PRAY FOR BASQUIAT
VAN GOGH LOST HIS EAR IN A CARPENTRY
MONSIEUR DUCHAMP MIGHT GOD FORGIVE YOU
LONELINESS
ART CAN SAVE THE WORLD
ASIDES FROM THE INTERVIEW BY WITH TULIKA BAHADUR
"ON ART AND AESTHETICS"
TB: "Canvas graffiti" fascinated me quite a bit. Messages scrawled across abstract backgrounds seem to articulate your philosophical thoughts or positions. You also make references to famous artists like Vincent van Gogh and Jean-Michel Basquiat who were pioneers. You have written: "I will not do street art, but I will make the viewers feel like being in a public space when they see one of my paintings, which is like magic for me. This is something that is definitely Pop, but full of sense and beauty." So, the effect is at once light and deep.
Two things stand out to me: One, your style of graffiti is unlike that found on the walls of cities like New York or Los Angeles; it is somehow less rebellious or noisy and more introspective and mature. Two, in our world of social media where there is an excess of language all around, you decide to exhibit few words on each frame, thereby creating something focused, particularly meaningful and impactful. This brings me to a question on communication. When you look around at the speech and text of our digital culture, what do you think about relationships and meaning? Are we coming close or moving farther away? If you think we are moving farther away in certain areas, what could artists do to bring people together and create more clarity and comprehension in the society?
FL: Your question is an excellent opportunity to say that for sure we are getting apart because of the communications technology´s ease to get in touch with remote people that make us forget the closest ones: relatives and friends. Friends are now virtual, they are not touchable, but we desperately need contact as human beings. Thus, we need to reconnect with ourselves first, that´s one of the duties of art. It is all explained in my ongoing philosophical essay: “Art can save the world” where is clearly stated that we need to harvest from art the understanding and respect to others, which is the future of the human beings.
TB: How do you execute your canvas graffiti? What is the process like? Do you work intuitively - conceiving and inscribing the message while the abstract background is wet - or do you plan everything carefully in advance? Also, are these paintings about two separate styles or a single integrated one.
FL: “Canvas Graffiti” is an intuitive work based in abstract expressionist painting that is used as the surface or background of a written message, which could be philosophical, poetic, or even banal. The content of the message arises from the color and form; it is what the abstraction tells me during the painting process. With all this integrated, I hope to achieve several perception levels at once. I mean, the strokes in the wet background are valuable by themselves, but the written message goes beyond and talks about an idea or instant of my life that is carved in a colorful stone.
TB: I read you are critical of Marcel Duchamp. You believe he did great damage to art with his ready-mades. He seemed to mean that art could be done by anyone, even those without an artistic formation or taste. One didn't have to be extraordinarily or even mildly talented to declare: "I am an artist." For you, Duchamp's acts have opened the door to some disrespectful art. What are some of the things about modern/contemporary art that annoy you? If you had the chance what would you like to change?
FL: Maybe my concept of art is too idealistic to remain valid in this century (I say this with a bit of irony), but even with the tremendous and powerful freedom that art delivers, it must have coherence and logic to be so. Creativity or innovation shouldn´t allow the person called “artist” to be lazy or disrespectful with the viewer. There is a sort of “jokers” in contemporary art, some of them very famous that are threatening art as a sublime activity. Remember that in the ancient Greece and the renaissance the role and status of the artist was highly appreciated. There is no reason to change that conception and the whole society should accordingly demand from the artists only the best.
Fortunately, people´s taste, and the open way to enjoy art today -enhanced by the Internet- is gradually removing power from those trying to support laziness and nonsense-work. Art must stand alone; curators and critics should be interpreters with the sole purpose of guiding the audience and not to pretend to be like priests whose discourse is an esoteric knowledge about the artists, sometimes raised to the status of gods.
Duchamp could have a good intention with the ready-made, but he was very irresponsible to open a "dimensional portal" for the astral garbage and disgusting demons, frequently seen in museums.
TB: What all subjects and styles would you like to explore in the future?
Art is for me an inner exploration, it is not external and on purpose like a project roadmap. The artwork supposed to have the same journey than the artist´s mind and soul. Anything could come or happen with my style and my work and will be welcome as far as it is honest and natural.