faro WORKPLACE

This work is a companion piece to The Last Years of the River. Both pieces shed light on the Mekong River’s relevance in Apichatpong’s art, as well as its portrayal as a symbol of environmental destruction caused by human activities. He concentrates mostly on the river area bordering Thailand’s northeast and Laos. The construction of hydro-electric dams upstream has had a long-term ecological impact, culminating in bio-organism collapse and flooding. In this artwork, a boot represents man’s desire for expansion, which leaves tracks on his path, even on the moon. In the image, the flaming boot is separated from the river (which can be seen in the companion piece) and rests alone on an empty space, which could be the sky or underwater. The isolated boot provides an open interpretation in reference to larger narratives about humanity’s relationship with nature, technology, and our place in the natural world.

SCAI THE BATHHOUSE

Shadow Objects as a collective artwork, one can see that the shading cutout through precise computation and equipment present themselves as composed presences that seemingly embody the laws of nature—as though even the light and shadow have been conceived according to a program. As can be surmised from the title that seemingly references Donald Judd’s Specific Objects, the horizons of ‘hard conceptual’ fostered within American art is perhaps beginning to expand once more as a new “feeling” of the contemporary age.

（solo exhibition “Convenient” 2017 TSCA)

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RG: There are now about 12-15 characters for whom I have written character synopses, and who exist in my head: I know what they wear and what they eat for breakfast and where they live; some are dead, some are alive; they all have practices and each one has made a number of artworks, all of which look totally different. Among those artists are two, Aston Ernest and Santo Sterne, who are really important for me, because one of them, Aston Ernest, is a better artist than I am, and one of them, Santo Sterne, is everything I hate about art. Their names are anagrams of each other, but one of them has all the characteristics that I love about artists, and one of them has all the characteristics I dislike. So I make myself make work that is better than I can make, and I make myself make work that I detest. Making the bad art is easy, but living with it is difficult because you’re ashamed that you’ve made it. But that’s the work. The work isn’t the bad art itself, the work is me making bad art on purpose because there’s a higher reason than just the apparent result. RG: Well, with Aston Ernest, Aston makes me think of Aston Martin, so he’s handsome and intelligent and kind, and he’s Ernest, which is like honest, but thoughtful, so quiet. Names are interesting to construct because they can give a sense of character without any other information. Ramó Nash is brilliant.

Art iT interview 2012

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“Art d’Ameublement” series, airborne paint particles condense on the inner surface of transparent acrylic shells to reveal the shape and volume of the otherwise sheer object. In one of the paintings, phosphorescent pigment is applied as an underlayer which absorbs and stores light energy. In dark conditions, the charged painting will emit light from its interior to make it visible and appear in a different mode as a glowing object.

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