Can you tell us about your journey as an artist and how you developed your interest in sculpture?
I am interested in many mediums, it’s sometimes driving me crazy. I like how different mediums allow you to tell things in different ways. I view sculpture mostly as a scenography for my ideas or thoughts, but they started to be truly alive when I started embodying them with myself or other performers. When I started studying art I was always pushed into drawing and technically capturing reality as realistically as possible, both by my family and teachers, and wasn’t allowed to experiment until I would succeed. But reality differs for everyone, and in my artistic journey I try to show mine. To do the opposite of naming the facts around us, and instead I want to show the things that are not always visible. Seeing someone express themselves authentically is the most inspiring thing to me.
Could you elaborate on your exhibition “Unexpected Existence” and the concept behind it?
It began with an idea of creating a Path from the primal birth stage to death, and a peripety in the middle. It was supposed to be a space for performative intervention from the very beginning. The entrance is a futuristic gate with lit embryos stopped in evolution, a point from which any other being can evolve. Then, we see a huge furry mother monster releasing egg-like objects: cells into space, small ceramic objects placed inside glass bubbles at different heights. Each of them represents a different sense, each developing on their own, each capable of new constructions of the body. In the middle of the gallery, there hangs a huge symmetrical cage-structure that works as a protection both from the inside and outside. It is something between a torture machine where people used to be punished for their differences, and a decorative object where a bird or a different animal is put for an adoration. The title, Unexpected Existence, comes from my diary where I wrote a line about getting used to an unexpected existence. In my exhibition, it symbolizes a new beginning where something (that perhaps isn’t meant for this world) emerged out of nothing and can easily cease to exist again.
Your work often explores themes of transformation and emotion. What draws you to these concepts?
I work with transformation through various phenomena, be it metamorphosis, birth, death, or transformation of identity through costumes. Costumes hold the same function as the skin, giving our body a form through which we can function. I was always struggling with the way I look and struggled with body dysmorphia from a quite young age. I had many derealizations about human bodies and found their appearance absurd. My first artworks that set the path were about morphing diverse animal features and forming new creatures. Reaching the point where I could transform myself through (my) art was very liberating, perhaps a goal or a way that I am walking right now. There are a lot of transformations in our life, some of them are more visible than others, some of them are traumatic, some freeing, or both at the same time. I often felt them as if I shed my own skin and tried to live anew. Which is what humans literally do, constantly replacing old cells with new ones, so in some time you become basically a new person. I find this very interesting. This metaphorical transformation or metamorphosis I display in my art gives me power and strength to move forward in my life, and I think the experience from the other point of view can be metamorphosing as well. I also think these times are the closest to our spiritual selves, so I naturally make the performances in a spiritual, ritualistic way.
Can you discuss the role of emotion in your artistic practice and how it influences your work?
I found art to be the only tool I could be really able to express emotions through. When I create, I retrospectively look at the things from my life, and through some kind of a metaphorical visualization I can understand things better, or find more symbolic meanings which I express in my art. I used to hide or suppress my emotions, so many of my ideas were emotional outbursts that I had to process in a way that was familiar. I don’t think words are able to truly express how we feel – the best we can hope for is to always choose the right words depending on who we speak to, or the situation. I don’t really think that naming things by words has the capacity to do this; verbal communication is very limiting and exaggerated. Using visual language for expressing emotions can break this barrier and through a shared experience we can feel empathy, fear, sadness or joy without further explanation.
How do you see your art evolving in the future, especially in terms of exploring new ideas or themes?
I can’t say that I have a set area of interest, but there are themes that have always interested me, so I’m just swimming in them and trying to understand them from more angles. My works often build on each other, respond to and deconstruct each other. I am working through research of experiences – sometimes I find new material that inspires me, other times I have certain unfinished ideas or works that I want to recreate in a different way. I kind of view my work as a never-finished series. I try to step back from always having a new idea because it can get a bit draining. Instead, I try to focus on the process which can then become a well of inspiration. Sometimes I’ll get a hit of something new, but it’s a very unfathomable process. Still, I would like to make more fountains and large-scale performances!
Our current theme is Sugar Rush. If art is like eye candy, what would be your favourite sweet treat?
For me, it’s the glimmering shiny glowing stuff. And also the color pink, that’s for sure. I don’t think it has to be sweet, but these properties are very mesmerizing and have a very otherworldly effect. Everything that is pink instantly catches my eyes, even if sometimes I see pink as a dark color.
