Vision of art
1. Choose a work that represents you, describe it in relation to its format and materiality, its relation with time and space, its style and theme; detail its production process.
The video "hai ku" (dark ku) is part of the photographic and video installation called SEN LIN (Chinese for "Forest". I start out from an imaginary vision (in this case, a painting of luminous corollas dancing on a lake, the story of Little Red Riding Hood, a ritual in the woods and drawings by Martín Carpaneto). I trust in the fact that experience will distort things enough so as to lose sight of the references. I'm glad I've gone all the way from Little Red Riding Hood to a fuchsia fly and an ape monk that pays respect to the time of metallic sounds heard within the forest. There is an important deal of design in the costumes that allow the game and the unforseen, an almost sculpture work on a person that allows me to find, when shooting, a form that I feel as being mine. It seems something like setting an atmosphere to favour an apparition, and being able to take pictures of it.
2. In general terms, how would you suggest to approach your work?
I imagine a state of mind that manages to level seriousness and ridiculeness, restraint and concern. Nature seems both harsh and clear.
3. In reference to your work and your position in the national and international art fields, what tradition do you recognize yourself in? Who are your contemporary referents? What artists of previous generations are of interest to you?
I can see myself as a part of the photographic tradition, nature photography, scientific photography, interdisciplinary work. I sense that all my photographs dialogue with painting. I'm interested in the documentary record of phenomena. I pay attention to all sort of illustrative images and its characteristics. I'm interested in cinema because of the frame, fiction and dramatic quality of its experiences. Sometimes I'm oriented towards the ready-made. Contemporary references that I consider to be important for my artistic production: scientific images and film, mythology, folk and traditional music, experimental music and electronic music, the artistic production of my fellow colleagues and workshop mates. I think of works that approach the issue of mistery from a kind and funny side: in this sense, I'm interested in the work of María Ibáñez Lago, Julio Benavídez, Bjork, Matthew Barney, Herzog. I'm into artists that deal with performances and land art.
4. Choose works or exhibitions from the last ten or fifteen years which in your opinion were very significant and explain why
I can choose some works and exhibitions that were significant to me: "Un mundo de tentaciones" (A world of temptations"), Museo Castagnino, Rosario, 2006; A curatorship by Rafael Cipollini with museum works. A dialogue-generating machine between the works. "Arpa" (Arp), by Julio Benavídez, using recycled materials. Touching with a finger an electronic amplified string reminds one the sound of old giant gongs, then there's the image of the metal itself (the iron inside a bean, and the iron inside a building). "Perfume de Venus" (Venus' perfume), an scent experiment that provokes epistemological questions. "Naif florido" (Flowery naïve), by Martín Carpaneto. I feel a certain empathy with the morfology of his characters. I find seriousness to be quite funny. "Clínica" (Clinic), by Diana Aisenberg, a space that poses forms of asking and putting words into question, an update of places and experiences connected with education and the histories of art. "Crimson", Tai López does curatorships with works from colleagues the same way she produces collages.
5. What tendencies or groupings from common elements do you see in argentine art of the last ten or fifteen years?
I don't think I can answer this specifically. I see artists willing to work spontaneously and naturally, using means and resources of their own environment. Others are more oriented towards design, the long-term, the artifice and meticulous planning. Lately, many phrases include the words "hippie", "tacky", serious", "top", "naïve", "street-wise", "trash", "bipolar". There are artist who would fit into one tradition or trend out of empaty or a certain need to find frames, and there are artists as well who find references with whom they discuss in order to produce. There are some who would argue or fight with some master, institution, tradition, decade or conception of good taste. There are artists who aren't very discoursive and some who try to put things into words, there are works and discourses on works. There are moments and moments.
