Can you tell us about your latest painting series and its title, “Scalps”?
I have named my latest painting series “Scalps.” I paint them with an airbrush, a technique derived from my long practice as a painter rooted in graffiti. The subjects of my paintings are human images. One might get the impression that I paint portraits, but this is not entirely true. What interests me in them are the shells, the effigy. I process them and create masks from it. Or to put it literally, I pull off their scalps, which I then dress up myself.
Your paintings are photorealistic, but you’ve mentioned they aren’t about celebrating the faces you depict. Can you elaborate on that?
My latest paintings, although they are maintained in a photorealistic manner, are not a praise for the proud owners of the faces I have found. The portraits I paint are masks behind which I, the artist, hide. I literally cannibalize the found images. In order to express my own emotions, needs, desires, and beliefs, I need a mask behind which I can hide, free of conventions and social norms.
What draws you to create these masks, and how does that relate to your sense of self-expression?
I am not interested in beauty. I am interested in being weird, in the improper, in expressing myself. Being a weirdo is an emanation of my own personality. By putting on the mask, I gain the courage to talk about my emotions without restraint.
Who or what are some of the key inspirations for your work?
The most important inspiration for my work is the attitudes and expressions of the people who made up the subcultures of the early 1980s. I am fascinated by the courage and anti-establishment of the punks, goths, new romantics, the Blitz Kids, Leigh Bowery, and the New York Club Kids of the time.
How do you create these masks, and what role do found photographs play in your process?
My latest paintings are created by processing found photographs. On their basis, I prepare my effigy masks. I do it because it gives me the possibility to control the way other people perceive us. Other people will see the mask; what is underneath will remain hidden. By putting on a mask, we can paradoxically be our truest selves.
You’ve described the images you use as “materials.” What does that mean, and how do you choose them?
The found images that I use in my paintings – I refer to them as materials. Those samples should first and foremost belong to the background collection. What does this mean? For me, belonging to the background set means coincidence. Faces found in this way are not posed. Those images are not studied; they have been caught by chance without any intention of being in the foreground, literally and figuratively.
How do AI-generated images fit into your works?
In my artistic practice, I look for secondary and tertiary faces, people from the background, from the distant plane. For the same reason, I like to use AI-generated images. I am fascinated by the imperfection of computer-generated faces. I look for mistakes and strange modifications in them.
How do you integrate these images into your work?
The images I am looking for have to be symbolically sanitized, sterilized of extraneous emotions, in order to serve as material for a mask that I could wear in public. I pull the symbolic scalp of their face. Then after modifications, I put it on. It gives me the courage to talk about myself. This is how I explain to myself the world around me.
