Works from 2016 exhibition, 'somewhere girl' (anybodies story) installation of 100 A4 pieces. Technique: collage, painting. photography, drawing, printing, embroidery and cutwork. Material: Cotton & thread.
SPECIAL ISSUE 102 busts using military hats - before a body of work is completed. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Moda in Dystopia, an interesting series that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of your artistic inquiry is the way you provided its visual results with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Moda in Dystopia would you tell us your sources of inspiration? Firstly, as previously stated, ‘Moda en Dystopia’ began with the selection of the material itself. The implicit domestic and feminine qualities of the teatowels, as well as the actual construction of the material which has been made for repetitive hard labour, strong, made to withstand a lot of use. This duality of femininity and domesticity with strength and hard physical labour led me to think about the duality of current fashion trends, of the clothes themselves as well as the physicality of the female form. As women, we have never seemingly had so much power and choice, nor have we ever been so vulnerable and under so much pressure to conform to certain physical ideals. The female form is being manipulated as never before as bottoms expand, waists contract and lips explode. This extreme and unrealistic modification of the female form is reflected in fashion magazines, as fashion shoots themselves strive for uniqueness, pushing and contorting the feminine ideal to new twisted unobtainable forms. I wanted the ideas behind the work to whisper, hint at this concept, whilst leaving space for the viewer to interpret the work themselves: to be descriptive enough to make visual my concept, but without being overly prescriptive. A lot of the pieces in ‘Moda en Dystopia’ are simultaneously decorative and have an aesthetic appeal whilst also being a disturbing female form, contorted into strange new shapes that feel menacing; globular limbs, insect-like eyeless and gaping-mouthed forms fly by. This is the dystopian fashioning of femininity of our times… Investigating about the unobvious silent material witnesses to a life lived, your works unveil the tension between the physical and the ephemeral, your artworks provide, with tactile features, the social history embedded in objects and materials: would you say that the way you provide the transient with the sense of permanence allows you to create materiality of the immaterial? In a sense I feel like I am rescuing those unseen stories, those lives lived, and the people that were here before us by buying and collecting those abandoned thread bare covers and throws, dresses and clothes as well as forgotten objects, once useful now useless and forgotten. This also crosses over into my own personal style, as I favour old ballgowns and mens brogues for day to day living. These objects and materials were once treasured, the memory raw and the life in motion. Once the owners die, usually the item is passed down to the next generation, held onto in memory of that person, whilst the original memory of that dress, or sailor hat, or whatever, is already lost. The object then often becomes abandoned altogether as the next generation dies… the items that I recover are often steeped in at least two whole generations agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
Aby Mackie photo by Daniela Leal
SPECIAL ISSUE 104 already. When I rescue an item I can’t rescue the memories, but if the item itself remains then there is a sense that all is not lost. As material for my art work I am giving permanence to the transient, and bringing it back to life in the re-telling and recontextualising of the piece. The ingrained sense of history in the materials that I use, even if fabricated over time, like a story passed down through generations, it evolves; flourishes are added, details are lost and facts are changed. It is exactly this, the transformative possibility of these materials, that excites me in my work. Your artworks often deal with the themes of materialism and consumerism: the creation of your work is driven by the selection and repurposing of objects and textiles from these two practices in order to explore ongoing cultural concerns. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artist’s role differs depending on which part of the world you’re in. It depends on the political system you’re living under". How do you consider the relationship between artists and cultural issues? Moreover, what could be in your opinion the role of Art in the contemporary age? I think that the role of the artist in the contemporary age is to address and challenge people about how we live day to day in a local context, in relation to our environment agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries from the series 'Moda in Dystopia' Materials: Teatowels, thread and fabric. Technique: embroidery and appli
105 SPECIAL ISSUE culturally. Art is the perfect vehicle to get people to stop and look and question. Particularly since the sixties we have become accustomed to finding meaning within works of art, trained to ask questions as we have been educated to believe that art must answer for something. The world is becoming smaller and smaller and more homogenised. We are becoming less defined by locality and more by the global dominance of technological advancements and consumerism. In this sense art has never been as important as it is now as a vehicle for commentary, as a means to express a unique viewpoint about our local environment and day to day living in relation to the impact of globalisation. You seem to draw a lot from daily life and your art shows your connection to the everyday existence of the unrecognised, uncelebrated, unknown lives of Barcelona’s residents. How much does everyday life experiences fuel yourself as a creative? In particular, how would you consider the relationship between direct experience and creativity. Incorporating creativity as an integral part of day to day living is incredibly important to me. In fact as of July this year I moved into a new space that enables me to do just that; Aby Mackie eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine que.
SPECIAL ISSUE 106 seamlessly integrate creativity with day to day life. Having a large space that combines my own gallery with a vintage boutique, a huge studio space, room to teach, as well as an outdoor space, enables me to really live in a creative and organic way. The district in which I live, as well as Barcelona itself, directly influences, inspires and informs my work. The direct experience of living here in the old industrial district of Sant Marti, and the duality of the old industrial architecture, machinery and workers against a backdrop of graffiti, artist studios and the new glass and steel modern buildings, mirrors the bones of what Barcelona is all about. The contrast of old and new, of lives being lived in between the influx of tourism, creativity and industry. It is the minutiae of the people’s lives and how they are lived that make up the city, and it is exactly that which inspires me. You have been running a successful design business for almost ten years, and now run your own Gallery and shop, 'Pa Galleria' in the Sant Marti district: how would you consider the relationship between Art and business in our media driven contemporary age? The relationship between art and business is wider. Art as a commodity is more viable than ever before. It also depends on the agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries from the series 'Moda in Dystopia' Materials: Teatowels, thread and fabric. Technique: embroidery and appli
from the series 'Moda in Dystopia' Materials: Teatowels, thread and fabric. Technique: embroidery and appli
from the series 'Moda in Dystopia' Materials: Teatowels, thread and fabric. Technique: embroidery and appli
109 SPECIAL ISSUE parameters of what you mean by art. I certainly have fewer marketable works that are intended for a gallery setting. These works tend to create publicity and garner attention, but not necessarily provide immediate financial return. Whereas smaller works, specifically my mixed media textile works in an A4 format, are specifically conceived to be sold and easily fit into the average home. Then there are the series, again in small format and at a lower price point. Etsy is one of the many platforms that I use to sell smaller works at a lower price point as well as an outlet for my design based work and vintage treasures (https://www.etsy.com/shop/AbyMackie). Each of these types of work are conceived for a particular market and end ‘function’. The ease with which we can self-promote and perpetuate our artistic production means that we are able to reach a wider audience than ever before. This enables us, as artists, to be more in control of the publicity, marketing and distribution of our work. I find Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/abymackie/) and Pinterest (https://es.pinterest.com/abymackie/) to be good online marketing tools. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create direct involvement with Aby Mackie eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine from the series 'Moda in Dystopia' Materials: Teatowels, thread and fabric. Technique: embroidery and appli
SPECIAL ISSUE 110 the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? Audience reception is vital to my art practice, and subsequently an important consideration when thinking about the appropriate material and technique to employ for a particular piece. Textiles, used as both a material and as a technique, strongly emote femininity and domesticity as well as decorative arts, interior design and crafts. Therefore I often try to counterbalance these embedded indicators through using a dominating scale or a physical strength and weight or by combing textile techniques with unexpected materials, such as steel and wood. For me a successful work of art must first and foremost have an aesthetic appeal, to catch the viewer’s eye and to draw them in. Secondly the work must then have a concept behind it, one that is both accessible and transmutable; adaptable to the viewer’s own interpretation whilst maintaining my own intended vision. The work ‘Moda in Dystopia’ for example is purposefully decorative, employing both embroidery and appliqué techniques that, in combination with the teatowels, reeks of femininity with references to fashion imagery. This draws the viewer close in to the work and it is at that point, that the decorative gives way to the weird, and fashion dissolves into deformity. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Aby. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? As I mentioned before, I have just moved into a new exciting space. The 280m2 building used to be an old bakery, with a shop at the front and the bread making facilities at the back, including a huge old oven from the 1940’s. Previously I have been very restricted by space, as well as time, due to being a single mother to two young children. Now I will be able to hang my work without having to store it away afterwards, work without any scale restrictions and also be able to work late into the night and/or early in the morning. So I see my work evolving extensively in specific response to this new space. I will also have my own small gallery space that will enable me to periodically show new work allowing me to stand back and assess, which can be very difficult to do when you don't get your work out of the studio setting regularly. This will definitely effect the evolution of my artistic practice in the future. As always I am working on multiple bodies of work at the same time. There are the ongoing long term projects, the sculptural works, assemblages and small mixed media textile works (http://abymackie.crevado.com). I also have the wall based sculptures that I am working on which I intend to show as an installation of 12 pieces. These are huge monolithic works I hope to exhibit this year. agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]
from the series 'Moda in Dystopia' Materials: Teatowels, thread and fabric. Technique: embroidery and appli
My art is process driven. I embrace the abstract images that emerge from the manipulation of materials. Although there is a certain amount of planning, I try to always accept the unexpected. I like incorporating ordinary everyday mediums into my art and making them into something beautiful and unique. My favorite medium at the moment is hot glue. I usually cover the entire canvas, and depending on the depth of the glue when it cools, random opaque cloudy swirls appear on top of the surface. It’s always a mystery what forms will be produced, and I often melt and re-work the images until I achieve the desired composition. In my recent pieces I have been adding a silver or gold paint to the glue, which reacts with the plastic when I run my heat gun over it. It creates really amazing swirls and bubbles that harden and are captured in the glue. If hot glue is pressed between an image and glass it creates a crystal clear adhesive. By using the clear flat marbles that are present in many of my pieces, I am able to magnify what is underneath. The image becomes amplified and vibrant. I’m fascinated with making pieces that have to be carefully studied to be fully taken in. I enjoy visually creating the feeling of curiosity. At a distance, some parts of the pieces could be unclear as to how it was constructed; the viewer has to take a closer look to really capture it. Sofia Plater Lives and works in Boston, Massachussets, USA
SPECIAL ISSUE 114 Hello Sofia and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted background. You have a solid background and after having earned your BFA in Visual Arts from the Boston College, you nurtured your education with a Master of Fine Arts from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. How did these experiences influence the way you currently conceive your works? In particular, how did formal training help you to develope your unique style? While earning my BFA from Boston College I was fortunate enough to be able to learn many different artistic techniques by taking many types of art classes. I was able to experiment with new mediums and find what I was most attracted to, ultimately bringing several different of these learned skills into my own practice. Now that I’ve found the kind of mediums I’m most interested in, I’m able to focus all my attention on my own technique while earning my Master’s of Fine Arts degree. I’m currently in my final year at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston Massachusetts. Your works convey a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit Sofia Plater Lives and works in Boston, Massachussets, USA Peripheral ARTeries meets Experimenting with a wide variety of materials and techniques to express the ideas she explores, artist Sofia Plater's work rejects any conventional classification regarding its style, to address the viewers to a multilayered visual experience. In her body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages, she successfully attempts to trigger the spectatorship's perceptual parameters, with a deeper focus on a complementary dialogue between materiality, content, and the encounter with the viewers. One of the most impressive aspects of Plater's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of encouraging the audience's visual curiosity, urging them to inquire into the liminal area where the natural and the artificial find an unexpected still coherent equilibrium: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating and multifaceted artistic production. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator [email protected] agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
117 SPECIAL ISSUE Sofia Plater eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral http://www.sofiaplater.com in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up? How much importance does spontaneity play in your work? In particular, do you conceive you works instinctively or do you methodically elaborate your pieces? Spontaneity plays a huge role in my practice. I experiment with each medium’s unique characteristics— pushing them to their limits and testing how different materials interact with each other and then using those results to guide my piece in an impulsive way. I usually start with an idea in mind, sometimes something as a simple as an aim to replicate the illusion of surface tension. Then, the act of creating takes me in many different directions, as I frequently discover new visions as I go along. I think of my studio as a kind of science laboratory. As I work I have many different “experiments” going all at once, with miscellany projects on every surface available. One corner will have thick mediums drying for days, while other areas are filled with tiny odds and ends waiting to be affixed in their final position. You are a versatile artist and you include a wide variety of materials in your artworks: what did attract you to such interdisciplinary approach?And in particular, when do you recognize that a technique or a material has exhausted its expressive potential to self? I’m fascinated with balancing textures and materials: smooth with rough, shine with matte, torn edges with straight cuts. I’ve always enjoyed finding these qualities within materials and discovering how I can alter them in new and fascinating ways. In order to achieve the results I imagined, I use a lot of different mediums and found objects and then reconstruct them into suitable components. My use of transparent elements, such as resins and plastics, capture the light in their angles and patterns. The interaction between the angles of the clear details and the light source is what activates the sculpture. When encountered in person, there is always an interaction between the viewers own body movement, where the light hits, and how these factors alter what is visible within the piece. I’m gratified by symmetrically balanced pieces, with some portions pushing against that rigid structure. The result is organized dishevelment, with the viewer’s eye being drawn to the pattern but also pulled to the infractions, and obfuscated overlays. In some pieces, I let the materials flow in their natural state: dripping, mixing, masking, or even burning them. The collection of these layers adds a complexity to my work that
SPECIAL ISSUE 118 pushes sight and mind away from the simple and recognizable. I have gone through phases with materials such as resin, metal, spray paint, adhesives, glass, wood, concrete, and silicone. The amount I focus on each medium varies. For instance, I went through a period of covering large canvases with thick layers of hot glue by means of melting it in a pot. I did several large-scale pieces like this, but I have decided to stop using this technique because of the difficulty of the melting method and the fumes it produces. Though I have stopped using hot glue in this way, I still use it regularly in my other works for other functions like texture and small translucent details. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected RODS AND CONES, an interesting project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of your artistic inquiry is the way you provided its visual results of with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of RODS AND CONES would you tell us your sources of inspiration? This was a very interesting process, one I thought up while experimenting with different types of plastics and molds. I realized that ordinary drinking straws are agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
Port au prince, installation , West End Gallery, 2015 119 SPECIAL ISSUE Sofia Plater eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral
agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries SPECIAL ISSUE 122
123 SPECIAL ISSUE made out of a specific plastic that does not adhere to the resin I use. I knew I would be able to slice the resin out of the plastic straw casing. The way the resin is molded within the cylinder creates magnifying properties that exaggerates the underlying image. I appreciate the way the transparent rods segment the image in horizontal lines while bringing attention to the sharp designs underneath. I was drawn to the image beneath, which is a black and white photo of ice crystals reacting with salt. This natural image is interestingly juxtaposed with the synthetic plastic rods that magnify the organic designs. The piece’s overall presence feels simultaneously biological and artificial. You use to incorporate everyday objects into my resin work: you seem to draw a lot from daily life and your connection to natural world. How much does every day life's experience fuel yourself as a creative? In particular, how would you consider the relationship between direct experience and creativity? A common factor in my creations is the use of found objects and materials scavenged from recycle centers, hardware stores, yard sales, and even off the side of the road. I’m drawn to using manmade materials that are low profile in the sense that they have no distinguishable labels or markings. The Sofia Plater eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine
SPECIAL ISSUE 124 parts are recognizable in a way but also anonymous. I find the inherent functional design of these objects to be beautiful in their own right, and I aim to bring attention to their own physical particularness. My practice is process based, I challenge myself and the material to discover what qualities I can build upon, rework, and multiply to create something new and appealing. Combined together into a repetitive pattern makes an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts. Your works are marked with captivating geometric feeling that witnessing the architecture of raw nature, the free-forming textures and structures that exist and grow in the environment: how would you consider the role of Nature in relation to your work? What does fascinate you of raw environment? My primary inspirations come from witnessing the architecture of raw nature, the free-forming textures and structures that exist and grow in the environment. My work features designs that imitate naturally occurring forms, but are mostly composed of humanmade and mass-produced materials— representing the real and the synthetic intertwined. I’ve always been fascinated by the way that nature builds itself in such a systematic way. There are so many complex systems at work, such as cellular structures and fractle patterns, that go unnoticed, though there is so much beauty within their formations. Through my representations of natural structures, my art intends to bring awareness of the fragility of nature and what our consumeristic society is doing to the planet. Many of your works, as the interesting Concentric Square and Hexagon Hollows shows a point of convergence between traditional aesthetic and contemporary sensitiveness. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artist’s role differs depending on which part of the world you’re in. It depends on the political system you’re living under". How do you consider the relationship between artists and society? Moreover, what could be in your opinion the role of Art in the contemporary age? At the moment, there are so many current events that artists are inclined to address with their art. In recent months, there have been some unfortunate new regulations regarding America’s environmental policy at a time when it is vital that we do not ignore the Earth’s warning signs. I’ve always been drawn to nature, having grown up with a father who is an environmental lawyer and professor. I was fortunate enough to learn firstagazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
SPECIAL ISSUE 128 hand of many global issues and the legal regulations that are effecting everyone in the country and ultimately the planet. I’ve chosen to focus on the environmental plight by creating a body of work that showcases natural agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
129 SPECIAL ISSUE elements juxtaposed with artificial materials. My work features designs that imitate naturally occurring forms, but are mostly composed of humanmade and mass-produced materials. In my newest installation, Tilting Totems, Sofia Plater eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine
SPECIAL ISSUE 170 each segmented cylindrical layer was molded from a found plastic “disposable” container. In our consumeristic heavy society here in America, thousands of different sizes and shapes of take-away containers are agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
171 SPECIAL ISSUE Sofia Plater eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral
173 SPECIAL ISSUE manufactured to suit a human’s every need, at the cost of the environment. With the grim fact that only 6.5% of plastic is actually recycled, we are reminded just how inconsequential these environmental issues are to big businesses when profit is at stake. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? While working on a project I do heavily consider the audience’s reception, especially how they will interact with the piece first-hand in a gallery. My aim is to create an immersive experience for the viewer, where they are overtaken by curiosity and the desire to get close to the work to really investigate all the components. Experiencing the work in a gallery setting is a very different experience because the viewer is able to walk around the sculptures and look closely from all angles. There are a lot of tiny details, especially in the transparent materials, that change with the viewer’s perspective. The way the light hits some of the angular shapes creates a different impression depending where the illumination is coming from. Since my sculptural work is very dimensional, it forces the viewers to move around the space to discover it all, influencing a more in-depth experience with the materials. Scrutinizing the work from all angles, experiencing the shadow and even sometimes the smell, all add more components to the experience that a visual image cannot rival. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Sofia. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? This coming fall I am looking forward to the final year of my master’s program at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston. This year will include my final thesis show in May at the Cyclorama in Boston, an important historical art building. I plan to work primarily in large scale installation and am very excited to experiment with a couple new mediums including metal welding, ceramics and fabric. Sofia Plater eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Barbara Scott, curator [email protected] http://www.sofiaplater.com
Shai Jossef
Natural, pure and spontaneous. It is on this dimension that I propose my work's development. As a freedom and permission to multiply, separate, transform. I allow myself to be a book, to wear it. I wear the sea, I wear the repulsion, I wear the solitude, I wear myself as a child. I decide when I'm born. It's all about choices and the powerful machine that is our own mind. And this is my new childhood. Literature inspires me and for freedom of expression I try to materialize it. Einstein once said “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”. I seek to explore impermanence, autonomously, using different languages, techniques, and unconventional materials most often ephemeral. Through a search for the answer or just a reaction to the personal experiences I try to express them in a playful way as a conversation with the viewer. As a request for help or just the reflection of intense relationships of dialogue with our demons. Think of the body as something volatile and immaterial. A body in constructive transformation. This body that can be object, house, a feeling of longing, yellow, slurry. I'm just a correspondent. I try to stimulate the senses and different ways of thinking the inner and outer body. Paula Blower Lives and works in London, United Kingdom The answer is in the verse, 2016 - Photographer Marcelo Hallit
SPECIAL ISSUE 138 Hello Paula and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted background. You have a solid background and after having graduated in Garment Production Technology you nurtured your education with study experiences at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Arts and Central Saint Martins, in London. How did these experiences, among with the courses that you attended at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro under the guidance of João Carlos Goldberg influence the way you currently conceive your works? And in particular, how does the relationship between your cultural substratum dued to your Brazilian roots and your travels in Europe inform the way you relate yourself to art making? My academic and cultural experiences helped me to have enough courage to follow my ambitions, produce something that made sense to me, and freedom to take shape and embrace my own language. The travels made me lose the notion of belonging, my roots. But, at the same time, Brazilian materials and symbols do much of the work, for example the latex that comes from Seringueira, a genuinely Brazilian tree, the glasses made of Brigadeiro, a typical chocolate desert, wore by Carlos Drummond de Andrade's statue, one of Brazil's most important poets at an intervention work. João Carlos Goldberg is an artist, archaeologist and professor at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage since 1982 and had a very important role in the school as director (1991- 1993). He also created and nurtured the excellent 3D workshop with the assistance of the artist Marcos Duarte (person who has important role in my search for materials, often unconventional) and where I started to make my first pieces. Goldberg is a very special person in my career. He has always been a great motivator and incentive for my experimentation and also an example of ethics in art production, even though it is a controversial issue. Another Paula Blower Lives and works in London, United Kingdom Peripheral ARTeries meets Rejecting any conventional classification, Artist Paula Blower's work addresses the viewers to a multilayered visual and participative experience: through a wide variety of media and languages and techniques, she mixes unconventional materials to urge the spectatorship to question their cultural and perceptual parameters. One of the most impressive aspects of Blower's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of triggering walking them through the liminal area in which perceptual reality and the realm of imagination find a consistent point of convergence: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating and multifaceted artistic production. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
Children Swallow Buttons - Medicines
141 SPECIAL ISSUE Paula Blower eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral essential figure was Nadam Guerra, professor and performance artist, a spirit of light that gave me significant opportunities to expose my work. Through him I exposed my first performance O Antidesfile (The Antiparade), with the performers Maurício Krumholz, Natália Miranda Silvestre and Malu Laat. This work began to appear in Buenos Aires at the art residence La Ira de Dios where I had the honor to meet the photographer and artist Gabriel Valansi, one of the program´s curator. When I showed the pieces of clothing I had made from the liquid latex to its solid shape molded into different bodies (parts I started producing one year before residence), he suggested: “make a parade”. I had no intention of being a fashion designer, or whatever, and doing and being considered art, it would come naturally with time (or not!). But anyway, back in Rio de Janeiro, I did an antiparade. It was a workpiece that had a very important visibility and for which I received very positive feedbacks, that ended up stimulating me to my next productions. Ranging from a wide variety of techniques including video, installation, performance, intervention, texts and objects, your practice is marked out with a captivating multidisciplinary feature, revealing that you are a versatile artist capable of crossing from a media to another. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.paulablower.com in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you tell us what does draw you to such approach? What are the properties you are searching for in the materials that you include in your materials? And in particular, when do you recognize that one of the mediums has exhausted it expressive potential to self? I look for materials by chance or if it has any poetic or emotional meaning. Its expressive potential may never end but my interest in it does. But I try to dissect all the possibilities that the material has to offer and go deep not only for the physical characteristic but also for its historical, cultural and symbolic meanings. Every process is quite laborious and handmade. Very immersive. I studied and learned conventional techniques mainly of sculpture, molding, pattern and sewing so that I had autonomy in the concretization of my ideas. That I had absolute power of decision taking advantage of mistakes and correctness. But as I work with unconventional materials, I end up creating my own techniques and tools. As in the case when my personal experimentation became my conclusion project of Garment Production Technology. I ended up discovering clothing and accessory techniques made with natural latex from liquid form to solid condition, incorporation of tans, textures, materials, machinery and assembly. Maybe I'm addicted to experimentation. Besides thought, ideas and intellectual research, I value also what is handcrafted and autonomously. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Children Swallow Buttons, an interesting series that our readers have already started to got to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of your artistic inquiry is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Children Swallow Buttons would you tell us your sources of inspiration? And how did you select your subjects? My inspiration is mostly related to the manifestations of desire and subconscious fears. Something that touches me in some physical or emotional way. That’s my way of verbalizing, my language. In this work, specifically I believe it has been a response to an important event. When I was hospitalized with suspected
SPECIAL ISSUE 142 pulmonary embolism, the doctor asked me to leave the atelier and all the materials I worked with. Cement, talc, latex, ammonia, gypsum, resin, silicone, etc. I had to reinvent myself. I was hospitalized twice, taking too much medication and I had to do something about it. I went to several doctors and I did not get any diagnoses. Until I chose something alternative. A psychiatrist and homeopath who asked me, "Did you swallow a lot of crying?". She had told me that I had had communication problems and that was causing me to most otorhinolaryngological and pulmonary problems. At the same time, I discovered that my body was quite fragile. Like a child. That's when, on the advice of a previous doctor, I met my current doctor who is a nutrologist physician, a former pulmonologist, who made me drop all the medicines. Nowadays I only have food restrictions and I take vitamins. I gave up trying to get a diagnosis. The first piece of Children Swallow Buttons was made of latex, the second was after the health problem. Made with razor blades, it was a rupture of this skin, which was already “dead” and the materials so representative for the characteristic that the latex has to be skin and scar. The third one was made with all the pills and tablets I stopped taking and others that I had noticed were already old and filled the bathroom drawers. The forth piece was made with thumbtacks that symbolically would be a self-torture and a transcending of the physical and emotional limits. When the body is made of pain, it is not possible to feel anything. The series continues. Sorry for the inconvenience addresses the viewers to challenge their perceptual parmeters and allow an open reading, with a wide variety of associative possibilities. The power of visual arts in the contemporary age is enormous: at the same time, the role of the viewer’s disposition and attitude is equally agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
143 SPECIAL ISSUE Paula Blower eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral Children Swallow Buttons Thumbtacks detail
SPECIAL ISSUE 144 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Children Swallow Buttons Razor Blade detail
145 SPECIAL ISSUE important. Both our minds and our bodies need to actively participate in the experience of contemplating a piece of art: it demands your total attention and a particular kind of effort—it’s almost a commitment. What do you think about the role of the viewer? Are you particularly interested if you try to achieve to trigger the viewers' perception as starting point to urge them to elaborate personal interpretations? I do not produce the works wanting to please the viewer. I simply have the need, I try to materialize and show. I must do it because they are not permanent. What I've been keeping and storing is in degradation. I make it and try to expose it as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience was an installationperformance in collaboration with the artist Antônio Tebyriçá and the performers Maurício Krumholz and Natália Miranda Silvestre. At the time the city was preparing for the Olympics and there were building and construction sites everywhere. The city seemed to be “sick” in a way (but every city has its "illnesses"; I'd rather not go into detail). Putting the story short, we created an installation with objects from the dump collected by Tebyriçá, and parts of the human body molded in cement, plaster, clay and wires. Those body pieces I had produced over 2 years and no longer made sense for me. I really wanted to throw them in the trash. I developed clothes made with natural latex and a handmade dyeing of coffee that had a rough texture as of the objects. The performance had a cycle dynamics. While one performer destroyed the installation into pieces, the other repaired the broken objects with a ‘fragile’ tape. Until they created a new "sick" facility using the broken pieces patched with trash holders and totems. It was an urban metaphor. I think the performance was more Paula Blower eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine
SPECIAL ISSUE 146 repulsive and uncomfortable not only for the public but for the space. The noise and that heavy concrete objects thrown to the floor, dirt, shard of glass and cullet could damage the historical building we were in. I did not mean to please the audience, just to pass on the message. I could only say I’m sorry. I believe that I am only a tool, the work passes through me but it is for others. Keeping work pieces does not make sense. Without the spectator, it practically does not exist. It's garbage. agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries Sorry for the inconvenience, 2016
147 SPECIAL ISSUE You have once mentioned an Einstein's quote which states that “Imagination is more important than knowledge". How do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works? How would you define the relationship between representation and imagination in your practice? The game of imagination that he suggests takes place in the symbolisms that every material carries when adopting new forms and Paula Blower eries agazine Contemporary Art Peripheral
SPECIAL ISSUE 148 compositions. The relationship with my work may be about seeing reality beyond what it appears to be. Refer to even hidden and personal symbols and in the empathy they can cause. There has always been someone who will be identified with it. But I still see the work very experimental and it may never miss this feature. For now the most important is the process in which I have to scroll to build. For me it is an intense and deeply affective relationship. The answer is in the verse provides the viewers with an intense, immersive experience and as you have remarked in your artist's statement, your work focusses on a complementary dialogue between materiality, content, the exhibition space, and the encounter with the viewer: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience and how you see the relationship between environment and your work? When the work is done or inserted in institutions, galleries, or in the end, spaces designed for art, people are prepared and willing to see or feel something out of the ordinary or at least to change their normal state. Other than that it can be anything or nothing. The answer in the verse, presented in an art space, was a complex performance. It would be very difficult to synthesize or talk about it without extending myself. I built a wearable book using more than 5 liters of natural latex transforming into a large sheet with more than 10 meters in length. There were many days of work and confection and beyond a lifetime of conception. It was a work done for the present public and performers. What remains are the records, just pictures agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries
149 SPECIAL ISSUE Paula Blower eries Contemporary Art Peripheral agazine O Antidesfile. Photo Victor Naine
SPECIAL ISSUE 150 agazine Special Edition Contemporary Art Peripheral eries The Roosevelt's Picnic, 2017- Teddy bear made of pig skin and marinated bacon