Welcome to the first CHRISTMAS MONOBLOG
Abstract Edition
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Wednesday 19 December 2012
ESTHER STOCKER - PORTRAIT OF DISORDER - AN INTERVIEW
Above: Portrait of Esther Stocker by Meinrad Hofer
Above: Galerie Im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
...
Interview
Vienna-born artist Esther Stocker’s visually captivating work comments on our assumptions of the world around us. Where at first glance we think we see a rendering of solid reality, a second look reveals kinks in the fabric of that reality. It’s these disturbances that then force us to re-evaluate our surroundings, and make us realise that imperfection – the element of chaos – is part of the natural order of things.
Much of her work is dominated by grids, and therefore, reminiscent of computer-rendering before any surface texturing has taken place. In her paintings, installations and architectural enhancements, the imagination is forced to awaken, and by doing so, the viewer then gains a clearer understanding of what is - or isn't - there.
Esther, I noticed that while doing my research, I found out that you were a big comic-book fan...
Yes, comics are a great inspiration to me!
Which ones inspired you? Who are your heroes?
Charles Schulz ( Peanuts ) is a hero....I also love "La Linea" by Osvaldo Cavandoli, the drawings of Art Spiegelman ( Maus ), Marjane Satrapi ( Persepolis ), Lewis Trondheim ( Kaput and Zösky ) and Claire Bretécher...
When I first saw your work, that's how I reacted to it: It's like a comic page, minus the figures and all other recognisable forms. As if it has been compressed, collapsed, or blown up with dynamite..! Is that a good analogy, or am I totally wrong?
Untitled, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 140 x 160 cm. Photo: Michael Goldgruber
YES very good!!!! I think comics are good teachers for abstract artists...
I have a feeling that you must read science fiction too, because the way you subvert reality reminds me of Philip K. Dick. Have you ever read him?
Yes I like him, and Asimov and Ellison... I am also inspired by the writings of Gottlob Frege, Hélène Cixous, Donald Davidson and Bela Julesz.
Even if we don´t know it, we do have expectations of forms, we expect them to behave in a predictable manner. Personally, I am fascinated by the way in which we recognise these expectations only when they are not fulfilled.
The field of Geometry needs intellectual fiction. There is solid truth in geometry, but I want to find things I wasn´t looking for.
Do you approach the paintings differently to, say, the installations, or the exterior works?
No! My approach is the same - in the end it is all painting to me. And painting for me is a space that I can enter...
Talking of spaces, when you are working, what is the environment like? What music do you listen to, while you create?
These days: Electric Guest, EST, Trans Am, Jimmy Summerville...
Thinking about the large scale of some of your work, do you use Photoshop to plan an installation, or do you prefer to work it out 'on the spot'?
I make drawings and small sketches for paintings - I use Photoshop for visualisations with architecture, or I make cardboard models.
When exactly did the 'eureka moment' happen, regarding your black & white style? At college, or afterwards?
I always loved painting, but I never "thought" in colour. It was an act of freeing myself when I stopped using colour in college.
Continued further down page...
Above: Oredaria Arti Contemporanee, Roma
Above: Hunt Kastner Artworks, Prague
Untitled, 2003, acrylic on cotton, 140 x 160 cm, Photo: W. Woessner
Untitled, 2004, acrylic on cotton, 140 x 160 cm, Photo: W. Woessner
Untitled, 2006, acrylic on cotton, 140 x 160 cm, Photo: Michael Goldgruber
Untitled, 2006, acrylic on cotton, 140 x 160 cm, Photo: Michael Goldgruber
Untitled, 2010, acrylic on cotton, 200 x 300 cm, Photo: M. Polak
Untitled, 2010, acrylic on cotton, 200 x 300 cm, Photo: M.
Polak
Above: Galerie Krobath Wimmer, Vienna
Above: Galleria Contemporaneo, Mestre
Above: Silo Barth, Brixen/Bressanone
Above: AR/GE Kunst Galerie Museum Bozen
Above: Museum 52, London
Above: Lift off 2008, Eindhoven
Above: Baarer Straße, Zug
Above: CELLA, Roma
Above: House of Art, Budweis
Above: Galleria Studio 44, Genova 1
Above: Outdoor Gallery, Gdansk
Above: Galeria Alberta Pane, Paris
Esther, this is going to be MONOBLOG’s first Christmas Special. What do you have planned for the holidays?
I used to be very suspicious of Christmas because as a child I realised this was the time when families fight ...nowadays usually around Christmas time I turn into a do-it-yourselfer, and repair the whole house - meaning I build shelves or drill the walls or...this usually lasts until my neighbours scream at me, and then it is once again:
Happy Christmas everyone!
Above: Instituto Italiano di Cultura, Wien
http://www.estherstocker.net/
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Esther Stocker - Recent exhibitions
Solo shows:
Portrait of Disorder at Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch, Germany
21 October - 14 April 2013
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Form Follows Vision at Galerie Alberta Pane,
Paris
25 October - 8 December
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Group shows:
Chance As Strategy, Vasarely Museum Budapest
19 October 2012 - 6 January 2013
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Subjective Involvement In Physical Spatial Entities, Oredaria Arti
Contemporanee, Roma
ZARINA KEYANI - 'SCAPE ARTIST
Zarina Keyani's current work is in paint and print. Hailing from a multi-ethnic textile
background, she is inspired by landscapes. She was recently shortlisted for the
'Neo Print Prize' and 'The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition' which is
currently exhibiting at The Lightbox in Surrey.
( All pieces approx 14cm sq., black ink on paper. )
Interview with Zarina Keyani
What is the connection between these prints and the colour series - 'Landscape' - that preceded it?
The prints are further abstractions of paintings whose concepts
originated in landscape. Known as the Landscape series, the paintings reference
my experience of landscape as an interaction with colour, line and intersection. The prints in this selection are a microview of those original
concepts, hence they continue to be known as Landscape. The monochromatic element of the prints is a
further attempt at reduction.
How do you feel about working with a single colour, rather
than the full spectrum?
I have often worked with a single colour. With print its all about the tones and
contrasts, which become more pronounced when colour is removed. In contrast, the paintings involve a range of
colours.
How did you make these monoprints?
These are actually etchings using aluminium plates. The detail has been cut into the surface
using acid. The plate is inked and then
the image produced. Some of the prints
were worked on two or three times to achieve the desired result.
Isn't it reductive, naming them 'landscapes'? Because the viewer's brain then tries to configure the images into something
familiar. Is that acceptable?
I think its just as relevant as Monet naming his paintings
of water lilies 'Water Lillies'. It is
what they are, and the viewer is encouraged to see something relevant to them.
It is the familiar, the known or the retrieved.
Are these in any way influenced by your textile work?
This seems to happen in a subconscious way, but the work
often has the appearance of woven textiles. So I guess I am influenced to some extent.
What are the other influences on this series..?
I do like taking photographs of wherever I go, and I think
this informs the work in a second-hand way. Its me looking through the viewfinder and being selective. Once I have
an image I find it very hard to discard it even if its a bad image. It becomes part of a history.
CHRIS HOLLIER - 'THE DISTRACTION OF COLOUR'
As you may have read in October's edition, Chris is an in-demand freelance lighting cameraman and photographer, and his assignments allow him to travel frequently all over the world. Here are some great pictures from those trips.
Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport
Chris Hollier: I work in television, and historically the viewfinders used in television cameras have
been black and white, however, the natural progression was the introduction of
colour using LCD & now OLED's (organic light-emitting diodes). No longer
can cameramen sigh when the director tells them to ''follow the red car around
the race circuit'' or "no, the team in blue" - knowing full well you're looking at the image
in monochrome. This advance in
technology is beneficial in composing the shot if there are dominant colours in
the frame that effect the subject, and it's nice to know the image you're
recording is the correct colour, but it can also have an adverse effect for
some.
There are operators who like to work without the
distraction of colour and feel it's easier to focus on a moving image solely in
black and white. Others believe the
composition of a shot is more favourable when the play of light dictates the
image - rather than the dominant colours - in a scene. For me, framing a shot with strong composition & good tone will always work best, and whatever makes it easier to focus will ultimately be my personal preference.
( For
these shots, I used an attachment for my iphone 4s called an Olloclip. It has a
'fisheye', wide-angle, and macro lens in the same housing, and I purchased it
as one of the first to pre-order off the kickstarter website, where companies
ask for funding to "tool up", so you basically pre-order for a
discount price ).
The Warsaw Crossings
The zebra crossing images were taken in Warsaw where I was based for ITV working as a Lighting Director / Cameraman on the European Football Championships. Each evening we would walk past the tomb of the unknown soldier through the Saxon gardens and across a wide zebra crossing.
The park was always filled late into night with groups of locals of all ages; when leaving they all seemed to obey the crossing codes no matter what the time. The longer we spent in Warsaw the more comical the crossings became and the thought of navigating the various road markings must have scared even the toughest Warsavian; the thought of doing it drunk incomprehensible - an ingenious ploy by the government perhaps!
Chris Hollier
CHDesign Ltd
+44 (0) 7956 889 808
e: chris@chrishollier.com
JAN MULDER - BACK TO BLACK
Below: Nachtbaum, 2011, diptych, 140 x 240cm, oil on linen
I met Dutch painter Jan Mulder at the group show 'Odyssey To The Orient', on the island of Paros, in Summer 2012. Amidst the many examples of his stunning colour work on display, were a couple of black and white paintings that contained a different kind of energy to the full-spectrum compositions. Jan has kindly allowed me to include the paintings here, and has also provided some new pieces to be previewed exclusively for MONOBLOG. - Alexi K
Below: Nachtbaum, 2012, 140 x 120cm, oil on linen
Jan Mulder: ''What drives me to make black and white drawings / paintings?
Black & White: very pure, free
of colour, it's memory, photography; reminiscent of the past, so present, vivid melancholy, prehistoric cave drawings, black & white dreams, consolation / comfort.
I love black.
It's colour.
It's basic.
From black it starts.''
All images below: ink on paper, approx. 12 x 18 cm each.
www.janmulder.info
Netherlands + 316 215 459 71
janmulder@hetnet.nl
CURRENT EXHIBITION
Click on Older Posts ( below ) to see work by Alexi K and Kevin Ryan in the second part of this Christmas Edition...>>
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