It became immediately apparent that the rephrasing of the question “What is art?” to”What isn’t art?” signaled a dissolution of the boundary separating metaphor from reality. Since, citizen and artist alike have been plunged headlong into the bacchanals of postmodernity, and the question has been obscured under a heap of incongruous discourse. This week, two curious and intrepid artists offer their answers to this exhausting and illuminating question in their discussions of unexplored spaces and shifting subtexts.
Painter and multimedia artist Eva Davidova talks testing the digital waters of virtual reality through immersive, programmatic experiences. Articulating the conviction that emerging technology is obliged to transcend commercial application, Davidova’s phantasmagoric 3D renderings attempt to draw the strings away from the hands of big business. Topics mentioned include the beauty of academic reciprocity, the fiscal realities of living in the metropolis, and the future of collaborative artistic environments.
Behind the meticulous and sweeping abstract landscapes from the brain of Julie Mehretu are subtle societal and historical cues, which inform and enrich the surface of her paintings. In her ebullient interview, Mehretu speaks of the benefits and restrictions that arise from using architectural semantics to ground explorations of political and social change. Wrought from countless painterly quotations, the identity of Mehretu’s brushstroke vanishes the moment it falls under interpretation. The elusive and curious nature of the Ethiopian artist’s aesthetic experiments, coupled with a steady ethical subtext make for an engaging and memorable listen.
Additional interviews include: Andrea Scrima.
Anything interesting to hit your reading list? Jane Harr is leafing through the confessionalist autobiography La Bâtarde by Violette Leduc, an elegant probing of the author’s detached and restless heart. Another one of our users, Elizabeth Leister, is taking advice from Six Drawing Lessons, a comprehensive text capturing the clear-headed musings of renown and versatile South African artist William Kentridge, which deals with the constructive and instructive properties of artmaking.
Gather some like-minded creators by October 31st and apply to apexart’s Unsolicited Exhibition Program for a shot at curating a generously funded, open-ended group exhibition. In meritocratic fashion, applicants submit a brief text proposal to be evaluated judiciously by a crowdsourced global audience. Regarding any subject, articulated in any manner, your crafty idea could come to fruition through this auspicious and worthwhile opportunity.
The text is the hand is the head is the text…
Like always, here are the links to the interview archive and free resources page.