Q&A WITH ARTLOG
FK: I was always a disciplined child I suppose. Maybe playing with all those violent toys and cars led me here. Most curators will mention it’s my background… but I think in the end, our generation is totally fascinated with violence--- you see it different forms, anywhere from film to music and in art, media, in our homes, on the streets, in the Middle East, in DC, It’s around. I’m curious about coping with it. ARTLOG: What were you doing before your latest series of murals that simulate car-bombings? Did this personal direction start while you were doing your BFA at Maryland Institute College of Art or the School of Visual Arts while you were doing your MFA? FK: The series began shortly after graduate school. While at SVA, I was concentrating more on autobiographical drawings and paintings, drawn either from observation, travels or memory. That personal narrative soon turned into works dealing with news media reinterpretations and eventually I picked the topic of insurgency and car bombings as a central theme to focus on. ARTLOG: Your color palette, whether in your collages, installations, or drawings, is quite melodiously and unnervingly vivid. The overall execution of the paint on wall/paper is, rather than spontaneously messy, quite exact and clean. Do you think that this confuses the viewer into thinking of these explosions as spectacular rather than horrifying? (I have only seen your work online, so ignore this question if the colors are actually different) FK: I define it more as purposeful ambiguity than confusion. We are constantly bombarded with photographic forms of that violent imagery on television, online and in the newspapers. What I want to do is invite the viewer using my love for drawing, my colors, some would say my technique… and then as they digest what they see, the situation occurring in the work reveals itself to be more than just beautiful drawing but rather a violent, political struggle or event. By providing the public with this slow read, or journey into the pieces, I feel like the work can be more provocative, timely, and even have that more important a message. I’m not undermining the content by putting technique or drawing sensibility first, but rather having the craft of the piece play a balancing act with the content. If I just shot photos of car bombs with all the smoke, flames, macabre subject matter and placed it in a gallery setting to provoke---only then I would become the horrifying sensationalist. ARTLOG: How do you feel about making something horrific aesthetically appealing? Do you feel conflicted in any way by making a profit off of a terrible reality? FK: Most of my artistic practice is hardly ever about making a profit. When I make wall paintings, it feels like a non-precious act, knowing the work is living only for a certain time in a certain setting. On the other hand, making work in this vein forces the message of the work to be extremely precious in it’s limited existence. I suppose I’m using institutions and galleries as a forum for discourse. Of course there is the market, both through my gallery and through art fairs, which has helped me grow as a young artist…I don’t denounce that either; I think it’s flattering to have a collector want your artistic voice in their respective collection. ARTLOG: What is the experience of painting these scenes like for you? Is it therapeutic in any way? What is the process that you go through while working on your art? FK: Surprisingly, very therapeutic. One could go crazy thinking of all the injustice and violent acts (of all sorts, not just car bombs) taking place currently, not just in the Middle East, but all over the world. As artists, we live within this public and we are allowed to have a voice or stance. With my work, I suppose it is a way to get a sense of aggression out. My process usually starts with a conceptual idea. Then I gather reference material…often times, I shoot my own. After that, I spend most of the time in the studio working. ARTLOG: How should viewers approach your art? If you were to guide a viewer through the process of analyzing your work, what would be the key things you would point out? FK: I prefer the viewer come in cold and just read the work visually. Then hope that they are captivated enough to dissect the content. Besides a title of a work, a press release or a curatorial wall label, there’s nothing else I need to say. Some like the beauty of the pieces, others like that after-taste, or a social/political commentary. For me, it’s just gratifying to get the work out of the studio and into the public forum for some conversations to start. ARTLOG: You have had some pretty major shows at 33 Bond and Exit art. How have viewers generally accepted your work? How is it different in New York than elsewhere in the world, such as Libya or Pakistan? FK: Initially, I was getting more attention in the west, though this year and next, I will be taking part in exhibits in the east. This is good because art should not have boundaries. Having said that, there is the identity of the artist which plays a role, but being an ex-pat from Pakistan, of Libyan birth, and a naturalized citizen in the US, I think I have to be aware of what and how much I say, depending on where I exhibit. ARTLOG: Which artists have influenced you the most and how? FK: I’ve always been a fan of Leon Golub for the longevity he had in his themes and artistic practice throughout his life. On an aesthetic level, it’s apparent that I’m influenced by Julie Mehretu or Matthew Ritchie but I also admire cotemporary artists such as David Altmejd, Wangechi Mutu, Raymond Pettibon, Walid Ra’ad…pretty diverse practices but each of these names had influenced me as I worked through concepts these last two years, dealing with issues from socio-political commentary to resourceful sculpture, collage methods to conceptual methods. Mitch Minskoff of 33 Bond always jokes with me about our common fan-ship of Akira…plus I grew up reading comics and graphic novels. Best of all though, I am influenced by my peers and artists within my own generation; to have that resource is tremendous too. ARTLOG: What is your next artistic step? FK: Well, in no way did I see last year’s body of work to be a definitive theme in my pieces. I hope to just make art intuitively and come up with interesting projects that help me grow as an artist. Sure, I will constantly be returning to some themes, such as violence or car bombings, in my work but I’m ready to take risks and tackle other conversations as well. I have a couple exhibits currently which I speak to more formal ideas within contemporary art. ARTLOG: Do you think that the more you become accustomed to New York, the more your art will shy away from childhood memories of life in Pakistan and Libya, or do you think that it will actually make you grip onto them even stronger so as to not loose that identity? FK: Three issues here: One, I don’t think one can ever ditch or forget their heritage, place of birth and adolescent upbringing. Two: I have a kinship with New York City and that will definitely be a part of me in my work and will be more so as I continue to produce in coming years. Three: and this is going to be like walking on a tight rope, but the term diaspora haunts me at times, I have to be careful to not be identity-driven; It’s all about what me (as artist) has to say, not me (as artist born in Libya of Pakistani origin) has to say. ARTLOG: During an explosion, there is an infinitesimal moment when something that once was ceases to be. Because this moment is beyond human comprehension, it is the root of extreme trepidation. Car bombings are a reality in a place which was once very familiar to you (and still may be), and you also witnessed 9/11. Do you think that making this split second permanent on paper is a way for you to cope with this fear? FK: In a way, yeah, it is. Some of the compositions are hinting to a frozen moment in time. As if we somehow captured that, as you said, infinitesimal moment of insurgents and military surrounding a detonated auto, but we removed all the flames, smoke, blood pain, fear and whatnot --- as I work through these ideas on different surfaces, I begin to cope. Something that when you see it on the news, you just glaze over it. Fall 2009 |
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