| charles sandison : I bought a second hand computer at the age of 13 from a friend; it didn’t have colour and 256000 timesless memory than .............. | |||||||||||
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| charles sandison on charles sandison ! (text taken from the catalogue of his recent exhibition in rennes, france) I bought a second hand computer at the age of 13 from a friend; it didn’t have colour and 256000 times less memory than the computers I use today. I went to art school with the dream of becoming a painter. the decision to leave behind the computer was not so hard, at the time, 15 years ago, as it seemed so irrelevant, like a hobby, compared to the great work of the painter. if someone, even then, explained that I could make my art with a computer I would not have believed him or her. (maybe I still don’t). --- beeing an artist I consider myself to be at the ‘rear-guard’ rather than up front with the avant-garde in ‘media art’. I guess I score points by saying this, but this is not my intention. every medium that is labelled - ‘something art’ is heading for a 1000 hurts. at the very worst it can lead to an art ghetto, where artists, whose only common link is that they are faced with the same criticism. their isolation is re-enforced when they are forced to create a universal defence. the fact that their defence is based on a misunderstood appreciation of an emergent medium inevitably leads ‘full-circle’ resulting in greater suspicion and rejection. generally (as an artist) I find the stuff that interests me exists through a relationship of physical contrasts, I use this strongly in my computer programmes. I consider contrasts to be the basic building materials in reality. my first exposure to ‘language art’ was through the work of the 50’s/60’s concrete poets, it did not then particularly capture my interest, as it seemed as the form took too much focus from the content, but it was kind of intriguing. Latter, in art school, the work of language-based artists renewed my interest in visual and textual constructions. at this point I think I was more fascinated with the general approach of ‘conceptualism/minimalism’ in art, (the use of language obviously featured heavily in this movement.) however, I disliked the ‘intellectual elitism’ of the credo – ‘less is more’, I consider that ‘more’ can simply also be ‘more’ sometimes. the artist has a responsibility to engage the viewer before expecting an exchange of mind and spirit. as an artist you kind of know something and you want to share it with people/the other, but things get complicated in the translation sequence: from heart to mind to heart. often the act of translation itself becomes the artwork, (the subject becomes the inability of art to communicate). I don’t want to propose form/concepts that will start to make the viewer question, rather I would create a simple crafted seductive space that is ‘off itself’, independent from the viewer, the viewer and the art work move along side of each other on equal terms. words I guess I was born a writer in an artist’s body! I used text as a deliberate negation of what is normally expected from moving computer generated graphics, (usually associated with the games industry or multimedia). my use of text undervalues the raw processing power of the modern computer. despite language barriers, words can operate on a very dynamic level. when two people look at a photograph of a black dog, the dog image becomes fixed in their minds, the black dog photograph can only ever be that particular dog. whereas, when a dog is described in writing or in spoken word there is a fantastic array of variations in the mind of the reader/listener. I love that space and feel very comfortable moving around within it. when I’m uncomfortable it is usually because; ‘I am lost for word’. there is a theory that we have lost authenticity to the ‘white noise’ of what has already been written or spoken, words only refer to other words. I disagree, by looking for patterns and structures in the swirling ether of images, symbols, and history, we have a chance to move beyond ourselves, find a shared meaning, truth, or ‘authenticity’. I try to build into the work different layers of reading; each layer is interwoven across time and space. from a distance the words are perceived as moving objects, upon closer inspection they are recognisable as text. the viewer is immersed within the installation (the words are allowed to fall upon the viewer.) the viewer stands both outside and within the constellation, this is an attempt to deliver a tangible experience using immaterial matter. to ‘present’ rather than ‘re-present’. the ‘picture frame’ still exists but is de-materialised and animated, to continually relocate the viewer and by doing so allow them to move more freely within the flow of the work. --- designboom : please outline your evolution in reference to your exhibitions, from 'city halls' to 'living rooms', 'good and evil', 'ciel et terre'. in general I think the works evolve with my own growth (attempted growth). the more projects I realise in different places the more I see of the world and the more reactive I become to it. so 'living rooms' while being very global is intensely internal, however, 'good and evil' is hopefully both global, internal, but also political (as a reaction to french/european extremist politics, i.e. taking sides, moral dogma, perpetual struggle, the work was show in paris for a reason). ... I've had a lot of response channeled through the desigboom web site (art biennial in venice 2001 article) so I am very happy about this portrait with report on my work. --- the birch trees look wonderful against a pure blue sky framed by my studio window, and I think I will shutdown the computer and head for the lake for a while. --- thanks charles tampere, finland, 01.08.2002
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 charles sandison © designboom --- |
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