MADE IN MIND #14

ISSUE #14

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Francesca Pirillo

DIRETTORE RESPONSABILE Dario Carotenuto

MANAGING EDITOR Marika Marchese

PROJECT COORDINATOR Heidi Mancino

PROOFREADER Sharon McMahon

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CONTRIBUTORS

Francesca Pirillo Lisa Andreani Guy Marshall-Brown DIRETTORE RESPONSABILE Gianluca Gramolazzi Dario Carotenuto Federica Torgano Flavia Rovetta Maria SvevaMANAGING Scaglione EDITOR

CONTACT

Marika Marchese

Information MARKETING & COMMUNICATION info@madeinmindmagazine.com Heidi Mancino Marketing adv@madeinmindmagazine.com

PROOFREADER

DIGITAL

Sharon McMahon

www.madeinmindmagazine.com CONTRIBUTORS issuu.com/madeinmindmag Marika Marchese Lisa Andreani PUBLISHEDGuy

BY Marshall-Brown Aptalab | P ublisher for innovation Giulia Gelmini and artistic research Federica Torgano ISSN | 2532-1773 Flavia Rovetta Maria Sveva Scaglione Registrazione della testata al Tribunale di Cosenza COVER #13 N°2/17 del 10.02.2017

COVER #14 Csilla Klenyánszki

SOCIALS madeInmindmagazine made_in_mind_magazine Madeinmind_mag All rights reserved. This production and its entire contents are protected by copyright. No use or reprint (including disclosure) may be made of all or any part of this publication in any manner or form whatsoever without the prior written consent of Made in Mind magazine. Views expressed in Made in Mind magazine do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editors or parent company.

CONTENTS

56 LAURA HATHAWAY

| Flavia Rovetta

07 CSILLA KLENYÁNSZKI

| Lisa Andreani

26 MARTINA MELILLI

40 | Gianluca Gramolazzi

MICHAEL GATZKE

| Maria Sveva Scaglione

07

40

The nature of Csilla KlenyĂĄnszki work is very energetic and performative, although she uses photography as her main medium. The value and the importance of the gestures are revealed by a new playful prospective.

Michael Gatzke is a painter born in 1957 in Cologne, and he lives and works there. His works explore the connection between man and landscape.

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Martina Melilli (1987) works with video, film, photography and writing, using the promotion of the creative Documentary genre in all its shades as a tool, by organizing workshops and curating (film) exhibitions. According to the medium, collaborative and collective are the forms of work the artist prefers.

Born in Birmingham in 1988, Laura Hathaway’s journey into the art world began when she was accepted into a residency in Gloucestershire, in 2012: she had the opportunity to spend eight months with complete freedom to let go and play with materials and different processes.

CSILLA KLENYÁNSZKI _________ Lisa Andreani

The nature of the work of Csilla Klenyánszki is very energetic and performative, although she uses photography as her main medium. The value and the importance of the gestures are revealed by a new playful prospective. The balance is the main point of research of Csilla Klenyánszk (Budapest, 1986)i, who, between gender, identity and parenthood, reflects on new solutions and proposal. It’s not a cure, what she propose are spaces for new atmospheres and possibilities.

Csilla Klenyánszki lives and works in Amsterdam. She is represented by TRAPEZ Gallery.

Your recent works seem involved with gender studies and the role of the woman in society.

How did this interest grow inside you?

I became more socially aware after I became a mother in 2015. During that first year of parenthood - when I felt my identity dramatically changing - I found it hard to find a balance between my previous and new personas. Without access to affordable child care, and in the particular case of a migrant artist like myself, without the support of a family network, the only studio time I had was during my son’s naps, which I used as a time-frame for a project, called Pillars of Home. As a result of my experiences during this, the first year of motherhood, the social and the daycare situation in the Netherlands, and my particular situation as an immigrant artist, I founded the Mothers in Arts Residency in 2016.

Mothers in Arts aims at giving new mothers an opportunity to continue their artistic development. During the residency artists look after each other’s children around an organised work schedule receiving in turn, time for their art production. The trial run for this residency took place between March and May 2017 in Amsterdam.

During this period I learnt a lot about the position of women-artists and the way they get to experience an almost perfect storm of factors working against them from all angles. Everything from the “gender wage gap” to the “motherhood penalty” and the trickle down nature of artist’s pay in the industry, to name a few.

Your works and your images really appear related to the idea of domestic; at the same time they are extremely pretty and very cool. What does the term ‘domestic’ represents for you?

Domesticity has been a subject of visual arts through history. With the second-wave feminism it became a tool of protest, when artists used it to “influence cultural attitudes and transform stereotypes”. Great examples for this were the Womanhouse created by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro in 1972 and the Maintenance Work by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, which began with her Manifesto for Maintenance Art 1969!.

Even though, there has been a lot of achievements in gender equality in the western society since the late 60’s the combination of domestic life with a successful career remains challenging for most women.

According to the Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek, in the Netherlands 1 out of 3 women works less or stops completely after the birth of their first child. The same report says that a quarter of all Dutch mothers doesn’t work at all, despite the Netherlands being positioned as one of the most gender-equality progressive nations in the world. These numbers reveal a co-relation between motherhood and unemployment.

In other words, many women have to forcibly choose between raising their kids and having a professional career. The high cost of childcare is one of the biggest factors for this phenomena, as for a lot of women it is

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Vajrasana House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018

Chakrasana, 2018 House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018 8 | MADE IN MIND

Sarvangasana, 2018 House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018

Bhujangasana, 2018 House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018 MADE IN MIND | 9

Ardha Matsyendrasana House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018

Paschimottanasana House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018 10 | MADE IN MIND

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018

Trikonasana House / Hold Series Photograph Courtesy the artist 2018 MADE IN MIND | 11

Melons The reminiscence of being a woman Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2017 12 | MADE IN MIND

Tableware The reminiscence of being a woman Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2017 MADE IN MIND | 13

actually cheaper to stay at home than to work and have to pay the daycare.

This is specially a problem for artists, whose low income and status are international issues. According to the Sociaal-Economische Raad, artists based in the Netherlands barely make their living and have to cut their costs by for example not having essential insurances or a retirement plan. Having a child within the circumstances can be extremely difficult, so it’s no wonder why so many artists are postponing parenthood or decide on not having children at all.

As an emerging artist I have faced many challenges when becoming a mother.

As I mentioned I have tried to work around these challenges through my projects. Later I realised that it is important to integrate domesticity into my work - instead of trying to avoid it - as for me it is very similar to an art practice. Both of them require huge commitment. Both of them are undervalued economically, while both of them are extremely important for the future of our society.

Being statistically a case of all the social groups mentioned above (woman + mother + artist) and basically at the bottom of the chain of all these systems gives me hope that by focusing on domesticity I can bring forward a discussion about the other issues as well.

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In the relation between object and people which is the role of balance?

I tend to research the relation between humans and objects as I am interested in the body as a mechanical and functional entity. This is the main reason why I use myself in my work as well, such as in a performance or as part of an installation.

I want to challenge myself as much as possible mentally and physically but without including my personality in it - the reason why you never see facial characteristics - as I want to use myself strictly as part of the project.

Which is, in your opinion, the main obstacle of our common daily life?

Well, that’s a difficult question to answer: I am pretty sure that there are many and various obstacles for everyone. However for me one of the main obstacles and also something that interests me the most is the “lack of time” or “passage of time”. Mainly because it is out of our control but I constantly try to fight it.

How is living and working in Amsterdam? What type of atmosphere do you feel?

I’ve actually just moved away from Amsterdam with my family, that was due to the extreme housing prices. We still live nearby in a small town and we

My beautiful flower The reminiscence of being a woman Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2017

Plant The reminiscence of being a woman Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2017 MADE IN MIND | 15

Qr Code

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To make time To make time Series Real time photographic installation Courtesy the artist 2017 MADE IN MIND | 17

Nr. 32 Pillars of home Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2016

Nr. 65 Pillars of home Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2016 18 | MADE IN MIND

Nr. 42 Pillars of home Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2016

Nr. 63 Pillars of home Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2016 MADE IN MIND | 19

Position The reminiscence of being a woman Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2017

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Nr. 43 Pillars of home Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2016

Nr. 68 Pillars of home Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2016 MADE IN MIND | 21

Glass on book Good luck Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2014

Egg in pins Good luck Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2014 22 | MADE IN MIND

Plant on bottle Good luck Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2014

Flowers, 2014 Good luck Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2014 MADE IN MIND | 23

Glass on top Good luck Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2014 24 | MADE IN MIND

do often go to A’dam. However if you have a family and you wish to have some extra space - and specially when you are an artists - you can’t really afford to live in Amsterdam anymore.

You did a residency in Seoul. How was this experience?

It was amazing. I was doing a 3 months residency at the SeMA NANJI Residency, which is an artist in residence run by the Seoul Museum of Art. I love Korea, love their food, loved everything about it. Also it is always an exciting experience for an artist to do a residency, because besides the time you can spend on developing a project you also have the opportunity to engage with other artists, make new friends. So I would definitely advise any artist to do as many artist in residencies as possible.

Glasses Good luck Series Photograph Courtesy Trapez Gallery 2014

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MARTINA MELILLI __________ Gianluca Gramolazzi Martina Melilli (1987) obtained an MA in Visual Arts at IUAV Venice University (IT) and spent a year studying documentary and experimental cinema at Luca School of Arts, Brussels (BE). She is interested in the representation of the individual and collective imagination in connection with memory and reality as well as the relation between the individual and surrounding space: the movement through this space and the sense of belonging or to be rooted; the connection and the confrontation between the intimate and the universal. She works with video, film, photography and writing, using the promotion of the creative Documentary genre in all its shades as a tool, by organizing workshops and curating (film) exhibitions. According to the medium, collaborative and collective are the forms of work the artist prefers. Her first feature length creative documentary, My home, in Libya, has been produced by Stefilm International, ZDF/ARTE, Rai Cinema with the support of MiBACT, which recognized it of cultural interest. It had its world premiere at the 71st Locarno Film Festival.

In your earliest pieces you worked with photography, but then you shifted into video. What is the reason of this evolution?

My artistic research started with photography and I never abandoned it. When I decided to study at IUAV in Venice, at my first class the professor Stefano Arienti asked me to create an artwork. I didn’t know how to do it and I hoped they would have taught me that.

Therefore I began with photography because I really appreciate this medium: I started to take pictures when I was very young, as my father was very passionate about cameras and slides. The turn to video was gradual, when I decide to melt together my early passions: photos and writing. I’ve always written a lot and I love to tell stories, so, combining images and narrative threads, you get into cinema and video. I asked for help from a friend who taught me how to convert analog recoveries into digital ones, because at the time I shot with a little analog camera. It was 2008 when I created my first video. I miss photography a

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little, by the way, because I can print it and I can touch it, which I cannot do with video.

Why did you choose documentary?

I didn’t choose it. From the beginning there wasn’t a setting-up in my videos, because I always pick up from reality. In my first video overall, called Senza Titolo (Honey), there was a simulation of sexual intercourse between a honey jar and a spoon. I figured it out in a moment I was really in love and I was thinking about making love with my boyfriend at the time. I recreated the image as I thought it, nothing more than that. I never used actors or actresses, because I wanted to embed it in reality, where I always discover many absurd stories. Reality has everything I need: I wanted real characters to tell their stories or I want to tell mine, no one could do it better. Moreover, I am interested in History, personal stories and how they intertwine together. So I decided to study documentary in Brussels. I believe that, when you tell what happened

My home, in Libya Video, 2018 16:9, HD duration 66’00 MADE IN MIND | 27

in your day or about little things, you make them beautiful and more interesting.

Your work is a continuous collage between several aspects. What is the meaning you give to collage?

I like to mix together different mediums and genres, and to find the point of connection between aspects that are so diverse. I hate to label everything because if you do that, you have to leave little aspects aside and to eliminate one thing instead of another. And so, collage gave me the idea to keep everything I need from the place I like or found, from the genre I need, and through the medium, is useful for a message.

When you combine different elements, their meaning will change. This is the reason why I like to use archive materials: if there are images that could be decontextualized and recontextualized to create a new meaning, why can’t I use it?

Why do I have to create new images? So, this is true for moving images as much as drawings, or photography, or clippings. I think collage is limitless. Considering that documentary is not a truth keeper, collage could give different points

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of view to allow the viewer to create his/her reality. In this way, collage could link the analog and the digital layer, trying to re-appropriate to our bodies. I don’t want to demonize the digital, as in Black Mirror, but rather underline how we cannot exclude the organic from our life: we are skin, bones and flesh; in our veins run blood, not bytes who speaks in 0,1 language.

Cinema, as art, is collective, but your work is characterized by remarkable collectivity, as Mum, I’m sorry or My home, in Libya. In this context, what is the role of the artist?

I love to involve several personalities in the process who could improve the final work.

Because of a lack of self-confidence, I do it to nourish myself and to learn from those people.

Besides that, I always look for specialists to examine a specific topic, because, as an artist, I just have suggestions. So, collaborative works could give me tools to go deeper in conceiving a film. Cinema is without a doubt a collective art, but my purpose is to collectivize all processes, because there is not an absolute objectivity. In result, I give different points of

My home, in Libya Video, 2018 16:9, HD duration 66’00 MADE IN MIND | 29

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view which allow me to create something the viewer could experience in a personal way.

There is no Truth, no Reality. Furthermore I don’t believe that the role of the artist is diminished by having expertise at work. In art history we could see that all the major artists had a lot of apprentices and assistants in their atelier, who worked beside them. Nowadays, we discuss copyright: who is the creator?

Who has the property of the idea? And so on. I believe in the creative commons: the role of the artist is to give his/her point of view and his/her sensibility into an idea, or a message. It couldn’t be diminished because it is collective.

There is always a limit: borders, seas, the skin.

Your pieces investigate them. How do you live with boundaries?

It’s really hard for me to assume limitations in general, but it is harder to understand why

these lines drawn by few bureaucrats in an office should stop movements of people. If we have to look for a limit, we can see high chains of mountain ranges, seas, rivers, but they can always be trespassed. So, geographically, it is hard for me to define a boundary, also linguistically. I created my last film, My home, in Libya, in different languages but it was a limit: to be watched on TV, or in specific nations, it has to be comprehensible. I didn’t think about it. Only skin is an indisputable limit, but if you share it, differences could disappear. Sometimes someone asks me if I am an artist or a director, and I couldn’t figure out why we need to divide everything. We talked about collage as a linguistic medium: I believe in the complementarity of languages.

For example, in My home, in Libya the sound score complements the video one, and one is not more important than the other. The sound tells you what the video cannot.

My home, in Libya Video, 2018 16:9, HD duration 66’00 MADE IN MIND | 31

In your work you analyze the theme of roots and the feeling of belonging. How is it related to you?

This is the main theme I belong to, as an artist and as a human being. I often wondered about the shape of roots, or what “to be rooted” means and what it means to have roots or not have them. This summer, during a conversation, I understood that I never thought about the ground and its fertility. There are no roots, if there is no ground. And so on, I realized that roots need a specific ground and vice versa.

So, if you plant something in an inappropriate ground, it will never grow. I think it is important to talk about roots: as Bauman’s concept, the fluidity of roots have to be interpreted not as a non-existence of them, but as different roots

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that need different grounds. We need to find our fertile ground.

Your gaze toward the other is always very kind.

Is it an antidote to cynicism?

Sometimes I think I am very cynical, but that is not the truth. But I would like to be like that. I am a true idealist, because I think that the utopia is a possible reality, not something far away. I am very sad about what is happening in these days, where the hate is overflowing toward the Other: not only as “someone different from me”, but also “something away from me”, such as the environment. But, in the end, I can’t be hopeless, because I believe in the goodness of the world.

The tenderness will save us.

Mum, I’m sorry Video, 2017 16:9, HD duration 7’00’’ MADE IN MIND | 33

Mum, I’m sorry Video, 2017 16:9, HD duration 7’00’’ 34 | MADE IN MIND

Your future works will be focused on the woman.

What do you think about the new feminist wave?

What does it miss?

First of all, I am a woman and my works start from me, sometimes they are autobiographical. When I’m questioning myself, it’s always questioning a woman. The more I know about the world, the more I realize the difference between a male and a female. It is not political, it is a fact. How is that related to feminism? It belongs to me, but it has to be purified from what it used to be in the ‘70’s and from what it becomes. I am really upset about the way it is broadcasted. Today it is very much a trend, it is used as marketing. It is troubling, as much as total exclusion of the male and the demonization of porn, sex and the body in proto-feminism. If you want to set a body free, you must not be obliged to not feel as men do. It is counterproductive. What I am trying to do is to open a discussion with others, males and females, because they are complementary, such as the white and the black in the Yin and Yang symbol. In my work I make room for women, maybe to hear what I am. I like to research female professionals because they

are less known, but not less good. I don’t want to work with women, regardless, but I want to take into consideration the value of different people. If I choose to work with a man, it is because he is good for a specific job, or he is the best. The same gaze doesn’t exist toward women and men in the art world too. In my next works I will try to focus on the body and its relationship with a society who forgets to be flesh and bones and who is going into a complete digitalization.

Senza titolo (honey) Video, 2008 4:3 duration 3’52”

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Handle with care Video Installation, 2009 Inner eyes (2009) 11’35”, 4:3 Empty (2009) 3’30” loop, 4:3 Magazzini Ligabue, IUAV, Venice

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What is home People Series, 2009-Ongoing Instant pictures Fuji instax 210 wide

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MICHAEL GATZKE _________ Maria Sveva Scaglione

Michael Gatzke is a painter. He was born in 1957 in Cologne and he now lives and works there. His works explore the connection between man and landscape. Gatzke studied at the Alanus Hochschule Alfter in Bonn and graduated as an advanced fine arts student. He has participated in exhibitions and art fairs in Switzerland, France, Belgium and Germany.

How did your studies at the Alanus Hochschule Alfter influence your artistic process?

Studying at Alanus Hochschule Alfter was of great importance to me. It has led to my artistic orientation.

In addition, my artistic perception was sensitized.

And, of course the exchange with the professors and other students was very helpful for my own inspiration.

You are an artist of this century. How would you describe your figure and your work?

I am a painter in the 21st century. A “fallen out of time”? Because everything is already painted, the representatives of the new media and participatory approaches are the artistic blockbusters. The “exhausted art form” of painting often does not trigger anything more than a shrug of the shoulders.

Nevertheless, or should I say, that’s why I am unflinching, even happy, to be able to tie in with all the old painter princes. And here I find my own position and strengthened it. The creative process is a balancing act between purposeful self-forgetfulness and conscious control. Chaos and order. My goal is to avoid the painstaking caution that I find inhibitive.

And to find a result that neither follows the calculation

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nor pays homage to randomness alone. Rather, it represents an approach to one’s own soul space.

It is the way I have become aware of, to gain clarity and to make the world more comprehensible and more explainable.

Is there someone, or something, you look at as an inspiration for your paintings?

Painting is an inner need. Although not as vital as breathing, but as the social exchange with others. Every artistic visual experience drives me.

Especially when it comes to the very big artists, such as Georg Baselitz, Peter Doig, Anselm Kiefer, Daniel Richter or - less famous - Hans op de Beeck.

What are the themes behind your paintings?

Figurative and landscape are my current main themes and stand side by side. Image landscapes, increasingly complex, always with a narrative dimension. The picture space which keeps the eye in constant motion triumphs. My pictures are atmospheric. Then they breathe the conciliatory calm and boundlessness of a painterly and compositively, newly created small universe.

In front of the door Painting Mixed media on canvas 115 x 155 cm 2017

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Even angels dream colorfully Painting Mixed media on canvas 110 x 150 cm 2017 42 | MADE IN MIND

And why did you choose them?

It is the tranquility and the depth that best represent themselves - for me.

Can you tell me something about the atmosphere in your art series At an Unattainable Distance?

To illustrate this, I would like to start with a quote by Günter Seubold in Silence and Being from 2014, and there from the essay Aesthetics of silence: “Silence is fundamental for every individual, for every culture as a whole. A culture that forgets that and sets it on “full droning” is dying, basically dead, even if she keeps herself on her feet for a while. But what keeps her on her feet does not come from the time of the full boil, but from a time before that, a time when silence had not been destroyed.

One feeds on the nourishing culture or fruit of earlier decades and centuries, while one pursues its consuming business and pleasures.”

Well watched. Our fast-paced world is always in the fast lane at high speeds, but it does not come anymore, do not allow yourself another breath. Do not come to your senses anymore, to reflect.

There is an elementary reason in the Bible: “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day and saw that it was good.” (Exodus 20:8-11). These biblical 7 days have tended to be lost in modern times. Silence, and that includes silence, is not very popular in our busy time. Silence, that sounds somehow stale, outdated, even

The river is my friend I Painting Acrylic on canvas 60 x 100 cm 2017

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And did not see it Painting Acrylic on canvas 30 x 80 cm 2018

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But it is so little needed Painting Acrylic on canvas 50 x 120 cm 2018

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He is given a sign Painting Acrylic on canvas 60 x 60 cm 2018

strange. Silence has no room left. Silence does not just happen.

You have to make a conscious decision to be quiet. Especially in the context of the Internet, iphone, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, where the images rush past one at a regular rate. To experience silence, you have to go offline.

So my new series At an Unattainable Distance are based on an attempt to capture the slowness of images, countering the tempo of electronic picture noise. My pictures are missing everything colorful and loud. Ostensibly nothing happens or only little, but everything seems possible at any time. Perhaps the sceneries found there only form the resonance to my inner worlds. There are really no real pictures of landscapes to be seen, but wide open horizons, but they come from the abstraction. The few people and animals appearing in collage form seem archaic and concentrated. They do not really participate in their activities.

Is the connection between man and landscape at the center of your work or is it just a part of it?

In fact, I follow 2 divergent painting principles: the abstraction and that of the figurative population (often through collage). The resulting compositions can also be understood as a tension field of the spiritual and the physical. And what’s more, the sharp contrast creates a new symbiotic view, where the sum is more than the parts.

Can you tell me something about the dimension of time in your works? How would you describe it?

A special temporal component does not exist in my pictures.

If so, then in the sense of slowness, almost a standstill. Or an infinity. The aspect of silence is central to my work.

The river is my friend II Painting Acrylic on canvas 60 x 100 cm 2017

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At the end of the way Painting Mixed media on canvas 115 x 155 cm 2018

In the middle of you all Painting Mixed media on paper 30 x 40 cm 2017

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At an unattainable distance I Painting Mixed media on canvas 110 x 150 cm 2018

At an unattainable distance II Painting Mixed media on canvas 30 x 50 cm 2018

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At an unattainable distance III Painting Mixed media on canvas 80 x 80 cm 2018

At an unattainable distance IV Painting Mixed media on canvas 30 x 30 cm 2018

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LAURA HATHAWAY _________ Flavia Rovetta

Born in Birmingham in 1988, Laura Hathaway trained at Falmouth University, completing a BA in textile design with a specialisation in hand embroidery and graduating in 2011. Her journey into the art world began when she was accepted into a residency in Gloucestershire, in 2012: she had the opportunity to spend eight months with complete freedom to let go and play with materials and different processes. This experience represented, in her own words, the beginning of her evolution and discovery of abstraction. Textiles and painting are in fact two sides of the same coin: on the one side she used to work with a slow and controlled technique, on the other side she experiments through impulsive gestures. In the end, though, it is always a matter of expressing her inner world, both rational and chaotic. Stitching reflected her urge to produce perfection, but it soon became a golden cage, confining her in a rigid, controlled, almost soulless creative dimension. That was when the artist felt the need to explore her language without rules, creating some flowing, fast, messy marks. At the heart of her creative journey is also an interest and intuitive pull towards an experimental process, with an aim to challenge traditional ideas of painting and printmaking. She has always conceived her artworks as three-dimensional, creating pieces made up of multiple layers and considering shadows as another level of visual interest. Her practice finds a delicate balance between intense movement, which has some performative quality, and desire to construct something at least temporarily permanent. What she creates is a complex dreamlike world, made of glass, shadows and reflections, which has the unstable fascination of visions: they feel so real and tangible, until they vanish, recomposing themselves in a new order.

Laura Hathaway exhibited regularly across the UK and had her first solo exhibit in 2016 at K6 Gallery Southampton. Her practice evolved hugely between 2016 and 2018, when she took part in the “Foal Arts� studio base, an organisation providing low cost studio and project space, encouraging innovation and sustainability within the arts. At the moment, she embraces this path of experimentation, collaborating with digital artist Julian Winslow, in order to progress her exploration into performance.

What impact does the artistic creation have on your life?

How did you understand that the best way to relate with the outside world was to give voice to your creativity?

The assembly of marks and materials is an outward reflection of an innate need to communicate an internal nature. I make because of a need to create, to express and to make sense of internal thoughts and feelings through a tangible thing. The work is a messy, physical expression through paint and colour, followed by an attempt at creating a sense of calm, order, balance and precision within life’s chaos. An extended communication and understanding with myself rather than making for an audience.

Painting directly onto a surface with my hands, the

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physicality of pressing, smearing and transforming ink, glass and paper, captures intense feelings and movements.

Probing expressive potential and the role of chance, the works transform through unexpected and accidental outcomes. The work is a juxtaposition between spontaneity, chaos and my own feeling for a need for control.

Could you describe your artistic process in all its evolution?

It felt natural for me to progress from textiles to painting.

Stitch was so slow and restrained, I felt an urge and complete need to create flowing, fast, chaotic, messy

Moon ate the dark 3D Painting Etching ink, pigment, copperplate oil, reflective picture framing glass Photo by Julian Winslow The Depozitory, Isle of Wight, UK 2017

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Moon ate the dark (detail) 3D Painting Etching ink, pigment, copperplate oil, reflective picture framing glass Photo by Julian Winslow The Depozitory, Isle of Wight, UK 2017 58 | MADE IN MIND

Moon ate the dark (detail) 3D Painting Etching ink, pigment, copperplate oil, reflective picture framing glass Photo by Julian Winslow The Depozitory, Isle of Wight, UK 2017 MADE IN MIND | 59

marks. I began to challenge and focus my process of abstract, emotion driven mark making in paint and pigment onto glass and paper, recording the process, exploring elements of performance. The works examine the properties and absorbency of paints, pigments and oils against surfaces, focusing in on the effects of layering, opacities and manipulation.

Exploring mark making as a material product of the body, creating organic and delicate compositions, the role of the unconscious is paramount to my process, which is intuitive, intense and spontaneous. These abstract expressions are finally put through a process of assemblage which, over time, has evolved into a ritualistic technique of placing elements of wood, paper and glass together, repeatedly moving and re-adjusting materials before finally settling on a composition.

Looking at your artistic path, on the one hand we can think of the great American abstraction, on the other hand we can think of graffiti and street art. What are your artistic and cultural references? Are there any artists that you feel close to, as if they were some kind of “spiritual fathers�?

I’m always inspired by both consciously and unintentionally made abstract shapes that I come across in my surroundings.

In particular, I love the marks made by people wiping condensation from the insides of bus and car windows. The way the moisture is pushed from side to side and in circular motions then the liquid drips down, pulled by gravity. It was noticing the way the water interacted with the glass which My brain is eating my head (detail) 3D Painting Etching ink, copperplate oil, reflective picture framing glass 2017

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My brain is eating my head 3D Painting Etching ink, copperplate oil, reflective picture framing glass 2017

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Like A Ghost That Hangs Around Awakening II 3D Painting Pigment, oil, Japanese papers, glass, obeche, emulsion Photo by Julian Winslow 2015

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Like A Ghost That Hangs Around Awakening III 3D Painting Pigment, oil, Japanese papers, glass, obeche, emulsion Photo by Julian Winslow 2015

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made me first begin experimenting with pigments and oil on glass panels. I started pushing and smearing paint with the abstract drips and flecks of windows in mind which then led on to more emotion driven mark making.

I also love finding graffiti cover ups. When someone for whatever reason smears or scribbles over another’s piece, sometimes leaving behind a pigmented finger or hand print.

Alongside the splatters, scribbles and smudges I come across walking or travelling I feel a great affinity with artists such as Cy Twombly, Rothko, Yves Klein and Ushio Shinohara.

I don’t necessarily look for inspiration or ideas from these artists rather I feel a deep connection with their mood, quality of line, senses and expression through abstraction. The scale, action within and intensity of their work moves me.

gestures and shapes emerging. Once dried and settled I began reflecting on my creations, placing the glass panels together, perhaps trying to make sense of the things I had made, to balance the chaos of the initial making. It filled me with a sense of calm, positioning and finding which marks interacted and partnered with another.

The transparency of the glass has become a tool to be able to layer up marks. It gives me the ability to interchange panels and layers, to find gestures that work together. To play with height, to move pieces around, to interact with light and shadows.

It also allows me to completely change a painting if six months down the line the balance has changed for me. I can re-imagine and create a whole new piece by interchanging the glass and adjust pieces according to the space they are to sit within.

What value does the transparency of glass have for you?

Does it symbolise an open window on your inner world or is it rather the desire to include the outside world in your creative universe?

I began exploring transparency and the effects of glass with a series of paper works. Soaking and smearing different kinds of translucent papers in pigments, inks and oils. Once dry, I placed them together in geometric compositions and pressed them between glass. Painting directly onto glass was an accidental evolution within my practice. It came at a time where I felt a huge emotional energy coursing through me, a real need to express an internal dialogue where communication through words failed me. Once I had started smearing marks onto the glass I couldn’t stop. The directness captured the immediacy, intimacy and intensity of the marks, strong

The titles of your artistic production have some mysterious and disturbing elements. It is as you are constantly trying to hold off your demons. Could you explain what happens in My brain is eating my head?

All my gestural paintings are created and fuelled by an emotional trigger attached to music. It opens up something within me that feeds my ability to create and express an internal energy. Titles of works are often formed from the song lyrics I have been listening to, that have spoken to me and expressed something through words that I could not find the words to say myself. I often get overwhelmed with thoughts and in the moment I made the marks in this painting it felt like my mind or my brain was eating into me. My thoughts were overtaking my life and devouring my soul. The marks felt like a visual representation of the thing I was going

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BLACK 3D Painting Pigment, oil, Japanese papers, glass, obeche, emulsion Photo by Julian Winslow

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through at the time and so My brain is eating my head was formed to communicate this and relieve myself from an internal build-up of emotional angst.

How important is the unconscious and surreal element in your work? Does the sign spontaneously manifest itself or is it rather a controlled, rationalised gesture?

The process of making paintings for me, is a combination of unconsciously and consciously made gestures and movements. The first part is messy, uncontrolled, free and mostly unconscious. Driven by an emotional release or communication. Painting directly onto surfaces with my hands, removes for me an element of thought. My hand moves from paint to surface with fluidity and immediacy.

The second part, after the paint and pigments have dried is rationalised and controlled. It has become a ritualistic, calming process of moving and re-adjusting panels before finally settling on a composition. The chaos and control are both equally important within my practice, as ultimately I am searching for balance. The juxtaposition and tension between mess and order is necessary to reach this point of harmony and satisfaction.

Your sign is, at the same time, flat and three-dimensional, concrete and illusory. On the one hand there are pigments on the surface, on the other hand there are shadows and reflections. How do these two different faces of reality interact in the artwork Moon ate the dark?

Moon ate the dark was commissioned for an exhibition Disorder II Installation Watercolour paint, etching ink, pigment, copperplate oil, greenhouse, LED lights Photo by Julian Winslow Ryde High Street, Isle of Wight, UK 2017

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in an old Wesleyan Methodist Church. The building had huge imposing windows running the length of the chapel, reaching nearly the height of the ceiling. A large circular glass window overlooked the front of the building. Again for me, I conceived the work to form a balance. Using the painted marks on glass, I created the piece in response to the space I was allocated, the light in the building and how the marks interacted with each other in that space. I was also very conscious of the other exhibiting artist’s work and how the piece interacted with their own creations. And so Moon ate the dark was formed. It was only after making the work and participating in a public talk led by artist and lecturer Jonathan Parsons, that the importance of the interaction of the architecture within the building became apparent. In placing my glass panels in their composition I had mimicked the curves and lines within the windows throughout the piece. The reflection of the elongated windows mirrored my semicircle smears and was emulated further by my large rectangular dense smudges of black ink. The building and Moon ate the dark became fused as one piece.

Shadows, paint and reflections influencing and merging with one another.

The artwork DISORDER II, is a small room of wonders, but at the same time it seems to me a sort of psychedelic prison. What is the origin of this colourful chaos, in which even people appear as abstract spots?

I had previously created a three-dimensional painting

in a phone box called K6 Gallery, titled DISORDER. DISORDER II was a progression and continued evolution, investigating further how I could create my gestural marks within a three-dimensional glass form. The greenhouse lent itself to my own exploration and the project. For this piece, as it was a ready-made static form, I could not move the panels around after painting to find the usual balance. However, the scale and levels within the structure meant that I was able move throughout and paint freely.

Flowing around the form, consciously sensing which marks interacted and balanced the next. There was also a great freedom working in a 360-degree surface area.

The photography of the piece by Julian Winslow added another layer of interest, with people and lights turning into blurs and smudges, mimicking the painterly marks, flecks and splodges covering the interior and exterior of the glass. The piece was displayed and transported through a carnival, enhancing the colourful chaos, with much bewildered response.

Your artwork The World We Made Has Been Ending predicts an apocalyptic destiny, which is already underway. What do you think it could be the destiny of painting in today’s society?

Despite my apocalyptic prediction within this particular piece of work, I truly believe that humans will always feel the need to express, to tell a story, to make marks and to paint. It is part of our innate nature to communicate through a visual language.

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Disorder II (detail) Installation Watercolour paint, etching ink, pigment, copperplate oil, greenhouse, LED lights Photo by Julian Winslow Ryde High Street, Isle of Wight, UK 2017 68 | MADE IN MIND

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Disorder II Installation Watercolour paint, etching ink, pigment, copperplate oil, greenhouse, LED lights Photo by Julian Winslow Ryde High Street, Isle of Wight, UK 2017

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