"The Chilies", Steel bar and plate, 98x97cm, 2006 (First three images), no not a Red Hot Chilly Peppers cover band but what started off as a simple purchase at the local Asian food importers and put through the filter of my brain. I was attracted to this image because as you'll see in a lot of my work I like to work with compositions that a certain amount of repetition as well as chaos, I think the technical word for it is entropy, or structured chaos. 
I was first attracted to these images from the then experimental architect Daniel Liebeskind who did a series of drawings called "Macromegas" that were published in a poncey art journal I once saw. Although there is not a lot of repetition in these works I was very interested in their dynamism and volatility. 
This amount of visual information, detail and a splash of chaos is sometimes what I look for in subjects that I like to portray, the difference is that I normally like to find the information in nature whether it be or man made environments as you see in the favela series that I do or in the Fingerprint series etc....
The Chillies in their new home in Amsterdam
Above you have a detail of one of Liebeskind's "Macromegas" this one titled " Vertical Horizons", I changed the orientation for presentation's sake. Below you have a drawing I did of a favela from a detail of a photo I tracked down on the Internet. and the following the original material.
Well when I see images of favelas, shantie towns, townships and or certain urban environments, I start to get a bit excited. The magnitude of some of them, whether creeping up mountainsides or stretched out in valleys, i find truly amazing. Not only from just the sheer quantity visual information available but obviously what it represents as well. Humankind as an organism, in this case with very little resources, sprawling out to accomadate itself in any way possible and using every material at hand to create some sort of lodging or shelter for themselves. So far I have or have had created three different versions of the favela drawing I've made .
In the studio, Favela III, Mixed Media, 100x80, 2006The first one started but not the first one finished, is Favela no.3, Mixed Media on MDF support, 126.5x76.5cm, 2006. is made completely out of recycled material in a collage/relief form. I think the manner that it's created is appropriate to the subject matter and I'm quite happy with the result.
Below you have three details of the same work...
Favela III, Mixed Media, 100x80, 2006 (Details)
Favela II, Engraved Stainless Steel, 100x80, 2006The first and second were realized in Shanghai, China with the help of Thomas Charveriat of Island Six Arts Center and exhibited in the show "Invisible Layers, Electric Cities" Curated by Margherita Salmosa and Allard van Hoorn. The one in the picture with one of my loyal chinese followers in front of it is creatively titled "Favelas II" is an engraved plate of stainless steel which is then hand painted by highly skilled chinese craftsmen. Island Six is a very interesting new initiative which I'll cover more of later
Island 6 Arts Center, brainchild of one Thomas Charveriat, international Playboy and artistic mover and shaker.....
No comments:
Post a Comment