through your usual setup and process, would you tell us something about the genesis of Chromogenesis PI? John A. Blythe: Chromogenesis evolved from my MFA research. I had already been looking at materiality and experimental approaches to photography and artists whose work interested me. I was familiar with artists such as Catherine Yass, Garry Fabian-Miller, Walead Beshty, Allison Rossiter, all of whose work has explored materiality and photography at its margins. So, I just started to play around with colour photographic paper and to research the colour chemistry process. Play features a lot in my development process. One of my earliest and fondest memories is sitting at a table on the porch of my grandparents’ house, finger painting, making a real mess. Things haven’t changed much! I read a comment by Beshty on his colour photograms, that he considered them ‘to be literal, meaning that they aren’t abstractions of a particular subject matter but are concrete manifestations of a specific set of conditions’. This notion appealed to me, photography is a recording medium which is generally used to record optical representations of a moment in time, however, as anyone who has worked in a darkroom can tell you, the photographic ‘process’ can record many things. Dust in the air during exposure, drops of fixer accidentally splashed onto a print during development, someone opening the darkroom door at the wrong moment, exhausted developer, fingerprints on a negative. Photographic prints record traces of their journey into being, beyond just the image imposed on the paper. This interests me. I wanted to allow these normally invisible and often avoided traces to become a welcome part of the work. Most of my materials are obsolete, there are relatively few colour photographic papers still being manufactured now. Most of my materials are between twenty and fifty years old and so already come with traces of their lives, their own history. I’m currently collecting papers manufactured in soviet era Eastern Bloc countries. They have quite unique characteristics compared to, for example Agfa or Kodak paper. In order to make visible something of these traces it became obvious to me that any externally imposed image would simply be getting in the way and so I remove the light sensitivity from the paper before I start to work with them. They are in essence nonphotographic photographs. This only removes the light sensitive silver element of the paper's chemistry but leaves the colour dyes and this is what I work with. This means the images are entirely internal responses. We have appreciated the way Chromogenesis PI sheds a whole new light on the importance of the physical aspect of Art, responding to Gerhard Richter's view about the emergence of meanings from the ''thing'' and its intrinsic manifold significance. New York City based artist Lydia Dona once remarked that in order to make art today one has to reevaluate the conceptual language behind the mechanism of art making itself: do you John A. Blythe scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
create your works gesturally, instinctively? As an artist particularly interested in experiencing the alchemical magic that inhabits analogue photographic materials, how do you consider the relation between the nature of the concepts that you explore in your artistic research and the physical aspect of your daily practice as an artist? John A. Blythe: As well as the traces I mentioned above, there are also many gestural aspects to photographic darkroom practice. These gestures become repetitive, practiced, ritualised, by their practitioners. For me, the immersion of the paper into the developer is one of the magic moments when the true alchemy of the darkroom reveals itself. No understanding of the physics or chemistry of photography fully explains the feeling of seeing the plain white surface of the paper transform. I became aware over time that to some extent, the experience of this moment is more important to me than the image itself. So the idea of removing the imposed image and conjuring images from within the material, allowing the material its own voice in the conversation, felt natural. I think a lot of artists, photographers particularly, work intuitively to some degree. Many aspects of my process have been arrived at through extensive research, but that only gets you so far. At some point you have to let your instincts take over and follow your feelings. However, although this work is a significant departure from the normal conventions of photographic image making, my training as a photographer doesn’t just disappear. I’m not starting from scratch, all my acquired experience of seeing, of feeling my way to an image are still in play. I’m following all the same practices in the darkroom, the same gestures and the same rituals. I guess it’s a bit like playing all the same notes in a piece of music just in a different order. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you are fascinated by the aesthetic quality of the materials you work with, revealing the inner landscape that is a manifestation of both the process and the materials own physical character. How do you consider the role of chance and improvisation playing within your artistic research? John A. Blythe: The early stages of my experiments with each material are improvisational, playful, chance is very much in evidence. However, as I progress, the process becomes more of a call and response, a dialogue. I am conscious of the importance of listening more than speaking. Jean Renoir once commented that ‘You control everything. You plan everything, but you leave a door open for reality to enter.’ I am quite meticulous in some aspects of my preparation and handling of materials, twenty plus years as a professional photographer has made sure of that. But, I’m also doing something that is completely counter to normal photographic practice. I’m as prepared as I can be, but ultimately I’m poking the ground in front of me with a stick while inching forward into a territory full of unknowns. And this is the excitement, the scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
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exploration, the discovery. As new possibilities emerge adaptation takes place, but there is only so much control I can have, I’ve never been able to make the same outcome twice and that’s not what I’m after, that would feel like standing still. We definitely love the way you capture "the real", then digest it through your peculiar process, that gives life to such seductively ambiguous images. Scottish artist Peter Doig once remarked that even the most realistic work of arts are derived more from within the head than from what's out there in front of us, how do you consider the relationship between reality and imagination, playing within your artistic production? John A. Blythe: This is where the ‘thingness’ comes alive for me. John Hilliard also talked about this, how the abstract focuses attention on the ‘whole object itself’. It requires the viewer to consider the process and to imagine an understanding of something that visually, is representative of nothing other than the process of its own making. The reality is there for all to see, but it requires imagination in order to fathom an understanding of it. Another interesting body of works that has impressed us and that we would like to introduce to our readers is entitled "records of things [not] seen" and it revolves about the relationship between your artist and teacher identities and how you make links and find modes of intersection between them. In its apparently minimalistic feature, your series hides the refined complexity of the interaction between teachers and students: how does being a teacher influence your creative process? In particular, did you ever get inspired by your students? John A. Blythe: There is no tangible, measurable way to record the impact that teachers and students co-create in their interaction, but it is without doubt symbiotic. Around the time I was studying for my PGDip in education, while attending a talk at The History of Science Museum in Oxford, I had the privilege to see and in fact hold an original edition of Anna Atkins book of cyanotype impressions from 1843. I was immediately struck by the story of the work's existence. Anna Atkins had made these pages, coated the paper, collected the plant samples, exposed and washed the paper. The sense of touch was unavoidable. The title of this work comes from John Berger’s essay Understanding a Photograph, in which he describes photographs as simply ‘records of things seen’. However, the cyanotype process, as Anna Atkins used it, very much represents ‘things’ that are themselves not seen. What we see is a shadow of the subject rather than the subject itself. Anna Atkins book of British algae does not show the specimens she collected, rather an impression of them, but their presence is implicit in the contact nature of the process. The cyanotype process is usually the first thing I teach my new students. So, we are still getting to know each other. Developing trust as a group, navigating and John A. Blythe scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
negotiating. The cyanotype process is such a simple yet startling process if you have never done it before. It presents lots of opportunities to play and experiment. If I’m honest, I am testing them a bit, letting them loose to see how they each respond, how confident they are to move beyond the obvious. These sheets which are co-created with my students, act as a metaphor, representing that impression we all leave on each other through our interactions. It’s impossible to be precise about what it is, it’s messy, unimaginably complex. There are some things I can identify that I get from my students, energy, they keep my curiosity alive, exercise my patience, challenge my conceptions and keep me present, and much more I’m sure. The practice of teaching itself brings benefits. The need to be constantly reflective definitely travels between my artist and teacher identities. As you have remarked once, your interest is as much in process as it is in subject. In a certain sense, after a work of art is created, its process continues in the mind of the viewers with freedom to realize their own perception. Austrian Art historian Ernst Gombrich once remarked the importance of providing a space for the viewers to project onto, so that they can actively participate in the creation of the illusion: how important is for you to trigger the viewers' imagination in order to address them to elaborate personal interpretations? In particular, how open would you like your works to be understood? John A. Blythe: With Chromogenesis, the process of making is for me, it satisfies my desires, my curiosity, my playfulness, and my need for control. That’s not to say the resulting images are purely incidental. They often start that way, but I’m refining aspects of them, the materials and I cocreate their aesthetic. I’m so drawn to their depth, their resonance, I do fall in love with them. I’m very keen to leave space for the audience to have their own conversation with these works. I want the images to speak for themselves and the audience to feel for themselves. Of course I want the audience to fall in love with them too. Not everyone is going to, I’m good with that. In 2017 I went to the exhibition of American Abstract Expressionism at the Royal Academy of Art, actually I went three times. On the first visit I took my students so I was too preoccupied to really engage with the works. On the second visit I remember standing in front of a painting by Clyfford Still (PH-247, 1951) and suddenly I’m crying. I look around and people are wandering by, apparently unmoved and oblivious to this extraordinary work of art, but of course that is how it is. We each have to find what moves us. It's important to remark that you are committed to the value art brings to both individuals and communities, not just engagement with works of art but more so, the practice of art. Many contemporary artists, such as Thomas Hirschhorn and Michael Light, use to scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
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include socio-political criticism and sometimes even convey explicit messages in their artworks: as an artist particularly interested in the role art practice can play in developing analytical thinking and critical discourse, do you think that artists can raise awareness to an evergrowing audience on topical issues that affect our everchanging society? In particular, does your artistic research respond to a particular cultural moment? John A. Blythe: As a teacher I’m very aware of the pressure art faces to justify its value in modern education. Art teaching is being marginalised in many schools and I see this as very short sighted thinking. Art feeds into and has a positive effect on so many aspects of our lives. I’m hopeful that our experience of the Covid pandemic and lockdown may go some way to reconnecting us with our appreciation of art and making. To bring its ‘value’ (as that is how everything now has to be measured) in creating a more balanced and healthy existence for all of us, to the fore. I think most artists, at some level, respond to what is happening around them, either in their personal life or in the wider world. I do feel there is a pressure at the moment to make art that is overtly political, statement art. But for me, the greatest value art offers is freedom. The freedom to make the art you want to make in spite of the pressure of expectation or the barriers of politics. So, if you want to make political statements with your art you should do so, but if you want to paint pictures of the flowers in your garden for no other reason than the joy it brings you, then that is equally important. Each generation of artists face barriers. Art is always under threat, always has to fight for recognition and so it can be argued that making any form of art has, and always will be, a political act of defiance. There are culturally relevant issues that motivate my work. Most of the materials I use are either chosen for their low environmental impact, such as the cyanotype process, or in the case of Chromogenesis, would otherwise end up as waste in landfill. Using existing materials allows me to be more sustainable in my practice. I am also involved in interdisciplinary collaborations with many artists who are exploring ways to make less toxic chemicals for use with analogue photographic processes and develop sustainable ecologies within their practice. Finding ways to reduce environmental impact are essential elements of my research. This is an aspect of my work but it’s not the point of the work, it’s not the message. You are an established artist: you have had four solos, including Chromogenesis at Upcycle Gallery, Templar Sq, Oxford, and over the years your artworks have been showcased in several group exhibitions, both in the United Kingdom and abroad: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? By the way, as the move of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to online platforms — as Instagram https://www.instagram.com/johnblythe65 scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
FAD2 Autumn Term #2
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— increases, how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience? John A. Blythe: Certainly the art landscape has changed in recent years, social media and digital connectivity have created a very different world, with many positives for artists. However, the digital space can be a very crowded one with many voices shouting for attention and as ever, the loudest voices tend to dominate. I don’t think it necessarily creates a space that is any more democratic or meritocratic. I like Instagram. As I’m dyslexic, the visual dominance suits me. It’s a great place to just look around and it allows me to connect with a self-selecting community that may be interested in what I do. I still prefer people to engage with my work directly through physical exhibitions. There is plenty of opportunity for the digital and physical realms to coexist. It’s like digital and analogue photography, each has their own specific strengths and weaknesses, it’s about finding the right balance. I am looking at creating virtual versions of my exhibitions in order to widen my audience but I haven’t committed to that yet. I haven’t managed to find a platform that I feel really works effectively for what I do, but the technology is developing all the time. Watch this space! We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, John. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? John A. Blythe: I’m continuing to develop the Chromogenesis project, it feels like I’ve only scratched the surface with this work and it will be a part of my practice for a long time to come. However, for some of the lockdown I was not able to access my studio and this opened up an opportunity to focus on other aspects of my research. I’ve been doing more experiments making film and paper developers using less toxic chemicals and plant materials. I’m also making images directly on plant leaves and having fun making soil chromatographs. I’m not sure yet exactly where these will go but I have a few ideas. I am also involved in running a community darkroom in Oxford. I’m looking forward to being able to get that up and running again and supporting the great group of people who use it, and hopefully some new ones as well. It’s been a pleasure to chat with you, answering your questions has been a valuable opportunity to reflect and evaluate, a chance to stop and think for a bit, which is always useful. scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW John A. Blythe Land An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]
Hello Joaquim and welcome to LandEscape. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production and we would like to invite our readers to visit http://www.joaquimmarques.com.br in order to get a wide idea about your multifaceted artistic production, and we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted background. You have a solid formal training: you studied Fine Arts at Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach, Germany with Prof. Jankowkski and at Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Frankfurt with Prof. Bayrle: how did those formative years influence your evolution as an artist? Moreover, how does your cultural substratum direct the trajectory of your current artistic research? Joaquim Marques: I remember when I was a student and I joined for the first time a meeting with prof. Bayrle and his class. I expected a talk about some school issues and about our works but instead he suggested us to go to a local jazz club and listen to jazz music. Later I understood that art is about everything in our life and not just about producing art pieces. Being an artist is also a way of life. I remember that Bayrle also said that making art today is like finding jetsam on the beach that we reassemble in order to get something new. Most of my lifetime I was a foreigner and the experience of otherness has been present in my life since my early days. Being an artist is also a kind of otherness. My parents were I see watercolor as a subconscious way to create fictitous memories of landscapes which might exist somewhere. As times goes by memories become blurry, but at the same time they get a new immaterial quality. The unpredictability of water transforms color and shapes in oneiric images of Nature. Unpainted parts on the paper are like a loss of information, a loss of memories. Watercolor is, paraphrasing the brazilian writer Guimaráes Rosa, working memory in its solid, liquid and gas state. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected] Land scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW LandEscape meets Joaquim Marques
From the series Existence, 2021 acrylic and oil on canvas, 80 x100 cm
from the countryside in Portugal and they lived in harsh conditions as rural workers before they immigrated illegally to Germany in search for a better life in the 1960ies. Many years later my father wrote down his immigrant story in a notepad. He died some years ago but his memories are now part of my memories as well. Besides the project shown here, I’m part of an artistic duo called Pocket Entropy in collaboration with my wife and also artist Letícia Barreto. Our project deals with issues as immigration, otherness, refugees, history, etc. The body of works that we have selected for this special edition of LandEscape and that our readers have already had the chance to get to know in the introductory pages of this article has at once captured our attention for your unique interpretation of the role of memory and its relationship with the subconscious, to create a channel of Joaquim Marques scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land From the series Beyond Matter, 2020 watercolor, 70 x 50 cm From the series Beyond Matter, 2019 watercolor, 70 x 50 cm
communication between your inner inspirations and the viewers: when walking our readers through your usual setup and process, would you tell us how do you develop your ideas? Joaquim Marques: Years ago when I studied at Arco School in Lisbon, Prof. Castro scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition From the series Existence, 2021, acrylic and oil on canvas, 110 x 100 cm
Caldas, talking about my work, said that I would think too much before I started to paint. And indeed, every time I finished a work I never knew what would come next and I spent a lot of time thinking about the next work, but the ideas didn’t really flow. Then, some years ago, when I lived in Brazil three things came together: First, I need to Joaquim Marques scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land From the series Existence, 2021, acrylic and oil on canvas, 100 x 110 cm
From the series Beyond Matter, 2021, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
find a painting technique which would allow me to paint quickly without leaving enough time to think. Secondly I had for the first time in my life a bigger studio, and thirdly I asked myself: Why don't I use in my own work the watercolor techniques, which I teach to my students in my classes? So I started to paint on large watercolor paper sheets laying on the ground with watercolor and a lot of water. Soon I discovered that water contains a kind of memory. Blurred pictures of oneiric and forgotten landscapes emerged. (That reminds me of an article I once read about an Amazonian tribe who believes that dreams are memories, which liquify during the night and flow into the river which crosses their forest. The river is their living collective memory.) The painting itself doesn’t take long and it looks a little bit like a performance involving a mop, a duster and me moving on the paper. The quick but intense painting process requires a lot of concentration and intuition regardless of the paper size. And intuition means to open my mind to subconsciousness. Both when featuring vivacious tones — as in Secret Garden — and as when you resort to more delicate nuances — as in the works of the Lost in Memory series — your artworks achieve the difficult task of challenging the dynamics of perception, drawing the viewers to a state of mind where the concepts of time and space become almost suspended. How does your scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
Joaquim Marques scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land From the series Beyond Matter, 2020, watercolor, 30 x 43 cm
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition From the series Beyond Matter, 2018, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones that you decide to include in your works and in particular, how do you develop your tones in order to achieve such unique results? Joaquim Marques: At the school where I teach watercolor painting I'm known as the one who tells the students that they shouldn’t clean the watercolor palette, because a little bit of dirt can be very useful to obtain interesting and surprising colors. I’m not sure if my choice of colors is psychologically influenced but it is certainly intuitive. There are always some of my favourite colors left on my palette and when I paint them on wet paper they mix up and new and unexpected colors appear. My wet on wet painting technique allows me to avoid hard edges in order to get blurred shapes like somebody or something caught in movement on a long exposure photograph. When I paint on canvas I use the same technique as in my watercolors but with acrylic, a water based paint also. We have appreciated the way the performative nature of your approach — that our readers can view at https://youtu.be/fMQB4aTMUDI — highlights the physical aspect of the creative act. New York City based artist Lydia Dona once remarked that in order to make art today one has to reevaluate the conceptual language behind the mechanism of art making itself: as an artist Joaquim Marques scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
From the series Beyond Matter, 2020, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
From the series Beyond Matter, 2019, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
particularly interested in capturing the unpredictability of water in order to achieve such unique visual results, how do you consider the role of randomness and improvisation playing within your artistic practice? In particular, how important is for you the physical process of creation, even before the intellectual one? Joaquim Marques: I consider the physical process in my large works as very important. I start to paint on a blank sheet without any previous sketches. I walk on the paper and all my body is involved in the painting process, creating a strong physical relationship between myself and the work. When I paint I’m focused especially on the parts which I will not paint. In traditional watercolour painting there is no use of white paint, the white color you see in the works is just the white of the paper. If I paint too much there is no way back to make it white again. Therefore I feel a certain tension when I start painting, but after half an hour of some adrenaline the work is finished. I rarely paint a second layer. During the painting I’m completely absorbed, time and space become meaningless. It’s for sure a physical and mental challenge. Randomness is a key issue in my work. As I put paint on the wet paper (or canvas) I watch how it spreads and I have to decide if I should stop or continue. I have to make these decisions quickly before the paper gets dry. Paper (or canvas) soaked with water and paint has its own life scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
Joaquim Marques scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land From the series Dreamers, 2021, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition From the series Dreamers, 2021, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
and I have to deal with it, water behaves like an unpredictable living being. We dare say that your artistic production is a successful attempt to provide the elusive, intangible nature of memory, with such material, almost tactile quality. How do you consider the role of memory in your artistic research and what did lead you to focus a noticeable part of your artistic practice on it? By the way, does your everyday life's experience fuel your creative process, as well? Joaquim Marques: Well, I guess that we can say that memories are our identity. We are made of conscious and subconscious memories. Actually, my painting is not about landscapes or so but about the mystery of our existence. Every single moment of our life becomes a memory after a split of a second in the present. I’m interested in the relationship between material and immaterial things. Physicists say that matter is energy. I believe that everything is a flow of energy. Therefore the landscapes in my paintings are a metaphor of our existence and our impermanence. The whole universe is ours, but nothing belongs to us. In my everyday’s life I always try to pay attention to the marvels of nature. We should look every day at nature as it were for the first time. My creative process mirrors my fascination for the unknown. scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Joaquim Marques Land
As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you see watercolor as a subconscious way to create fictitious memories of landscapes which might exist somewhere. Scottish artist Peter Doig once remarked that even the most realistic work of arts are derived more from within the head than from what's out there in front of scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition From the series Forgotten Landscapes, 2019, watercolor and acrylic on paper, 150 x 150 cm
us, how do you consider the relationship between reality and imagination, playing within your artistic production? Joaquim Marques: Peter Doig is an artist I admire very much and I agree with him. The austrian writer Thomas Berhard once said that he wasn’t interested in describing what everyone can see like landscapes, but in describing what is not visible like the thoughts of his novel characters. Every piece of art is just a representation of some reality, in fact, it is a reality by his own. Joaquim Marques scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land From the series Forgotten Landscapes, 2019, watercolor and acrylic , 150 x 160 cm.
Memories, dreams and ecstatic experiences are just different states of reality. Inviting the viewers to such poetic contemplation, your artworks draws the eyes to fill white spaces on the paper as to recover memory gaps. Austrian Art historian Ernst Gombrich once remarked the importance of providing a space for the viewers to project onto, so that they can actively participate in the creation of the illusion, or even of the meaning: how important is for you to trigger the viewers' imagination in order to address them to elaborate personal interpretations? In particular, how open would you like your works to be understood? Joaquim Marques: In the openings of my exhibitions often people tell me that they have seen an animal, a face or something else in my paintings. The viewer's imagination is what keeps an artwork alive, I guess. Showing artworks means to share them with an audience. My personal interpretation is just one among many others. Some of your artworks, as the ones from your interesting Caruso's Dream series, feature a stronger presence of figurative elements, that seem to find their way to the surface out of an abstract blanket, and that provide the works with such seductively unsettling ambience. How do you balance the degree of figuration in scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Joaquim Marques Land From the series Beyond Matter, 2021, watercolor, 30 x 43 cm
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition From the series Memories of Nowhere, 2019, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
your compositions? Do you structure it in order to better walk the viewers in their visual experiences? Joaquim Marques: Actually, the Caruso's Dream series was made for a specific exhibition two years ago, “The Conquest of the Useless”. There I showed works inspired by Werner Herzog’s amazing film “Fitzcarraldo”. Starting point was the research of film stills, which I painted rearranging the original composition and changing the background. First I create an atmosphere and ambience, after that the figures can enter the stage. Sometimes I project pictures of the figures on the paper or canvas after I painted the background to see how they fit in the composition. You are an established artist: over the years your works have been showcased in a number of international solos and you were selected for the Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso Prize in 2020: how do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? By the way, as the move of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to online platforms increases, how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience? Joaquim Marques: Due to the pandemic, my relationship with my audience is now mainly virtual. I suppose that after the pandemic it will keep that way. With an increasing Joaquim Marques scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land
From the series Beyond Matter, 2020, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
number of digital platforms there are now many chances for an artist to show his works to a vast audience all over the world and get connected to a lot of fellow artists. Art became a sort of global communication. Never before was the virtual world so present in our daily´s day life like today. So why should art be an exception? I think all the transformations societies are going through are only the beginning of something really new. Social media, digital platforms, etc. allows a close relationship to an audience with different cultural backgrounds. A globalised audience demands globalised artists. We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Joaquim. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future? Joaquim Marques: Thanks for the opportunity to share my work with the readers, it was a pleasure chatting with Land Escape. In my current project I’m introducing dreams and figurative elements in my memory-landscapes. I suppose that the figures are a kind of alter egos who will embark in a journey to unknown pleasures of my subconsciousness. Let’s see where it will take me. scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Land Special Edition An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator [email protected]
scape CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Joaquim Marques Land From the series Forgotten Landscapes, 2020, watercolor, 50 x 70 cm
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