sztuka-fabryka-LAB
These pages are created by Sztuka Fabryka
| > Gaetane Michaux |
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> Introduction: Gaetane is a Belgian living and working in New York as an architect. She started making photographs of New York street art and turning the pictures into large collages. Later on she discoverd puzzles and started to use puzzles as a way to give something extra to here collages. > Sztuka Fabryka: "If you would describe your work how would you describe it?" Gaetane Michaux: First you document street art on photographs and make collages of it, later on you work with filmposters. Do you document, are you a collage artist, a photographer, or maybe an intermedia artist. I don't really think or work in those terms. I'm sure my backgrounds
in sculpture and architecture have had an effect on what I produce and
how I produce it, but I never really stop to think about
classifications. Gaetane Michaux: 
My work (architecture) definitely affects my art. For example, with
11 Spring Street, I really wanted to physically connect with the
building, to go below the surface and work with it as opposed to on it.
One of my favorite artists is Gordon Matta Clarke, and his work
influenced me both in my work and with my art. As you know, he is famous
for his building cuts, and to me his work bridged art and architecture
in a way that really speaks to me. Gaetane Michaux: I have been mixing/collaging images for some time. One day, making jigsaw puzzles with my little niece opened my eyes to the unexpected mix of images that results when you don't connect the pieces correctly. Appropriating this phenomenon, I took two different puzzles and mixed them together. Then I began to create my own images, using the puzzle as a platform or chassis to support my method of mixing. What I love about the puzzles is that you can take them apart and put
them back together again. The image is something one discovers through
its assembly and not necessarily from typical visual cues between the
pieces. The final image should be a surprise for the person who puts it
together, since the physical pieces fit together, but not the images on
them. Gaetane Michaux: PUZZLE SENTIMENT 
I love that sentiment. That's a great way to put it, no one has ever said that before! I don't see my puzzles as art; I see them as objects for play. In a way, that relates to graphic design, architecture and visual arts all at once. I studied visual arts before going to school for sculpture and then architecture, so first I learned how to make an image, then I learned how to make something in 3d - the problem for me was that sculpture seemed empty. It had no real function other than to look cool. Architecture can go beyond that. I see architecture as an inhabitable work of art. It is alive, like my puzzles. A puzzle accomplishes a lot of the things I strive for in
architecture. It is a live sculpture. It's an image that you must work
to put together. When it's done, the interaction is over, and it's true
that if you frame it at this point and put it on the wall, it's dead.
But when you take it apart again, it's full of potential and spark. It's
ready to be alive and interacted with again. Gaetane Michaux: Everyday life influences me. The city, people, weirdness inside
people, magazines and books, others' art work; all these things insert
themselves inside my head and incubate there. One morning I will wake up
and a new image/project is in my head, demanding to be let out. Gaetane Michaux: INFLUENCES Well, I love street art because it's a living part of everyday life
in the city. I am moved by things that are alive, and to me, street art
is alive because it reflects raw energy and emotion, but also because it
is exposed to the elements and allowed to decay over time. Street art is
not in a museum to be preserved like a mummy. It is beautiful in that it
lives and dies, it has a full life cycle and always changes, sometimes
from one day to the next. Gaetane Michaux: FLUXUS Interactive? When I studied sculpture I came across the Fluxus movement. I loved the concept of intermedia, and I love the mixing of disciplines, especially since I couldn't fit myself into one category. Crossing boundaries between sculpture/graphic design/architecture is something I try to do in both my work and my art, and at the time it was very seductive and inspiring to learn about this small movement whose ideas were so encompassing. Article by Sztuka Fabryka - www.sztuka-fabryka.be - April 2008 |
| > Jeff Soto (U.S.A.) |
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> Introduction:  "Through striking visual imagery, Jeff Soto communicates profound visions and fears, nostalgia of his youth, and themes of love, lust, and hope. Soto's distinct color palette, subject matter, technique and bold themes resonate with a growing audience. Inspired by childhood toys, the colorful lifestyle of skateboarding and graffiti, hip-hop and popular culture, Soto's representational work is simultaneously accessible and stimulating. Environmental issues also take precedent for Soto, who is concerned with conflict of humans trying to harness, or take advantage of nature. His paintings exude this tension, as robotic creatures duel, organic tentacles and flower bouquets thrive, and black smog looms amidst floating, ominous skulls." Source: www.jeffsoto.com > Sztuka Fabryka: "Scholars and writers always love to put artists in a scène or movement. Can we say that you are especially popular among who follow the street art scène, whatever that may be. Do you like to be tagged as member of a certain movement? Are you connected with the street art movement and the wide scène around that?" Jeff Soto: Yeah, people always have to label things, everything has to fit neatly into categories. Writers sometimes connect me with the "street art" movement but I don't really feel comfortable with that. I did paint graffiti for over a decade but my current work doesn't have much to do with art on the streets. I understand the aesthetic though, and I definitely know the feeling of making art illegally late at night. But for the most part, that era of my life is in the past. The "street art" label used to bug me but then I started seeing all sorts of artists labeled as "street" who have never even done a tag. It's just a blanket term for "urban" art. I try not to worry about how writers and other artists label my work- it is what it is. > Sztuka Fabryka: "In an earlier interview you surprised us by saying that an olive tree painting by Van Gogh influences you. OK, his paintings are as colorfull and full of dynamic as yours, but we thought that surrealism would be your main inspiration?" Jeff Soto: Well, the Van Gogh piece was one of the first real masters I saw in person. I was in high school and had just read a huge book on Van Gogh's life, and I really felt like I understood what he was going through. So seeing his brushstrokes in person I could see the torment going on in his mind. It was powerful stuff. I still enjoy his work, the colors are so beautiful and his strokes are genius. As far as surrealism goes, I was inspired for sure. Frida Kahlo, Max Ernst, and Yves Tanguy, were some of my favorites. But I skipped around a lot - I was really into the Mexican muralists for a while, then got into traditional landscapes and photography. I was all about exploring and trying new things. I guess I'm still like that, though I've been focusing on painting the last few years. > Sztuka Fabryka: "Your work is build up with specific images such as robots and a kind of out of space creatures. Where and how do you come up with the images in your work? What is the history behind these images?" Jeff Soto:
> Sztuka Fabryka: "Giving your paintings a first look the imagery is powerfull and does ask for your full attention. But when you take a closer look and compare all your paintings there comes up a dark atmosphere. With the show "Storm Clouds" at LeVine Gallery you show concern for your daughter 's future and the World she would live in. Does this mean that your paintings does not have an aesthetic value only but that there is also a message in each painting?" Jeff Soto: For me, content and aesthetics are equally important. A pretty picture with no message is just a pretty picture. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but for my own work, I like to have a balance. I feel like painting and visual art in general can be a powerful form of communication. Many artists don't take advantage of it, but a painting can express your views and act as a vessel for your thoughts and opinions. When I create imagery, I'm thinking about what I want to say to the viewer, and how I want to communicate it. It's usually subtle but my work is always addressing politics, social issues, and fears I have as a father. The work has gotten darker and I hope things change so I can paint pretty pictures someday. > Sztuka Fabryka: "From paintings to toys is that a big boys dream comming true?" Jeff Soto: Yeah, this would have been a dream come true when I was 8. I was always customizing my Transformers and G.I. Joe's, I would have loved it. For now I think the vinyl toy industry is getting a bit stale, nothing is coming out to shake things up. People say it's a slowly sinking ship, I don't follow it enough to know if they're right but I do know the releases I see are mostly uninspiring. Just re-hashed ideas and new colorways. I guess I'm part of that in a way, I had a Qee toy with 4 colorways. I've been hesitant to jump head first into the toy scene. I don't know if it's my thing anymore. We'll see... > Sztuka Fabryka: "From your 'Walker' toy there exists already since many years a prototype. When will we able to see it in real life on our desk? With other words when will it be in the shops?" Jeff Soto: The Walker is still in production as far as I know. Three years in the making! > Contact: www.jeffsoto.com Jeff Soto- Potato Stamp Studios Article by Sztuka Fabryka - www.sztuka-fabryka.be - January 2008 |
Well like a lot of people my age I grew up immersed in science
fiction. My dad was and still is a big fan, and we had books lying
around and were always watching Sci-Fi movies. As a child in the 70's
and 80's we were in awe of Star Wars, we just couldn't get enough of it.
That movie's success spawned a million other movies, cartoons, toys, and
comic books and as a kid I loved it. I started drawing Sci-Fi imagery
when I was very young and have kept at it. When I was in college I
started looking at the idea of Man vs. Nature and felt that robots or
man made objects contrasted nicely with organic imagery. I started
exploring this idea in my paintings and made 100's of robots at odds
with their natural surroundings. The last couple of years I've been
painting less of the robots as my work becomes more about politics and
the loss of innocence.| > "Blek le Rat Getting Through theWalls" |
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> Introduction: This book is a unique view inside the life and work of one of the most private, but also one of the most loved, most applauded and most influential figures in street art. From small and simple stencils to complex multimedia events, the distinctive and groundbreaking art of Blek le Rat is showcased here for the first time, demonstrating the fascinating development of his technique and creativity over two decades. This book, with its indepth personal exploration of Blek's motives and working methods, and his own comments on the meaning of his art, also offers a taste of the evolution of urban art from NewYork, Paris, Barcelona and Buenos Aires, to London, Taipei,Naples and Berlin. It will inspire and inform enthusiasts of street and urbanculture and students alike.
> Author: Sybille Prou is married to Blek le Rat and is the author of two previous books on graffiti. She has extensively photographed Blek's work over many years. King Adz is the producer and director of Original Stencil Pioneer. > All information is provisional and subject to change |
> "Blek le Rat Getting Through
theWalls"
> Key Sales Information:| > Dr Rachel Armstrong & Body Art |
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> Introduction: Author, medical doctor, multimedia producer, television presenter and artistic maverick specialising in the relationship between technology, the body, biology, space and the future of human society. As medical doctor specializing in the evolution of humankind through 'unnatural interventions' she has worked with radical body artists such as Orlan and Stelarc advising them on the practicalities of their proposed medical metamorphoses. Armstrong has written many essays on the above subjects and has released recently a science fiction novel that is heavily influenced by her academic interests called 'The Grays Anatomy' and is published by Serpents Tail.
Dr. Armstong:
However, in the time I knew her, Orlan's work blew open many of the prejudices and hierarchical way of looking at 'the body' and particularly 'the aging female body'. We experienced a lot of misunderstanding owing to the contemporary prejudices about 'cosmetic surgery' but gradually Orlan's revolutionary approach made an indelible imprint in contemporary art in its view of the body and in my opinion, cannot be repeated. Interestingly Orlan's surgery is now outmoded, it has been replaced by new developments in cosmetic surgery which are now much more subtle, almost 'invisible'. Many people will know Orlan's official presentation because it is part of her 'performance' but my version of events is a more back stage view of the issues, difficulties and triumphs of some of the leading and most shocking body artists from a medical point of view. > Sztuka Fabryka: "Surgery for artistic aesthetic reasons or a doctor in service for a piece of art is not the general idea we have about the medical world. Was it a difficult step to take for you or did you some time to think about the morl grounds of this step?" Dr. Armstrong: My fascination for alternative aesthetics and different anatomical paradigms began when I was a medical student. I went on sabbatical before my final exams to Poona, India where I gained experience in a number of different styles of hospital, national, private, military and also a leprosy rehabilitation centre. Leprosy is a terribly disease caused by Mycobacterium Leprae a bacterium that is quite similar to tuberculosis. Mycobacterium Leprae first appears as depigmented patches on the skin and then gradually travels though the body to destroy the peripheral nerves leading to a loss of protective reflexes and of cartilage that causes the facial stigmata of leprosy or "lion face". This experience made me ask questions about who sets aesthetic standards and why are alternative aesthetic appearances so difficult for people to accept? As a doctor I was instrumental in setting standards of performance and appearance, it is essentially the basis for the entire practice of medicine, making judgements on people?s differences is called a ?diagnosis?. Some diagnoses require intervention, some don?t. So I wanted to rethink, for myself the grounds for doing what I was trained to do and think again from first principles what the ?diagnostic? process actually means on a very personal level. When I came across Orlan?s work in 1994 I was impressed by her complete subversion of the whole spectacle of the Operating Theatre. I regarded her work as being akin to my desire to think about my entire medical practice from first principles. Orlan completely went against traditions. She was not a passive subject but ran the entire show, completely down staging the surgeon! Not only that her unveiling of her body was burlesque, hedonistic and suggestively orgiastic! This was not my experience of the operating theatre where Puritanically sober obedient attendants respectfully deferred to the whim of an often petulant and soberly dressed male surgeon. Orlan was a revolution. She challenged everything that was assumed about conventional medical practice and the more of her work I saw, the more my head spun with questions.
I was delighted to discover that she has since completed a residency with SymbioticA a laboratory in Perth, Australia who support artist working with biotechnology from which she produced Harlequin Coat which is a patchwork life-size mantle, which contains fused in-vitro skin cells from various cultures and species. Orlan is not the only performance artist I have assisted. I also petitioned for Stelarc?s third ear at a Surgical Grand Round at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK in the presence of 150 of Britain?s most eminent surgeons. The audience was split into two main groups one of which was hostile to the idea whilst the other group were more curious and took an atypically psychoanalytic approach about Stelarc?s motives for the surgery. So, I do not see my interest as being anything other than supporting people who have a particular need of knowledge and access for legitimate artistic reasons, which is the most judgemental decision I have to make and respond to their needs by using my own skills to move with the times in which we live. We are a much more technologically advanced society than we were even ten years ago and I hope these artists that I work with help to provoke questions about technology, interventionist procedures and the body to everyone. This is something we are all a part of and I hope to use my position of privilege to engage society in informed discussion about these rather uncomfortable but exciting possibilities. > Sztuka Fabryka: "Does body art deserve more attention?" Dr. Armstrong: Our bodies are central to our being. Through religious and social conditioning we are taught to deny our bodies and find them shameful. We are also under a lot of pressure to conform to standards of beauty that come from outside medicine, notably the media and the Hollywood Glamour Machine. I especially found Franko-B?s work compelling. In the ?I Miss You? performance in 1993 Franko-B walked naked, bleached and bleeding through the Tate Modern like a tortured ghost. It was a beautiful, unsettling and deeply moving experience reminding everyone present of their own mortality and how too they, at some stage in their lives, might end up bleeding, naked and alone. I have always found it hard not to run up to Franko-B and cuddle him during a performance because the sense of abjection he creates is almost unbearable! http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/H/human_canvas/franko_b.html > Sztuka Fabryka: "If we talk about body art what is more important: the result or the different steps towards the final result?" Dr. Armstrong: The process is a critical part of the end result. Many people think artists are frivolous and work impulsively but I have come to learn that no one worries more or put more of their body and soul into their work more than artists. Many of us can walk away and forget about work at the end of the day but artists are on a continual journey of self-evolution. Every piece they engage with matters. They are always working and the final result is hugely stressful and the result of months of preparation. Someone like Stelarc is akin to an athlete as when he ?hybridises? his body with computer interfaces. In doing so he has to retrain his brain to interpret signals differently and this takes practice. His ?EVOLUTION? piece written with three hands was no mean feat!
> Principal Works: http://libarynth.org/becoming_plant_people > Contact: grayanat@yahoo.co.nz > Links: |
Politically the climate within medicine became too controlled to make any more groundbreaking biotechnological or medical statements. I had come to a grinding halt with some of Stelarc's difficulties with indemnity with a stomach sculpture performance and with the implementation of his third ear, and Orlan, I believe, turned to generate images to complete her 'reincarnation'. We lost touch for nearly ten years.
We also looked at the possibility of changing her skin colour maybe using methylene blue or Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone. The former would not produce the effect she was looking for and the latter had potentially carcinogenic effects. Both ideas were discussed and abandoned. At the time we worked together I concluded that even the latest technology could not achieve Orlan?s ambitions and she went on to use computer technology to morph her image with aesthetic standards from non-western cultures.
Labmember Sztuka Fabryka:
Sztuka Fabryka is active world wide since 1986 in the independent arts, as artist, organiser of an international arts event, researcher in art, writer for magazines, ... > Art archive: a collection of art from 1500 artists world wide, from art scenes as Mail-Art, street art, small press, home-tape, video art, performance art, art & technology, industrial art & music. The archive contains publications, music, rubberstamp art, stickers, collage, . and have been the source for writings, researchers, exhibitions,
... contact Sztuka Fabryka at art@sztuka-fabryka.be |
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"Non Omnis Moriar" print Limited edition of 75 Signed and numbered by the artist Size 42cmx60cm Hand pulled screen print on 250gsm tan coloured archival paper Produced and stamped by LAB Price: £65 + Delivery To order: www.littleartbook.com
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