Why art?

I like the different ways that art can
touch someone, it can appeal to the logic, to the body, to something
untouchable, to that which cannot be explained rationally, it can undress things.
It can use metaphors or very literal and logical statements and it can do both at
the same time.

 

Art is for me the ideal way of accessing
and creating mythology, something I am very interested in.

Why? I like very much Joseph Campel’s explanation on the importance of mythology,
mythology being that which transcends the individual to the universal, to the
unseen, to its ultimate potential or vice versa convince him of his superiority
over nature, of his twisted nature etc., depends on the belief system it
supports.

It is a very powerful tool to shape
reality, according to the mythology people believe in, you shape society and
vice versa of course.

In addition to that I am interested in
mythology because it makes the whole universe alive, the personification of the
world is not something to be dismissed lightly, by understanding that the river
has a spirit, a vibration, that it is alive our relationship with it changes
and it cannot be a commodity anymore.

It is easier to sell a pair of shoes
than your friend in a way,

So there, art is a way to access
mythology, invent or awaken myths and thus challenge society.

 

What are you currently working on?

 

I am trying to create ceremonies. I am
interested in mythology and particularly fertility and the way mythology is
changing in our society with the assistance of science.  These days I am thinking about the bees
as the pollinators and also as the creatures that are getting affected through
the use of pesticides, the development of gmo
agriculture and the increase of monoculture agronomy, our current commercial
way of dealing with fertility in farming.

 

Well in terms of appearance, I have a
video that I shot in Brazil, that is a form of prayer, I have a pair of new age
paintings that I hope to continue, there is a barely started macramé piece, and
a few performances/ rituals that took place the last few months, sliding
between artistic documentary and ceremonial collective moments.

In terms of thematic, fertility and
mythology are weaving the connections.

Fertility from the physical point of
view, the earth’s and humans fertile ability, but also fertility in thought and
in action.  Fertility
as a way to celebrate life, and the interconnection of the human and the earth.

 

What do you mean?

 

Well, with the use of science we can
control fertility in ways that we were never able to do so before. That I
believe is changing the way we view life and I am interested in that change.

 

Well, for example I find that the violence that vibrates at this point on earth is a very un-fertile field, it stimulates pain, depression, blind anger, alienation, death (death not only on the physical realm but also in the vibrational realm, like a living dead social body). So I am interested in finding ways to reclaim that space and make it fertile.

 

How?

Well this is what I am trying to find out. By creating collective moments of prayer, by bringing awareness to certain
acts, by creating a new cosmology, and by understanding what are our needs from science.

 

How did it start about?

 

Of course there is not one moment, but lets say my first proposals had to do with Theogony,
the birth of the Earth from the god Eros (the creative, passionate, sexual and sensual force of nature).  Then I
continued my inquiring on mythology and on contemporary mythologies (gmo, eugenics, authoritative systems on life), the questioning
of archetypal memory. For example one of my questions was and somehow still is that if we forming our memory and our connection to the primal archaic existence through food (among other things) how is this lineage to our ancestry
affected if our seed loose that memory (with the invention of gmo seeds for example).  How is our own fertility affected when our the food that we nourish ourselves is sterile? And then these questions expanded to the fact that technology is used very much to
create commodities and a social body that views life as a commodity.  For example we are creating coral reefs
that can withstand the climate change, gmo is proposed as a way to fight the famine of the planet and the overpopulation,
eugenics as a way to create a species that is more intelligent and can conquer the universe, but the real issues on human greed, the distraction of the environment, the insanity of colonization are bypassed, because it is too hard to address them.

Etc etc etc

 

And now where do you find yourself?

 

I am in place that I am wondering how the different elements of my work can come together, I am not so much interested
in that which I find poisonous, (like gmo, eugenics, authoritative systems on life) but of what on the beautiful in the potential of
the human being.

I have picked up some words that I have found interesting,

Like city shamanism, Joy and Desire, I have felt my creative castle falling on the ground, and I am trying to see how
and what this work means for me, what are the perfomative aspects of this act. What is moving forward, and I feel I need a pose for a
bit.

I crave spending time in Greece.

 

Why is Greece important?

 

It is very important, it is the mother land.

The smell of my bones.

My interest on the human and mythology that I always come back in my work comes from there, the love and the beauty of
the human being.

Also I think that Greece at this point played the role of unveiling the matrix, this of course we can talk for a while…

 

And what is your trouble?

 

Well I feel I need to make a leap and I
am not sure in what direction. Last cycle/block/ season I was saying I do not
have enough tools in terms of spiritual knowledge and techniques, this time I
feel the same but in an artistic way.

 

Why?

I see this change of genetic control
as a continuation of our need to control life.  And I also think that it calls for
further authoritative power in our lives.
I do not want to live in such a society.   Maybe our need to controlled
engineering is another blindfold, without dismissing the amazing advances that
technology is doing, there is a world that treats life as an object, as a
commodity and the human as the creature that holds authorship in this. If that
does not change in its base then controlled engineering will become just a way
to reinforce this attitude.

 

That sounds very confusing

Well the idea that we can choose the genetic traits that we desire is a way to control and create
uniformity.  Remember the 80’s haircuts, great but who wants an 80’s hairdo today. It is like the tomatoes,
there had been a law in the EU until recently that all vegetables need to look in a certain way, that created a market that only wanted a specific look in the vegetables and everything that did not meet that standard was thrown out of the
selling basket, without necessary being worse, as a result people prefer to buy a tomato that is wrapped in a plastic case and looks “perfect” than a tomato that tastes like a tomato but has a few marks on it and maybe a hole from a warm.

 

The same can happen with gene control. 

 

It is the way of thinking that this selection creates that I want to put into attention.

Is it about Morals then?

I hope that it is not about morals, morals create a hierarchy which is also problematic.

And ceremonies?

I believe shamanism is a powerful tool to accessing archaic ways of viewing life.  There has been a strong rejection in the
west of the magical but I think that it is important to be re–introduced.

Shamanism as a science creates a different balance in life, that is why I think it is a very important tool.

 

I saw a show recently about the Lascaux paintings and there was a 3-D video that illustrated how the cave
paintings were viewed then.  It was this representation were the paintings, which are huge by the way, were lit up
with fire and the trembling of the fire made them look alive.  It made me feel that the way the animals
were represented made the “visitor” feel in awe towards them.  The paintings, huge over the head of the
visitors in combination with the darkness of the cave, illuminated only by trembling fire, created a mystical environment that glorified these creatures.  I think this point of view creates a different balance to life.

The same way Greek theater was used as a tool for democracy.  It was presenting the viewer with questions and moral/ethical values, it was creating and supporting the society. (sometimes in support of the state some times as a critic to it, democratic Greece had its flows also)

This is the value that I am trying to find in art I think.

 

So you want to pass your values and ethics?

 

I do not like the way this sounds, but probably yes, you could say that.

Of course the work is created by me so it is made by my way of thinking, but instead of me passing my values I want to think of it as me creating platforms for a collective experience. A place for people to discover and bring forth their own ethics.

 

Why collective?

 

Well, I find it strange that we go to a museum to see a painting and we do not talk to each other.  I have had an experience many times of being in the museum trying to listen to what the guide is saying, and being told off.  I do not understand how
we can look at art and at the same time be so separate to each other.  This does not hold life in it for me.

 

What is life?

The highest vibration. Our highest potential.

Maybe it is not a very clear definition but I do not have a better one at the moment.

So you want people to take part in shamanic experiences?

Yes or even better create them.

 

Do you still believe this?

Yes and no, I am starting to feel the need to even revisit or re-evaluate the word shamanism.

 

You talked about city shamanism?

 

Yes, the way I understand this term, it is about finding ways in the rural environment, in the industrial
world, in the cities to connect with the elements of nature. To practice with them, to get information from them, to have a conversation in these ecosystems that have forgotten about the complexity and the mystery of life and that they tent to exclude nature in its wild form.

 

The relationship to ritual and shamanism seems to be very attractive in art these days,
Do you feel part of it?

 

J
Maybe this is why I do not like the word shamanism so much.  It is already appropriated by the matrix.
Like anything that could possibly shake the matrix the idea of shamanism has been quickly adapted by the matrix.

There is fashion that is inspired by shamanism from Zara clothing to high couture tribalism, but it is not very
interesting in the way that it affects someone’s life.   My interest in shamanism, magic and ritual is to find tools, relationships, ways of living and creating that can be used to connect to the vibrancy of life.  Ways to make reality escape The Givenstructure and bring awareness on the distraction of nature in its raw form.  How many people today, how many kids have drunk water that comes from the mountain and how often?

How can we respect our resources when we do not know where they are coming from?

So yes, I am interested in bringing those values and practicing them within a performance or even more important bring

those practices in our contemporary life.

 

Don’t you
think that this “shamanism” can be a constraint for some people?

It is very possible.  But I want my “viewer” to have to take a personal risk.

There is no change happening otherwise.

And I would also like to add, I find this restriction very very interesting, it is a point to be very present!! What is it exactly that makes us feel uncomfortable with shamanism, and magic?

 

So it is about change?

For sure

 

How do you create these ceremonies then?

 

Well this is what I am in the process of understanding.  I think the best way I have found until now is to be open to information to come to me, this happens either by using shamanic journeying (accessing other realities through the sound of the drum) or signals or random moment of inspiration and also by scientific research, which is very difficult to come around maybe the
most difficult.  I hope soon to open that process also to others and try to find collective ways that we can create
a ceremony.

 

Well this is what I am in the process of understanding.  I have been trying different things and now I am at the moment of realizing how it can tight up.

I am interested in leaving enough space I think for people to wonder in diverse worlds, I am interested in the elements that people can bring in and add to the work.

 

And your paintings what is happening in and with them?

I started by drawing my shamanic journeys, (travelling with the power of your imagination accompanied by the
shamanic drum to access your reality and find tools to bring to your reality).
So I would travel and then make a drawing that was somehow inspired by my journey.

The last two are different, they are very much influenced by my recent trip to Brazil.

The rising bird is a calling that I think is happening at the moment for a new generation of people that walk on the Earth with love and respect.

This generation is not only our kids, it is our selves and our ancestors that still walk through us.

So the bird is making the calling, a calling to the earth. It has elements of different mythologies, some conscious some unconscious.

The second painting with the snakes came after, as a way to tame the unbalance or to call for balance.  The last weeks I felt that the hunger of the monster has been so big that all inhibitions were dropped. From the Greek crisis, to the public rapes in Africa, to the
extreme weather conditions and the destruction of the rainforest, to name a few.  Sacredness is becoming
a taboo word, and this is where shamanism, magic, ritual etc become important again. As a way to acknowledge the sacredness of life to the present to art, to challenge the “rational” thinking, and to affect the emotion

 

Sacredness?

 

Yes! Life is sacred. I like a definition from Starhawk on sacredness, respecting something or someone for its own being.

The Cycladic faces that are looking at the sun.

 

So this year you went to Brazil, how did it work on you?

Brazil was very playful and my time there taught me even deeper the necessity of joy.  So in a way it liberated the place from
which I create.  The idea of suffering, of being an artist martyr in order to create left me and creating is
coming from a place of joy and pleasure.
It also brought me back to video art, which I haven’t touched for a while!!!  And somehow it’s the first
time that I am painting just for the sake of painting.

 

Why is scientific research so difficult?

 

Because it is a very sensitive subject and one that is connected with a multi billion dollar industry, so on
one hand there are business issues that tend to obstruct real information coming through, and on the other you have very passionate activism against, which also is not very accurate most of the time.  So for example it is very hard to find
information on gmo technology that is detached from the companies that are associated with it.
On the part of humans there is a strong sentimental part that is also hard to overcome, why not make sure that your kid will not will not develop a lethal disease and why not overcome sterility, on the other hand there is a
strong claim that we are overpopulated and that this is causing huge imbalance
etc.  So it is not an issue that iseasy to tackle scientifically either.

 

And the city life? How you see those values stand in the city life?

 

Here I have a conflict.  There are important choices to make in the city from the way we shop, to the way we behave,

the way we look at each other, our capacity to share love and joy, to keep our vibration high by the
means that each of us finds appropriate.
I see the fight in the city more important or as important as anywhere else.  On the other hand I remember
when I was living in New York, I had a friend that was making fun of my vegetarianism, he was asking how living in a city

like New York could be an ethical choice.  Just the existence and sustenance of this city means the death to other life forms.

It is complicated but urgent.  A very difficult task