LandEscape Art Review // Special Issue // Summer 2017

LandEscape A r t

R e v i e w

ADRIAN REGNIER EDOUARD BURGEAT MADDY SMITH SAMANTA ARETINO JOSEPH SMEDO PHILLIP ALTSTATT CHRISTOPHER OWEN NELSON RASKE JASKE EVA ATHANASIADOU

ART

scape

Land

SUMMARY

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Raske Jaske

Maddy Smith

Adrian Regnier

C. Owen Nelson

Phillip Altstatt

Samanta Aretino

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

Mexico

USA

USA

Argentina/Spain

My work comes from concerns for the environment, which stimulates a passion in me to make artworks from something which would otherwise end up in our bins and then into landfill sites. I believe we have forgotten our relationship with nature.

We created our synthetic world and we dump leftovers around us. I believe we must protect the environment/land-scape from pollution and then the natural, clean nature will bring back health and joy into our lives. I strive for my artwork to have an aesthetic appeal and originality and through them I attempt discreetly to connect the viewer with my life's philosophy – the necessity to think and act towards the improvement on ecological state.

By expanding my research in nature, I have been particularly involved in the sense of vulnerability that nature possesses particularly to changes in the environment. By experimenting with different qualities of materials I have created works that are 'physically vulnerable' to changes in the environment such as touch, light and heat.

By looking at the protective forms of cocoons I was inspired by the sense of closure and safety they represent, contrasting with how marine ecosystem is very susceptible to any changes in the environment.

I have been particularly influenced by d’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s book, ‘On Growth and Form’ in which he studies nature in immaculate detail to prove that biological forms are the 'product of mathematical physical principles' meaning that they are a product of their own environment.

Since the very beginning of my life as an artist I was attracted to sound as a mean to express my self. When I started using sounds, it was more of a tool of documentation, in order to highlight real life episodes and bring them almost as is into the art scene. These could be intimate conversation took place in the public transport system, or a bunch of construction workers singing about their love. The recordings ended up woven in installation.

The sounds and voices are usually a realistic documentation of an event, but at times might be pre-manipulated if I know in advance what I intend to do with them.

Christopher Owen Nelson thrives in the vast arid landscape of the American West. As a Colorado native, he studied fine arts at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design where he learned classical methods in drawing and painting.

While developing a deep appreciation for composition and form, Nelson focused on employing alternative materials: sculpting with used carpet, found objects and painting on glass. He continued on to pursue a career in construction, whereby gaining valuable knowledge in concrete, steel and woodworking that would eventually lay the substructure for a new and innovative artistic approach.

I am inspired by the bigness of the world and the even bigger depths of imagination. This inspiration drives my ambition to its limits. When conceptualizing new work, I often encounter criticism because it is difficult for others to imagine the inventiveness that will go into the execution of the final product. In order to achieve the seemingly impossible worlds that I create, I have to start with the mechanisms that allow me to contort reality.

Gifted with a strong affinity for cityscapes and color, many of Aretino’s photographs focus on women, children, and urban landscape.

However, her work never comes off as something simply dedicated to a cause.

With clever and skillful framing, Aretino forces her viewers to care about her subjects and take an interest in them.

Although they appear frequently isolated, there’s an implication of the world around them that makes them more than lonely, existential figures.

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Christopher Owen Nelson 4 lives and works in USA

Edouard Burgeat

26

lives and works in France

Adrian Regnier

50

lives and works in Mexico

Samanta Aretino

70

lives and works in Madrid, Spain

Joseph Smedo

90

lives and works in USA

Eva Athanasiadou Edouard Burgeat

Eva Athanasiadou

Joseph Smedo

United Kingdom

Greece

USA

Edouard graduated from design in Central Saint Martins in 2012, since then he diverse his practice which now incorporates installation, sculpture, photography, film and drawing, He explores the relation/connection between times in history through specific economic, aesthetic and cultural situations . In a multidisciplinary and socio politically engaged approach, he accomplishes an insightful analysis on the evolution of our modern world, establishing deep involvement with the viewers on both the intellectual level and the emotional one. He proposes a very personal reflection that can be cynical, sometimes critical, light or complex on todays society & contemporary life.

In my project deals with a treaty which already started research from secondary education.

Impetus for this study was the treatise of Plato on the Allegory of the cave. Plato attempts an incision in bipolar shape sensible conceivable. The sense and intellect are a basic principle in most research fields. This is evidenced in the field of biology, philosophy and psychology and refers to the empirical (sensory) knowledge of the world.Empirical knowledge based on commonly accepted cause - and - effect relationship. In quantum physics are different views concerning the validity of the aforementioned relationship.

My approach to creating art is through deep introspective exploration. The events we experience throughout our lives leave a permanent mark on our souls whether it be good or bad; it still remains there, sometimes hidden away. I have made a conscience decision to attempt to purge myself of these marks through my artistic creation process. I feel that this allows me to free up space to allow new marks to be formed down the road. So far this process has served me well. It reveals everything from new born butterflies to releasing some ghosts that have haunted me for way too long.

112

lives and works in Greece

Esther Cohen

134

lives and works in Israel

Raske Jaske

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lives and works in the United Kingdom

Phillip Altstatt

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lives and works in USA

Special thanks to Haylee Lenkey, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar, Joshua White, Nicolas Vionnet, Genevieve Favre Petroff, Sandra Hunter, MyLoan Dinh, John Moran, Marya Vyrra, Gemma Pepper, Michael Nelson, Hannah Hiaseen and Scarlett Bowman, Yelena York Tonoyan, Haylee Lenkey, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar and Robyn Ellenbogen.

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C hristopher Owen Nelson Lives and works in USA

An artist's statement

C

hristopher Owen Nelson thrives in the vast arid landscape of the American West. As a Colorado native, he studied fine arts at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design where he learned classical methods in drawing and painting. While developing a deep appreciation for composition and form, Nelson focused on employing alternative materials: sculpting with used carpet, found objects and painting on glass. He continued on to pursue a career in construction, whereby gaining valuable knowledge in concrete, steel and woodworking that would eventually lay the substructure for a new and innovative artistic approach. Electric power tools became primary instruments, with paints and textiles applied at later stages in conceptual evolution.

Nelson’s creativity is fathomless, as is evident in all aspects of his life. As a successful songwriter/musician, he conveys feelings of beauty and loss lightness and dark intertwine.

These same concepts are mirrored in his visual art, where barren, leafless trees fracture solitary space. Nelson’s portraiture suggests that even the people we are the most intimate with will forever remain mysterious beings. Here, beauty is drawn from the darker aspects of life. There is a consistent thread that runs throughout all bodies of his work: a need to transform shadow and grit into something beautiful and smooth.

Critical attention and art world accolades have been swift and abundant. Early honors include the Most Promising Artist Scholarship Award, and being named as one of “21 Under 31 Emerging Artists” earmarked for success by Southwest Art Magazine. Recently Nelson’s achievements in the arts have been featured in

several national publications, including: Western Art Collector; Luxe Interiors and Design; Western Art and Achitecture; Santa Fean magazine, and American Art Collector.

Representation of Nelson’s work has been strongly focused in the greater southwestern region. However, through prestigious exhibitions and collections, his artworks have travelled the globe. Already in his career, this young artist boasts over a dozen solo exhibitions. Boulder Museum of Art, Boulder, Colorado; The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, and St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland are amongst the many museums and universities who have exhibited his work.

Corporate and public art collections include: Wisdom Tree Investments, New York, New York; Rocky Mountain Cancer Center, Boulder, Colorado; Distant Cellars Vineyard, Fiddletown, California; Goodwill Industries; and Ritz Carlton.

Nelson’s creations reveal the dynamic nature of intrinsic existence, as thought and feeling align within a medium that is uniquely his own.

Combining elements of his skills in painting, construction and songwriting, Nelson illustrates deliberate yet subconscious narratives guided by lucid dreamscape. His work continues to grow in scale and in concept. Nelson is bound by no medium; he creates in a perpetual state of research and development. Striking his own path, he cuts a wide road for future pioneers. Nelson exists in leaps and bounds. The art world follows in double time.

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LandEscape meets

Christopher Owen Nelson An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryders, curator landescape@europe.com

Artist Christopher Owen Nelson's work is a combination of seemingly disparate elements in unexpected ways: more than simply replicating his subjects, Nelson seeks to understand them. He seeks to capture the essence of the mysterious aspect of beauty to draw the viewer to become a part of the work. In his mixed media sculpture entitled Apparition that we'll be discussing in the following pages, he elegantly conveys both strength and refined aesthetics that reject any conventional classification. One of the most impressive aspects of Nelson's work is the way it explores a flawed human perception of permanence in relation to the natural world: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating artistic production.

Hello Christopher and welcome to LandEscape: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted professional background. In particular, how do the classical methods in drawing and painting that you have learnt at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design affect the way you currently relate yourself to art making? And in particular, how does your experience as a songwriter/musician inform your work as a visual artist?

loved to paint with oils back then, but was beginning to use anything I could get my hands on to realize a concept. The classical methods of painting and composition remain a solid foundation from which all of my work benefits.

One of the most important lessons I learned was how hard I would have to work and how I had to set myself apart as an artist. Being surrounded by so many brilliant people for the first time in my life really put me in a place of humility that I have never left. Though I am proud of where I have made it as an artist, I still know that my work has barely begun, and that it will be a lifelong pursuit of innovation and rebirth for myself to be the best artist I can be.

In music, I find that I can express certain things that I may not be able to in my artwork at any given time. Being able to find a home for that overflow of expression has proved to be important for me. Instead of getting too hung up on how to convey something in one field or the other, I simply apply it to a more suitable medium and move on with creating with less blockage.

The majority of my time at RMCAD was spent learning how to conceptualize. How to present objects, whether canvas and paint or pieces of glass or carpet, as parts of a greater story. I

You are an innovator of medium and we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.chrisnelsonfineart.com in order to get a synoptic view of your work: would you like to tell

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Christopher Owen Nelson

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our readers something about the evolution of your style? In particular, could you explain your technique and how you developed it through the years?

One of my techniques started as a way to pass the slow time at a job I had at a skateboard shop when I was a teenager.

There were scrap sheets of acrylic laying around, left over from repairs we would use them for. I used to file down wood screws to a razor sharp point and use them as tools to create extremely detailed etchings of landscapes, motorcycles, snowboarders…whatever felt cool to me at the time, not thinking too much about it at all, just enjoying myself. One day I decided to try to carve into the acrylic to see what effect it would have. I dug a small bit of material out and was so excited at the results that I went to a plastics distributor, bought a larger block of acrylic, then to the hardware store to get some real carving tools. I literally spent every dime I had on that investment, not caring if rent was covered or if I could buy food for the rest of the week (a trait that has stuck with me!)

Eventually my carvings and the process grew larger and more complex, adding color and texture, investing in custom tools that were better suited for the job, and adding ovens and torches for added effects. Over the past several years I have been primarily focused on three-dimensional work, and exploring new processes and approaches therein.

Your approach reveals an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of techniques and your practice is focused on employing alternative materials, sculpting with used carpet, found objects and painting on glass. While walking our readers through your usual process and set up, we would like to ask

you if you ever happened to realize that such a cross-disciplinary approach is the only way to express and convey the ideas you explore.

There is really no “usual” setup for me. There can’t be. I strictly work as I want or need to.

It’s very sporadic and aggressive at times but it’s the best way for me to get the best work and to push the boundaries of my abilities.

When I finally work through a new idea in my head, which is usually highly process-based and sometimes takes years, I will then layout a science experiment day or something childlike to keep things fun and light. It's therapeutic to play with materials and chemicals to determine how they might be tastefully used to add to my other bodies of work.

In particular, how do you manage to merge contrasting materials into a cohesive whole?

What kinds of connections do you make in between the materials?

This is a constant struggle for me. To remain cohesive across such a broad scope of media and subject matter is next to impossible. I have come to realize that to a certain extent, this cohesion exists regardless of what I create. Still, I am always searching for gaps between bodies that need bridging. One way I like to approach that is by using similar tooling and composition philosophies, which apply to all branches of my work.

For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected Apparition, a captivating mixed media work that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article.

This piece allows an open reading, a multiplicity of meanings and interpretations: associative possibilities seem to be of greater importance.

How important is this degree of openness?

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It is of paramount importance. Something I really enjoy about life is not knowing what things mean or don’t mean. There is something about that mystery and uncertainty that I find attractive and allows more space for reflection. I also secretly like when people make up positive and lighthearted assumptions about a work that in my mind may have a more ominous meaning.

As you have remarked once, you spend a majority of your time outdoors, particularly in a few areas where you like to fish and walk your dog: how does direct experience fuel the way you develop your subconscious narratives? In particular, how do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works?

I am always mentally absorbing textures of branches, bark, stone, etc, while simultaneously philosophizing and analyzing human beings in contrast. In a way, my representations of beauty and simplicity in nature are mirroring my image of the ugliness in man.

Your work addresses the viewers to environmental topics such as deforestation, overpopulation and waste, but while artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Jennifer Linton, use art to express open socio-political criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self- reflection. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society?

I believe that more can be accomplished by making succinctly executed suggestions than by shoving giant opinions down peoples throats. I believe this to be true in art as well as in governing law. Artwork is not neutral territory for me. The concepts in my work are what they are to me, but anyone can interpret them however they would like.

I have very little faith in political, judicial and economic systems throughout the world, and sadly that lack of faith bleeds into my outlook on humanity as a whole. The world will never work for humans because of government and religion. That said, artists are the only people I understand and so I do think their contribution to society should be allowed to be greater, but that will also never happen at a level that would make any sort of impact.

We like the way your portraiture inquires into the complexities and subtleties of individuality to capture the mysterious side of beauty, showing the intrinsic kaleidoscopic feature of human nature. Who are the people you draw inspiration from for your portraits? What are you looking to draw out of them, and how do you hope viewers connect with your finished pieces?

I spoke earlier of my lack of faith in humanity. Occasionally there are people that come into my life that make me feel differently about that. There exists some sort of hope or purity in them that compels me.

It seems that a common quality among my subjects has been an ownership of unconditional love and acceptance, and lack of judgment. I like people like that and want to share that the only way I can.

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Both the intimate and monumental sculptural objects you create, as the interesting Footprints and Earth Like, provide the viewers with an immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience in your process? And what are the most important rules for you for an outdoor sculpture?

The ability for the viewer to become

immersed in a piece of art is what makes the experience truly profound, therefore it is high on the checklist while conceptualizing a new piece, whether monumental or intimate. Either has the ability to create an immersive space that alters thoughts and feelings. A few main guidelines for me are: -The use of geometric and organic shapes together -Orientation and pose or attitude -Finish of materials

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Your works have been showcased on several occasions and you had 16 solo shows, including your recent Sentience, at the Waxlander Gallery, Santa Fe. The spectator plays a very active role in determining and extracting meaning for your work. Could you elaborate on that role in terms of what you intend as well as the larger significance of the viewer's participation?

It is always a treat at shows to be able to see, and even discuss, the viewer’s reactions

to the work. As I mention above, evoking emotion of any kind is the focus for me and I like to see it happen.

I thrive on those moments actually. It’s easy to get caught up in the work having to be perfect and exacting to my standards, and to forget about the effect it may have.

It is nice to be reminded when you unveil something new and interact with the viewers.

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Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Christopher.

Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

I will continue to refine the parts of my work that I find to be indispensable.

I will never settle down.

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I will always innovate. I hope to progress

An interview by Katherine Williams, curator

into creating architectural elements that are

and Josh Ryders, curator

truly immersive pieces of work.

landescape@europe.com

E

douard graduated from design in Central Saint Martins in 2012, since then he diverse his practice which now incorporates installation, sculpture, photography, film and drawing, He explores the relation/connection between times in history through specific economic, aesthetic and cultural situations .

In a multidisciplinary and socio politically engaged approach, he accomplishes an insightful analysis on the evolution of our modern world, establishing deep involvement with the viewers on both the intellectual level and the emotional one. He proposes a very personal reflection that can be cynical, sometimes critical, light or complex on todays society & contemporary life. ​ His recent exhibition included Berlin art week, SCOPE Art show miami, Frieze london, Marrakech biennal. In 2014 he founded NoD, a brand editing contemporary design, and working on artistic direction for scenography, interior design & art event.

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LandEscape meets

Edouard Burgeat An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryder, curator landescape@europe.com

Exploring the expressive potential of a wide variety of materials, polidisciplinary artist Edouard Burgeat's works considers the vital relationship between direct experience and visual intepretation, to draw the viewers through a multilayered journey. In his Discussion between Times that we'll be discussing in the following pages he encapsulated both traditional heritage and unconventional sensitiveness, to trigger the viewers' perceptual parameters. One of the most impressive aspects of Burgeat's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of showing our unstable and everchanging world: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

Hello Edouard and welcome to LandEscape: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted background.

You have a solid formal training and after your studies at the Ateliers de Sèvres, Paris you moved to London to nurtured your education with a BA of Design, that you received from the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design: how do

these experience influence the way you currently conceive and produce your works? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem in general?

My experience in art and design allowed me to create using different medium, it explains why I use such a large variety of techniques and materials, at the end the technique used is dictated by the concept of the piece created so I use these techniques as tools to express myself. As a neo-art-archeologist, I dig my inspiration in my numerous wonders around the globe as well as in modern history & crisis. I often takes specific historical events or places as point of departure and engage into a very personal reflection on it, that can be cynical, sometimes critical, light or complex. I dont see aesthetic as a problem and rarely think about it while work- ing, it builts up by itself with the evolution of the artwork.

You are a versatile artist and your approach encapsulates a wide variety of media and techniques and materials, revealing an incessant search of an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results con- vey together a coherent sense of unity,

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that rejectsany conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit https://www.edouardburgeat.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that such multidisciplinary approach is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore.

To me at least it is the only way to express and convey my works. This diverse practice which incorporates installation, sculpture, photography, film and drawing, explores the relation/connection between times in history through specific economic, aesthetic and cultural situations. This multidisciplinary approach allowed me to talk about everything and anything, it also allows a deeper reflection on the topic considered, than if I was just working on paintings for example.

When you conceive a piece, do you methodically elaborate it in order to get a precise idea of what it will be or do you prefer improvisation?

It depends. My series are methodically elaborated with a long process of inspiration, research, material choice, concept, more research, new definition and finally the main idea is enlarged to a series of pieces referring to the same topic. But then within the same series, some pieces can be created very naturally on improvisation and some others take months to be achieved.

We have highly appreciated the way your approach goes beyond a merely interpretative aspect of the con- texts you refer to. As the late Franz West did in his installations, the Discussion between Times shows uncon- ventional aesthetics in the way it deconstructs perceptual images in order to assemble

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Edouard Burgeat

Edouard Burgeat

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them in a collective imagery, urging the viewers to a process of self-reflection.

Would you shed a light about the role of metaphors in your process?

Well Discussion between Times is a body of photographic superposition, where I combine my pictures to the one of my ancestor, André Burgeat born at the end of the XIX century, who died in the 60s. Juxtaposing these pictures allows an analysis on the evolution of our modern world, over a century. The photographies super- posed follow the same subjects: the city, the nude, family etc.. It relates strongly with the theme ‘Evidence’, the pictures of my ancestor are used as direct proof of the past, reinterpreted in modern ways.

Evidence of our changing world and of the ever changing view of photographers. This implies a real implication & reflection from the spectator if he wants to perceive it.

You have once stated that you use a lot of your experiences as well as the history of your family. So we would take this occasion 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?

In my opinion it can’t, I need experience to be inspired, I travel as often as I can to discover new cultures, col- ors, smells, lifestyles, shapes, etc. For me you have to research, experience, test, improve, fail, travel through life before you can talk about it. Being open minded and curious is the key to creation, and one should talk about subjects he doenst know or understand fully.

Your exploration of the intrinsic power of deconstruction in Rocket accomplishes the difficult task of stopping a moment to investigate about the relationship between perception, memory and personal imagination, to challenge the viewers’ parameters.

What is the role of memory in your work?

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agnés et les poilus

Memory is an important ingredient of my work, memories re-unite times which are to many people consid- ered as disconnected entities. Einstein said “The

distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” I can only agree with this. It can be individual or collective or national

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memo- ry, to me it is only proof of time &

accumulated over the years, which I called

History. Now when I use objects it is mostly

“modern relics�. I re-in- terpret them using

objects from the past century, materials

contemporary techniques and materials.

charged with memory & history

This act allows me to draw a discussion

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Press - the fall

between times, giving new meaning to History’s landmarks. ‘Rocket’ is an installation, part of the Hijack Creation series, which was made in 3 phases :

creation-destruction-reinterpretation.

First the creation of a large map, a collage of daguerreotypes cast into resin, then the destruction of this piece

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Press - A century between us

by a world war 2 rocket recorded as a short film, then finally the display of the installation as the result of this process. It denunciates the destruction of ancient artifact experienced lately in the cultural war

of the XXI century, and suggests a possible re-creation from the dust, reinterpreting remaining physical witnesses of memory with a contemporary language.

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, 38x42, 2010

Is important for you that the viewers elaborate personal interpretations?

Or you prefer that your audience responds as more exactly as possible to your initial idea?

I think it is important to let the viewer have a freedom of interpretation & perceive the piece as he wishes. On the other hand all my pieces are oriented towards my initial

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idea or critic, and I believe that the viewer if he takes the time to dig into the piece would inevitably connect to the original idea, but all my works are very much open to interpretations.

When juxtaposing your pictures you analyze on the evolution of our modern world and you seem to convey an effective socio political criticism concerning our materialistically

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driven culture that saturate our contemporary age. But while artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Jennifer Linton, use to express open sociopolitical criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self-reflection that may lead to subvert a variety of usual, almost stereotyped cultural categories. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach?

And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in the contemporary society?

In a certain extent yes my work has a political twist, our consummerist contemporary society is calling for it, however it isn’t obvious and one has to dig to understand the real sense of the pieces.

During the past couple of years, my work has become increasingly installation based, using spaces to create environments charged with historical or political meaning where the viewer is confronted with the past dynamically and invited to question history beyond the lense of personal or national identity. An active experience of the artwork, con- fronting the viewer with facts & mouvements in time such as the repetition of humans mistakes through the years and the effect of capitalism & globalisation on contemporary life.

I think an artist has his responsability in the society and in that extent one can choose to make a point about it or not, look at Matisse for example who went through both world wars yet never created politically engaged paintings.

Over your career you have exhibited in several occasions, including your

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Edouard Burgeat

Edouard Burgeat

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recent solo La tete dans les nuages at the Neu West Berlin. One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involve- ment 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 audi- ence. 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?

Of course audience reception is really important, and I think it’s the same for every artist, creation is made to be criticised and that only works with an audience. My work is an invitation to create new narratives, a fascination for new ways of interpreting the commonly known history instead of taking it for granted and embracing it without questioning or reflecting on it. Therefore I always adapt my language with the context to make it as close as possible to the reality.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Edouard. Finally, would you like to tell us read- ers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

At the moment I am working on few projects for the future: - an exhibition taking the form of an installation with parts of the Berlin Wall, following the Hijack Creation series, with the 3 phases : creation-destruction-reinterpretation made live by performer during the show - I am working on two films that I have shot last month in India - Next month I am going in Marrocco for an art recidency and in september in Beirut for another one - I am also working on new Shelther for Memories, human size, that will be displayed on top of trees in for- ests;

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A drian Regnier An artist's statement

S

ince the very beginning of my life as an artist I was attracted to sound as a mean to express my self. When I started using sounds, it was more of a tool of documentation, in order to highlight real life episodes and bring them almost as is into the art scene. These could be intimate conversation took place in the public transport system, or a bunch of construction workers singing about their love. The recordings ended up woven in installation.

Over time, and with much greater focus since starting my MFA studies, I was attracted to a more abstract interpretation and expression of what I hear. My currents works are still predominantly triggered by the surroundings - I find myself forced to react at or after the fact in way of reconstruction. My first and main role is documentation.

These documents will then constitute the evidences and voices of the events I was attracted to and found some interest in. The events or details might be trivial, but for me they are a major discovery. These are pieces of reality that are lying unused beyond their basic functionality, but the way they crossed my path arouse something within me. Usually these moments will have a selfexplanatory narrative that will tell its story at the moment of revelation. Most of the times these will be routine urban scenes.

The relevant materials are finding their way into my recording devices, and from there

to my archive on my mac. The sounds and voices are usually a realistic documentation of an event, but at times might be premanipulated if I know in advance what I intend to do with them. However, these are not ready-mades, which will find the way into my final composition as is. Their combination at this point seems random. At this stage these are nothing more than coded symbols that function as links to an experience, or memory.

In my studio, I will listen to the archive materials, and mark the points from which I can start my journey. The sounds and visions that were recorded and archived will go through a series of manipulations and interpretations, to create meaningful sentences. The abstract and chaotic is gathering a form, a meaning, and usually will be directed into a semantic field that is an echo to the basic experience I was triggered by.

These compositions, creations, are filters through which I can express my views about my experiences, and the processes we are going through. These sounds are telling something about the world, they have an opinion, they might agree or protest, and eventually they are transforming a reality into an alternate one. Through the sound, I sale to fictitious locations, to emotional experiences that portraits the places I lived in for several minutes.

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LandEscape meets

Adrian Regnier An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryders, curator landescape@europe.com

Visual artist Adrian Regnier's work rejects any conventional classifications and is marked with freedom as well as rigorous formalism, when encapsulating a careful attention to composition and balance. In his La Fuga series that we'll be discussing in the following pages, he effectively challenges the relationship between the viewers' perceptual parameters and their cultural substratum to induce them to elaborate personal associations, offering them a multilayered aesthetic experience.

One of the most impressive aspects of Regnier's work is is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of unveiling the ubiquitous connections between microcosm and macrocosm: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

Hello Adrian and welcome to LandEscape: 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 you graduated in the field of Visual Arts from the National School of Sculpture, Painting and Engraving, "La Esmeralda". How did this experience influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural

Hello, thank you for having me, it is a great honor to be featured in LandEscape. Let’s go!

I enrolled into “La Esmeralda” on 2008, fresh out of high school; I was a very different person back then. Up until then, I had a very integral

upbringing: strong academic and cientific influences, surroundings and practices, as well as deep fascinations with all things related to drawing, video games, scienc fiction and political history. When it came to choosing paths, it was a very, very close call between art school and pursuing a career in physics – utlimatelly, my lifelong connection with drawing proved more alluring. Even then, my relationship with art and culture was the polar opposite of what it is now; and art school was “kind” enough to show me the error of my ways. You see, without prior relations to the art world, I based my early artistic endeavors on the mere refining of a very specific set of drawing skills. As I saw it then, “success as an artist” boiled down to the emotionally equivalent of “being the very best at what there was”; coupled with La Esmeralda’s everaspirational tendencies and predatory atmosphere, I spent the first two years of art school in this perfect miasma of a storm.

A disclaimer here: I intend not to sound bitter, but rather to objectively describe the specific way in which Mexico’s cultural system has functioned since I first dipped my feet into it. You see, Mexico (as many other “ ’developed’ countries in development”) is in a constant state of cultural implosion: over-centralization, cuts in funding and a general misconception of the inter-connectivity of things have constructed a cultural panorama that is not only comprised by vague niches and the fleeting occupants that come to fill them, but that is also very fickle to the broader, more universal currents to which it is a subset to. In sum, I see it as a fleeting imaginary of social upheaval with very little impact in general: akin

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Oh, it’s all method. You see, I live in a constant state of distraught alternation between input and output.

Seldom can I separate myself from the day to day activities and interactions, and what they invariably add up to my ever-growing cumulus of references and inter-reference. Ever since I can recall, I’ve been an observer of processes and distiller of patterns; it should come as no surprise then, that I now make a living out of aesthetically presenting my findings, when not mad-ravings. My core project, ‘La Fuga’ is the clearest embodiment of my artistic persona: a marvelous web of inter-connectivity and reference that may very well be the archipelago of my life’s findings and milestones. In this sense, my process and set-up are intertwined to the degree in which I can’t recall what piece or concept came before or after. I’ve lost track of time as well as it has lost me. All of my works and ideas sort of coexist in a singular simultaneity which leads me seamlessly from one into the other. Like a beautiful hydra, no work ever reaches its end before several more sprowt from its explorations.

In a practical sense, this is a double-edged sword, both within the art world as well as outside of it: when enraptured by these pulses of production, I seem to engulf all references around me, and the universe itself seems to tick with unnatural precission. Driven by the determination to link unspoken means and references –as well as the subtle implications of these processess- I detach from everything; become a little too covetous. I forget about daily chores and healthy ways of human living. Practical life begins to disintegrate in inverse proportion to the marvel in hand, as it grows and grows. One takes from the other. Conservation of natural law and energy apply.

On the other hand (and edge of the sword), this deep fascination weaves itself into capricious forms and abstract wonders. They are spoken in nine different languages, alude to obscure historic events and coat themselves in an alloy that is as much science as it is poetic. This formal whims of mine have made of crypticism a trademark of my work.

More akin to an enigma than they are to video art, they present its viewers a decision that is not always easy to make: to invest themselves -their time, energy and emotions- in the taxing task that is delving onto each work’s precissely orchestrated details, or to just do something else. However, I have come to slowly but surely master the art of synecdoche: the smallest part of something may

very well explain the whole, and viceversa.

Conversely, the most convoluted of preapocalyptic-thermoeconomic-post-nuclearexperimental-animation-video works may as well reveal us the simplest facts.

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So as a whole, yes, it’s all method. Even when I may not very much be in control. At the end of the day, what matters is not the ebbing and flowing of these complementary pulsions, but to let the brief, fundamental glimpses of connection and meaning shine.

For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected V.I.S.A., an interesting project that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. While introducing this stimulating work would you shed light on your usual process and set up? In

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particular, what has been the most crucial aspect of the production of this work?

V.I.S.A. is what one of what I like to call ‘secondary works’. From time to time, an unusually clear and elegantlly presented concept will form out of the stream of consciousness I just

told you about. It does not matter if I am amidst the production of a fundamental work that came before it, if there are upcoming deadlines or my body can’t take in the extra work hours: the video piece has got to happen. It has to come.

Although V.I.S.A. is not part of my core production, this is not to say that works from La

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I would describe the processes as ‘subprocesses’ of a bigger whole. In the macrocosm that is my stream of production, they rest as subtle subcurrents to the bigger whole: sometimes aligned with its general direction, otherwise openly counter to it. Whatever these little diversions may offer, together they complement into an ever-expanding whole.

Consistent to my “method”, these extra-wild fascinations could very well be seen as pressurereleasing valves in an alternating system that sometimes reverbs too much within itself. Sometimes they will see me dancing, other times they bring out the romantic in me. In the specific case of V.I.S.A., they may even get me talking about foreign policy and immigration nonsense –go figure!

Returning to the topic in hand, the core idea in V.I.S.A. came miliseconds after reading the first couple of questions when applicating for my Visa in 2013: No, I do not “belong to any clan or tribe” Mr. United States of America; no, I do not “possess training on the handling and engineering of chemical, nuclear or explosive devices” either. Try again later. I was just going to visit my girlfriend Diana -who was at the time starting her MFA in illustration at the Maryland Institute of College Art, in Baltimore, MY-, and here I was, forced to reveal my true intentions as a 24 year old fresh-out-of-college-emerging-videoartist-from-the-third-world: to traffic with human organs before quickly assembling a thermonuclear device of mass destruction, just in time to reach my weekly child-soldier training session. Diana could wait, right?

Fuga can’t be secondary ones. V., and Y. – to name a few- also came from this unpredictable whims and breaks in production: V.I.S.A. “interrupted” the making of C., V. cas made in the middle of A., and Y. paused N. for two or three weeks.

On a more serious note here, this online form requested the applicant to truthfully declare any of the 50 or so questions, most of which not would surely revoke his or her passage into America, but would easily mark them as targets for the severest of global persecutions. Make them an enemy of the free world. Couple that to the fact that here in Mexico City, around the U.S.A. embassy you can see lots of unlicensed locals and individuals who, for a modest fee, will help you fill out this form for you (very useful and understandable in a country where digital and bilingual literacy are not yet 100% guaranteed in all social sectors) and you have the perfect surreal statement: if this is what they ask, what can you answer?

The production of V.I.S.A. followed this and many other questions into their uncanny, yet seamless integration.

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V.I.S.A. confronts the viewers with the set of protocolary questions all United States of America’s embassies ask to anyone interested in issuing a Visa: we have appreciated the way it draws the viewers into a real situation in order to challenge both perceptual and cultural categories. So we would take this occasion to ask you how do you consider the relationship between memory and experience in your process. In particular, do you think that personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Could a creative process be disconnected from direct experience?

Systems philosophy has never been truer than it is today. Everything is interconnected to the point that any single being rests one degree of separation from his or her integration into the larger, complete whole. Yet nothing touches anything else. It’s like we are back at the atomic level: by natural forces of elemental repulsion, no thing of matter ever really collides into any other thing that matters –lest a complicated, explosive event happens! Multimedia, technology and a general amalgamation of an already pre-globalized metaculture are the pillars on which not only do our social beings rest on, but also onto which the basis of our “meta-personas” (as I like to call them) rest. What I am aluding to is the modern act of personal extrapolation that social media interconnectivity has led to: a strange sense of “total semi-awareness” that permeates the technologically connected. At any given point in time, anyone with access to a network connection (or as I said earlier, an informant, friend or trusted source of informatical reverberation) can “see”, “hear”, “understand” –dare I not say”live”- any medialized event. It does not matter if I can be places I could never imagine: show me. It does not matter if social upheaval is happening for complex reasons needing me to analyze them: I get the gist of it already. I would also continue by redefining what we understand as “experience”- even more so in a socioeconomical panorama where material scarcity and its obscolencial fluxes can no longer distract us from the fact that no thing is the thing we want. As it stands, the word itself has been forced to expand over itself and make of its old functioning algorithm (as you very well put it: presential occurence becoming experience, coding

itself into memory, repeat, repeat) a revamped one: that in which technological/informatical interfacing is now the bar of sufficiency for what passes now as “experience”. It’s almost the homeopathical equivalent of “being there” and “knowing things”. Im warning us: we are not far from the placebo effect.

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With this, I am not arguing against any of the opearting parts in this coordinated system; emphasys on the coordinated part. Nor I am quoting the same old ’everything is moving too fast’ trends of yore, or the ‘we have dehumanized us beyondrecognition’ mottos of the past, either. No. I am rather amazed with the continuing impulse of divisiveness and

compartmentalization that reigns our lives nowadays. Not in the sense that may alienate us, but rather seeing it as a deeply human trait. Why not? In a universe where we are already differentiated from the killing vacuousness of a cold, uncaring space by an organic bubble of water and soil, we continue to create bubbles.

And in doing so, we derive a fascinating delight

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from tracing their perimeteres. From defining the rules that sustain the walls between us.

So in sum, memory and experience are fundamental for the creative process, yes. But, in my experience, I can’t even recall what memory was in the first place.

Your works inquire into the interstitial space between personal and public spheres, for example V.I.S.A. instills into the viewer an uncomfortable variety of sensations providing the spectatorship with an immersive experience that forces the relationship between the inner and the outside: how do you see the relationship

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allows us to grasp more firmly into a world in constant flux of visual imagery and the contents it links to. I’ve had the great honor to have my work featured in a couple of public-projection art programs, namely Public Art Screens (Norway, as the artist of the month in December of 2014) and the Great Wall of Oakland (USA, just this past October of 2016). Both have been very enlightening experiences as to how these inner and outer spheres interconnect. You see, one of the main reasons I shifted from physical-medium based art practices into video, was the mercurial-like metabolism of digital media, which transcends the traditional 1:1:1 ratio between work, spectator and event of occurence. To me, this goes beyond living in the age of mechanical reproduction, and resembles more an era in which both the artist and the work require themselves to be ‘quantum-ized’: both locally discrete – i.e. operant in conformity with the old tropes of an artistic/economic world in transition- as well as creativelly indeterminable – a constant state of change, inter-mingling and redundancy, in harmony to the anomy that belies its foundations-.

I believe that in this state of artistic superposition, is where the highest degree of impact lie for both -artist and his or her work-. Continuing along these principles, I think that perpetuating this series of contingent memes -that ownership of the work of art is congruent to it, or that it may be a viable mean in supporting its foundations, etc.- is but one of the many interfering factors in succesfully linking public and private spheres of artistic experience. In each aspect of my work I try not only to counter-act these forces and tendencies, but strive to expand upon its contituent elements, hopefully breaking new grounds.

If only little by little.

between public sphere and the role of art in public space?

Visual culture is growing at an ever-accelerating pace, and with it, our means of mapping the world around us.’Visual culture’ is putting it too slightly, I think too, for it resembles more a sense of ‘ideomatic literacy’ to me -in the sense that it

In this, the experimental portion of my animation and video practice is key: it is the perfect mixture and alternation between old concepts and their new implementation; the acknowledging of a subset of rules and traditions, as well as their traslation and subertion. This too, has also marked my development as an artist and human being. For what seemed the longest of times, it took a while for the current artistic metasphere to warm up to my work. At the complex intersection between the worlds of videoart, cinema, animation and contemporary art, it never proved easy to walk the fine lines that once again, separate one from the other. Even though each of these separate factions are based on the creative welcoming of new ideas, it is never more evident the hefty costs that an idea must pay for it to be granted access into their

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world, and to be heard in it. So when I could not afford to pick my battles, I then rejoiced in standing my ground in my own provate battleground. Little by little, I saw the tiny cracks in-between classification and criteria begin to widen. Little by little, the world accelerated its vertiginous flux. The once separate landmarks where my work was featured slowly grew into an ever-interweaving web of connections: suddenly I was not in one, nor several places, but rather I could be simultaneously in all of them at once.

It is of critical importance. I believe that complex subsets of interpersonal economics belie the various aesthetic experience out there. In a macroscopic view, it all interweaves into a kind of biosphere in which the different factors at play rest interconnected in a zero-sum game. To put it clearly, the sensible world around a work -viewers, curators, onllokers, dissidents and pretty much everyone else- interfaces with the artist through the work of art, and in this contact, flux of resources -attention spans, economic goods, emotional energy, etc.- is innevitable. Congruent to this resource-based vision, I believe there are different types of artistic practices, all of which can roughly be placed along the gradient that goes from “aesthetic surplus”, all the way to “creative bankruptcy”. For me, artistic practice must first begin in the artist’s deep identification to its human counterparts. In doing that, aligning him or herself along the lines of empathy is the surest way to respectful resource managment. No one should go existencially bankrupt when gazing at a sculpture, performance, paragraph or video work!

“Aesthetic-economical viablity” -if so we should call it- is reached by striking the adequate balance bewtween what the work requires as sufficient input from the viewer (so as to present the complete thourough-when-not-intended experience) on one hand, and what the viewer may get out of its interfacing with it. Otherwise,

the spectator goes home with his/her resources drained -or far worse, delusion and illusion may grab ahold of him/her-. In this, openness as a communicative or artistic principle should never be taken lightly - lest we’d like to see the world plunge into the throes of contemporary art-. For me, too much “openness to interpretation” is the interpersonal economics equivalent of

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speculative trading: a practice thought to be based on the diligent identification of patterns and their mindful projection, motivated by a high-risk/high-reward ratio. If we observe this closer to the artist and his/her practice, this entails focusing on the persona and the ephemeral over-interpretation of the work: seldom do they ever match reality. The art

market and its ties to global economics thrive on these inconsistencies, alas, that is a monster of its own. I am not saying anything new here, nor do I intend to subvert them in my personal practice. I just find it a senseless excercise in resource investment, for the lack of a softer expression.

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On the other hand, I do believe I kind of cheat with my video work: I tend to push crypticness into overdrive, which blows it up into what we could call “closed openness”: a thoughtfully engineered mixture of microcosmic references and their macrocosmic implications. Once again, by the use of conceptual synecdoque and audiovisual minimums and maximums, I play both

games: I construct from a capricious closed openess until it suffices me, up to the point where it is really hard for the viewers to tell it apart from the real, “open openness”. In sum, it is not about obeying the ambient noise and aligning to external patterns until they fit, but rather zooming out as far as possible, and then rotating the marks of reference. Bonus points if the work

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way to the middle, schizophrenically coming and going as I like. This I do by nature and nurture, for I was brought up to perceive order and systems, as well as their invariable decline into disarray of pregnant chaos. It is a great way to make myself, my work of life and persona as redundant as possible; and to rarely be on the losing side, if at all.

I always state my work as “mercenary to Truth by all means possible”, and that sentence goes a long way.

Up to this point, our dear readers may begin to wonder why so abstract my notions and conceptual to grasp my descriptions. They may seem to them as quantic, nebular: resembling the tangible, yet never defined nature of a cloud. If that’s so, it is because they are! La Fuga is my core source of motivation, both artistically and existentially. It is the starting point to all my endeavors and their final resting place. It is, before anything else, what motivated me in the first place to start this artistic corpus in 26 installments: the study of human nature as a cloud in and of itself.

of art is nurtured with the utmost degree of technical and conceptual care from its creator. (I take pride in over-working myself to this qualification.)

Looping back to the start of this convoluted explanation, a disclaimer comes to mind: I work from both ends of the aesthetic spectrum, all the

Let’s start with the obvious: it is a modular body of work, divided in 26 separate (but deeply linked) works. This number is no coincidence, for it serves the project’s original purpose of describing 26 different concepts all tied to a core set of facts and motifs. And, although La Fuga is now very structured (as well as it further reflects on the world around it, refracting its findings and looping back again), it all started with the basic 26 letters of the alphabet meant to allude to a different ‘nebular entity’.

Devised to construct a mythical tale where clouds were this overseeing and ever-present entities, in its origins La Fuga was a rather mystical endeavor: a bestiary of clouds!

The motivators were clear: back in 2012, inspired by Joan Fontcuberta’s mythos-expanded-into-artisticcorpus, it seemed to me that the artist truly may begin to transcend his/her practice the moment he or she breaks ties with the ongoing narrative in the

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world around. Even more so, when this act of liberation allows him/her to roam and inhabit a world that is the logical projection of the truth within him/herself. To me, this apex of the creative persona is much more tangible than it might seem, yet it requires of each one the utmost degree of compromise, insight and reflection, for it humbles oneself: it is the deep understanding that all things are interconnected, as they are swayed by elemental principles of which humanity is but a very fickle subset of casual emergence. Ultimately, it means that all stories, present, future and past, exceed our understanding by any means we may deem capable – for they are always empirically linked to a humanconsciousness apparatus that is unable of transcending itself.

My deep connection with La Fuga can also be expressed in its more practical history: that one of how each of the 26 letters began to be made. The first phases of inspiration drew heavily from videogame and visual effects culture: the depiction of explosions, visual violence, human fragmentation and over-the-top sensational imagery echoed in me into an uncanny attraction. With this new-found artistic vigor, out came my childhood dreams, aspirations and deepest inquiries about the world itself: how much I’d loved studying physics, maths -but also universal history-. How they intertwined at crucial moments in humankind’s story: describing patterns that led to mass migrations, the origin of language, social and material structures, as well as the abstract ones that inhabited them. They converged too, into the existential horrors of the mind’s madness, its comparative kindness, the creative spirit and ingenuity to give shape to it all. Sometimes, oddly enough, this all coalesced for (a very, very important) example into the nuclear detonation in 1945. Much more than anything else, this skipped the beats of my heart. And the craziest part of all of this is the fact that it all was but the tale of some atoms meeting up in some point in the universe, mediated by a handful of elemental forces! No deus-ex-machina at all! This first degree of personal expression allowed for a crucial point of inflexion in my artistic career, as well as in my professional projection and perception among my peers. In stark contrast with the aforementioned artistic agendas and practices, it became more obvious when observing my prior work: after this violent plunge into auto-affirmation, the kind of work I began producing spoke with an

unprecedented tone of empowerment. And it did so from its own unique identity.

Following these conceptual findings, then came the practical considerations: in the tools I required to give shape to these fascinations quickly revealed to be the logical extensions of present and past hobbies and fleeting inspirations. As it were, La Fuga’s onset

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fascination with the clouds in our skies was my own.

I agree 100% with it. I pride myself on knowing with unparalleled preciseness each and every

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aspect of my works. Every visual, sonorous, narrative, textual and conceptual detail is never there without a reason; even more so, I am completely aware of the intended relations between these elements, both within and without the work itself. This is a conscious decision, and it has always led me through a rarely trodden, always exhaustive path. Melding form into function preserving aesthetical

experimentation, as well as still leaving room for the viewers’ personal interpretation is no easy task, but as the years have gone by, I’ve witnessed how this often-overlooked degree of commitment to the craft, bears the greatest rewards if acknowledged early on.

Fundamentally, I believe that sustaining this newfound dichotomy is more deeply tied to the

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The viewer’s psyche is a cornucopia of resources, reflections and their recurring relations. By tapping onto the humblest, most sincere form of his/her own personal human fascination, a sincere creator (i.e. ‘artist’) may begin to bridge the gap that may very well complete his/her work. Faced with a world that seldom offers transactions without loss of information, betting on universal redundancy may just be the start of building something other than castles in the air.

artist’s relationship with knowledge, rather than a specific trait of his character or persona. Art as a medium is, by definition, the expansion of knowledge through creativity; it is the decolonization of current moral, aesthetical and conventional axis, with the visionary instinct of that which it has not been yet shaped. That which is tangible, yet cannot be grasped as ‘known’.

I operate in the extremes of the spectrum that is work-naming: in the one hand, there is La Fuga, a 26-piece series that only differentiates each separate work with one of the 26 different letters in the English alphabet. I’ve walked our readers through the historical significance of using this method, and we’ve witnessed the uncanny, quaint narratives that may derive from meta-artistic narratives, such as curatorial statements derived from clever wordplay (and letter play!). On the other hand, I have important works and shows titled in the 4-phrase lengths (see my works ‘Hay Una Lección En Todo Esto’, my project ‘Orbital Laboratory for Experimental Video – L.O.V.E.´; or my 2015 solo show at Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, titled ‘Habrán Más Cosas Buenas En Las Más Cosas Buenas Que Habrán’ -There Will Be More Good Things In The More Good Things There Will Be). Additionally, unless I am directly requested for what each letter stands for, I never refer to each of La Fuga’s work by its naming concept (i.e. ‘I’ is not ‘Important’, nor is A. ‘Australia’). Conversely, I do not abbreviate each of the longer titles to their more convenient forms.

Oddly enough, the first type of titling convention is reserved for larger, more ambitious works; whereas the second mode I usually find convenient for more spontaneous, off-the-top-of-my-head work and projects. I guess that you could make a case that, in alluding to the macro and the micro even when naming my work, I reject the conventional ‘gray areas’ that so densely populate the art medium. For me, the title of each work is -once again- the first foray into the relationship with the viewer, and in that, I guess I am congruent with the rest of my discourse.

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A couple years ago, I would have prided myself from answering ‘no, my art is not political’. Then, through refusing to align with any particular point of view of the ongoing macropolitical events, my abstractionoriented means of production could also operate in this suspension of resolution. Consistent to this ‘scientifically objectivism’, I could then claim my works were purer – as if untainted by the petty intermingling of ephemeral names, locations and events-. In a vacuum this could work, but in the broader, interconnected -and more importantly, ‘real’- world, such ideas are just not compatible with any human being’s actions, let alone the artist per se. So my only option left was to become fully aware of the various ways in which I am, in every passing moment, profoundly ignorant of what is going on. (I would go as far to say that I believe this is the only possible state of mind available to every human being in a world constructed as we know it, but then again, someone may know differently; may know best.) A disclaimer here: I am saying this not in an evasive the-only-thingI-know-is-that-I-know-nothing manner. Instead, my intention is to once again, extend my philosophy’s points of view in a way that I can describe the world around me consistently. And this is where it gets interesting.

One of the more fascinating study cases of thermoeconomics pertains to how the rules that govern the ways in which matter and energy behave, are but a subset of the principles by which information itself fluxes and transforms. By these principles, life can be described as the continued transmission of specific sets of subatomic arrays (i.e. the ‘information’) in a constant battle against the natural

law of entropic dissolution (i.e. ‘sickness’, ‘social discomfort’, ‘the thermic death of the universe’ and so on). Scientific non-sequiturs aside, I deeply believe this to be the basis by which the macrosphere of global macroeconomics behave –when not human kind as a whole-. Yes, The Powers That Be is but the sorry handful of flesh bags that have proved themselves congruent with a

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particular array of informatic resonance –politics(you can quote me on this very convoluted definition), but in a larger sense, this social construction is a very inefficient machine at doing whatever it means to do. Is it working towards international peace, or does it plot to flee and terraform Mars? Does it seek to establish equality among all beings on its planet, or will it contrive the mutually assured destruction of everything

and everyone? Politics aside, science, art and philosophy do not seem to know better. This is where not only artists, but every human can come into play, and perhaps find its greater meaning.

By tinkering with this machine -prod it, overclock it, break it; I don’t know!-.

My work is but an open call that I hope can resonate with every one’s inner cogs, nuts and

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bolts, if only a little. If they allow it for just a moment. It is very self-aware of the machinations it springs from, and the mechanisms it collides with: political, emotional, human, existential. As an artist –but as a human first, too!-, I play the role not that I think is best, nor the one I was given, but the more interesting, I believe: that is to pick apart at the seams where people, names and places seem

irrational; not quite logical. My life’s purpose is to gnaw away at the detritus of a machine gone chaotic, cacophonic and dysfunctional – building with these broken bits a weirder, uncannily similar artifact of itself. The type that operates correctly and that I may work with. Someday perhaps I will find out what it means to do.

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The audience should always come first, but the audience should never be everything! As I’ve said earlier, this belief expresses itself through the utmost care that goes into creating each work, answering every question, and deciding on which new path to follow next. Experimental animation is a great field to work with because, by definition, it does not lend itself to creative stagnation nor complacency. In this, I constantly have in mind my own role as spectator and audience of my work – reflecting on how I wish to be approached, treated and ultimately, challenged-. In such way I distance myself enough from the creative process so that I never become too familiar with the ideas, continuously questioning and molding them into the greater shapes they may take.

Thanks to you too! Just as a teaser, I would like to mention I am foraying into the world of VR. Since mid-2016, I have been working through México’s Multimedia Center and National Center for the Arts’s PAPIAM grant (Support Program for Production and Investigation in Multimedia and Arts), producing works and immersive experiences that are native for viewing through Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Google Cardboard and other virtual reality hardware and platforms. This new phase in my artistic career is the next step in La Fuga’s growth and my personal evolution; it is a huge topic in and of itself. I would encourage you and every one reading this to contact and follow me on my different social media to stay updated on the various developments and release of exciting works! A journey of journeys into new, immersive worlds is beginning. Let’s go.

An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryders, curator landescape@europe.com

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Maddy Smith Lives and works in

An artist's statement

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y expanding my research in nature, I have been particularly involved in the sense of vulnerability that nature possesses particularly to changes in the environment.

By experimenting with different qualities of materials I have created works that are 'physically vulnerable' to changes in the environment such as touch, light and heat.

By looking at the protective forms of cocoons I was inspired by the sense of closure and safety they represent,

contrasting with how marine ecosystem is very susceptible to any changes in the environment.

I have been particularly influenced by d’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s book, ‘On Growth and Form’ in which he studies nature in immaculate detail to prove that biological forms are the 'product of mathematical physical principles' meaning that they are a product of their own environment.

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LandEscape meets

Maddy Smith An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryders, curator landescape@europe.com

I believe that my upbringing had a direct influence to my decision to pursue an artistic career. My childhood summers centred on long trips up in the highlands in the north of Scotland, where we would go on walks across marshes, moors and beaches. I would often collect tiny shells from along the coast to draw their intricate patterned shells, arranging them on the sand. Even when I was home I was still surrounded by a rural landscape, living in a small Yorkshire village on the outskirts of Bolton abbey. Often I would draw directly from the natural objects that I found, which enabled me to focus on the aesthetic forms and textures of nature. My father often brought home illustrations from natural history books, challenging me

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to draw from them. Japanese antique vases depicting hummingbirds and flowers collected dust on our shelves.

It was inevitable that my artwork would originate from inspirations of the natural world.

As to my education, I believe that my creative practice has matured considerably through the completion of my foundation year and my degree.

My foundation year at Leeds College of Art was an exciting year of exploring a variety of concepts and ideas through specific problem solving skills. By using the framework of weeklong briefs, I was able to explore different creative-mediums, utilising skills in photography, graphic design, drawing, sculptures and installations. I was finally allowed the freedom to focus solely on exploring my creativity for the first time in my education which was an empowering experience.

When I continued my education by studying Fine Art, the course was much more specific, and more tailored to allowing me to find my own specific voice. It was an exciting three years of study that continued to encourage me to be involved in a creative learning environment where there was an open platform for communicating and developing creative ideas. Over the duration of the course the tutors were an invaluable resource of inspiration and guidance that strengthened my artistic practice.

My usual process for creating sculptures is by completing a series of experimental testers, mainly combining materials that I feel would portray the meaning behind the work. Sometimes I create tiles of porcelain or plaster to create a vocabulary of textures that I found in nature. Using these examples as a basis, I then create my works instinctively. I rarely design a sculpture beforehand, but rather use my own intuition to decide on how the sculpture should look.

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I tend to search for materials that are susceptable to changes in the enviroment. Wax in particular is an important material in my practice because it is susceptible to changes in from by elements such as heat and light. Recently I created a large formed vessel from beeswax that was visually influenced by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations. This wax vessel absorbed the natural light within the space surrounding it.

Another material I have a fixation with is is charcoal, which within its very essence is the result of removing vitality from natural sources. Charcoal for me represents destruction, scorched earth, which when compared to images of vegetation, such as Karl Blossfeldt’s photographs only emphasises the vulnerability to change.

I combined charcoal with resin, which created a static fossilized appearance, which juxtaposed against the fluidity of the form.

I think that using such materials emphasize the concept and meaning of my practice. For example, my installations are made of thread and wire which creates an ethereal appearance. There is no adhesive to attach to the thread to the wire and therefore is very vulnerable to

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Maddy Smith

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movement which causes the structure to sway and ‘breathe’ within its environment

In all of my work, a central focus is how materials respond to manipulation. In my carved sculpture series, I used varying pressures to create a form that had subtle textures that drew in veiwers. A constant theme in my work is how the forms and intricate textures of nature inspire my practice. Natural forms such as shells and cocoons hold a particular interest to my practice because of their tactile nature and their interior and exterior qualities.

I believe that my upbringing had a direct response to my perception of art and

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nature. Theoretically, artists have historically derived their inspirations from the world around them and in particular, nature. For centuries

artists have used natural objects to study and grasp the concept of form.

When I am in the process of making new works, I am often inspired by

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forms that are familiar to me from my childhood.

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I allow my pieces to be interpreted openly, because I find that when I have talked to viewers of my work that they have seen something new and enlightening in my work that I hadn't considered consciously. For example, my sculptures are often perceived as feminine forms by external peers. My intention is create sculptures with a feel of vulnerability and it intrigued me that they had associated femininity with vulnerability. By allowing my work to be read freely, it opens up a refreshing dialogue that can often become a source for more inspiration for later works.

A lot of my prints use the same tones and colours because of their respresentation of the memories in my

childhood. The colours I use resemble the scottish highlands that I frequented as a child. The purples and golds in particular are a direct reference to the heather and grass on the landscape. The texture is inspired by the ethereal qualities of Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations, created by using delicate fabrics painted and crumpled to create a form that emphasises the vulnerability and tension.

My work is largely inspired by the works and ideas of the early 20th Century where the boundaries between science and art were blurred. I am largely inspired by the works of Ernst Haeckel, who was a marine biologist whose illustrative works inspired the artistic community at the time by their ethereal and delicate nature. Equally, the intricate structural qualities of Karl Blossfeldt’s close up botanical photographs is mirrored through the fragile yet vivid formal qualities that my prints and sculptures possess. A lot of my inspiration comes from D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s book, ‘On Growth and Form’ in which he studies nature in immaculate detail to prove that biological forms are the “product of mathematical physical principles”

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meaning that they are a product of their own environment.

In more contemporary circles, I am particularly drawn to the works of Peter Randall Page. When I was younger, I visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where his momentous stone sculptures were being exhibited. The detail in each of his works is staggering and I appreciated his organic and textured forms. I also am inspired greatly by Cathy De Monchaux’s sculptures which often contrast softer elements with sexual undertones, with harder mechanical materials that constrain the softer elements of the sculpture, resulting in works that are both sensual and threatening.

I believe that the issue of audience reception definitely influences my decisions as an artist. Recently I have

been showing large installations at a number of venues, and the response I have received is wonderful. These installations are designed to submerge the viewer into a delicate landscape that suspends within the air. They are usually placed within a space full of light and a slight breeze which allows the installation to sway freely.

At the moment I am focussing on creating a large portfolio of work that will include porcelain landscapes, large ink wash installations and a continuation of my printmaking. I am due to exhibit in Manchester later this year in a show called ‘Nature is the Beauty of Chance’. At the end of May I am exhibiting in the Saltaire Arts Festival which is always a brilliant opportunity to showcase my works.

An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryders, curator landescape@europe.com

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J oseph Smedo Lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan and works in Detroit, Michigan

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am an artist from Metro Detroit. I make my artistic expressions through in a variety of ways; sculpture (both stone and metal), abstract paintings, and photography. I currently have a Fine Arts degree from Schoolcraft College. My work has been displayed in an ever growing list of galleries throughout the country. I have also had the honor of being published in various international magazines and books.

My approach to creating art is through deep introspective exploration. The events we experience throughout our lives leave a permanent mark on our souls whether it be good or bad; it still remains there, sometimes

hidden away. I have made a conscience decision to attempt to purge myself of these marks through my artistic creation process. I feel that this allows me to free up space to allow new marks to be formed down the road. So far this process has served me well. It reveals everything from new born butterflies to releasing some ghosts that have haunted me for way too long. The mind can be a beautifully scary place to truly explore; I suggest you try it from time to time, who knows what you may find.

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LandEscape meets

Joseph Smedo An interview by and

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*During my time studying at Schoolcraft College, I had the privilege of having two amazing professors; Robert Bielat and Melissa Machnee. The fundimental skillset that their mentoring has passed on to me allows for an extremely diverse choices of mediums that I can manipulate into the visions I have in my mind. I am able to approach design concepts through multiple sensory levels, in order to convey my story being told in the piece. Pandora’s Box, for instance, was originally planned to be a cast bronze piece and later in the design phase, I chose to hand carve it out of limestone. The coldness of the stone, the surface feel and the physical weight, added an emotional element that could not have been accomplished with bronze. I know it always drives gallery curators insane

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Joseph Smedo

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Joseph Smedo

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that I encourage the viewer to pick up certain pieces of mine on display.

I truly believe that they often need to hold the piece in order to more deeply process the message embodied into the sculpture.

Stone does not change with time, bronze patinas as the days march on, and steel rusts, rots, and falls away. Each medium serves an important purpose in the art of story telling. I am fortunite to have been exposed to the technical skills needed to harness the power held inside all of those mediums.

*Unlike many artists, I do not work in series. I find they idea of taking a solitary concept and extrapulating it

out into a series of pieces laborious.

In many traditional art schools that is the norm expected of students and in turn, the students later career they tend to continue the series formula. I prefer to take a concept and create a single sculpture, painting, or photograph.

If I do not successfully accomplish the concept into physical form on my first attempt, I trash it and start again; either in a different method or medium until it meets my standards. As your readers browse through my facebook art page they will see how individual and unique each and every piece truly is.

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*The narrative told through my pieces is a direct representation of my personal life experiences. I am a safety director by profession. I am also a trained fire fighter and emergency medical technician. My artwork is often a biproduct of tramatic events I was involved in.

The process of creating art has a theraputic and cathartic quality that helps lay the demons of those memories to bed; allowing for some closure. “Ghosts” playing directly into this, the iconography is that of tortured souls trapped. “Pandora’s Box” shows that some things can be hidden away but never really forgotten. Deeply introspective imagery without blatant directed symbolism is how I try to tell my stories. It is too easy and trite to simply create a piece that requires the viewer little or no effort to uncover the message. Sure, at a glance you may feel that you have grasped what I am telling you but it takes effort in order to see the forest through the trees.

*The first time I went to Mexico and saw first hand some of the ancient temples carved from stone. I wanted to know how they constructed them; the tools they used, the techniques, and how to get the various textures.

Growing up in Detroit, steel was all around me, in the signs on buildings, the bridges, the fire escapes......everywhere I looked there it was. Somethings were shiny bright metal, some dull and painted while others rusting away into nothingness. The elements of each medium can be used together to create a menagerie of layers upon and within the sculptures. Steel has a higher melting temperature than bronze so I can pour the molten bronze and once cooled, the steel and bronze are permanently joined.

After I can patina the bronze to almost any color I choose. The steel can be polished and clear coated or I can let it rust. The combination of the varied finishes and mediums can best be seen in my piece titled “A Silver Lining” for it consists of three types of steel, bronze and stone.

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*The role of the viewer has drastically changed over the last 1520 years. With the addiction to electronic devices an ever grown demographic of the world’s population is so disconnected from the physical realm. I often see people taking their phones out to take a picture of a beautiful work of art or a video of a concert instead of simply appriciating that fact that they have the priviledge of being able to be there in person to experience it. The trend of people taking pictures of their food and sharing it on social media is disturbing to me. People need to put there phones away, enjoy the meal in front of them and embrace the company they have sitting at the table. Sorry, I digress. As each new day passes, I put less and less effort into thinking about who is going to see my work and what they think about it. Instead I focus on why I am creating art in the first place.

Creating artwork is not so much of a “want to do” but a “need to do” activity that helps balance out my existance. Yes, I am humbled each and every time anyone takes a

moment of their time to acknowledge anything i have created, be it a positive compliment or a negative critism. By them taking a moment to stop and experience a thought and/or emotion because of something I made proves to me that I did something right. There is though a sense of self worth that words can never express that happens when a person decides to give their hard earned money to purchase a part of me. I will remember till the day I leave this life, the very first person that said I would love to own that thing you made and reached into her purse to grab money. It was $5 for a photograph I had printed at the local store; she saw it while I was going through the prints to see how they turned out.

*Photography can definitly be a fine art discipline. Light is a pallete of colors to be maniputed, distorted, and used to one’s heart desire. As a photographer for over 20 years, I can

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vouch for how much work goes into creating the perfect photograph.

Natural and artificial lighting, filters for the lens, setting the frame rates and exposure lengths all play a key role in creating a true fine art photograph. I am still on the fence with some photography though.

Some photography is so digitally modified that I personally classify them as graphic design, which is still a form of art.

*I can only speak on my own creative process. For me, personal experiences are absolutely indispensable to the formulating of

subject matter for a piece. As for the physical portion of the construction; the years of trials and errors have shaped my methods, most of which are non-traditional in the eyes of academia. For example I often grab a sharpened screw driver instead of a masonry chisel simply because I do not have traditional tools readily availible so I make due with what I have on hand.

I do believe there are people in the art world that can easily create without personal involvement, but I unfortunately, am not one of those people. Creating art is my therapy!

Recently I had the honor of being a contributing artist for a book themed around this. It is called “Healing from Psychiatry : An Artists Perspective”.

The book is full of beautiful stories told by artists around the world that benefit emotionally and mentally by the artistic process.

*”State of the Union” can be interpreted in a few different way by the viewer. One can see it as a statement directed towards the current political atmosphere; they

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could also see the oppression faced daily by the skilled trades. I want to leave the meaning up for personal interpritation, the title was left ambiguous enough to start one’s mind on a journey. “Gluttony” is another sculpture that the title sets the tone but does not necessarily provide an answer. (here we have reserved space also for Gluttony)

*Crucial; not at all. I have done a few pieces based on a theme set forth by a gallery for an event. Other than that, audience reception does not cross my mind. Like I stated earlier the ability of the audience to unplug is the largest hurdle any artist or curator faces today.

*As for future projects I have a cue of sculptures in the works. I have no logic for the reason why, but it seems like my sculptures are growing larger and heavier as time passes. I have made a conscious decision to pick up my camera more often this up coming year also. I have also created a design that combines a large steel sculpture that will incorporate multiple abstract paintings; something I have never attempted before.

Aside from my personal solo work, I am involved with multiple large scale art centered events in Detroit; Theatre Bizarre, The Damned Exhibition, and Breaking Borders. If any of your readers are in Detroit during the time frame of when these events are happening, I highly suggest attending; they will walk away with amazing memories.

An interview by and

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Eva Athanasiadou Lives and works in Athens, Greece

An artist's statement

D

uring of my studies at the School of Fine Arts of the university of Western Macedonia, I was interested on the issue of the influence of science in art.

Judge necessary theoretical documentation on each project and trust more an approved scientific position, although it may be related.

In my project deals with a treaty which already started research from secondary education. Impetus for this study was the treatise of Plato on the Allegory of the cave.

Plato attempts an incision in bipolar shape sensible - conceivable. The sense and intellect are a basic principle in most research fields. This is evidenced in the field of biology, philosophy and psychology and refers to the empirical (sensory) knowledge of the world.Empirical knowledge based on commonly accepted cause - and - effect relationship. In quantum physics are different views concerning the validity of the aforementioned relationship. Therefore, according to the distinction between experience and concept , we arrive at the crossroads of modern physics that investigates a space Non-Euclidean Geometry and subjoins the basic solid properties not perceived by the five (human) sences.

As far as I concern on the implementation of the idea I conceived , I had to come into contact with people from different scientific research fields and further the first attempt was unsuccessful for the conformity of the project. I had experimented with a variety of materials in recent years . Dominant role played my participation at the

jewel's lesson. I search out among different materials , what would combine a solid structure with the possibility of incurvation and distortion. With greatly preoccupied aesthetics of the material and its resistance in time and vibration. The material best responder my expectations is:the acrylic glass (Plexiglas). Particularly interesting i appreciate the involvement of light (natural and artificial) in visual projects,as the light has the property deteriorates optical and structural form of the material. In the course of my research and the final project, I included the mirror because of its properties. But Dominant role played by the cube concerning the symbolism and its uses.

In the report, the five sides hanging from the roof using chains. At four sides are fitted with double-sided tape and fishing line, within dimensions 0,90m x 0,90 m which have the appearance of a common mirror but within them have led film which creates illusion to the viewer.

The extension of sides of the cube are approximately 0,65-0,70m. Each side consists of a wooden frame thickness 30mm and width 55 mm as well as a cross inside wood, same size. The gaps have been filled by polystyrene (extruded polystyrene) and the frame is pressurized externally with MDF. The base is reinforced internally with greater thickening in the woods that are fitted inside the frame at 130mm.

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LandEscape meets

Eva Athanasiadou An interview by Katherine Williams, curator and Josh Ryder, curator landescape@europe.com

Multidisciplinary artist Eva Athanasiadou's work rejects any conventional classifications and is marked with freedom as well as rigorous formalism, when encapsulating a careful attention to composition and balance. Exploring the expressive potential of the combination between different materials, she focuses on the acryl glass for its capability of capturing light to investigate about language, meaning, and transformation. One of the most impressive aspects of Athanasiadou's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of unveiling the ubiquitous connections between microcosm and macrocosm: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

Hello Eva and welcome to LandEscape: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production would you like to tell us something about your multifaceted background? You have a solid formal training and you degreed from the School of Fine Arts of the University of Western Macedonia. How do your studies influence your evolution as an artist? In particular, what is your

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main interest as creative? Would you say that it's more of an intuitive or a systematic process?

Hello! Before we begin I would like to thank the LandEscape for hosting on its pages.

The title of “artist’’ is just a title for me. I think my studies did not affect at all my choice to deal with art. Since I can remember myself I wanted to communicate with alternative ways. For me art is communication. Your works interact with viewers even when you are not there to support them. However, my studies in art was a way to enrich my knowledge and share my concerns.

My main interest concerns the knowledge of my inner world (selfknowledge) and outer world (Cosmologyontology). I have chosen to deal with conceptual art because it triggers my mind, my expression and creativity. It also helps me to both understand better myself and the world around me. This is subjective. Art is a liberty and I find it difficult to fit in ‘’molds’’. If I was trying to give a more specific answer I would say that it is both.

You are a versatile artist and over these years you have gained the ability to cross from one media to another: your approach reveals an incessant search of

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an organic symbiosis between a variety of viewpoints. The results 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 https://www.facebook.com/anartisticrefle ction?fref=ts in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that such multidisciplinary approach is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore.

Yes when I investigate something I make use of as many angles as possible. The Interdisciplinary opens you new horizons in the journey of expression and leads to reliable conclusions offering you a comprehensive knowledge. Thanks! Here is an opportunity to say that, if someone believes that we have something in common and wants to work on a future project with me, please don't be hesitate to communicate in athanasiadoueva@gmail.com For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected Beings & Cubes, an interesting work from your thesis, that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of this interesting transdisciplinary research project is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Beings & Cubes, would you shed light on your usual process and set up?

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I’m glad that an autonomous aesthetic can attributes the results of my research.

The truth is that I have affected by my research in experimental psychology and many times I am in questioned if the messages which someone sends, perceived without being misrepresented their content. On the occasion of your question, I want to share with readers that as many projects started spontaneously without conceptual status, I did neither completed nor I completed after I tried to find the root causes. So according to my conclusion, the project is a result of transfer of an idea into a sensory perceived situation, which explains why I express with as much as tools dispose and I am not faithful in a material or a technique.

Reminding us of Manfred Pernice's works, Beings & Cubes shows the intimate symbiosis between art and abstract geometry, taking advantage of the creative and expressive potential of Sculpture to provide an abstract idea with a tactile materialization. How does representation and the tendency towards abstraction in order to capture a wide variety of meanings find their balance in your work?

Indeed. The beings and cubes consist of two parts as you have noticed, the cubemirror with strict geometry and the series of sculptures that were placed inside cubes, are semantically sculptures, abstract geometry.

Using consciously the cube, a ultimate shape that builds the world (according to the alchemists), triggered a series of Visual stimuli, in fact, they do not correlate random with the cube, with the

notion of internment. Such a powerful and stable shape can bring out the lead into obscurity a series of polymorphous sculptures.

I believe that it is necessary in my work to leave space to the viewer to fill mentally in the forms and create new levels and impressions by the project.

When inquiring into the distinction between experience and concept, your exploraton arrives to the crossroads of modern physics that investigates a space Non-Euclidean Geometry: what has at once captured our attention of your approach is your successful attempt to produce a dialectical fusion that operates as a system of symbols creates a compelling non linear narrative that, walking the thin line between conceptual and literal meanings, establishes direct relations with the viewers. 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 do you conceive the narrative for your works?

With perfectly expressed this view. Paul Klee once said '' the art does not represent the visible, but it makes visible. ‘‘ I try to convey in my works the path of my thinking. Plato rejects the artists because they mimic the imitation (the objects according to Plato is faded imitations of ideas). What I want to do is to leave the world and feel objects to replicate the concepts in my projects.

This gives them an oddity because ideas

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have no material substance, found in our minds. The result though is subjective in terms of imitating the idea, opens a dialogue with the Viewer by focusing on personal perception.

When inducing the viewers to relate themselves to the properties not perceived by the five human senses, you draw the viewers to an aesthetic experience marked out with an open reading, with a multiplicity of subtle meanings. We daresay that you are not attempting to establish any unified sense of the world: associative possibilities are of greater importance. How important is this degree of openness?

What fascinates me is that every spectator is confronted with the internal images and beliefs about the world. The power of thought might form its new conditions.

Everything around us is thoughts that made acts of ... But what happens when reverse cause and effect relationship? The arrow of time? When art can contribute to the understanding of relativity? The answer is art, this controversial field which associated both with philosophy, physics, psychology and other scientific fields. It is very important for the man to understand that truth is independent of the observer.

Many people claim to be sure of what you believe, at the same time scientific evidence the break. I once read that '' science is belief in ignorance of experts ''.

All I can say is that we have to learn a lot more.

Your works seem to move from experience to produce an augmented experience: so we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative

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process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I don't think that this cannot happen. Every creative process involves the creator of and integrally personal experiences. Even when trying to disconnect, manifested its effort. I have some doubts about the topic of copying works. I do not think that it is a creative process but technical. (But even this personal experience is).

Your work provides the viewers with an immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience in your process?

The vision is the most powerful sense of man in General. In addition, we live in an age of image. The review is directly connected with the aesthetic concept, based mostly on visual experience. When I decided to deal with the subjective perception, like to work with people suffering from blindness. Exactly why the viewing experience would not have color and format in their minds. Also, their criticism is transparent and thoughtful. Unlike common superficial opinion, this derived from the shallow knowledge of vision. The art must ''be'' in public space, not as a decorative element, but must cease to serve interests and becoming useful in every conceivable viewer.

Over these years you took part to several art exhibitions, both solos and group shows: one of the hallmarks of your art 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

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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?

In my course, in the world of art, is understood that we must do something more than a '' beautiful '' project. Might the impressive and elegant works to act as magnets for the world, but the request is not their personal aesthetic. This regard I also support.Ι prefer not to adapt my work to the public but leaving the audience to adjust to this.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Eva. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see the development of your work?

Was a great pleasure and honor for me to share with you my thoughts. At the moment I am working in secondary education and I have the opportunity to be taught by my students, observing their reactions to interdisciplinary art. However I am interested in Psychology and special education. I deal also with writing and photography and i want to combine them sometime. About the project... I have to close the chapter that opened my diploma work (beings and cubes) but everyone can find on my page or write together with a common project. Thank you for your time and hope to meet you and close once!

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E sther Cohen Lives and works in Tel-Aviv, Israel

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y paintings are inspired by rituals, narratives and cultural aspects evolving the relationship between the wild and the man-made. The drawings portray a deep rooted contemporary debate on cultural legacy, heritage from the past and traditions that carry on to this day.

The pictorial motifs are at once symbolic and poetic, drawn from personal as well as collective memories.

In a detailed and refined painting technique, if it is oil on canvas, or drawing with a simple ballpoint pen on paper I deal with the act of mapping and the definition of actual and symbolic boundaries. I am interested in investigating the

domestication of nature, while documenting the process of growth and withering in the wild, I correspond with the old masters paintings and botanist drawings in a criticizing and contemporary point of view.

Through my body of work I invite the audience to observe closely and consider questions regarding identity, evolution and pertinence and bring to mind the dialectics between local and global, the planted and the uprooted, east and west, indoors and outdoors, nature and culture. Entangling past and present, charted pathways and unrestrained nature.

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LandEscape meets

Esther Cohen An interview by and

, curator , curator

photography:

Thank you, I am glad to take part in LandEscape.

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Esther Cohen

Esther Cohen

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, detail

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While I was an art student, in the second year of my studies, the establishment moved from a city in the center of Israel to a quite remote country side area. In retrospective, I believe that the relocation influenced me mostly. I used to visit, on a daily

basis the plantation of agriculturist relatives of mine who lived close to school. They grew carnations among other plants and vegetables for export. I found the plantation a great place for inspiration. All of my art production related to my daily habits. The pro-

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cess of growth and decay captivated my thoughts, and I started to investigate the domestication of nature, inspired by rituals and narratives from everyday life. The relationship between wild nature and the man-made fascinated me.

My drawings portray a deep rooted contemporary debate on cultural legacy, heritage from the past and traditions that carry on to this day. I carry with me experiences from places i lived in as a child, In Israel and abroad, and it comes into realization in my work. The pictorial motifs are at once symbolic and poetic, drawn from personal as well as collective memories.

I usually work in series. Each of the series stands alone, but also relates to, and in a way continues its predecessors, forming a thematic continuity between series, exhibitions, moments in time and places.

In my early works I painted with oil or acrylic on canvas but after becoming a mother this process was too long and conventional for me. I stared to draw with

a pencil and ballpoint pen on paper for circumstantial reasons but it soon became my identified practice.

I take a lot of inspiration from my home, daily rituals and ceremonial motifs, for example, in my early series of work (oil painting on round canvas) I depict the domestic ritual of sorting through rice or lentils, on a plate, in a meticulously realistic manner. Sorting through legumes, a painstaking chore which I partook with my mother in childhood home, on old European plates we used, at the time we lived in London England, to this day actually, is articulated by the equally painstaking painting of each and every grain of rice or lentil, documenting each stage of the slow ritual, contrasting the fast and instant pace of modern times. The series recreates the repetitive, restricted circular sorting motion of manually transferring rice from one side of the plate to the other, in to order dispose of pebbles and other inedible elements. The motion of the paintbrush over the canvas maps the action of the hand sorting through lentils or rice, developing into broader cultural aspects as the painted images morph from decorative flowers to thorns and insects, threatening the hard gained order, and referencing 17th century Flemish Vanitas paintings.

The series of drawings on continues this motif. For example, “ ” portrays Tel-Aviv’s skyline panoramic view, alongside decorative flowers of the almond tree blossom, which is unusual to this coastal strip. This work corresponds with the famous painting “View of Delft” (1658 1660) by the great Flemish artist Johannes Vermeer.

I consider it to be a modest contemporary

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homage, drawn on a simple paper doily, a

craft. The blue ballpoint pen drawing cor-

disposable item, a reminder of the hand-

responds with the typical blue delftware

made embroidery, a traditional feminine

ceramics, and in a way, brings together

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the dialectics between high and low, art and craft, feminine and masculine, east and west, past and present.

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Esther Cohen

Esther Cohen

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The act of mapping, the rebellious wildflowers and references to Vanitas paintings also appear in the body of work. The realistically rendered blue and black indigenous wildflowers - daffodils, cyclamens, anemones, poppies, lupines, are drawn with a ballpoint pen on old maps of Israel/Palestine or on circular paper formats. The choice to use ballpoint pen, an available household item, and the readymade map formats dictate the blue and black linear characteristic of the drawings (emphasizing the wildflowers’ rich texture). The decision to draw with an ordinary ballpoint pen, in my eyes, speaks to the dissonance between wild nature and familiar serene domesticity.

The motif is strengthened by the decision to draw “simple” flowers that grow in the wild without human interference. I “strip” the flowers of their natural colors and transform them into “unified” blue and black specimens. These detailed drawings of flowers bring to mind early 20th century botany handbooks on one hand, and on the other, still life painting tradition, specifically floral paintings. By drawing and portraying the process of growth and decay in the wild, I am conducting a contemporary dialog with the “impossible bouquet” of ancient floral paintings. In the past, the flowers were imported from exotic countries and brought together in the painting although they did not grow or bloom at the same time. Therefor 17th century paintings were actually a fiction floristry.

The flower, throughout the history of art, has symbolized evanescent beauty,

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the transient fleetingness of life on earth (“Memento Mori�). The flower is the embodiment of temptation and

beauty as well as of pain and death.

Transience, as a motif, in my work, manifests itself in the choice of flowers, and

Esther Cohen

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the decision to draw them on old geographical maps.

Looking at these maps provides a win-

dow into the past, to places and borders that no longer exist, to the wide-open fields which have over time become ur-

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ban or industrialized zones, and to the altered names and functions of sites.

The works it seems, do more than merely confront us with our mortality; they emphasize the evolving process of perception and points of view.

I like your reference to Ariadne’s Thread...The drawings invites the viewer to trace the places on the map and at the same time try to find the connection to the painted motifs, and to the viewer’s’ location, physically and symbolically. The linear manner in which the flowers are rendered is patterned according to the way flowers grow naturally, contrary to topographical lines and charted boundaries on maps. The way the drawing trespasses over the mapped borders, representing loss of control, and in my view, creates an explicit and a subliminal conflict between order and chaos by drawing within lines and outside the lines. The act of drawing redefines the map, creating a new code to decipher, one that traces the fields of blossoming wildflowers stubbornly surviving, season after season, demanding their ability to reappear. The drawing distorts the

map’s scale, as the flowers are drawn in life-size, and therefore suggest a new method of representing reality. Allegorical of , the flowers cover the map, creating an absurd dynamic between the signified and the signifier. Through my body of work I invite the audience to observe closely and consider questions regarding identity, evolution and pertinence and bring to mind the dialectics between local and global, the planted and the uprooted, east and west, indoors and outdoors, na-

Esther Cohen

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ture and culture.

When I was a child, my mother used to work in a book publishing company which among others printed the formal “Atlas for school�. We used to receive a package of new books during the holidays season, as a gift from management. The package was wrapped with

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damaged Atlas paper sheets that were out of order from the printing process.

The package combined the corners of the geographic sheet together, the world map altered completely… it was very interesting for me to see, how accidently, for example, Africa “touched” South America and Europe “united” with Australia…I used to save the most interesting sheets of the "wrapping paper”. I believe that was actually the beginning of my maps collection…

I currently work on a new series “ ” which brings together old Atlas book papers in a Hebrew version and in English and Arabic version, sharing various floral motifs, some planted and some uprooted. The drawing enables to trace and contemplate the territorial entanglements of the land we inhabit, and the ways in which the borders have rapidly changed over the years. By painting and drawing on maps, I erase and override the map’s original function, transforming it from a structured consensus of symbols, to a personal narrative.

This series of work also reflects a family ritual: My family goes on hiking trips during the seasonal blossoming of wildflowers, to see the flowers at their peak, pending the inevitable process of their decay. I usually take pictures of the flowers and later relate to their location on the map. In my work I examine my

own personal rituals alongside the narratives and cultural heritage of being Israeli, taking into consideration questions regarding the resonance of cultural traditions passed down through the generations and their contemporary manifestation.

The creation process is a journey for me; i observe the map and inverstigate it. In a way, its paths dictates the composition and the subject matter of the drawing, for example i investigated of the ancient Mediterranean world. traded spices, incense plants and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Northeastern Africa and Arabia to India and beyond. Some of the Incense plants are still known today, while others extinct. Some were used for rituals and religious reasons and some for medicinal and cosmetic use. In my body of work, I focus on fragrant flowers such as Frankincense, Cassia, and Lavender that were part of the Incense trade route, weaving them

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into detailed drawings of traditional . Filigree, an ancient Mesopotamian craft dating back to 3000 BCE, derived from Latin words ,

uses thin threads of different widths and orbs made of precious metals, gold or silver, woven into an intricate and dense mesh of tapestry. A piece of jewelry is thus created from a thread. In my draw-

ing technique, fine lines drawn with a ballpoint pen mimic the laborious filigree process. From a line or a wire, a creation is formed. This Jewelry was once served as ornaments, as status symbols and a means by which to accumulate wealth. It also often served as talismans for protection, fertility and long and good life blessings. The design of the jewelry is based largely on floral motifs, drawing

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from nature as a source of inspiration and reflection, and part of a deep understanding of life cycles and the blossoming and decaying process.

The Filigree jewelry tradition was widespread in Yemen and India and is deeply rooted in the culture of these countries to this day; it was also favored in 17th century Europe. My choice of filigree ornaments as a motif derives from a bio-

graphic 19th and 20th century Yemeni connection. I draw jewelry in detail on circular formats, so that the entire series, when hung, resembles beads strung on a winding chain, light and floating, yet rooted to the Land and its pathways. The earth motif as a life source yielding both wheat and barley, and aromatic spices the material and the ethereal, is accentuated by these drawings imposed on

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Esther Cohen

Esther Cohen

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maps from various periods. The aromatic flowers, associated with religious ceremonial incense, alongside rampant wild flowers and biblical motifs on geographical maps, in a way that at times the motifs merge into the lines on the map and at times dispute them.

The jewelry, the spices and the sheaf appear to ‘hover’ over the pictorial space, defying the laws of gravity, and emphasizing the dissonance between the earthly and the heavenly. The floating sensation creates a rhythmic dance-like movement within each work, and from one work to another, forming a winding linear chain between them.

The reading prism of my art is through cultural codes, some are contemporery and some are from passed times. These codes are part of my mizrahi heritage and culture

and part of my everyday life, so i beleive that personal experiance is a part of that. I agree that i examine the relationship between reality and perception, i actually make a translation of reality as you mentioned. i beleive also that our instincts, our concious is tuned with nature, but somehow, through modern times we grew apart. In my body of work I wish to create a delicate yet critiquing synthesis between natural motifs and man-made shapes, between the regional and the historical, personal and collective rituals. For example, in “The Valley of Tears” (it is the actual name of this valley) drawn on the border between the Golan Heights and Syria. Among the Druse villages in that area you can’t miss the beautiful cherry blossoms …It is also known as the Vale of tears (Latin: Vallis Lacrimarum) is a Christian phrase referring to the tribulations of life that Christian doctrine says are left behind only when one leaves the world and enters Heaven. I visited this area many times, watching Syrian land from a far. Among the beautiful view there is great sorrow, I painted weeping cherries that symbolizes the victims of war in this area, and the separation of Syrian druse families due to the border line today. It is a very sensitive and charged spot; many painful battles occurred there and unfortunately they carry on to this day in Syria.

The imagery in my work announces its presence over and over again on the paper, entangling past and present, charted pathways and unrestrained nature.

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Esther Cohen

Esther Cohen

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If there is a scale between the politic and the poetic, I consider myself to be more poetic… I believe that art should have a

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statement; an artist needs to stay true to himself and raise questions and perceptions of conflicts regarding his/her time. I truly don’t see the point of making art that does not deal with a broader point of view,

besides one’s self. My art reflects my evolving experiences, heritage and knowledge; I don’t use the term politics as part of my creation process at all. But I agree that the element is present in a certain

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sense. For example “ is a series I created following the 2014 “Tzuk-Eitan” War (Operation Protective Edge) which was a very hard period. An introspective gaze is inherent to the drawing. The poppies turn their petals towards the map, “observing” it closely, navigating a winding twisted path. The growth and creation process on the map is at the same time a process of erasure and decay; the drawing erases the lines of the map. I allow myself and the viewer to meander along its’ trails, to observe the markings and the flowers that germinated as a result of the creative process, to consider questions of identity and affiliation, the natural world and the manmade, nature and culture.

As the nature of visual art, I aspire to view the esthetic qualities of language, in addition to verbal meanings or instead of it. I draw on maps in English Hebrew and Arabic. The maps series invites the audience for a voyage. There are several ways of reading the map I draw and I believe that people around the world have more shared experiences and rituals than they think. For example, “

drawing portrays the ritual of making braids from the last wheat stalks left in the field after harvest, hanged on the threshold of the farmer’s home as a talisman, to bless the land, hoping for good produce in the following year. The braid resembles similar rituals from other cultures worldwide, like the Welsh or Moroccan braids. Since the beginning of the "agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution", more than 10,000 years ago, humans started this strong bond between nature and handcraft. In my drawing the braid is drawn on an Arabic version of the Atlas. I received it from a colleague artist, he and his brother learned from this book in school, and I left their original remarks and notes on the paper, so in a way my drawing corresponds with them. It was interesting for me to receive his Arabic version of the Atlas, although I actually can't read Arabic, the edition was slightly different from the Hebrew version I used in school, this piece is a part of a wider series I currently work on.

I look forward exhibiting the new Atlas series in 2017, as a large scale installation.

In the future, I hope to continue my research regarding the connection between text and imagery, especially of ancient languages and their relation to natural and local elements.

Thank you so much LandEscape team! for this opportunity to study and show my work, it was a great experience.

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Raske Jaske Lives and works in York, United Kingdom

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y work comes from concerns for the environment, which stimulates a passion in me to make artworks from something which would otherwise end up in our bins and then into landfill sites.

I believe we have forgotten our relationship with nature. We created our synthetic world and we dump leftovers around us. I believe we must protect the environment/landscape from pollution and then the natural, clean nature will bring back health and joy into our lives.

I strive for my artwork to have an aesthetic appeal and originality and through them I attempt discreetly to connect the viewer with my life's philosophy – the necessity to think and act towards the improvement on ecological state.

My previous Lithuanian language and literature studies brought many metaphorical meanings into my artworks.

I consider art as a magic device, which has a power to rock people’s minds. As a result, I employ my imagination and skills in order to create unusual artwork which are intended to involve the viewer on an emotional and intellectual level and encourage them to ‘think outside the box’ and look at the world in a different way: the garbage/rubbish/waste/leftovers after recycling can breathe a new life and can be a part of the wonder in your eyes.

,2015

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LandEscape meets

Raske Jaske An interview by and

, curator , curator

I was born and grew up in a small beautiful spa town, Druskininkai, in the south of Lithuania. As most of my generation, I attended University straight after Secondary school. After four years of study I was holding in my hands BA Lithuanian Philology and Teacher qualification paper, I realised that I have zero desire to jump into the shoes of a teacher. I wanted to expand my outlook, to explore the world, so I packed my luggage and I came to the UK. For a while I did all sorts of jobs and I started to feel the inner need to change something in my life. I enrolled into Access to HE Diploma Art & Design, which led me into BA (Hons) 3D Contemporary Crafts degree. Those four years were the most significant point in my life as it opened gates for me into exploring the art world and at the same time I started to develop myself as an artist. It’s no doubt that my previous (literature and language) studies have a massive impact for me as a person and also as an artist. I always adored the power of words, sentences, texts and their thrilling ability for people to reach the essence by reading between lines. At this point, visual art also stimulates viewers’ imagination and lets them step into that open space where through the details, hints and the other links they can dig

Christopher Reid

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Raske Jaske

Raske Jaske

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beneath the artwork surface. I like to entwine words (artworks names) with images as I

believe they supplement each other and build on the artworks’ implication. Overall, when I

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think about myself as an artist, I must admit that the collision of my life experiences from Lithuania and from the UK matured me as an artist. I enjoy and feel the need to work mainly with recycled materials. Being born in the country, which at that time was under Russia’s rule, I have very vivid childhood memories, how by working hard and being creative we very successfully coped with all shortages. My uncle from different parts and scrap bits made vehicles, my mum over a night was making carnival costumes for my sister and me. So basically, this daily creative environment planted a seed in my mind that everything has a potential to be reborn into something else. Thus, by living in the UK I have got a chance to look at life from a different angle: the unlimited supply leads us to consumerism, which step by step is destroying our planet. My interest into ecology keeps growing and I feel the necessity to discreetly address the environment issues by creating my artworks and expanding a potential use of second hand materials. Perhaps from this very unusual creative way my artwork questions an aesthetics’ boundaries. I don’t aim with my creativity to please everyone, I intend to attract at least some people’s attention by unconventional use of retired materials, to experience their unexpectedness and through this feeling to comprehend that beauty does not have limits, basically an aesthetic value appears beneath the artworks’ surface.

My creativity is based on completely free expression. I never press myself into any media frames. My life philosophy - to think and act towards the improvement of the ecological state – stimulates my creativity non-stop. I don’t even notice myself when by observing my daily environment I instantly think how one or the other item could be reused, recycled and reborn into something new. I choose to use an unlimited variety of media as it gives me a perfect possibility to discover the potential of waste, to express and convey my ideas and at the same time to expand the perception boundaries.

As with all of my works, the collage FREE, COOL & RICH naturally caffeine-free and ethically sourced, 100% organically grown INNER ITCHING OF Landscape came from a concern for our environment and my belief that artworks have a power to stimulate our awareness about life, ourselves and our living environment. As I specialize in creating artworks by recycle/upcycle, reclaimed and second hand materials, after the creation process, I also ending up having waste. There was a leftover of cardboard, so I decided to

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preserve its visual waste appeal, highlighted it and use this cardboard as my collage background. In a pile of interesting images (which I collect constantly from all sort of sources) I chose a few landscape images and together with the other motives, which draw my eyes attention, I instinctively, only by trusting my inner sense for aesthetics, weaved those images a story. I gave metaphorical name to this collage, as I would like to believe it encourage viewers to dig beneath the collage’s surface and find their personal connection with it.

I think the way I chose to work (giving myself completely to freedom) very naturally drives me towards abstraction.

When you don’t push yourself into any frame, you tend to work more from an unconscious mind, which can take you to a new territory.

I like to leave encoded links and hints towards the meaning of my work, but also I tend to give that space for viewers to step in and through their emotional and intellectual capacity to connect with the artwork. For example, collage a long lasting, extra glossy blend of ethics and intense taste has cotton picking and production from fabric images, which together with the metaphorical name of the artwork, could direct the viewer towards the theme of how cotton production appears into our lives. But through an

‘ethically dirty’ way. Experimentation with media very naturally pushes existing boundaries and lets the artist explore ideas in a very unconventional way. In most of these cases, the artwork draws and holds the viewers’ attention, but it is quite difficult from the first sight even to foretell the connection between the artwork, its title and meaning. As you notice, my collage The secrets of SPACE, Style & the Flexible story behind the picture is one of those works, which more calls for viewers’ personal emotional response to the work than to find its meaning. In most cases, I think that disclosure of the idea’s genesis shows how my artworks’ representation and their tendency towards abstraction find their balance. For example, by creating sculptural table A junction of the past and present I was looking into the differences between past and present from an environmental point. The top of the table represents the past, when people were living in close relationship with nature. Most of our ancestors were farmers, who had a contact with soil every day (the imitation of soil at the base of the table). There were joiners, who worked only with natural products (wood) and developed their joinery skills through generations. The leg of the table made from recycled waste – cans, my sculpture’s Unknown Planet Resident – Drakis beads represents the present: we lost connection with nature, we developed lots of synthetic products (tin, polystyrene, cement, bright coloured paints) and we became consumers who throws to the oceans and landfills tons of rubbish. Perhaps now, after revealing the ‘prehistory’ of this artwork, it is easier to see how this sculptural table represents the collision between past and present and how abstraction and representation balance my work.

, 2013 photo by

, 2012 photo by

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Naming the artwork is a very important process for me and sometimes it can take as long as the whole piece’s creation. In

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general, I tend to work in two ways. First, I have a theme in mind and then I search for images, items which by manipulating them

I could express and encode my idea. In this case, I usually know the core words for the artwork name but, of course, the last

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variation of name comes out when the piece is finished. Second way for creating artworks (especially collages) is my

favourite. I don’t press myself into any theme’s frame, I give my mind complete freedom to search, browse and notice the

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random images or items from my surroundings and then I instinctively combine them in an aesthetic manner. In this case, I

draw myself into the artwork and the artwork diverts me into finding the name for it. So again I flick through piles of magazines,

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leaflets, packaging and the other collected materials to search for the words. At this time, I manipulate words - I collage them into sentences, which, as you notice, turns out into long titles for my artworks. I absolutely love this process, as it enables me to twist the words, alter their connotation and from them create metaphorical meanings which direct the viewers to walk through their visual experience towards my ‘artwork reading’.

I think in our hurried age art has to take the duty to lead the viewers to contemplate the world and let themselves see from the other side. I think you are absolutely right by saying that artists are always trying to dig beneath the surface. Indeed, I think an artist has a capability to broaden our perception, boundaries and reveal our inner Nature.

After all, an artists’ imagination combined together with a sensitive look on issues,

could stimulate them to discover an innovative use of materials and create that power, which through by an unexpected effect could rise a viewer’s emotions and develop their sensitivity. People with sensitive minds tend to think further, their minds becoming more penetrating and, as a result, they grasp the relationship between images easier. In this case, artworks reveal bigger pictures to the viewer and some audiences are capable to reflex themselves, to rethink about their relationship with today’s world. I would like to believe, that my works also encourage viewers to look at the world and themselves from a different angle.

One of my sculptures I am beautiful! – your Globe basically examines the same environment pollution theme as the above mentioned artwork A junction of the past and present. Sectioned in half, our Globe’s (which we understand it as a round sphere) parts are stretched and they reveal that all our daily rubbish goes beneath the earth’s surface. This artwork also exposes and questions our modern world solution to this problem: do beautiful parks created directly above of landfills solve the pollution problem? Another of my artworks H2O letter to You with a smell of aromatic coffee conveys the controversy of people’s different essential needs and highlights the importance of water and humanity. The saucer is made from coffee beans representing Tanzania, the country, which farms the coffee beans we consume but struggles with even having drinking water for themselves. The ‘mix and match coffee cup’ states the fact that coffee has become an essential drink for most of us. The coffee tree is a symbol of life – it grows from the water infused coffee. The letter ‘My darling’ highlights the importance of water and aims to provoke a reaction in people’s hearts and minds.

, 2011 photo by

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Therefore, all three artworks seek to raise viewers’ awareness and make them question themselves: what is my role in this situation? What could I do about it?

Maybe I could reduce my consumption?

Maybe I should buy Organic and Fairtrade coffee which is more environmentally friendly to our planet and also supports

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, 2010 photo by

, 2013 photo by

those who work very hard, but still are very poor?

It is very rare case when I search for a specific face or image. Most of the time I randomly choose images just by flicking through magazines, papers, leaflets, tickets etc. Basically, any image has to draw my eye and grab my attention, look interesting, maybe even a bit odd, and I have to see its

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potential to be used in my work as one of the ‘building materials’. The human faces in both above mentioned pieces were selected casually.

Collage is a fantastic freedom field for creativity without any boundaries, any limits. I absolutely love this art form as it enables me to create pieces basically only from waste, which otherwise would have ended up in a bin and then into landfill sites.

By using only second-hand materials (cardboard, good quality magazines with interesting images, colourful packaging, tickets, envelopes, labels and all the other elements, which I can find in my daily life) I strive to assemble them so that a new created work would have an aesthetic appeal, which would urge the viewers to ‘think outside the box’ and discreetly connect them with my intention to show that the garbage/rubbish/waste/leftovers after recycling can breathe a new life and can be beautiful, too.

In my opinion, collage has a potential to be one of the eco-friendliest art form, which could be very successfully used at schools to raise kid’s creativity and impart how they could contribute towards our environmental protection.

It is very interesting for me to know how the audience react to my work. If I could, I would like to be a fly on the wall…Ha…ha…ha… However, the audience reception has never been an issue for me while making decisions. When I am in a creative process I don’t have time to think about the audience, my only focus is experimentation and freedom. I think my works are quite unusual, so they should provoke viewers’ emotions, which could lead to them ‘rocking their minds’.

I feel a constant need to experiment with different second hand media, so I will definitely continue this way. I am planning to focus on reusing all sorts of packaging and fabrics. Also, I am thinking of ways to incorporate painting and drawing elements into my work. Furthermore, I just had a very successful first interactive art project Freedom Room. This has made me want to look for more possibilities of creating interactive art.

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P hillip Altstatt Lives and works internationally

I

am inspired by the bigness of the world and the even bigger depths of imagination. This inspiration drives my ambition to its limits. When conceptualizing new work, I often encounter criticism because it is difficult for others to imagine the inventiveness that will go into the execution of the final product. In order to achieve the seemingly impossible worlds that I create, I have to start with the mechanisms that allow me to contort reality. I am as passionate about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ contraptions that precede the artwork as I am about the work of art itself. It is this limitless conceptualization that motivates me to continually dream without boundaries.

Artists today are encouraged to focus on specific mediums; however, it is my belief that all disciplines inform one another drawing, painting, sculpture, story telling- and this is practiced in my work.

It has taken a mastery of each of these disciplines to reach the art I make today.

Accepting the challenge of representing the unseen magic in a visual world, I will go to great lengths to take my ideas to fruition. It is said, “Necessity is the

mother of invention”; this is true in my practice. At times this means in-depth studies of filmmaking, acting, photography, graphic design, bookmaking, or mechanical and electrical engineering.

Like Alice’s dizzying adventure to discover who she is, my work takes a journey through many disciplines and areas of study before being fully realized.

Content and Exploration.

My focus as an artist is to draw attention to the magic that lies beneath the ordinary. A colleague once coined my work as a “re-enchantment of the everyday”. There is a dreamy quality that I push for in my work, but almost always with a highly representational style. The abstraction in my work is not visual as much as conceptual; in other words, I am not making abstractionist paintings.

Rather, I am using abstract ideas to encourage viewers to consider the mystery behind the objects and places that they would otherwise take for granted.

Discovering poetry in the world around me has always brought more personal joy than writing my own.

, 2015 8” x 5” x 6”, epoxy clay, enamel, acrylic, rebar wire, paper

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CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

LandEscape meets

Phillip Altstatt An interview by and

, curator , curator

As the art world continues to become globalized, and the internet becomes increasingly more influential, I am frequently confronted with the idea of being a “self-trained” artist. I suppose this is something that I once called myself, before attending Sacramento State. I wasn’t taught some top-secret painting or sculpting technique that made me a better artist; what I do see as the major difference between then and now is that I was trained to be more thoughtful than I was when I started the program. Being encouraged to discuss your ideas, and being required to defend your choices, goes a long way toward making an artist more thoughtful about their work; for me, this meant a body of work that was far more intellectual than what I was making before. I was fortunate to work with a world-class faculty, who introduced me to philosophy readings within the context of being a maker. Through my studies, I moved from “painting pretty pictures” to building work that inspired dialogue and evoked emotions - first in myself, then in my viewers.

I believe that we can all relate to the idea of a piece of literature or music touching something deep inside ourselves. In particular, I sometimes feel like a

Christopher Reid

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Phillip Altstatt

Phillip Altstatt

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, 2015 1.25” x 4.5” x .5”, epoxy clay, enamel, paper

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songwriter’s lyrics are about my own life, sung with the just the right amount of emotion so that it strikes an undeniable chord inside me. I am very interested in shared experience, which could explain the phenomenon that I am talking about. On the other hand, you have a beloved story, like ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, which strikes a similar chord; but I have never been to Wonderland. So, when it comes to solving the problem of expressing a complicated idea or emotion - or facing the difficulty of coping with unexpected loss - I take an approach akin to that of Lewis Carroll. I abstract those thoughts and feelings the way your mind might compress the events of a day into a segment of a dream.

I do not think I can say a multidisciplinary approach is the only way to express these ideas, I wouldn’t want to limit myself or anyone else in that way. More so, I would say that my work has become multidisciplinary out of a desperation to move the work forward. It is not uncommon to hear an artist say that they are unsatisfied with the results of their investigations; this is where I have found myself time and time again. The real coherence, and ultimately what I find most successful about my art, is that I try to respond to the work honestly; that is, I want to stay true to myself over giving in to any trends that I am exposed to in the art world. It just happens that the voice inside me has lead me to experimentation in a variety of mediums.

Phillip Altstatt

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, 2015, 12” x 7” x 4”, wood, epoxy clay, acrylic

, 2015, 12” x 7” x 3”, epoxy clay, enamel

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, 2015, 12” x 8” x 11”, epoxy clay, enamel

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A mentor once told me, “Young artists are always trying to find their style; the truth is, they couldn’t stop themselves from coming out in the work if they tried.”

This is a good place to start with this body of work. Landscape is the only way I conceive of putting the ideas together that lead me here. In a given environment, absolutely everything is affecting everything else around it. This is true as light moves through a space; or the way that a splash of one color in the corner of a painting gives the illusion of altering all of the other colors across the canvas; or the way that billions of disposable cups are making an impact on the health of our physical environment; or the way that the actions of somebody close to you has an effect on your life - all of these things are on my mind when I am in the studio.

The overarching theme of SMALL revolves around objects that are “used up”. When the idea for a piece comes to me and I am compelled to bring to fruition, I often feel like I have to start from scratch. I think, “I really want this tiny accordion to look exhausted. How am I going to do that?”

The first thing I had to do was learn to

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make a billow, then I had to destroy it in a way that was believable - using paper that was reminiscent of materials used in an actual accordion and not too delicate. This is a completely different approach than I have taken in other works that might be modeled on a computer and 3D printed, or sculpted using only a wire frame and epoxy clay. The place where I consistently begin is writing my idea down and describing the way I want it to look in words - I rarely sketch my sculptures ahead of time - then asking myself the similar question, “How am I going to do that?�

Memory is flawed, and for a long time, I have used this to my advantage in my artwork. Early in my studio practice, when I focused strictly on two-dimensional work, I spent nearly a decade training myself to capture memories of landscapes that I would later draw or paint in my studio. The result was a unique capturing of a moment. The only natural details that made it into the work were the details that I could remember; which were doubtlessly skewed. By the time those details made it to the canvas, they were affected by emotions, mood, and other memories. They were representational to the point of recognition, but abstracted in a way that was unavoidable.

As I look around the physical world, it becomes more and more difficult to imagine that the vastness of the mind is contained in something

Phillip Altstatt

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, 2014-15, 1.5” x 1.5” x 2”, plasticine, resin, epoxy clay, paper

, 2013-15, 2” x 2.5” x 3.5”, 3D print, acrylic, nylon

, 2015 4” x 7” x 2”, epoxy clay, enamel, acrylic, rebar wire

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as small as a human head; even more difficult to figure out how all of the emotions and energy of a human life fit into a single body. If the universe is indeed finite, it’s too big to comprehend; the depths of imagination are at least that big. With my work, I task myself with squeezing everything on my mind and on my heart into a tiny sculpture - that’s the abstraction. The small objects take on a life of their own, a feeling that viewers can connect with; because the work is figurative in that way, there is an entry point for the viewer to unpack everything that went into it, for themselves.

Memory moves us in so many ways. I want to call it a love/hate relationship that we have with memory, but it’s so much more than that. Some memories haunt us, while others warm our hearts.

Memories can bury themselves so deep that we are unable to access them, while others sit so close to the front of our minds that we cannot shake them. A moment in time can feel so familiar that it feels like a memory, causing déjà vu. I have childhood memories that, in my mind, happened in two different ways that are in conflict with one another.

I forget though, too. I forget to take down flyers once they have expired. I tell

myself that I’m not going to go to the coffee shop and order a drink in a disposable cup because I am tired of contributing to unnecessary waste; but, then I wake up tired and forget that I’ve decided that - until I catch myself throwing the disposable cup in the garbage. I have forgotten about nearly all of things that I have lost or thrown away in my life. The video series, and ultimately SMALL, are as much about forgetting as they are about memory.

Can I just stop to say that this question has changed me in a way? I don’t think any person has ever interpreted my work in a way that aligns so perfectly with my intentions before now. Thanks for that.

It is of my opinion that creativity is impossible without personal experience.

What else would we have to draw upon without those experiences. Even if a person was pushing the boundaries of imagination, I only see those imaginative

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ideas as an abstraction of that person’s life experiences.

The thing about constructed realities, is that they are strange because of the way they ride the line between recognizable situations and those situations that only take place in dreams and hallucinations. So in a way, even the ideas and themes that are most removed from direct experience, are such because of their relationship with reality.

This is an interesting comparison to make.

These are all things that are being transformed by technology. The public sphere is less of a physical space where intellectuals meet and more or less a thing we call social media, which has opened the doors for a greater portion of the population to participate. Likewise, webbased apps, such as Instagram, put artwork in front of more people than ever before.

Traditional “art in public space” is no longer limited to public sculpture and murals; rather, artwork is being shared with the public on multiple platforms. Philosophers have long thought of art as playing a critical role in public education of social issues; although this idea may have been mocked by post-modern artists, it is becoming more apparent that art does play that role in the public sphere - if nothing else, opening a platform for meaningful discourse.

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, 2015, 5” x 4” x 3”, paper, plasticine, liquid paper, permanent marker

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, 2015, 3.5” x 2” x 4.5”, epoxy clay, enamel

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The openness of the work to be read by the viewer is absolutely crucial to me. This is something that I have had to struggle with in the past. When you are an artist faced with criticism over the decisions that you make, it is difficult to defend the idea of “that is up to the viewer to decide”. However, the artwork moves me based on my life experiences; and as similar as those experiences may be to those of the viewer, ultimately it is their life that I hope to touch. If a piece brings me to tears because it is tough for me to face something from my past, I can’t expect the audience to shed tears over my loss; but if they can look into the work, search for meaning in it, and reach their own conclusions - then I have done something for myself and for them.

That being said, there is a degree of openness. As I have discussed already, there are layers of thought and emotion that go into my studio practice; so, I am not just creating an object and asking the world to interpret it the way that they want. I am provided a multitude of already meaningful ideas that serve as jumping-off points for dialogue. It is this balance that strengthens the work; whereas, 100% openness would just cause the work to fall flat.

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, 2015 12” x 7” x 7”, epoxy clay, enamel

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handing you your drink. When I ask locals, “How can I find this?” or “Where can I buy that?”, the answer is always the same: “Taobao.com”. The industries that we support are pushing our planet into homogeny.

I am in the school of thought that believes that the created object itself (be it painting, sculpture, digital art) is not the art, but only becomes art when the audience engages with it. This particular belief might, very well, play a larger role in my decisionmaking process than I ever realize. Come to think of it, you may have pegged one of the reasons that my work has evolved to be cross-disciplinary. The pieces that I have been most satisfied with, are those that change for the viewer as they physically engage with the work; objects that offer a different perspective based on the audiences physical location in relation to the thing itself.

I am currently traveling internationally. I started to feel the limitations of being influenced by only the surroundings I was familiar with. Companies like Starbucks and Amazon weighed heavily on my mind; I saw a problem with the world and I was part of it. I am now living in a remote part of China, a town so insignificant that it yields zero results on an internet search. Although there are some cultural differences, I am facing the same issues: the local coffee shops have a logo that is a blatant rip-off of Starbucks and they peddle out a seemingly limitless supply of disposable cups, which they insist on putting in a bag before

Look, I realize that readers must think I am whining about garbage polluting our world… and in some way, I suppose I am. But that’s not my real interest; my exploration is the repetitive nature that I face as a human being. Clearly I am aware of the problem, yet I still look forward to leaving my Chinese apartment and grabbing a subpar cappuccino from the fake Starbucks; I still go out of way to order stuff on Taobao.com (and trust me, it’s not really easy for a foreigner to do so).

I expected my work to be influenced by a completely different experience that is shared by people of individual cultures, and inject my work with those things. What I am finding is that those “things” are exactly like our “things”. So, my future work is a mystery to even me. I would like to explore the idea of physically separating viewers from the actual work; I’m not sure if that means something like virtual reality, or if it is a physical barrier like a wall with a peep hole, so that viewers have to work to get a glimpse of the work - it is something that I must investigate before saying for certain.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to discuss my work in such detail. It has been a pleasure, and I am honored that someone read my art so closely and understood it so well.

An interview by and

, curator , curator