Camilio

BLOG 011

White Reliefs / Normal Patterns

As an artist who could not align his portrait paintings with is love for conceptual installation art, which basically is, in simple words, everything except choosing just for painting or just for sculpture, the artist was very happy when he found himself making reliefs in the carton pierre technique, the plaquettes of recycled paper, Gipsen, water and wood glue filled with tree seeds. If buyers get bored with what they bought, they can burry the art work, and grow trees. And this is essential. That an art work can be buried, gone. It is essential because my portrait paintings where not able to do that, that you would call destroying art, or put it in a corner on the attic, while with these tree seeds invested white reliefs, there is still another life in them.

The reliefs are white, in which in my conceptual art work often, they are portable, they are sellable, they can be put in the ground to grow trees. What is there not to like? For me this was, after working with non sellable art, not necessary by choice, a gift. A dream came through. Maybe you are now wondering: why not sooner? Well, my idea’s where there, but not to be executed because of brain fog and sometimes ting simple are not coming together. It came together end 2022, in Dili, Timor-Leste. And when the idea is there, and it works, afterwards you think: why not sooner? This is simply how life goes.

The ‘burry the art work’ is besides growing trees, also a reminder that whenever an artist gets big, he/she/x is unable to do anything wrong, and this art will never be devaluated when it is in the collection of museums and super rich collectors. They would simply not allow it. Hence the shit art we see coming out of some of the biggest artist, like Hirst and Koons, or artist start working larger and larger, not able to think small anymore, humble, poetic, etc. Look at Anish Kapoor. Great artist, but where is the limit of large? And super large is also a bit arrogant, ignorant to others in our life. The large is so large, we can’t reach for it anymore, unable to comprehend it size. It is getting in to a circus act, spectacle art. Which for me, is neither interesting, neither good or important. And look in to the western art world, when an artist gets his 15 minutes of fame, a solo in a museum: the work gets 5 to 10 larger than before. While size does matter, also for your concept, so, why change this when getting in to the eye of a museum director, curator or rich collector?  If you want to know more about: look at: exit through the gifts shop,  Adam Ruins Everything - How the Fine Art Market is a Scam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw5kme5Q_Yo.

About the subject: patterns of a “normal” life, this is a reminder that we are surrounded by art. If we learn how to look differently. Also, that life in lock down is not easy, but still we are surrounded by soothing art. These are items out of our garden, but also items I use often and/or love using and are important for me. But I print them in a way, that to the viewer the work present itself in another way, then just the object I printed it with. About “normal” between “” is to be sure you understand, I don’t have a normal life. As I am a white privileged heterosexual male (which I don't identify myself with, to be clear!), with considered means to survive. My life is far from normal. On the other end, what is a normal life? There are more people poor, than midrange or super rich. So, is a poor life normal? We could, should, ask ourselves this.  

Further more it is important to the artist to create art with materials we cant find in hardware stores, children stores, coock stores, etc. To emphases art can come out of the ordernary, the stuff that is around us.