DAVID PHOENIX
JAT THOMPSON
LOLA CERVANT
MYRIAM GRAS MARK LLOYD
SARAH JANE MARK
BEN LIVNE WEITZMAN
GWENDOLINE POUCHOULIN
SUSANNE LAYLA PETERSEN
Be that as it may, this catalog or any portion there of may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without express written permission from Peripheral ARTeries and featured artists.
Lives and works in Detroit, Michigan, USA
Lives and works in Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Lives and works in Tilburg, The Netherlands
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Lives and works in Oakland, California., USA
Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Lives and works in Maryland, USA
Lives and works in Stow, Massachusetts, USA
Lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark
Special thanks to: Isabel Becker, Julia Überreiter, Deborah Esses, Xavier Blondeau, Margaret Noble, Nathalie Borowski, Marco Visch, Xavier Blondeau, J.D. Doria, Matthias Callay, Luiza Zimerman, Kristina Sereikaite, Scott D'Arcy, Kalli Kalde, Carla Forte, Mathieu Goussin, Dorothee Zombronner, Olga Karyakina, Robert Hamilton, Carrie Alter, Jessica Bingham, Fabian Freese, Elodie Abergel, Ellen van der Schaaf, Courtney Henderson, Ben Hollis, Riley Arthur, Ido Friedman, Nicole Ennemoser, Scott Vogel, Tal Regev, Sarah Hill, Olivia Punnet and Simon Raab
I am a fiber artist and fashion designer who is inspired by the colors, textures, shapes and patterns found in nature and in various cultural expressions found around the world. My spiritual practice of prayer and studying sacred text are an important part of my process as well as inspiration. My work is also heavily influenced by my practice of re-purposing materials. The work is slow and is a contemplative practice for me to renew my mind, slow down, dream, pray, and listen. I am interested in how art can become alive on the human form and I am honored when I get to witness a person's inner transformation as they put on a garment that makes them feel beautiful and alive.
Inspired by the ethereal intricacies found in nature as well as the colors, textures, and tribal symbols discovered in her travels throughout Africa and Asia, artist Sarah Jane Mark produces captivating mixed media artworks that provide the viewers with such a multilayered experience. Mark's practice is focussed on the inquiry into what it means for an installation to become alive on the human form and accomplishes the difficult task of urging the viewers to evolve from the condition of mere spectatorship to conscious participants to the artist's creative process, discovering new meanings in her artworks: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to Sarah Jane Mark's stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.
Hello Sarah and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and after having earned your Bachelor of Fine Arts from Seattle Pacific University you nurtured your education with an Associates degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City for Fashion Design: how do these experiences along with your career in the field of women's high fashion sportswear Design influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum dued to your travels throughout Africa and Asia inform the way you relate yourself to art making?
After a decade of working as a fashion designer for large clothing manufacturers, I found myself overworked and disenchanted with the industry on many levels. I decided to quit my job and take a sabbatical period
dedicated to spiritual seeking through art making. It was at this time of my life I came to realize how drawn I was to working with textiles as my medium of personal artistic expression. I am fascinated by the process of how textiles are made and how the endless variation of colors and textures can tell stories. I particularly love to find uses for textiles that have been discarded, especially utilizing scrap waste from the garment industry. After witnessing such waste and unethical practices so common in the fashion industry, I turned to art making and also desire to be an advocate for ethical fashion. I hope the stories I can convey through my art can open people’s eyes to the lives of real people behind products.
Throughout my travels in Africa and Asia, I came to love the people there and continue to be inspired by the colors, textures, smells, and cultural traditions I encountered. I was also deeply impacted by the poverty I witnessed, which has transformed my way of thinking and has inspired me to live a life filled with more social awareness to make choices which hopefully can contribute to a more socially just world.
Your approach is very personal and your technique condenses a variety of viewpoints, that you combine into coherent balance. We would suggest to our readers to visit
http://www.sarahjanemark.com in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up? How much importance does play spontaneity in your work? In particular, do you conceive you works instinctively or do you methodically elaborate your pieces?
As far as process, I try to spend every morning in a state of prayer to connect with the Divine.
This centers my thoughts, my heart, gives me peace, and guides me throughout the day. It is from this deeper place that I try to work from. From there I get an inspiration or idea about a piece and then I usually try to make use of materials I have or find as repurposing is an important method for me. Spontaneity is important because when I develop a piece I try out different materials, colors, shapes, etc. until I get that feeling of “yes-that’s it!”. Sometimes it’s a frustrating process with a lot of experimentation. My process is a bit of a combination of conceiving works instinctively as well as methodically elaborating each piece.
For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Descent, an interesting project that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article.
What has at once captured our attention of your captivating exploration of the question "what does prayer look like"? is the way you
provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: while walking our readers through the genesis of Descent, would you
shed light to your main sources of inspiration?
For the piece entitled, Descent, I explored
with visual themes the question of “what does prayer look like?” I was playing with the arrow shapes pointing upwards as well as downwards. I used gold and silver
metallics to give the feeling of the supernatural sphere and light. I hung many dangling cone-like floral shapes from above representing nature and how we can connect with the Divine through creation. I also used translucent recycled plastic milk jugs cut into leaflike shapes and then dipped the tips in gold paint. I like the juxtaposition of a plastic and man made item turned into a shape that’s found in nature. The installation speaks of this interplay between what’s above and what’s below. I later created a kimono reflecting those same themes and a friend wore the piece to explore how an installation can come alive on the human form.
You are a versatile artist, capable of crossing from a medium to another and over the years you expanded your love for fibers into new areas including fine art, installation, and clothing design. We daresay that are always seeking for the most coherent way to tell a story: what draws you to such cross disciplinary approach? What are the qualities that you are searching for in the materials that you include in your works? And in particular, when do you recognize that one of the mediums has exhausted its expressive potential to self?
I enjoy the cross-disciplinary approach of making art, installation and clothing
design. I love the art of clothing design, however, after years of designing for clothing companies, I found it hard to unwind my “designer” brain to purely make something sellable for the average consumer. I have found freedom in creating art and installation for solely the purpose of creative expression, rather than creating something that is “sellable”. Only recently have I been able to approach clothing design again and I’ve used my installations as an inspiration for the kimono pieces. I would like to continue to create clothing but more from the approach of an artistic expression. I am also very curious about identity and interested in developing some clothing pieces that play with how someone feels in the clothing and how that affects their sense of self and message about themselves they convey to the outside world.
As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your spiritual practice of prayer and studying sacred text are an important part of your process as well as inspiration. How would you consider the relationship between spirituality and creativity?
For me, the relationship between spirituality an creativity are extremely important and if I am not in touch spiritually, I am not able to create well. Spirituality is what keeps me open, free,
Modern Woman Installation
and challenges me to create from a deep place of seeking truth.
We would like to spend some words about Emma Hope, that is the first fiber art piece you created after leaving the fashion industry: would you like to introduce our readers to this captivating work?
Emma Hope began with the intentional purpose to seek inner healing from the loss of my first child. A drawing emerged from the question, “I wonder what the spiritual realm looks like?” I began to cut out fetus shapes that were the size of eight-week old babies. It was a very meditative, healing, and prayerful process for me as I spent the first three years of this project tracing and cutting out 3700 individual fetuses. Then I spent the following three years creating the background panels composed of layers and layers of fabric scrap waste from the fashion industry.
Each fetus was sewn on top of the panels by hand with invisible thread. The work is composed of ten fabric panels all slightly overlapping to create one visual landscape of souls ascending in an upward direction from one reality to the next. The landscape reflects one day of abortion in the United States. During the six years it took to make this piece, the tedious hours were consumed with many prayers for those who have also lost children due to abortion. Loss of life is real no matter how it happened and it
Withering Glory Installation & Kimono
has been important for me to grieve the loss of my first child, Emma Hope.
Another interesting work from your artistic production that has particularly impressed us and that we would like to discuss is entitled Modern Woman. As you have explained once, the piece was inspired by women who pushed the envelope in their work, in both content and form and the contributions these women made socially and artistically. Do you think that your being a woman provides your artistic research with some special value or with a particular kind of sensitiveness?
Being a woman and a mother has given me a special perspective as an artist. The miracle of being able to carry a child inside my body and then the process of birth itself have been life altering experiences that will always remain a deep source of inspiration for me. These experiences have deepened my faith and understanding of the Divine in profound ways. Also for the last 7 years that I have been making work, I have also been a stay at home mom with my two sons, Silas and Nekoda. These years have been filled with such blessing and joy being with my children, but they have also been extremely challenging. The amount of self-sacrifice that is required has pushed me to my limits and the lack of time to myself and lack of creative time has been very difficult. My husband is also an artist, is very supportive, and he knows for me to be
at my best, it is important for me to be creative. I am very grateful to be able to be a wife, mother, and artist.
You draw inspiration from tribal symbols you discovered in your travels throughout Africa and Asia: your works could be considered as explorations of the insterstitial point between perceptual reality and the abstract nature of the process of manipulation of symbols: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how would you consider the role of symbols within your work as an artist?
I believe storytelling through any art medium is powerful and important. I think any way an artist chooses to communicate story is valid, as long as it is honest and authentic. In some cases, I have chosen to use symbols within my work as a way of telling stories. For example, my piece The Woman Behind is an example of this, and is part of a series called Hands of the Maker. In this series, I utilized muslin packaging that once was used to transport fair trade goods made by artisans in India. My friends and I went to Northern India to work with artisans and we began selling their hand made items in the U.S. The first shipment arrived bundled in this muslin
material with hand-stitched and resin stamped seams.
I was amazed at their method of packaging with fabric and hand sewing compared to the paper and tape we use in the West. I then created pieces with sewn images to convey stories of these artisans I encountered. On many of the pieces you can see the difference between my stitching and the Indian person’s stitching whose job was to hand stitch packages. The Woman Behind tells the story of how most women around the world are viewed as second class citizens with less rights than men. I then used gold thread to sew a symbol I found of hands linking together which represented “restorative justice”. The artisans we met in India were a beautiful group of women who reminded me of this symbol. Their hands all working together as a group restored their value of themselves and also gave value to the entire group. This is also evident in many successful micro-loan models around the world where people overcome poverty not as individuals, but as a a group.
We like the way your your practice of re-purposing materials accomplishes the difficult task of providing an object with new life: what does appeal you of this aspect of your work?
I began repurposing materials as a young child, so it comes very natural to
The Woman Behind, 32" x 32", Hands of the Maker series
me. We had a family friend who was a fashion designer and she used these 80’s metallic and satin materials for her prom dress business. I would go to the factory and pick out a bag of scraps with the most metallic pieces as possible to create fashions for my Barbies with scissors and tape. It is funny to me now that I still have an obsession for using scraps in everything I do today.
I still use that same gold metallic fabric! I love the spiritual story of redemption and I think this is a deeper reason why I love giving materials new life. Also I believe it’s important for everyone to reuse as many items as they can in a global effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle. My boys love to create things out of trash and I see it in their school curriculums as well so hopefully it will become more of mainstream way of operating.
One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?
I think I used to be more concerned how my work would be received by an audience. At this point, I am more motivated to create work from a deep place inside of me and it’s wonderful if that impacts people in a way they can relate. I do believe that God can speak powerfully to people through art. My hope is that I can be a conduit for God to move and speak and that I won’t get in the way.
Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Sarah. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?
I would like to continue to explore the intersection of installation and clothing design. I also did a recent collaboration called Primal Flash with a painter named Saffell Gardner. We created a series of painted, sewn and adorned wearable art pieces that were inspired by traditional African hunter’s garments. It was a beautiful collaboration that pushed my boundaries and so I hope to continue to challenge myself with future collaborations.
Photographers: Jennifer Anibal and Jennie Warren
My work begins from a philosophical and conceptual starting point and often directly references postmodern philosophy, quantum theory, and science fiction. My work is a visual manifestation of thought experiments. The circle and sphere motif appears in nearly all my work and serves as a symbolic visual vehicle, a conceptual and philosophical metaphor representing the unknown. My work intends to explore the unknown unknowns of the human condition in the age of computer technology, genetic development, and the future wonders and catastrophes of this blurification. In my art practice I synthesis the past and the contemporary both in themes, imagery and materials. My recent work I burn art and objects into an ash which I mix with pigments and paint with. This is an attempt to introduce authenticity and aura into the very material element of the work. I do this in reaction/conversation with the ideas of Walter Benjamin and Jean Baudrillard, a reaction to superficiality and un-originality and un-authenticity. I am attempting to add a deeper meaning, value, the ‘real’ into the artwork in an age of artificiality and simulation. The burning process is a reinterpretation of the Hindu burning of the dead practice; ‘Antiyesti’ and thus adding a spiritual element/process into the practice and artwork itself. These ideas fascinate me and offer a huge pathway for creative practice and I believe holds currency and relevancy in the context of a world increasingly reliant and dependent on technology.
An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.comHello Mark and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted background. You have a solid background and you studied at the Falmouth School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art, and Winchester School of Art: how do these experience influences the way you currently conceive your works? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum and your travels inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general?
In my teenage to early twenties I practiced as a graffiti artist. Many of these experiences from this period proved invaluable and have served me well in my current practice. Some of these invaluable experiences were; working in collaboration with other artists, gathering
research and experimentally using sketchbooks, working on a very large scale, being self-driven, selfmotivated, investigating colour, line and form, experimenting with the pictorial space, using a wide range of painting and drawing materials. Also importance was viewing and seeing other graffiti artists work and discover what they were doing, either online or in the real world. This was important to keep knowledgeable about the ‘now’ so I could then absorb this visual and ideas information into my practice. Reflective practice was embedded in what I do from an early stage and many of these skills have been transferable. My past art school studies also have influenced the way I conceive and produce my work. Firstly how I organise and utilise my studio space is directly informed from what I learnt in numerous art institutions. Secondly how I conduct my art practice research and investigation both conceptually and practically in use of materials and processes is also directly influenced from a culmination of learned experiences from art institutions where I studied. These two very
Portrait of Mark Lloyd by William Bazlinton Photography
Eternal singularity VI 2015
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, iridescent paint and ash paint pigments on canvas
different background art approaches have amalgamated into how I work today. My cultural substratum and journey in life provided me with a solid grounding and definitive understanding of how I relate to myself, my purpose and intentions. My cultural substratum and travels have really given me a sense of who I am and belief in my practice and what I am aiming to do.
Your works convey a coherent sense of unity that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would address our readers to visit https://lloydfineart.com in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up? In particular, do you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work as an artist?
My ‘set up’ is that I run an artist studio with assistants in Bournemouth UK and this is where the majority of my work is created. I utilise many making techniques and processes to create my work from; printing, video, projection, installation, drawing, sculpture and ready-mades, however the majority of my work is produced in painting. Once made the work gets recorded and archived, then transported around the world to art shows, art fairs, and exhibitions etc this takes a lot of management, organisation and time. My assistants are vitally important in all of this. Being an artist in the 21st century also demands engagement with online digital platforms and communications networks, this also demands time and effort and has become vitally important way to communicate my work to a global audience. I also lecture in art and research at university and college. Unfortunately being an artist in the 21st century is no longer about just making art!
The Central idea that connects all of my work is ‘to explore unknown unknowns of the human condition and evolution in the age of computer technology, genetic development and the future possibilities and catastrophes of this blurification.’ Other central themes include, how technology is changing reality and the humanity in this technological age. I am also
interested in the things we cannot evidence that are part of and have been part of the human condition for thousands of years, and how technology is affecting these things. In this series the effect of the image and in particular the digital image is having on the human condition is a concept that I am exploring.
For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Eternal singularity, an interesting series that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of your artistic research is the way you provided the visual results of your inquiry into the human condition in the age of computer technology with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Eternal singularity would you tell us your sources of inspiration? And how did you select your subjects?
The digital revolution has changed everything. I found a need to address the advancements and implications of the growth that new technologies have brought, and how that is changing the human, culture, society and the very essence of being and how we experience reality. The eternal singularity series (of which I am still working on) has evolved over many years. Fundamentally my inspiration for this series is based on asking the question; what will the role of artificial intelligence technology be to the human condition when it becomes conscious? What implications does that imply for the role of creator and created, will ai technology become a new god? This question evokes a myriad of theological, technological and philosophical posits. This is what inspires and fascinates me and drives the eternal singularity series.
How I selected my subject was initially built and refined from themes and motifs from my past work. It was a gradual process of inquiry in my work. For example the circle and sphere have appeared in much of my work over the years in differing forms but has always represented mystery or the unknown. This motif was integral to the
Eternal
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, iridescent paint and ash paint pigments on canvas
construction of the visual structure of the eternal singularity series and an important symbolic vehicle. The symbols and language of science, the formulas and equations that appear in the paintings come from quantum mechanics and quantum physics on reality, and creation, and were selected out of a need to represent science. In contrast the work has a representation of faith, of god, a dead god (Lamentation of the dead Christ) which have been re-appropriated from Christian renaissance paintings. The dead Christ’s image is used not on a Christian basis but that it is a representation from art history that represents a dead god. The lamentations met a conceptual need they also engage with the history, tradition and language of painting. Engaging in the language and tradition of painting was the chief reason I choose abstract expressionist methods of painting production,
Eternal
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, iridescent paint and ash paint pigments on canvas
dripping, splashing, colour field, etc in combination with images from renaissance art. These differing painting styles, methods, and approaches provide contrast and opposition both in the making process and visual presence. I believe it creates a dynamic tension and uneasy pressure. Another selected element in the work is a need to represent the imagery, colours, shapes and patterns associated with the design and components of computers and computer software. Indeed throughout the whole production process, computers were integral. Using digital software in the initial designs to using projectors to assist the drawing and composition, and to visual motifs of computers appearing in the work. Of vital importance in this series is the burning of old artworks into ash, and using this ash mixed with paint to create new artwork, rebirth, reborn through process and re-production
Eternal singularity X 2016
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, iridescent paint and ash paint pigments on canvas
Eternal singularity I 2015, (Finalist in the 2017 UK VAO national painting competition)
Eternal singularity IX 2016
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, iridescent paint and ash paint pigments on canvas
(recycled). This is a spiritual concept and practice used in Hinduism in the burning of the dead known as ‘Antyeshti’. In the work I have exploited or re-appropriated ‘antyeshti’ for the purposes of art in an attempt to re-introduce ‘aura’ into the artwork.
You are a versatile artist and you combine unconventional techniques to achieve your visual results and we have been really fascinated with the way your works accomplishes such insightful synthesis the past and the contemporary both in themes, imagery and materials, as clearly revealed in God of Bio-mechanics and Aporia of cybernetic ontology. How would you consider the relationship between the imagery of contemporary age and your practice? In particular, do you think that the concept of
Eternal singularity VII 2016
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, iridescent paint and ash paint pigments on canvas
contemporariness could be considered the point of convergence of ideas from past ages?
The relationship between the imagery of the contemporary age and my practice is important. Artists of the past recorded and were inspired by the technology of their age. Think how Turner responded to the locomotive or how painters responded to the introduction of photography, there are many examples from the history of art. I believe this responding to imagery and technologies of the contemporary age is nothing new but something that artists have always done, in that way I am no different from those artists that came before me. With this in mind the concept of contemporariness is the point of convergence of ideas from past ages, or in other words ‘the future is old’.
You have once stated that "art can provide an avenue for self-expression, Art can enable us to realise the truth, art can provide hope and wonder, elements that can provoke change and save lives "Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artist’s role differs depending on which part of the world you’re in. It depends on the political system you’re living under." Not to mention that almost everything, ranging from Caravaggio's Inspiration
of Saint Matthew to Joep van Lieshout's works, could be considered political, do you think that your works is political, in a certain sense? What could be in your opinion the role of Art in the contemporary age?
I believe a political element in art and in life cannot be avoided as Thomas Mann stated ‘everything is political’ even when not intended there always remains somewhere along the sequence a political
facet, it’s unavoidable. I do think though as an artist you can change the level or degree of the political aspect or element of the work and in the work. The political element does not have to be the dominant factor, but can be if the artist wishes to be. The role of art in the contemporary age in my opinion is many things to many people and very difficult to establish, it is like trying to provide a definition of art, perhaps undefinable due to its multifaceted definitions.
As you have remarked once, your work is a visual manifestation of thought experiments: would you say that the way you provide the transient with sense of permanence allows you to create materiality of the immaterial?
I find that there is always an interplay of a paradoxical nature in the conceiving and making of artwork, neither here nor there, creation and destruction, beauty and disgust, it’s the place in-
between where I work with materiality in order to discover and explore the immaterial. The both are equally valid, but entirely opposing. Logic or emotion, science or faith/believe, my work plays and journeys between both finding a place of
questions not answers. Whether it is possible to create materiality of or containing the immaterial is a difficult question to answer. Maybe through this process one gains some essence or understanding of the immaterial, whether this is
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, marker, iridescent pigments on canvas (Permanent display Quintessential Brands Regents street London)
contained in the manifested artwork is highly subjective however the relationship between the spiritual and art is as old as recorded history. I intend in my work to at least to provoke the viewer or observe to ask these sorts of questions.
Your practice aims to provide your artworks with a deeper meaning, strongly connected to the idea of reality, that in an age strongly pervaded with artificiality and simulation, need to be rethinked: how do you view the concepts of the real and the artificial playing out within your works?
As in many elements in my work there is an interplay between real and the artificial in my work. Science fiction and science fact are merged to form new meanings and posits. I am very
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, marker, iridescent pigments on canvas (Private collection NYC)
influenced and interested in the ideas of Jean Baudrillard he suggested that postmodern culture is artificial, but we have not yet lost reality because the concept of artificiality still requires some sense of reality against which to recognize the artifice. In this digital age visual culture and even reality itself we have lost all ability to make sense of the distinction between nature and artifice, these are ideas infused into my work conceptually, in the making process, and finished artwork.
Your artistic practice seems to aim to look inside of what appear to be seen, rather than its surface: we have really appreciated the vibrancy of thoughtful nuances of Will I Dream, that show that vivacious tones are not strictly indispensable to create tension and dynamics.
How did you come about settling on your colour palette? And how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a texture?
In my recent works a reductive approach to the image and the painting process is evolving and I am allowing this to occur, indeed this natural development I am positively encouraging as it has a relationship with the degrading pixelization of the digital image. My colour palette in painting is dictated by the conceptual requirements of the artwork and not my own psychological make-up, mood or emotion. In general I have noticed and it has been pointed out by artist friends of mine that my use of colour has changed over the last few years. Much of my earlier work exploits strong contrasting use of colour and light in both hues and values. This use of colour and light was more dictated from the feel of the work during the painting process, in recent years my application and use of colour and light has become more subtle and complex and perhaps more thoughtful. I have exploited a greater range of neutral colours and tonal variation. This has allowed me to introduce more meaning and relationships of and to things, and the pictorial elements now have a wider complexity of colour and light in hue and value.
Texture and surface variation is a fascinating and exciting space of painting. The changes from washes to impasto to flat deep dull texture to high surface shine has always interested me. I believe it helps infuse my work with a rich densely layered surface of differentiation and can create tension and interest. Painting as an activity for me is always about the place/space between; create and destroy, construct and deconstruct, instinctivity and consideredness, again a paradoxical interplay. The textured surface in my work has areas that can be created in minutes and other areas that take months of layering. I use a wide variety of paints to create this rich differentiation of surface texture from; oil, acrylic, spray paint, enamels, drawing materials, resins, and household paint. I am also always interested in exploiting and using new colours such
as phosphorescent, fluorescent, iridescent paints. I also create my own paints from ash of burnt art objects as I mentioned previously.
Over the years your works have been showcased in a number of occasions, including your recent show at the ARTBOX.PROJECT, Art Basel. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?
I never consider the audience reception in any decision making process in my art practice. I believe in what I am doing. That does not mean that I do not listen or respond to feedback from my peers and other artists, whether good or bad, quite the opposite I greatly value dialogue and discourse. I have learned through years of practice and many problematic commissions that audience, buyer, and gallery feedback can end up dictating your practice until eventually it is no longer your own.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Mark: we wish you all the best with your career. What's next for Mark Lloyd? Are there any projects on the horizon?
On the horizon I have a busy period. I am collaborating with an ex-student of mine to create an experimental artwork with charcoal and video for the artists’ colony BabyForest in Ireland. In the studio we have work to finish for a solo show at the ICC Art Gallery in Illinois USA in September/October. I have some work in a group show in London in September with ArtFox. I am also honoured to be a finalist in the national VAO art competition; the finalists works will be displayed in November in Chester UK. Thank you kindly for your time and interest in my work, I am most grateful to share my work with your prestigious magazine.
Peripheral ARTeries meets
Rejecting any conventional classification regarding its style, Myriam Gras' work explores a wide variety of contemporary social phenomena that affect our media driven and unstable societies, to draw the viewers through an unconventional and multilayered experience. In her work Edenigital Hetching that we'll be discussing in the following pages she accomplished an insightful inquiry into the online petting culture to trigger the viewers' perceptual and cultural parameters. One of the most impressive aspects of Gras' work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of inquirying into the relationship between human experience and the interference of information and media: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.
An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.comHello Myriam and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training and you hold a Bachelor in Fine Arts, that you have recently received from AKV | St. Joost,’sHertogenbosch: how does this experience influence the way you currently conceive and produce your works? And in particular, how does your personal experience inform the way you relate yourself to art making and fuel your creativity?
First of all, thank you for introducing me here at Peripheral ARTeries! I loved
studying at the art academy. They contributed to let me experiment and struggle with my words in installations, sets, videos and sculptures. During the time I was studying there I really learned to make well grounded decisions, even though my work can look somewhat chaotic at first sight.
But chaotic is exactly the way it is. There are always some sticks and stones on the road, and it shapes your way of thinking. I got triggered by the restlessness in our present culture: the technological leaps and the way people present themselves in everyday life. Sometimes I hear people say weird things, but they themselves are not even aware of that.
I find this particularly and that’s liberating. On the one hand this feels like I am being voyeuristic but on the other hand I just
Edenigital Hetching; installation view
feel free to jump into another pool and see what’s going on. This way of observing people is the most pure -and complex- way I can imagine. It sharpens my mind and by these pure observations I am able to create my work.
The results of your artistic inquiry convey together a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit www.myriamgras.nl in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production. Your work ranges from sculptures and videos to (small interactive) installations and shows that you are a versatile artist capable of crossing from a medium to another: what draws you to such cross disciplinary approach? And in particular, when do you recognize that one of the mediums has exhausted it expressive potential to self?
In my work words are always the beginning. I turn them into a very basic sketch, and after this they get more and more detailed. Words get back in and out and this goes on and on. It
is quite a strict process. For example, I started as a painter, but there are way too many words to capture in one painting. And most of the time I don’t want to filter right away. You have to eliminate while making a painting, so for me painting was off. You see, my thoughts travel like
surfing on the internet: linking the most inappropriate things until they fit like a glove. This usually ends up into an installation or a script. The rest of the process of making a video goes very intuitive, very different from the writing. If the materials or tools cannot make me wander or won’t let me turn tides within my own writings... then it's definitely exhausted.
As sculptures etcetera are concerned, everything is more clear, they more take a position. My choices for material, place, shape have to correspond with my words. They have to be of the same strength.
Do you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work as an artist?
I like to see each separate work as a mudra: a position of the hand during meditation or pranayama. The benefit of a mudra is to maintain concentration. You could say the central idea is a place between here and what is possible. This place is a conceptual, mental and physical space. Within my work I am investigating the changeability and complexity of our entity, whereas cultures continuously blend together. I am looking for the potential to figure a honest and more infuse world. At the same time I am interested in the possible loss of identity, language and the relationship with the original culture, and what the outcomes could be.
For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Edenigital Hetching, a stimulating project that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of this interesting transdisciplinary research project about the online petting culture is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Edenigital Hetching would you shed a light about your usual process and setup?
Gladly! At first I get a glimpse of something which is broadly accepted and adapted as ‘ordinary’ but then.. I don’t get it. That’s the signal to start writing. Usually I start conversations with myself about the pros and cons. You see, words and images are like shells, no less integral parts of nature than the substance they cover. It can be positive, it can also be negative, but it's the combination of both that makes it as a whole. What makes us our whole selves.
The second part is also really important: in what kind of environment could this conversation take place? Sometimes I need to build a safety zone; a setting where I can wear masks with different echoes of feeling, the one time discrete, the other time superlative. But sometimes I seek for a direct confrontation. Then the
writing results into a script or a synopsis of one word or one sentence.
Your work also explores the notion and
