Your work, even in your most formally seductive pieces, is always
very much connected to a context and idea. What were the ones behind
these wire nests?
Wires and cables are often electrically insulated, like some kind of
energy, and you can connect or tie a lot of functional things with
wires. I see this messy but clearly structured form of clad wires and
cables as a controlled chaos of connection: something like a “wire
brain” or a “cable head”,' especially at a time when everything’s
shifting towards becoming completely wireless. Wires are disappearing
which is why I think they’re coming to my attention… I like to invent
new things out of fragments of the past, if that's possible.
You sometimes "sample" your own work by reinterpreting a piece’s initial inspiration to give it a new shape (like the Happy Birthday to You
book that you are revising in a second version). This induces that your
subject is a rich, lively reality, which you as an artist can explore
from different angles - which contradicts the common opinion that the
artist creates definitive works resulting from a unique, almost sacred
vision.
You are right: I don’t have much to do with the idea that the artist's
vision is unique and sacred. Everyone has ideas. Everyone can make art.
Ideas and art are everywhere, it’s a matter of who picks up the ideas
from the universe and is able to transform them into something epic. The
public, institutions and critics define within time and space what is
ultimately considered to be art.
Within my own art practice, I have no restrictions. There is plenty of room for negotiation in my work.
Nothing is fixed: what I do is all about dynamics. This is also how I
live my life. It's like a perpetuum mobile which can assume different
forms in a continuous flow.
What do you like about making books? Your six books all have very
different forms: what are your thoughts when creating a book? Does it
serve to document your work, to collect it, or is it a work in itself?
My books are works in their own right. To me, a good art book requires
two elements: it has to contain a strong piece of work, and its final
physical form must reinforce the content of the book. The correct
‘melting’ process gives the book the right to become a work in itself. I
consider the form of a book as an environment to show my work in, just
like an art space can be, or a little iPhone screen, or the table on
which I install my edible photocakes which transform, self-destruct and
ultimately vanish with help from the public: people!
Your work is full of energy, very much rooted in “here and now”: your
art develops at a very fast pace. French artist Robert Filliou famously
said that “Art is what makes life more interesting than art”. Could you
live without art?
Never! I love Robert Filliou’s expression so much. It’s just so true!
I really love what I do: it's the only thing I can see myself doing in
life, forever. I never really had any doubts about this, which is funny
because to choose the path of becoming a young artist is probably the
most unreliable thing you can do. Nothing is certain. To me, it didn’t
really even feel like a choice, it happened naturally. From the moment I
stepped into the art academy after high-school, I felt relieved and
thought: “ah, this is it!” I literally took of my shoes and felt at home
there… and was always working, working, working.
And I still am I guess. I am optimistic, some say full of energy, but
when I cannot make my art because I couldn’t sleep for a few nights, it
makes me sad and depressed, and I become a not-so-nice person.
For me, making my art is the only thing I can trust. It’s always with
me: my ideas, thoughts, the process of making, and my dreams.... A
super-big love!
Limited edition, numbered and signed.