sharp corners. So that was interesting to do. I don’t
even really know if that’s my favourite. Actually, the Irn-Bru one that I did was probably my favourite. Because that was when I first started and everything after that was easy, so it was good to do that and get it out the way. I learnt how to do things better next time and it was good to get me a bit of confidence because it was like a big thing and I hadn’t been doing this for long at all and it was just by chance that I got the job. When you’re dealing with something so corporate like this its really a challenge.” What are your thoughts on Glasgow’s art scene in general? “Because we have a worldrenowned art school here, you would actually think we would have a bigger art scene, I think the scene is quite cliquey. Obviously with my background I know people who have studied there. It is quite a closed group, which is natural I guess. I wouldn’t say I was part of any art community as such; there are just a few sign writers in Glasgow who I’m friendly with. The art scene here is varied, it’s
definitely modern, its definitely got an international outlook, obviously we are one of the centres of contemporary art in the UK with stuff like the Turner Prize being held here and all the successful artists that the GSA has produced over the years, Turner Prize winners and artists in their own right. It’s not something I am particularly part of, I would say that the GSA graduate artists are quite a tightly knit group, and you’re not going to break into that group very easily. But different kinds of artists do rub shoulders in Glasgow, because there are only a few kind of main studios like SWG3 or The Briggot, so different artists from different backgrounds do rub shoulders. I have never shared a studio with any other artists, there are no other artists that occupy this space and I think my days of going out every weekend and being out in bars with the same people has sort of slowed down as I have gotten older, so maybe I am out of the loop a bit.” Are you working on anything just now? “Yes! I’ve got a few things on; I
have a tattoo shop today, that’s just a bit of lettering. Also the bar Bloc, they want something for their outside area, something similar to the Sleazys. I work for Jamison’s, the whisky company, and they’ve got a bar in Paisley that wants something done to it. Hot sauce designs; the guy who runs the kitchen in Bloc is making his own hot sauce and he wants a design for that. Raindogs, a barbershop I work for want a sign for their window. So I tend to have maybe about four jobs on at a time that I work on, as these are all relatively small jobs. And ‘cause I guess there is no deadline; I can take my time on them. Also, I work a lot for DF concerts, they’ve just got in contact with me about doing a bit more for than I usually do this year. So I did last years T in the Park and another big job for Summer Sessions, at Bellahouston Park. So I make decorative stuff for the VIP area and name boards for the acts that are playing and I’ll be doing that again this year. I think they want me to do a bit more, so that will be fun.”
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Pre-Degree Show: Gray’s School of Art Words: Paul de Villepin & Camilla Giannoni Images: Camilla Giannoni & Harmony Bury
‘Consumption’ by Harmony Bury
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inal year Contemporary Art Practice students at Gray’s School of Art showcased their works at a predegree show held in the Peacock’s Visual Art gallery in Aberdeen. We went along to check out the local talent and find out more about their inspiration and ideas.
“My work focuses on the relationship between humans and nature. Through the process of making patterns with insect wings and feathers, objects that embody freedom, transformation, pollination, biodiversity and life in general, I aim to make work that is not just aesthetically pleasing, but to highlight the reliance we have on the natural world and emphasise the control and dominion humans enforce over other species. In looking into the morality of the objects artists use in their work, I have aimed to be as ethical as possible when sourcing my materials.
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The piece that was at Peacock Visual Arts, “Consumption”, I was trying to convey how reliant we are on bees for pollinating most of the food we eat. The wings featured in the work were from a beekeeper that lost her hive unexpectedly due to an unknown cause, something which is very common in recent times, mainly due to the use of pesticides and the lack of natural foraging. The wings have been the basis of my work for some time now due to their beauty, fragility and deep meaning to me, and “Consumption” was just a continuation of my ideas. My inspirations tend to come from
‘Consumption’ by Harmony Bury
the natural world. The artists that inspire me most are Andy Goldsworthy and Herman de Vries for their use of materials and how in tune with nature they are. Despite not identifying as photographers, their work is often so ephemeral that the photograph becomes the work and this interests me too. I am hoping to bring awareness to people, I want them to know how important the natural world and the creatures within are, and that they urgently need protection. I don’t think my work is obviously in your face with what it means but I hope that people will be intrigued enough to think about
it more. In the future I would love the opportunity to work with scientists, as I feel art and science go hand in hand. But as for now, I am just developing my work and seeing where it takes me.” - Harmony Bury
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‘Consumption’ by Harmony Bury
Bou by Anna Gray
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“I first started looking into the ideas behind the post human condition. The term stems from the concern that a being that is not human, one that has either been engineered by humans or developed in some way will view the world in a different light and because of this will have different objections, morals and agendas than humans. The easiest way to understand this idea to many people is referring to movies like Terminator, Ghost in the Shell even Her can be thought of as a depiction of the post human. When looking at my pieces I noticed quite a lot of religious imagery coming through in the form of figures, composition and imagery such as halo’s etc. I have been trying to integrate the two ideas within my work by finding similarities between religion and the perceived outcomes of
a post human world. With the piece I exhibited at Peacocks I wanted to try and show a figure bowing or being weighed down. I hoped that the figure in the work looked almost submissive to someone or something. This year as it is the last year and I am working to my degree show I have done pieces that I feel read well by themselves but will also have a good impact all together. I appreciate a collection of work that gathers more meanings and ideas when placed together. In the future I hope that I will acquire something within the art field but what part of it I do not know. I still would like to get a Masters but I do not want to act on it quickly. I think I will really need to think what I would want to specialize in and what I would enjoy the most.� - Anna Gray
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‘But do we feel?’ by Kaliopi Tsokaropolou
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‘Untitled’ by Sarah Reid
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WHAT DOES YOUR FRONT DOOR SAY ABOUT YOU? Words & Images: Aleksandra Semjonova & Daron Fatah
In the heart of a big city where the buildings are tall and grey, a flash of colour is a welcome sight. We searched the city of Aberdeen for quirky doors that stand out from the monotone. Each colour has a different vibe, lending a hint at what lies behind it. Here’s what we think...
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Blue is a colour of imagination. It represents honesty, trust and loyalty. A good choice for those who appreciate simplicity, but want to bring new colours to their house.
Pink is a positive colour which can add warmth and comfort to your house. It’s a sign of kindness and sensitivity, making it the best choice for those who want to stand out from their neighbours.
Yellow is an uplifting colour which will make your door look more fun, offering positive and cheerful emotions. A yellow door suits a communicable and social person.
Green is a spring colour, which symbolizes growth and renewal, restoring depleted energy. A green door can bring harmony and balance to your house.
A burgundy door suits people who want to show their power and strengths. A good choice for the fearless among us.
Red is one of the most passionate colours. It represents love while also exuding strong and powerful energy. A perfect colour for confident people.
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PanamArt Words: Paul de Villepin Image: Brian Smith
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he recent revelations which emerged from the Panama Papers, a trove of more than 11 million documents obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with 106 media from 80 different countries have helped shed the light on the mysterious art market. Indeed, the leaked files from the law firm MossackFonseca have given us a deep look into the many ways offshore shell companies are used to hide the ownership of art. Three high-profile cases in particular illustrate just how critical a role secrecy has come to play in the art market of today. British billionaire’s offshore shares helped change the market forever First of all, the papers reveal that a collection of modernist masterpieces assembled by Victor and Sally Ganz, a Manhattan couple, and auctioned for $206.5 million at a landmark sale at Christie’s in New York in 1997, was not actually sold by their family, but by a British financier who had secretly bought it months earlier.
According to Mossack-Fonseca documents, the British billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis who at the time was not only the richest man in England, but also Christie’s biggest shareholder was the seller at the auction. Current Tottenham Hotspur Football Club owner, Lewis has incorporated several offshore companies to hold these investments. Many of them have as a shareholder the Bahamas-registered Aviva Holdings Ltd., incorporated in 1993 and named after a series of massive yachts that have served as his floating art galleries. Since Mossack-Fonseca helped broker a $168 million guarantee on behalf of Christie’s, auction houses offering sellers guarantees on high-profile lots and collections has become a common practice in the art market. Rybolovlev’s divorce rigging Mossack Fonseca helped Monaco-based Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev register one company in the British Virgin Islands that he used to buy and store his collection, making it inaccessible to his wife. In 2008, Elena Rybolovleva filed for divorce in a Swiss court, setting in motion the most expensive
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divorce settlement in history. Although Swiss law dictates that each party receives a neat, equal share of all assets, some of these were hard to track down, spread across Rybolovlev’s offshore companies. The Monaco based billionaire used an offshore holding entity, created by Mossack-Fonseca, to move his collection out of his wife’s reach during divorce proceedings. Mr. Rybolovlev’s lawyers denied that the divorce had anything to do with his decision to transfer ownership of his art to the entity, Xitrans Finance Ltd., which he had established in the British Virgin Islands in 2002. During the legal battle that ensued, correspondence sent to Mossack-Fonseca stated that Mr. Rybolovlev used Xitrans to move his collection out of Switzerland to Singapore and London. The Rybolovlev family trust’s lawyer said the offshore arrangements were set up completely legitimately for the purposes of asset protection and estate planning and had been publicly disclosed in numerous publications worldwide.
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Additionally Rybolovlev’s name has also been in the news for complaints he filed against another one of the Panamanian firm’s clients: Yves Bouvier, a Swiss art dealer known for using and renting out space in many freeports storage facilities where valuable objects stay untaxed around the world. Rybolovlev has accused Bouvier of marking up prices of artworks the former had purchased through the latter; he has at least five companies that have connections to Mossack-Fonseca, as the firm’s records indicate. Overall Mr. Rybolovlev has spent more than $2 billion on museum-quality works by Leonardo da Vinci (Salavator Mundida Vinci’s only painting remaining in private hands) Picasso, Gauguin, Matisse, Rodin, Modigliani and other artists. Mossack-Fonsaca’s role in fight over painting stolen by Nazis The documents show how the use of a shell corporation can confuse a restitution claim. For four years, Philippe Maestracci, a French resident, has been fighting in New York courts to claim a
Modigliani painting, Seated Man With a Cane, (pictured above) which he says was taken from his grandfather by the Nazis. The painting, valued at $25 million, was bought at auction in 1996 by the International Art Centre, a Panama-based entity that many in the art world had long associated with the Nahmad family of art dealers. Mr. Maestracci has struggled to make headway with his suit, partly because the Nahmads, a family of billionaire art dealers and collectors, have said their galleries had no ownership stake in the offshore entity. The documents released last week established that Nahmad family members have controlled the International Art Centre for more than 20 years, and that the family’s patriarch, David Nahmad, has been its sole owner since 2014. The International Art Centre is actually one of two companies the Nahmads have registered with Mossack-Fonseca, although it may have previously existed in another form: one of the Mossack
Fonseca documents indicates that International Art Centre acquired the Edgar Degas pastel Danseuses in October 1989. The second company known as Swingon International Ltd., was established in 1992 in the British Virgin Islands. According to other leaked records, the Nahmads were among the first to offshore art using Mossack-Fonseca’s services. On the 8th of April Swiss prosecutors issued a seizure order for the painting, which the Art Center stores at the Geneva Freeport. Beyond those three cases, the documents have also revealed the offshore business dealings of prominent figures in the art world, including Artinfo.com publisher Louise Blouin. the founder of the China Guardian Auction House Chen Dongsheng. the artist and arts patron daughters of Azerbaijan’s billionaire dictator Ilham Aliyev, Spanish baroness and art collector Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza and even Pablo Picasso’s granddaughter, Marina Ruiz-Picasso.
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ART IN THE GRANITE CITY Words & Images: Aleksandra Semjonova & Daron Fatah
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Whether you’re looking for classic or contemporary art, Aberdeen has it all. With a wide range of art galleries and shops it’s easy to find your preference of art. We’ve hand picked six of the best galleries and shops in the Granite City.
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Colin Wood Antiques 25 Rose St, City Centre, Aberdeen AB10 1TX
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Enid Hutt Gallery 500 Union St, Aberdeen AB10
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Hobbycraft Union Square Shopping Centre, 8 East Terrace, Aberdeen, AB11 5RD
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Gallery Heinzel Thistle House 24-26 Thistle St, Aberdeen AB10 1XD
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Newave Gallery 49 Castle St Aberdeen AB11 5BB
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Peacock Visual Arts 21 Castle St Aberdeen AB11 5BQ
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Art and Glob globalisati
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balisation: The inherent ties between ion and the rise of contemporary art Words: Paul de Villepin
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T
he political ideology of Western capitalism and the rhetoric of the Cold War, not aesthetics, served as a foundation and legitimation for the success of modern art. Realism in art was banned as a characteristic of totalitarian systems such as communism and fascism. Therefore, during the decades of the Cold War, modern art was protected by an ideology that defended it from any criticism. But now, with the effects of globalisation and the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall marking the end of the Cold War, also a critique of modern art from a perspective beyond Euro-America seems possible. Nowadays there is a new cartography of art as an effect of globalisation. New continents and countries, from the Asian to the Arab world, enter the art world as well as its market. But with this shift in attention, we experience not only a remapping of the cartography of art, but also a rewriting of art itself. The canon of modern art, linked more or less to the West, to the European–North American axis, is slackening. We can observe and name at least several transformations of modern art. The starting point of these transformations is the evidence that in the global art world the keyword is not any more ‘modern’ but ‘contemporary’. We cannot claim that all the art now produced in Asia or Africa is modern, according to the standard of the West. But it is clear that this art is
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contemporary. To speak about art as contemporary art and not as modern art is already an effect of global transformations. However if we deem the discovery of America in 1492 as the first step of globalisation, we should therefore mention the fact that colonisation as a part of globalization led to the discovery of ethnic art, especially in the nineteenth century. As a consequence, the attention and the interest of artists in the visual vocabulary of ethnic art rose. Works such as Negerplastik (Negro-Sculpture) by Carl Einstein (1920) and others from the same period show how this interest influenced the rise of modern art from cubism to expressionism and surrealism. Another source for the genesiof modern art was the obscure spiritualism and The Spiritual in Art. The result of these influences was the end of representation, the end of classical art and the beginning of modern art. The end of representing the world of visible things was announced. One school banned the object entirely from painting and just represented the formal elements of painting, the representation of reality was declared to be at an end. Instead, two different, even opposite strategies of representation followed: the representation of the means of art and the representation of things. Slowly a third school emerged in the twentieth century, beginning with photography considered as
“The adve media, new and new te has had a t effect on co art prod
ent of new w materials, echnologies tremendous ontemporary duction.�
the reality of media. This school was in conflict with the doctrine of modern art, because photography, film, and video were still media of representation, although they could be combined with real things and real people in installations. Consequently, media were very fitting to transform the doctrine of modern art. It is evident that the most influential paradigm in twentieth century art was the covert hegemony of photography. Famous painters such as Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter, or Andy Warhol have painted photographs or have derived their paintings from photographs. From Constantin Brancusi and Man Ray to Erwin Wurm, sculptors have been influenced by photography. The advent of new media, new materials, and new technologies has had a tremendous effect on contemporary art production. Beyond the market and the museums a huge generation of young artists, designers, and architects all over the world have created a new culture, new visual and acoustic worlds in a new architecture.
artists therefore establish a strong relationship to the mass media. The mass media play a new role in video art. The border between art and film has blurred. Art as film and film as art has created a new genre. With the availability of new digital cameras and graphics programs, photography is abandoning the realistic world and inventing unseen, virtual worlds. This mixing of the media has led to extraordinary major innovations in each of the media and in art. No single medium is dominant any longer, instead all of the different media influence and determine each other. Nowadays it appears that Modern art, the modern world and the capitalist world economy stand in a logical relation to one another. Contemporary art in the global age explores the possibilities of a progressive transformation of capitalist world system culture and the difficulties and contradictions that result from it.
What is happening now, is the mixing and crossing of the media. Video, for example, triumphs with the narrative imagination of film by using multiple projections instead of one screen, and telling a story from many perspectives at the same time rather than from just one perspective. Video
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Art School Girl Words & Images: Lauren Wheeler
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itting in her studio space with paint on her hands, Rachel Hobkirk lets me into the weird and wonderful world of art school.
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Tell us a bit about yourself.
What is your current project about?
I am currently a third year Painting and Printmaking student at the Glasgow School of Art. I work primarily with painting and screen-printing.
My project currently is an exploration of popular visual culture. My aim this year is to take various cultural motifs and texts from different visual systems I’m linked with, i.e. social media, popular culture, abstract painting and figurative painting, to create a new body of work. It’s the relationship between myself as a traditional painter and a young, narcissistic 21st century consumer that I am interested in. I hope to explore the un-canniness of combining formalist, abstract qualities of painting with obscure text and imagery from popular culture.
Obviously art is a huge part of your life. Has it always been so important to you? My earliest memories are of drawing, I would never be without pens, pencils and paper growing up so I would say that art has always been an intrinsic part of my life. Throughout school there was never anything else I wanted to do more, so art school seemed to be the next logical step. Where do you usually get your inspiration? My inspiration derives from anything and everything. The majority of source material for my project this year has come from my online world, Instagram, Facebook, music, YouTube etc. Instagram’s feed is like a continually updating sketchbook that I can scroll through for other artist’s work, dark, witty humour and interesting images. I’ve always been influenced by the work of Gerhard Richter. His abstract screen paintings hold a beautiful aesthetic and his ‘I just know when it’s right’ approach to art making is something I admire. Recently I have been researching a number of artist’s labelled under the Post-Internet Art umbrella, such as Corey Archangel and exploring how my own practice potentially falls into similar realms.
Most art today is seen in a refreshed, passing mode as it is continually posted onto the world’s visual feed. Like a lot of Post-Internet art, I look to reintroduce elements of online, digital culture back into the white cube gallery, to create physical paintings from them. I believe it is important to re-establish art forms within the gallery space to allow them to hold a fixation with real life when so much of it is viewed through the screen and to allow ourselves, as artists, to question further the relationship between what is real and what is not. As an artist, has your style changed a lot over the years? Yes, my practice has changed a great amount since first year, both aesthetically and conceptually. I feel like art school is the time to experiment with different mediums, materials and styles. I hope my practice will continue to grow and change.
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“The subjectivity of art is a doubleedged sword because it means your work can be simultaneously good and bad, tasteful and tacky, skilful and clumsy.”
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Art is very subjective. Do you ever struggle between creating exactly what you want and creating what you think other people will like? As a practising artist I think it is important to understand the climate you are working in, what people are interested in, what is being exhibited. However for me, this is on a more subconscious level. Consciously, I never make a piece of artwork because I think it’s what other people will like or is in fashion. I see my art as being primarily for
myself; it is a language I can use to respond to the world I am in. The subjectivity of art is a doubleedged sword because it means your work can be simultaneously good and bad, tasteful and tacky, skilful and clumsy. However, it also can make the process of making art today incredibly liberating, there are no prescribed rules, or preconceived notions you have to follow. Autonomy in art is key. Describe art school in three words. Crazy, kaleidoscopic, free.
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The streets of Italy Words: Sara Lamon Images: Thetan
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D
iego Brusegan, 36, better known as ‘Thetan Clay’ or simply ‘Thetan’, is a talented Italian graffiti artist who lives in the Venetian area. His Facebook page “Thetan Graffiti” has nearly 20,000 followers. He has been featured in many international graffiti magazines and websites and has created a few pieces in Berlin, Prague and France. Thetan started doing graffiti when he was only 17 hasn’t stopped ever since. He says: “I started back in 1997 together with a group of friends mainly because we were just bored teenagers looking for something different to do in such a small town. I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time but I kept experimenting and learning more about this form of art which eventually led to a sort of love/hate relationship. I believe that this passion has always been hidden inside me, something that I was meant to do.” He initially tagged himself as ‘Clay’ because he really liked the figure of the wrestler Muhammad Ali whose real name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. He liked the simplicity of the word. He then decided to moved to ‘Thetan’ which originates from the Greek letter ‘Theta’ meaning ‘thought’ or ‘life’ while ‘Thetan’ itself means spirit or soul. “I chose it because I thought that the meaning was more profound and I needed a sort of life change.” He underlines how writers are a different category of artist because doing graffiti started as an illegal form of art which was seen badly by society, but that things have changed with time and now street artists have the chance to have their work exposed in art galleries or exhibitions and
get legal spaces to paint offered by the city council itself. When asked about his success on social media, he replies: “I won’t call it ‘success’. Yes, I’ve got a Facebook page with many likes and followers, that’s true, but I couldn’t tell you the reason why. I’m obviously happy that people appreciate my creations because I worked hard to perfect and improve my technique despite the fact I still think I have a lot to learn and I keep seeing imperfections in my work.” He then adds: “My art has developed a lot over the past years. At the beginning I didn’t know what I was doing or even the right paint to use but I kept observing and studying other people’s work all around the city to find and develop my own personal style.” During these past years he spent most of his time making sketches and lots of drawings on walls. He doesn’t believe in talent, instead he thinks that: “It’s necessary to have a strong willing to do, the dedication and time to pursue your passion, observe the world around yourself and listen to the art inside of you that demands to be expressed. Nothing comes for free.” In fact, he stresses how he’s making his whole life a “constant inspiration” and that he accepts whatever life gives him. Thetan will participate at Meeting of Styles Italy, a graffiti festival for artists from all all over the world which is taking place in Milan between the 3rd and the 5th of June.
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Setsuko Words: Camillia Giannoni Images: Setsuko
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hen I enter the church a tiny Japanese lady is setting up small pieces of paper on the floor. Her long black hair shines as she moves her head to greet me. Setsuko has just come back from her home country where she has been organising a contemporary art exhibition in the municipality of Rikuzentakata one of the villages that had been most affected by the Tsunami five years ago. “Two years ago I had been there and I felt like I wanted to do something to help the people. For this reason I invited thirty artists from France and Italy to create some works to be exposed in that place.” Among the artists that took part in the initiative there are Nanni Balestrini, Piero Gilardi, Lisa Ponti, Renata Boero, Corrado Levi. Thanks to the partnership between the municipality of Rikuzentakata, the Italian embassy in Tokyo and the Japanese embassy in Rome the exhibition will be presented in Italy to celebrate the 150 years of good relationships between the two countries. At the moment Setsuko is also working at another project, for which she has been selected, to commemorate the master Shozo Shimamoto of the Gutai group. “I am going to present a work about the death of bees caused by the abuse of pesticides. I am trying to make people aware of how important these animals are for the environment. It is in the smallest things that the biggest treasure are often hidden.” When I ask her where she takes the inspiration for her works from she gets serious.
“I do not think it is just the inspiration. I always carry on an in-depth research about the topics I am interested in and that I think are important for conveying a message.” She puts her hands together and nods without saying anything for a while. “When I am preparing for a performance for example I isolate myself from the rest of the world and I focus really intensely on what I have to do. This sort of meditation allows me to gather all the energy I need.” Setsuko was born and grew up in Japan where she studied classical music and then she moved to Europe to carry on her studies at the Accademia of Brera, in Milan, where she focused on contemporary art. “In some way art has always been an important part of my life. When I was in primary school my grandmother was a teacher in Shodo, where I went to take piano lessons.” Sitting in the semi-darkness of the church with her slow moves and the corners of her mouth constantly bent up she transmits a sense of peace. “When I was working at my dissertation for the Accademia of Brera I had to interview Ben Vuatier in France. That morning he was nervous and got really mad for some of the questions I asked. I thought he did not like me but in the end we became friends and he invited me to expose some of my works at his exhibitions.” It is impossible to believe someone could have ever been angry at her.
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