David Feruch Land scapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWCreation is a way to express oneselfbut it becomes for the one who hasdecided to devote his life to it theexpression of his being with which he isgoing to have to live with in everydaylife. In the same way a baby is going torecognize himself in a mirror throughthe eyes of the other. The artiste needsrecognition in other’s eyes, the mirrorwhich will send back his image will bethe one of his works. Beyond thisspiritual necessity artist’s recognitionallows him to devote time and todevelop the means necessary for theaccomplishment of his work, in this wayfor example to develop the means ofcreation as well as their conservation.Those issues can make without therecognition of your art by other the pathchaotic and full of pitfalls.Art is for everyone who wants to sharethe shelter.I still have a lot of time to devote to themaking of my works; I believe you haveto dare space and head toward very bigformat but also very small one. I haveburied myself in a never-ending storywhich is overflowing with projects toshare, journey to travel to that can onlyend by certain death that awaits us allat the end of the path where yourwalking time is over.An interview by , curatorand , curator
impermanence of the world around us. There is something interesting to be found in the temporality of our world. My work exposes the absurdity of our daily existence, our inattentiveness to the world around us, and the fleetingness of memory and time. It highlights the mundane and relishes in the discovery (and rediscovery) of objects and spaces taken for granted, ignored, or forgotten completely. Texture, line, and shape come together in these spaces and objects like visual poetry. By connecting to spaces and objects and interacting with them—a personal mark is added to enhance, repair, or preserve them. My work includes objects removed from their original place and put in a new context, shadows of obsolete objects and empty or broken spaces unnoticed by the public and ignored by failing infrastructure. Through intervention, repair and preservation of these spaces and objects, a conversation is made with the viewer about the temporality of our existence and the beauty of minute, unnoticed, and ignored spaces around us. Everyday life is understood better through more fully interacting with the world around us. The ultimate goal is for the viewer to share in the moment of discovery and to enjoy the mystery of the spaces and simplicity of the work. The work invites the viewer to begin to investigate and interact with time and place in a new context—discovering new spaces and objects for themselves.An artist's statementy work deals with the joy of discovery, the beauty of Mthe mundane, and the JJ Harty22LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWJJ HartyLives and works in Dallas, USA
Artist JJ Harty's work accomplishes an insightful exploration of the absurdity of our daily existence. In his body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages, he effectively challenges the relationship between the viewers' perceptual parameters and their cultural substratum to induce them to elaborate personal associations, offering them a multilayered aesthetic experience. One of the most impressive aspects of Harty's work is the way it accomplishes a successful attempt to create a channel of communication between the perceptual sphere and imagination, to urge the viewers to begin to investigate and interact with time and place in a new context. We are very pleased to introduce our readers to his multifaceted artistic production.Hello JJ and welcome to LandEscape: before starting to elaborate about your artistic production would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training: after having graduated from the University of Idaho with a Bachelor of Art and a Bachelor of Fine Art, you nurtured your education with a Master of Fine Art, that you received from from Washington State University. How do your studies influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general?I grew up in Northern Idaho and lived in the city of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho until I was 14 then we moved to the small rural farming community of Rathdrum, Id. I was the oldest of 6 children and there wasn’t much alone time in our house. As a result I spent as much time out of the house as I could - whether it was playing sports, tromping through the woods of the northwest or working at one of the local farms. During this time I also realized I had a talent for art. It was second nature to me and I was constantly drawing or painting to escape the fairly frantic environment of our home. I spent hours upon hours improving my techniques and my plan as a youth was always to go to university and get an education. Life sometimes JJ Harty24LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWLandEscape meetsAn interview by Katherine Williams, curatorand Josh Ryder, [email protected]
25Christopher Reid LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWthrows a wrench in your plans and while I never gave up art I did not return to finish my bachelor’s degree until I was in my mid 30’s. My non-traditional undergraduate experience was crucial to my modes of thinking. . As an older student I was extremely focused on my education and because of my life
28experiences I was open to to new ideas and was focused on how far I could push any concept. I had some amazing professors at university who mentored me and pushed me to go beyond traditional approaches to art. This approach led me to an interest in space and its relation to my aesthetic approach LandEscape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
29JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWspecifically the body, the space it inhabits and how the “personal bubble” or space fluctuates from person to person. Ultimately my graduate experience is what really shaped how I approach aesthetics now. I began to see space in a different way and relate negative space to positive objects and how there was
something interesting and beautiful in ordinary negative or empty spaces. Just like art the every day relationship between positive and negative space is important to how we approach the world around us. It may be unconscious but there are aesthetic cues that attract us to a space depending on our 30LandEscape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
wants, needs, personality and cultural background. Some of us prefer closed in space and some open. Some prefer color and others not. In my own personal aesthetic I tend to be attracted to the gap between objects and the potential of filling or interacting with it. 31JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Your approach rejects any conventional classification: it is very personal and condenses a variety of viewpoints, that you combine together into coherent balance. Would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up? In particular, would you tell our readers something about the evolution of your style? In particular, are your works conceived instinctively? Or do you methodically transpose preparatory schemes?My process is both instinctive and preparatory. It depends on what I am working on at the time. If I am looking to install a new curb/urban repair I try to always be prepared with the necessary tools and materials and I sort of wander to find the right spot to install a piece. It’s all intuitive. It may take hours to find a spot or it could take 15 minutes. I don’t try and force it anymore - it has to be a spot that speaks to me in one way or another. There are many factors influencing my decision - the aesthetic of the space, the location, the culture of the area just to name a few. I am constantly scanning different environments looking for a space that speaks to me. The body of work titled Explore is definitely more methodical and preparatory. I tend to be attracted to spaces intended to be clean or “perfect” like a gallery or museum. I search for imperfections in the space to enhance for the viewer. I also appropriate minute portions of work already in the gallery I find interesting, I have always been drawn to the minutiae or imperfections in my environment. As I study and interact with these spaces/objects they become works of art in my mind. I did not create them - they are present through some form of intervention be it human or natural. In the moment I intervene and share the spaces with the viewer they take on new meaning. The magnifying glass creates not only a frame for the space but changes the nature of the space and draws the viewer in. For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected Explore, an interesting project that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of your captivating investigation about the relationship between your painting and the actual places you painted is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: while walking our readers through the genesis of Explore, would you shed light to your main sources of inspiration? The work Explore is an investigation into the beauty of imperfection and the minute. This body of work is a direct result of my Guerrilla series (aka Urban Restoration) and my Brokenseries. In the course of searching for empty spaces to fill and objects to repair it brought up the question “Is it even necessary to fill or repair the spaces for them to be valid as an art object?” How can I intervene so the viewer sees what I see and is my intervention with the space enough? 32LandEscape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Bruce Nauman said “If I was an artist, and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art”. The statement could be expanded: If I was an artist, and I existed in the world, then whatever I was doing in the world must be art.33JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
When inquiring into the beauty of minute, you allow an open reading, a great multiplicity of meanings: associative possibilities seems to play a crucial role in your pieces. How important is this degree of openness?We all see the world differently to a certain extent. We are influenced by 34LandEscape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
culture, religion, psychology, environment, etc. So openness is essential. I fabricate the apparatus and intervene with the space to bring it to the attention of the viewer. It is up the them to make decisions about the work and investigate it further. I want them to form their own opinion regardless of whether they reject or accept the work. Granted, I want them to understand and enjoy the work but by leaving it open to interpretation when a viewer experiences the same moment of discovery I did when finding the space and shares the moment with me it is all the more rewarding.An important aspect of your work comes from the way you organize the materials, urging the viewers to unveil the connection between the past of the images and their new life: we daresay that one of the most convincing aspects of your practice is the way you unveil the connection between imagination and everyday life: your vision seems to speak of a kind an abstract beauty that starts from a mundane imagery but that brings a new level of significance to images. We would go as far as to state that in a certain sense your works challenge the viewers' perception in order to go beyond the common way to perceive not only the outside world, but the way we relate to it... artists are always interested in probing to see what is beneath the surface: maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your view about this? In particular, do you think that your works could induce a process of self-reflection in the viewers?I believe as artists we fall into a singularly unique position of being outside of what most consider normal. I mean this in a good way: there is an expectation we will push boundaries and attempt to create conversations between the work and the viewer. My goal is always to push the viewer to have an experience where they question their perception and expand their view of what art is or can be and to spark their imagination. The concept of human imagination goes hand in hand with how we see: it is intangible, subjective and varying in degrees from one individual to the next. Some have these incredible vibrant imaginations and are able to express them through their chosen career path from artist to engineer. On the other end of the spectrum there are those we view as having little to no imagination. The only real frame of reference we have into how someone’s imagination really works is to compare it to our own. I like to think my work sparks the imagination of the viewer and what better way to accomplish a change in their perception of art’s limitless potential than through a connection with their everyday experiences. Your visual vocabulary has a very ambivalent quality. How do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works?The line between what is real and imagined is thin. Our perception of reality is subjective. Rene Descartes 35JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
said “the very same thoughts which we experience when awake may also be experienced when we are asleep” I see the dichotomy of the the real and the imagined as one in the same. The “real” of the work is the actual space and the imagined is the magnification and framing of them. The image you see is a just accentuated distortion of the real to bring it to the viewers attention. Then again is it actually real? The work will come down the holes will be filled and no trace remains. What is important to me as the artist is what the viewer does after absorbing the image. They could simply move on and tuck the experience away in the back of their mind or it could enlighten their understanding of the world and spark their own voyage of discovery. The way you to capture non-sharpness with an universal kind of language: you production could be considered an exploration of the insterstitial point between the figurative feature of daily life, objects and gestures: we have appreciated the way this work unveils the flow of information through an effective non linear narrative, establishing direct relations with the viewers: German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that \"nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead\". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the inner narrative for your works? Much of my work is experiential to some extent. Part of its purpose is to touch some part of the viewers unconscious and bring it back to the conscious. There is a experiential aspect to the work. Most of us have picked up a magnifying glass at one point had moments of discovery not possible with the naked eye. I can remember crawling around on the floor or ground (I still do) with my grandmother’s magnifying glass with delight and wonder at the new world I had discovered. This is where nostalgic element comes through. There is no real way to permanently regain those moments in time, only fleeting and often unsatisfying tastes of them. It challenges social constructs of what is normal. The work sometimes requires you to put yourself in a physical position you would not normally take in a public. Some adults will simply walk past the piece rather than engage with it. In contrast children who are not beholden to social norms almost always engage and are not concerned with putting themselves in an awkward physical position. We have appreciate the investigative feature of the way you explore emerging visual contexts: are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating your works? My only rule is that I do not create any space or object I intervene with. It has to exist on its own. I will not break or manipulate a space/object to fit my aesthetic. As I said it’s an intuitive process and serendipity plays a big part. Besides creating the works that we have been dealing with in these pages, you also work as an adjunct professor 36LandEscape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
at Washington State University’s campus in Pullman: how does this aspect of your work influence your practice? In particular, have you ever been inspired from your students' ideas? Working as an Adjunct gives me access to the space and tools I might not have 37JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
access to otherwise. Some of my work needs to be done in a wood shop, metal shop, plaster/investment area or foundry. There is also something wonderful in the interaction I have with my colleagues that drives the work as well. If I run into a road block I can always find someone to discuss 38LandEscape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
technical or conceptual issues that may arise. Working in a community of faculty and student artists creates a unique energy. The relationship built through teaching someone how to take an idea and craft it into something physical is exhilarating. 39JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
There are also those rare dynamic students who set the bar high, not just for their classmates but for me as well. Their enthusiasm is sometimes palpable and drives me to work harder and push the boundaries of my own work. Being 40Escape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWLand
part of the problem solving involved in a classroom setting also has its rewards. When students encounter a problem realizing their concept it is an opportunity to look closer at how I may be approaching a particular problem of 41JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
42LandEscape JJ HartyCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWmy own and through solving theirs I often come up with the answer to mine. Over these years you have exhibited your work nationally including shows and installations in Maryland, Arizona,
43JJ Harty LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWWashington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho and in New Jersey at the International Sculpture Center. One of the hallmarks of your work 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?One of the main components of my practice is creating a relationship between the audience and the work. The art object is almost always just out of reach of the viewer physically, they are outsiders looking in. By making work that requires more direct involvement with the viewer I take a risk. The success of the work relies on the viewer. This can be problematic as there is a museum/gallery culture that keeps the viewer at arms length. Because of this they can miss out on the moment of discovery so crucial to the work. The up side is there is usually someone who will take the risk and investigate the work from a more intimate viewpoint. The risk-taker breaches the invisible wall and creates a new dialectic within the space where others follow their lead and discover the truth of the work. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, JJ. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? I have various projects going at the moment, many relying on even more on audience participation. One is a longterm interactive project with objects from childhood with an emphasis on breaking adult social norms of the appropriate proximity between the viewer and the work. In a way it mirrors the concept behind Explore in that to truly have a complete experience with the work the viewer must put themselves in a somewhat awkward position similar to the position of a child at play. I also have a performance piece I am working on involving the ephemeral nature of objects we use everyday, my own personal attachment to those objects and the futility and importance of sustainability in our modern industrial society. Of course I will also continue to work on my Guerrilla installations and the Exploreseries. Its hard to say how the work will evolve. I tend to push a concept to a certain point where I feel it has run its course and then begin conceptualizing something new. The act of making is very fluid so concepts and aesthetics change during the creative process. I will say I have always introduced some element connected to the body and challenging invented social constructs and norms. I’m sure this will continue in future projects in one form or another. An interview by Katherine Williams, curatorand Josh Ryder, [email protected]
internationally, mainly producingportraits, photography, digitaland design work.Recently won second place in theSaatchi Surrealism Showdownand studying towards a degreein painting. AlexandraGallagher's work celebrates thesurreal and bizarre.Between the realms of memory,dreams and experience, herwork looks beyond our limitsand often tells a story of innerimagination and thought. \"I takeinfluence from everythingaround me - like every artist.Fashion, design, other artists,music, culture, society etc.Everything I see, hear and talkabout. It all influences what I do.From a short abstractconversations with a strangers, tomemories I have as an individual...we all have a story to tell,something interesting that isunique to all of us, as anindividual.I love people watching. Looking atpeople and seeing how I couldtranslate that into a piece of art -from my own perspective.lexandra Gallagher wasborn in 1980 in Bury ALancashire. SellingLandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWAlexandra GallagherLives and works in Lancashire, EnglandAlexandra Gallagher
Pool Side
My background is mainly in painting,and oil painting in particular. I used topaint portraiture when I first startedout, but I found it creatively limiting,and I was becoming frustrated whichmeant my work began to lack thatessential spark. I needed to exploremore conceptually, building on what Icould do and to push myself further. Isort of fell accidentally into digitalcollage; it wasn’t something I hadplanned to do, but something thatseemed to find me. It interrelated nicelywith my existing skill-set and was amedium malleable enough to keep upwith the way I think. My mind is alwaysan indefatigable creature and I need away of expressing that can match that,but the foundation of my art has alwaysbeen rooted in painting. The rules andprinciples of painting, along with thehistory, give me the necessaryparameters of tradition and structure.An interview by , curatorand , curatorLandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWLandEscape meetsAlexandra Gallagher
LandEscape Alexandra GallagherCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWSelfies with Bond
Alexandra Gallagher LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWAll my work is by nature visceral andorganic. I actively avoid the temptationto methodically produce work, as Iprefer to to work in a more fluid manner,tapping into the impracticable spacebehind the mind. My practice is versatilesimply because I love every aspect ofcreativity and I don’t want to limitmyself. When creating a new piece ofwork, I choose the media and genre thatbest translates the concept. My workalso reflects my constant self-teaching,my tenacity for learning and my passionfor discovery. For my own sanity, I refuseto produce something in the same way,over and over, to a formula. I need toextensively explore, to delve, for theprocess to be all-encompassing. For methat is the quintessential part of mycreative journey.These pieces are part of a series of workthat explores the concept of the Internetof Things as physical space, in whichintelligence is widely distributed acrossa surreal, synthetic landscape, whereyou can be anything or anyone. Peopleput so much of themselves onto theinternet without really thinking, givingmore of themselves up than they wouldface-to-face, yet everyone starts out onan almost level playing field. Religiosity,ethnicity, wealth, success, sexuality,appearance, gender, politics… none of itshould matter and there is something foreveryone, even the darkest and the mosttwisted. The common computer screencan be a metaphor for the windowthrough which we view our worlds,humanity’s intellectual worlds, ratherthan physical real-space. I play withimagining and visualising this as aphysical place, an allegoricalWonderland. Like a detached observercollector, I source and select imagesthrough web search engines, and reworkthem to tell new, possibly impossiblenarratives.
Like all people, I have my own storyand a catalogue of experiences thatmake me who I am. I mine what I havelived through, but I don’t want to putthese experiences into the world in aliteral way. Some things are too raw,which open me up to vulnerabilitiesthat I am loathe to reveal. I won’t bedefined by my history, so I leaveabstract hints and implied nods whichleave the viewer to extract their owninterpretation using their own lifestories. I have had many people writeto me and tell me they can relate theirpersonal stories to meanings they cansee in my work, and I am alwaystouched by those connections; thecommunion of consciousness, thebasic endurances we all have ashumans.LandEscape Alexandra GallagherCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWThanks Giving My Sunshine
Welcome to Motel Flamingo
Untitled Dream
The titles are part of the narrative, butI also like to have fun with them, tojuxtapose a dose of complimentaryhumour. I love to put humour into mywork too and try never to take myselftoo seriously.Alexandra Gallagher LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWIn the Light of My eye Apocho Beach
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As individuals we each see the worldin our own unique way, and I feel it’simportant for artists to reflect andchallenge the way both we asindividuals and as a variety ofcollectives see the world. Throughouthistory, artists have bravely held up amirror to society and culture, toAlexandra Gallagher LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
challenge our inner selves and tohighlight the things that people recoilfrom.This is important, and is somethingthat artists seem to do quite naturallywhile translating the way they see theworld. I hope I achieve this in mywork, but I also hope to reflect thatfeeling you get similar to dreaming;that everything seems familiar, butslightly precarious and unpredictableat the same time, the kind ofdiscomforting otherness that stayswith you for the rest of the day. I feelthat is how life is; abstract,transcendental, formidable, yet joyousand remarkable.Chance is very important; preconstructed elements only visuallyappeal when they find themselvesintuitively in a position wholly definedby their neighbouring elements. I wantmy work to reflect that subconsciousjourney I am taking when I create.The opportunities provided by chancecan often lead a piece in a whole newdirection from where it started. I amoften as surprised as the viewer to findwhat is actualised within a particularpiece.As the pieces in this series areconstructed from other people’simages that I come across, and thesefragments of people’s lives are definedby their locations in the world, as wellas the environment that surroundsthem, they become a new form ofmaterial from which new impossiblelandscapes can be imagined.There ceases to be any true limitationsor boundaries.The physical truths of these strangers’real worlds are free to no longer exist.My own psychological make up has alot of subconscious influence on mywork.I’m narrating a story through the filterof my own perception, which in turn islimited to my experience andenvironment.It is then also distilled through thecultural and societal norms I amcurrently surrounded by.The style I have developed is anLandEscape Alexandra GallagherCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Space Man
evolution born of experimentation,although I have always adored colour.I very much enjoy communicatingthrough colour, juxtaposing brightcolours with a dark subject, or utilisingthe symbology of colour. I also secretesymbols throughout many of myworks, so that the viewer may discoverand interpret them, adding an almostcovert depth and texture to not onlythe aesthetic, but the overall narrativetheme.Alexandra Gallagher LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
I don’t feel there should be generalconstraints on the creative process;great things can happen when limitsare strained, and as artists we shouldalways push the boundaries of what weinterpret and what we can do.Personally, however, I do prefer to keepthings quite subtle, which is a selfimposed constraint of sorts (yes, I’m acontradiction), but only because I don’tlike to shock or horrify, or to overlysexualise to the point of being explicit.I find that strategy somewhat tacky. Ifeel subtly can work far better, as theviewer is free to fill any gaps with theirown personal fears or peccadilloes.That’s not to say that there isn’t arelevance in communicating orexploring life’s horrors, or sex andsexuality; it’s certainly not something Iwould shy away from, but the in-yourface approach has become such aclichéthat we risk becomingdesensitised. It no longer says anythingof substance or misses the point thatwas intended.Sometimes a message with weight canbe conveyed with less.Not at all. Art is subjective, that whichone person may love and relate deeplyto, another may loath it intently. I amaware that my work is not foreveryone, nor is it for everyone tounderstand.I have found that some people get veryexcited by my work , while others findit melancholic or jarring.Thanks a lot for your time and forsharing your thoughts, Alexandra.At the moment I am concentrating on anew series of work called “Birds withBirds”, which has seen my work take aslightly different direction in aesthetic,but I’m really excited about thepossibilities and I’m looking forward totaking the new work as far as I can.Escape Alexandra GallagherCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWLandAn interview by , curatorand , curator
Alexandra Gallagher LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
to acting as a link, water is a transforming agent creating images of two different realities. Working as a filter, water, acts to create images that are in between the worlds, a fine line of both concepts portrayed in this Project. Creating different realities always connected with a particular perspective, where the viewer feels in one of the two worlds but are not sure which is false or what is true. With images verging surrealism, this work design issues about our relationship with the water and with the world around us. In addition to our connection with our own existence, after all we live our first nine months involved in liquid.This project was all photographed with film and medium format camera.The search for language has always been a determining factor in my work. Even as I worked in Editorial and Advertising, my intention was that this signature became apparent in the work itself as well as in the trajectory of the process in which the work comes to life. My Photography is romantic, simple, lyric, yet direct. One finds traces of sophistication, which are derived from the technical precision with which the work is produced, but it is, in essence, pure. The identity of an organic and sensitive language is, undoubtedly, the force of a work, which is confronted at all times between the technique and the message. The power of images lies in their substance, in the rhetoric of beauty and the force of contradiction, an expressive mark of my work.Son of renowned furniture designer Ricardo Fasanello, he discovered his passion for photography at the age of fifteen as he contemplated the pictures his mom, a lover of this art form as herself, took from the pieces designed by his father in their studio in the bohemian neighborhood of Santa Teresa in Rio. At the age of twenty, Fasanello choose to embark on a four month long bicycle voyage which took him form Rio to San Francisco, CA, rather than attending college in Rio, a decision he considers to have given him the equivalent of a Bachelors and Masters Degree in terms of the experiences and knowledge he was able to acquire. In 1988 Fasanello began his career as a photojournalist working for Jornal do Brasil, where he worked for four years, until moving to New York in 1992. There, he worked as an assistant photographer to professionals such as Christopher Von Hoenberg, Claudio Edinger, until later becoming an associate photographer to Henry Bull Studio.Back in Brazil in ’94 he co-founded Strana, producing material for such Editorial Publications as; der Spiegel, Biography Magazine, Paris Match, Elle, Marie Claire, Veja, Época, Vizoo, among others. In this time he also worked as correspondent to the, now extinct, French agency Gamma.Always a gypsy at heart, Fasanello decides to embark on yet another voyage in the late 90s moving to Cuba for six months and taking the opportunity to completely rethink his approach as well as his own perception of the medium in which he had developed his work. Since then he has developed several essays worldwide, in which the search for a sense of contradiction inside the image is always present. n the series FLUXUS, the element water is the connecting shaft I between the two worlds. In addition 22LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWRicardo FasanelloLives in Rio de Janeiro and works around the world
Visual artist and photographer Ricardo Fasanello's work explores the aesthetics of reality to draw the viewers into a multilayered experience. In the body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages, he invites the viewers to extract a narrative from the image he captured, to challenge their perceptual categories. His approach encapsulates both traditional heritage and unconventional sensitiveness and allows him to produce pieces marked out with a strong reference to contemporariness. One of the most impressive aspects of Fasanello's work is the way it provides the apparent staticity of an image with an autonomous life and aesthetics: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.Hello Ricardo and welcome to LandEscape: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You discovered your passion for photography at the age of fifteen: you later began your career as a An interview by Katherine Williams, curatorand Josh Ryder, [email protected] ART REVIEWLandEscape meetsRicardo Fasanello
29LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
26LandEscape Tal Amitai-LaviCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Tal Amitai-Lavi27LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
28photojournalist working for Journal do Brasil and you moved to New York in 1992 where you worked as an assistant photographer to professionals such as Christopher Von Hoenberg, Claudio Edinger, until later becoming an associate photographer to Henry Bull Studio. How do these experiences influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the aesthetic problem in general? Truly I see my experience in New York as another step in my development as a professional photographer. At the time, I was in the beginning of my career and I didn’t knew yet what path I would follow, so I see this time more like a basic studies to star to develop my taste in what I believe what is a good photography. I do think aesthetic is mostly a personal matter. I considered my work very aesthetic but I am not a slave of that. I believe the content is more relevant than the aesthetic but I still think the aesthetic can be a very useful tool for the development of the work. The visual language you convey in your pieces accomplishes an effective inquiry into the expressive potential of composition, communicating coherent balance. We we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.ricardofasanello.com in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you like to tell to our readers something about the evolution of your style? In particular, would you shed light on your usual process and set up?Been someone that grown up in a very artistic family helped a lot. The relevance of form, design and again, aesthetic, it was a very strong subject is my family education. Since I started my career as a photographer, the chase for forms and balance was a kind of mantra in my mind that guide through my early days. When I decided to terminate the commercial part of my work, I understand that from this day on, I wouldn’t have more the possibility to compromise any of the aspects that it was important to me. For me the process in the work is the most important, I realize that work with analogic film, in most of the occasions, made me more aware of my work and the surrounds that I am involved it. Today I understand that my work became very mental photography, with a lot of explanations for my self but I believe that this same work, the image it self, speaks truly what comes from my heart and my imagination. For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected FLUXUS - THE WORLD WITHIN ANOTHER WORLD, an interesting project that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of this work is the way the ambience captured by your shots provides this piece with a dynamic and autonomous aesthetic and it's really captivating. While walking our LandEscape Ricardo FasanelloCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
29Ricardo Fasanello LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEWreaders through the genesis of FLUXUS - THE WORLD WITHIN ANOTHER WORLD, would you shed light to your main source of inspirations?
Everything begun because for long time, I want to work with water. Everything came together when I was invited to go to Bonito (beautiful), a city that is located in the front door of the Brazilian swamp area, in Mato Grosso do Sul, southwest of Brazil. The waters there are absolute 30LandEscape Ricardo FasanelloCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
transparent and this specific condition, fit perfectly into what I was imagining for this project, because since the beginning I want to put together the two different worlds, the inside the water mix with outside, with the lush nature that is around in the Pantanal (Brazilian swamp). My initial 31Ricardo Fasanello LandEscapeCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
concept to this project it was to use the water as a morphic filter, acting directly on the construction of the images and helping me to create a new ways to interpret the relation of the world in and out of the water. To accomplish this work, I had to build my own underwater housing, because 32LandEscape Ricardo FasanelloCONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW