As he walked out of my studio David Frazer’s last words were “You are not Japanese”. I know. He was responding to the ‘elegant’ and ‘tasty’ paper works I recently made by way of ‘dunk’ing thick fiber paper in ink. He also talked about the hotel he stayed in Seoul which he loved. Makes sense.
This is what he thought:
Most of my pieces are “what if propositions.” For example, what if I used q-tips to make art. What if I used a ziptie? What if, then, I had a more critical foundation… Materials I choose dictate the work (another artist back in Istanbul had something similar to say: “You are imprisoned by your materials.”) It seems the styrofoam piece which I made as a ‘response’ to Kevin’s obstacle assignment works best. Why? Because it is a response. What if I made another piece that was a response to the response? Could this be a mode of working which could help?
I suggested “metamorphosis” and “mythologies” as my main interests. We thought I could come up with a fictional character and my body of work would be his art collection; because what we see now in my studio is like a group show, i.e., they appear to be made by different people. It is true. I often feel like I am making somebody else’s work.
Over aestheticising seems to be another issue. I make beautiful, tasteful things.
It seems I might have to work with translations of my work. David’s suggestion was that I pick one piece that I like and ‘push’ it until I get bored with it. I am of course allowed to keep experimenting. Oh, and I don’t want to be the q-tip guy, or the obsessive artist or the op-art dude.
So, I am thinking of making a few reliefs to see where that takes me. I enjoy making them and they feel like me. I need to feel that way more often…
Artists to look at: Lucas Samaras, Mary Heilmann, Bridget Riley, Bruce Nauman
Chairman 