![]() ![]() ![]() I don’t see that changing, but the distribution opportunities of those things and the types of audiences they find have much room for change.” The artist is very excited to expand on who has access to her work and to find innovative ways of engaging through other industries and platforms. This past year I have dedicated a lot of time to video work and sculpture. Returning to Czudej, when asked where she would like to see her work go in the future, she tells STIR, “I am really enjoying the mix of projects I have on my plate right now. Portrait image of Gowoon Lee, 2023 Image: Gowoon Lee Paradoxically, there is nothing more universal than the faces and stories of the characters in these cartoons because of their popularity, and I thought it could work as an anchor in my personal iconography, to help me explore different ideas and questions with more engagement.” Lee continues, saying “remembering this confusion made me realise that it is not only spoken languages that have cultural boundaries, but also nonverbal forms of communication. When I first encountered these, I was living in Korea, and the kind of paralinguistic communication I experienced in Korea was far from that of what was being portrayed in the American cartoons.” The children’s television shows that she enjoyed were gesturally expressive, and it was these signals that the artist used as an entry point to decoding the intent and subtext behind the surrealism on display, as well as the antics of popular characters, that many today will undoubtedly be familiar with. Lee discusses her fascination with cartoons from the United States, telling STIR, “Watching popular American cartoons gave me a lot of joy and excitement, but I remember feeling quite frustrated as a child because I often did not grasp what was going on in the cartoon I was watching. Portrait image of Catharine Czudej, 2022, Catharine Czudej Image: Catharine Czudej, courtesy of Albrech Fuchs Often, I’ll rely on objects or tools associated with early youth as a way to render the building blocks of a uniquely American mindset.” As she puts it, the artist tries to read the tea leaves with an open mind and reserve judgment, and positions her art as being radically apolitical. Discussing her work, Czudej tells STIR, “I am very interested in interconnected relationships between capitalism, pervasive mental illness and nostalgia or youth culture. One art exhibit in particular, titled Young man with flowers, is an art sculpture that is shaped not unlike a balloon character, but is rendered in solid aluminium, adding a certain weight and seriousness to a form that would normally be filled with helium, and would signal a sense of childish playfulness. Man Kneeling with Flowers, 2022, Catharine Czudej Image: Catharine Czudej, Courtesy of Josh Lilley GalleryĬzudej is an American artist who was born in South Africa, and her practice includes drawings, paintings, sculptures, videos and works of art installation, and often combines the mixed media art she creates to explore themes of advertising and cultural nostalgia, escapism and the history of minimalism and brutalism. In this presentation, the pieces by Czudej that were on display examined the violent collision between late-stage capitalism and nostalgia. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |