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We invite you to engage with the work of our resident artists by visiting The Fragile Power of Drawing - a virtual residency exhibition, presented as part of the 2020/21 Drawing Research Program. Join Dulce as she shares her research from her studio in Mexico, while virtually transporting us to the Paris studio-museums through this Q&A series with curator Rahma Khazam. What drew you particularly to Ossip Zadkine’s The Destroyed City (1953), as opposed to his other works?
Your work frequently addresses memory and the reconstruction of events: how does this series fit within your work as a whole?
I do like to focus on reconstruction of events but particularly on those related to human challenges and tragic moments, because they fix the collective memory of a community. Remembering those kind of moments are important for our surviving and we learn from them. The unveiling of the monument was an important event for Rotterdam city because it generated a lot of questions from the people. This sculpture connected with the lived experience of each of their inhabitants and not just offering an aesthetic experience. That was the reason for all the expectation around it. Personally, I consider important the connection with the audience as part of the work so what Zadkine did is for me an example of this connection that I pursue. I dare to think that the main work happened that day of the unveiling was the connection with the public, the sculpture is just an excuse. What is special about drawing for you? Drawing is the main arena in which fiction can be mixed with factual reality, opening the opportunity to the speculation. It is a language that allows me to learn, to understand life, to ask questions and communicate through it. About Dulce Chacón Visit the exhibition online for more video and text conversations with the participating artists.
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We invite you to engage with the work of our resident artists by visiting The Fragile Power of Drawing - a virtual residency exhibition, presented as part of the 2020/21 Drawing Research Program. Join Akira as he shares his research from his studios in Peru, while virtually transporting us to the Paris studio-museums through this Q&A series with curator Rahma Khazam. Why did you choose to respond to the work of Antoine Bourdelle? I found a better connection between my drawings and Bourdelle's work in the way he modifies the human figure. I love the primitivism of Zadkine, and the elegant volumes of Chana Orloff, but right now I feel more classical. I feel that we need "beauty" and "aletheia" more than ever. Aletheia as Esther Díaz's interpretation, in which one compenetrates with the artwork at the point that we forget ourselves overshadowing our problems as art discloses itself.  The Titans Series: Urano, Hyperion, Cronos - Akira Chinen, 2021 How do you see the relation between your work and classical sculpture in general? Are you revisiting or updating its themes, and if so, in what way?
I studied at the school of fine arts of Perú, there we have excellent copies of many classical sculptures, although at that time I was more interested in exploring new mediums. I started my career as a "superflatish" artist but then I discovered zen and shinto, and suddenly I found myself drawing more spiritual things. In 2017 I visited Paris and looking at classical art, impressionism and post impressionism paintings sealed my interest in the spiritual sense those artworks gave me. This is how I feel right now and maybe I'll change my mind in a couple of years. I'm taking some of the same themes and visual references from Bourdelle, and of course I also looked after some storytelling between the pieces to talk about the circularity of life. As we know, Uranus trapped his sons but later got overthrown by one of them, Cronus, who also got overthrown by Zeus. And finally we have Hyperion as a depiction of someone who can only watch the reality and is in the middle, a witness who cannot act, maybe overwhelmed by the excess of information. He has no arms, and has his eyes shut. This is how I feel right now between the politics in Perú in the middle of a global pandemic. What is special about drawing for you? I think it is more direct and sincere. I look at drawing as an acoustic concert, or an acapella chorus. It is the most intimate approach with the artist and one of the oldest forms of human expression. I'm amazed what I can discover by repeating something as humble as lines on a flat surface. About Akira Chinen Visit the exhibition online for more video and text conversations with the participating artists. We invite you to engage with the work of our resident artists by visiting The Fragile Power of Drawing - a virtual residency exhibition, presented as part of the 2020/21 Drawing Research Program. Join Dipali as she shares her research from her studio in Malaysia, while virtually transporting us to the Paris studio-museums through this Q&A series with curator Rahma Khazam. What attracted you to Ossip Zadkine's sculptures of Venus? Venus is the goddess of love in Roman mythology. Ossip Zadkine’s sculptures of Venus encouraged me to investigate perceptions of love, its connotation as goddess in our current society and the relationship of love with sexuality. My own art practice incorporates some of these explorations. Through the materiality of sex toys which I associate as a symbol of female sexual liberation, my art deliberates notions of female sexuality and female sexual pleasure. I was curious to explore re-interpretations of the goddess of love just like Zadkine had done in his time with his expertise. When one thinks of the Birth of Venus one cannot help but think of the creation by the famous Italian artist Sandro Botticelli in 1480s. The colourful painting representing the goddess of love arriving to shore, in full nudity flanked by Zephyr, the god of wind on one side and the goddess (hora) of spring on the other. Zadkine’s Birth of Venus is very dissimilar to this original representation. Zadkine as a sculptor casts his representation in bronze. The change in medium from painting to sculpture brings about a shift in forms and textures. The artist’s interpretation of the idea based on the strength of his skill and the conviction of owning his concept despite the limitations that he may encounter inspired me to attempt several versions of my own. Donna Haraway ends her essay, The Cyborg Manifesto with the line “… I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess.” Here she is referring to the idea of women existing in the world as cybernetic assemblages of human and machine in order to subvert global androcentric mechanisms. This tension between becoming cyborg which is an integral part of my art practice and the goddess of love which has been extensively decoded by famous artists attracted me to reinterpret Zadkine’s Venus. These are two almost opposite approaches to drawing. One is a more figurative charcoal drawing, while the second is more abstract and experimental. Could you explain this contrast and relation between the two?
What is special about drawing for you?
In today’s fast paced virtual lifestyle, Drawing allows me to slow down and move slowly through time bringing me into the present in both mind and body. It creates space for me to observe intently and transpose my interpretations onto paper. The movements of the hands are different as compared to the constant typing on the keyboard, a refreshing break from mundane virtuality. The feel of materials on the dermis of my palms and the marks created through gestures and movements feel far more satisfying than the constricted sitting postures performed in front of cold blue LED screen of my laptop. There is also a special feeling drawing with machines (referring to my vibrator drawings). It is like action drawing where the control is limited, and a lot is left to chance. The end result is not more important than the process of creating the work. It is performative in nature as the movement of body in fusion with the device creates marks that are open to interpretation, breaking conventions and creating space for new imaginations. About Dipali Gupta Visit the exhibition online for more video and text conversations with the participating artists. We invite you to engage with the work of our resident artists by visiting The Fragile Power of Drawing - a virtual residency exhibition, presented as part of the 2020/21 Drawing Research Program. Join Hannah as she shares her research from her studio in Los Angeles, while virtually transporting us to the Paris studio-museums through this Q&A series with curator Rahma Khazam. How do you see the relation between your anatomical drawings and the work of Chana Orloff, Ossip Zadkine and Antoine Bourdelle? Chana Orloff, Ossip Zadkine, and Antoine Bourdelle all worked in the realms of figurative art which meant that they most likely had studied the human form extensively and also anatomically. As an educator I’m interested in how artists have historically learned their craft, and I find the best learning happens in an interdisciplinary practice. Even though these artists were working on creating the human exterior, in order to understand that one needs to understand what’s underneath the skin. There’s a good chance these artists studied the anatomy of the human body and drew it extensively in order to master figurative sculpting!   Object in Inferior View (pink one in progress, blue is finished), Hannah Stahulak, 2021 While your work is realistic in nature, I like the way you've combined realism and abstraction. Could you talk about how you apply these ideas in these and other works of yours? And especially the tension between realism and abstraction?
I like balancing between the realms of realism and abstraction. Some people see my work as realistic and others have no idea what they are looking at (which I get a kick out of). When I was in school, I really struggled with which camp I fell into, and then realized I can be both. As a person I don’t feel like I’ve ever belonged in only one category, so why should my artwork? In terms of creating, I do usually start with a reference image (usually medical) of some kind. However I am selective with what I use in the reference image, it might only be a portion of an entire image. My drawings usually have no context or background either which can also leave them feeling abstract. I like leaving a lot up to the viewer, the idea I had going into a drawing does not need to be what the viewer gets out of it. I’ve valued artists like Georgia O'Keeffe whose references are from reality yet the viewer gets lost in what they are seeing. Abstract stems from realism, you’re choosing to change parts of it, you don’t need to lose the whole thing. What is special about drawing for you? Drawing is special for me in many ways, but I think the first thing that comes to mind is how drawing is built into every one of us. Some of our earliest records in history are drawn images. From when children are first given a pencil, they know what to do. Drawing is one of the most natural things I think we can do. I’ve always gotten so much satisfaction from drawing, it feels like home to me. It’s a way for me to process my world, my surroundings, my feelings, whether directly or indirectly. To know and love drawing is to have a deep level of connection to yourself and your surroundings. Drawing has in the past been overshadowed by mediums such as painting or sculpture, but it’s at the base of both those practices. I think all good artists have a solid foundation in drawing, because when you can draw you can create anything. About Hannah Stahulak Visit the exhibition online for more video and text conversations with the participating artists.
Our collaborative residency exhibition - Site Visit was a prompt for creating connections despite distance and separations, finding parallels and synchronicity between “visits” to the artworks of other artists presenting their own views. As part of its artist conversations series, Nicholas Hales from South Africa (2019 Resident) shared his views with Peggy Stevenson based in Chicago, USA (2020/21 Resident). Both Peggy and Nicholas’s artworks for Site Visit encapsulate a sense of quietness, solitude and perhaps even hopeful frustration. Each was confined within a room of their own, and chose to use it as the subject of their work. In Peggy’s images, she looks across and out towards the city she has grown to know so well, and in Nicholas’s video piece he puzzles through the light patterns and days passing in his accommodation in Paris when he was too ill to leave it. Both gazing objectively at the scene before them and inwardly confronting the conflict of being unable to leave. In Peggy and Nicholas’s conversation that follows, some of these questions and crossovers become evident and we get to visit the sites of their thinking.
Nicholas: There was something ‘calm and meditative’ for me when I saw your ‘Lonely but Safe’ work. The dark greens and rich olive colours gave me a sense of ‘winter’ and going into hibernation. I’m a fairly introverted person and felt lockdown was going to be like doing a ‘retreat’. And in some ways I welcomed the time to become quiet and ‘retreat’ from the world. So I was interested that you titled it, ‘Lonely but safe’. 
Peggy: I very much like your initial comments on “Lonely but Safe”. It was (and still is) a very unusual time to be a street photographer, and although much of my work takes place by its very nature “outside”, I also welcomed the time for sheltering in place and keeping safe. Like you, I’m actually very introverted and putting myself out on the streets and capturing city life as I see it still requires a certain mental preparation for the attention I might receive as a result. While I welcome and build connections with people if I am photographing them, my first instinct is to always try to capture a moment without people being aware in order to capture their more real expressions. To me, this is always the beginning of a “story” and my work has always been driven by the need to discover what that is and to tell it in the best way that I can.
Nicholas: I’d like to hear your thoughts on the effects on a ‘global lockdown’, individually and collectively. In my work I’m interested in the process of going ‘inward’ and the transformation possibilities of what I felt in lockdown. Your ‘street’ photography seems a lot about connection to people and a city. What was lockdown like for you, as we went into ‘interior’ spaces, both literally and figuratively? How did that affect you and your creative practice? Peggy: As the pandemic was raging on, along with the numerous protests that swept through the country after the death of George Floyd, the images I ended up photographing from inside my living room weren’t necessarily “street photography”. We’re now in a semi lockdown again because of the recent surge in the virus. I appreciate that you called my place calm and meditative -- I did end up writing more, and drawing and painting during the lockdown. I guess these were more therapeutic than anything. I have also picked up my film camera again just to find something new-ish to do. Nicholas: I will look forward to seeing how your work develops, particularly as a ‘street’ photographer in a pandemic, where public spaces have become a rather contentious space. It is really interesting that you are actually quite an introverted person and you have to prepare yourself when you go out to take your ‘street’ photographs, as you interact with your subjects. Sometimes when we put ourselves in uncomfortable positions it forces us to grow. Peggy: I agree that growth is indeed uncomfortable when we plunge ourselves into something new, where we’re not completely in control. There’s a different kind of energy driving the work— but I also think that’s where much of the kernels of your ‘true’ art, or if you like, your true self, emerges and flows. I watched your video "The Bedroom and the Spring" and I really liked the format you chose, and I particularly liked the voice and pacing. There was something almost poetic about it. How did you decide on this approach to interpreting the theme Site Visit? I liked how you turned your being ill into the story and that Paris and the residency became more of a side note. I especially liked the images in the ending where you created a kind of ghostly movement in the room. I'm really interested in your process of selection and ultimately what inspires you to create. Do you see yourself as a storyteller? Does the written word dictate your art? Or does it grow alongside… Nicholas: This ‘narrative’ storytelling aspect is something new in my visual art. I guess there is an overlap in our works, as your street photography and your ‘interior’ photographs are windows into an unfolding story. I’m always interested when we see an individual image, how we create a story in our minds. Sometimes close or widely different from the ‘truth’. About 9 years ago I did a screenwriting program. I’ve written a number of scripts over the years but this is the first time I used narrative storytelling in my visual art. It was a fun project to incorporate these two aspects of my creative work. I had the initial story in my mind. Getting sick before I left for Paris and then being sick in Paris and watching the residency slip away while in bed, waiting to get better and then having two really great experiences near the end of my time in France, once I got better. The drawing workshop and then the trip to Lourdes. In screenwriting there is a process whereby your protagonist has a ‘want’ and a ‘need’. The want is what he or she wants from a particular situation. The need is something they need but they are often unaware of this in themselves. Often in a film a protagonist gets their need met but not their want. I was kind of playing with that concept in this piece. The ‘ghostly’ images was a visual metaphor for the process of being confined in a room, being sick and the process of getting better. There are some overlaps with the present global lockdown and the pandemic. Peggy: It’s very interesting to see what went into your creative process. I liked that there was an element of discovery for yourself, being in Paris but unable to do the thing you were there for, and then to go into these other experiences that pushed your creative output in a new direction. I really liked your discussion on what people want as opposed to what they need and how these things unfold in ways we don’t expect. I was born and raised in Manila, the Philippines, a city very different in climate and culture of Chicago. It wasn't easy to adjust and much of what I set out to do was simply to try and capture the feelings of “being here” as compared to “being there” and slowly, the story grew. One of the happy discoveries I made for myself was that the feelings of connection I built through the years of this practice eventually helped connect me to the city in a deeper, more personal way. I selected my photos for Site Visit with this in my mind—a sort of short story featuring the city as the main character experiencing something out of the ordinary. Of course I am also the unseen character in the stories, since I am the one 'fleshing' out the city. On that note, I was really hoping to dedicate my time in Paris to figuring out how to step inside its essence and learning more, not just about Paris or people but also myself and how I might be inspired in new, unexpected ways. Hopefully we’re nearing the end of this global pandemic and we can safely travel again soon. Nicholas: You mentioned that you have picked up your film camera. Interested to know what camera you have? What are you filming? I’m working on a ‘film’ piece but entirely created ‘digitally’. It is an installation piece which I thought I would try and create but with lockdown and less money around felt a digital version fitted the zeitgeist a bit better. Peggy: I decided to take a different tack photography-wise, by going back to film and shooting with much more deliberation. I was referring to my old SLR camera and have started using it again, instead of my DSLR. I embraced the DSLR and loved how liberating it was not to mind the end of the roll. But, after years of working this way, I’m trying to figure out my way back to creating work that speaks more authentically for me right now, and possibly lead me down a new path in creating connections between images and stories. I’m sure it has a lot to do with the virus and the lockdowns, and the distances separating all of us. Anyway, I dug out my old canon EOS Elan II (for black and white) and an old Minolta for color film… I’d be very interested to see your installation piece when it’s finished! I like installation pieces particularly for their story hidden inside the piece— I’m always curious to know what the piece is saying to me and to the world and what it made me think of. Finally, I came across this the other day and I thought I’d share it with you: “The basic project of art is always to make the world whole and comprehensible, to restore it to us in all its glory and its occasional nastiness, not through argument but through feeling, and then to close the gap between you and everything that is not you, and in this way pass from feeling to meaning. It’s not something that committees can do. It’s not a task achieved by groups or by movements. It’s done by individuals, each person mediating in some way between a sense of history and an experience of the world.”— Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New. Does this resonate with you too? Do you have any particular artists or writers you go back to again and again? I was greatly influenced by seeing the works of Walker Evans and I look at his work when I feel in need of inspiration... Nicholas: I resonate with what you said about ‘feeling’ and Hughes quote. My work is driven by ‘feeling’, I have a thematic framework that I know I’m investigating but then let things flow within those lines. A lecturer once told me to create a conceptual frame, like two railway tracks and then let things flow between the two tracks. I try to just let my feelings flow and see what the subconscious brings up. What I’m drawn to and what resonates with what I’m investigating. I liked Hughes' quote but I’m always slightly distrustful of anyone saying, this is what art is about or this is what art should be doing. We all are so different and unique. I’ve more gone for ‘Art is life’ and that really encompasses everything. Peggy: I agree with you in regard to quotes as a mere guidepost in your own personal expression of your art—and that it’s all part of the process. I’ve really enjoyed talking about creating and the creative practice, as well as the exchanges we've had on each other’s work—it's not often you get a one on one chance to connect with another artist from a different part of the globe and have a discussion like this! See all the Site Visit works on Artland Read other blog posts or head over to our IGTV and Vimeo channels for artists in conversation |
keep in Touch!This community blog is designed for the residency participants to submit their reflections and share updates on projects related to the residency experience. The resources shared here are meant to further the engagement among all residents, stimulate active thinking, and create pathways for knowledge transfer and cross-cultural exchange. Archives
March 2021
CategoriesCover Image: Artists-in Residence, January 2020
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