November 2019 - The Great Creative Life

The Future of Art is an interview series where I speak with artists on the topics of sustainability and climate change in relation to their artistic practices. The series aims to explore a range of viewpoints, not only those of artists working directly with these topics but also how it affects the practices of all artists, no matter their chosen themes or mediums.

Our next artist is Lionel Cruet. Lionel was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and lives and works between New York and San Juan. He works across various mediums in order to explore topics related to economics, geopolitics, and technology.

Tell us about your art. What do you create and why?

I create large-scale audio and visual installations, experimental digital prints, sound arrangements in space and videos to recreate spaces, memories, and experiences using imagery of natural spaces as a metaphor to understand the complex and interconnected realities we all live in. The sources that serve to create the installations come mostly from a digital form, archival material, thus, the generated artworks are research-based.

Images of obscure natural spaces and elements that define our intimate relationship to spaces, such as storage containers, sounds, voices and songs of proclamations in the void, become the aesthetics of the work. Through my artworks and practice I am constantly confronting geopolitical issues, states de facto, economics, the act of speculation and testimonials about the relations that we create to spaces and natural environments; always underlining a conceptual framework that comes from my experiences as a Caribbean colonial and post-colonial being as it is in dialogue with the rest of the world.

At the End of Daybreak, 2017, vegetation mural and audiovisual installation on translucent cube, variable dimensions © Lionel Cruet 2017. Image by Everson Museum of Art

How have the topics of climate change and/or sustainability affected your artistic practice either directly or indirectly?

Climate change and sustainability are two different areas for me, related, but they are distinct. The awareness around these subjects started to formalize in a seminar I took while in college at La Escuela de Artes Plasticas in San Juan, Puerto Rico. During the seminar we observed multiple approaches that artists and designers have taken to create sustainable practices. We observed adjustments in living spaces, approaches to use of renewable materials, use of energy and such. I truly believe that helped me to think and envision a practice for myself as an artist.

At the End of Daybreak, 2017, photo installation and audiovisual installation on translucent cube, variable dimensions © Lionel Cruet 2017. Image by Everson Museum of Art

Was there a certain point in time that you became more aware/self-conscious of climate change/sustainability issues?

Yes, I have always been aware in my innate consciousness about this issues; But more specific to the impact of humans activities in Earth and with other species. Sustainable issues are about the adjustments that we can make as individuals and as a society to over turn and sustain without causing long term impact. Since I was young I could see it and I was aware of it but I didn’t have the language to describe it. Also in my living environment and with my family I was limited in making significant changes toward a sustainable living. I was not a decision maker within my household with the ability to change living patterns that affect ‘climate change’ in the long run.

With my artist studio and my home environment I keep making sustainable adjustments and adapting.

With time I understood that Climate Change is increasing but that it is caused by the levels of industrial and mass production that extends from a demand for international commerce.

At the End of Daybreak, 2017, vegetation mural and photo installation, variable dimensions © Lionel Cruet 2017. Image by Everson Museum of Art

Have you reduced your carbon footprint in your professional practice in any way over the last few years. If so, how?

As an artist and with my studio practice I have made significant changes to support the sustainable production of artworks and the methods for how things are done. For instance, my studio has a sensor for the lights so they turn off when there’s no activity. In my studio we have changed the ways for how framed artworks are packed and shipped. We no longer use paper, tape or bubble wrap, instead, we use fabrics and belt systems that are reusable. Elements like this help advance a sustainable framework and the studio functions. When it comes to the artworks, most of them are in materials that have minimal impact on the environment. Digital forms and archives of videos, sounds, and images are some of the mediums and materials I work with.

There are some artworks that take on physical form and all of those are created with materials that are sorted out by local or regional providers, which make less impact on the environment.

Our next artist is Jarek Lustych. Jarek Lustych is Polish visual artist (b.1961) based in Warsaw. After his fifteen-year career in the confined space of printmaking, Lustych decided it was time for some change and has taken his work out of the gallery space in an attempt to redefine the perception of art.

Tell us about your art. What do you create and why?

For over fifteen years I have been taking art for a walk, letting it take a breath after centuries of enclosure in galleries, collections and museums. It is known that galleries, by definition, ennoble everything that goes into them. By placing my work in thickets, gates, puddles, in a word, in contexts that - as they are out of the normal 'Culture rules' - are usually not associated with art, I have attempted to redefine the concept of art and redefine its area.

In my investigations I'm concerned with the elements of our everyday life which are scorned or ignored because of their commonplace unnoticeableness. It is this invisibility, with its hints of mystery and discovery, that I have always found the most alluring. My actions move these elements from the murky background to the limelight, emphasizing their value. Enhancing existing chaos, I intend to shake spectators out of the rut of everyday thinking and direct their attention to the hidden sense of events and ambiguity of the word.

How long have you been practicing as an artist?

It has been 33 years already. Initially, the main area of my artistic focus was relief printing. Exploring its possibilities and limitations, I created a series of works that have been shown in Poland and abroad and in competition presentations. My solo exhibition showed various stages of these experiences – in the changing technical solutions, formats, and in the methods of imaging. After this fifteen-years working in the confined space of printmaking, I decided it was time for some change and enriched my practice with an extra dimension in an attempt to redefine the perceived scope of art.

How have the topics of climate change and/or sustainability affected your artistic practice either directly or indirectly?

The public fetishistically substitutes consumer ideals for the lost, acculturating experiences of art. Very few realize that not only do we accumulate, but most of those purchases are junk. Many of us don't stop at purchasing merely basic needs, but invest and indulge in luxury goods. The consumer industry thrives on corrupting real desire for beauty and change. Consumptionism expansively calls for production beyond need in order to create high profits for producers and abundance for the public.

Amid a hailstorm of unbridled production, I'm embarrassed to add any new objects to this excess. Besides, imposing my autonomous creativity on the environment seems inequitable for me since I'm a part of the threatened environment. That's why with my work I usually explore existing entities. I'm eager to share authorship with the elements. Very often "nature art" just means putting pieces of art into nature. In this way nature is used as just a nice background. With my works I try to establish a dynamic relationship with the elements. The environment is an active part of my work. By using the unique properties of the environment, my projects aim to manifest the normally imperceptible aspects of the environment.

Have you reduced your carbon footprint in your professional practice in any way over the last few years. If so, how?

The only morally, environmentally indifferent activity would be not doing. But that's hard decision so you have to find the balance. I prefer, whenever possible, to work with discarded/recycled materials: wasted fruit boxes, soda/beer cans, plastic shoping bags, used tea bags and the like. Once these objects are passed their prime they are transformed into large piles of garbage. My work brings a new life to the materials (sometimes very beautiful) which are already forgotten and thrown away. These materials serve as signifiers of relationship and connections we have with the world around us.

Was there a certain point in time that you became more aware/self-conscious of climate change/sustainability issues?

Awareness of climate change/sustainability issues grew gradually for me. Just as these changes gradually increased. The development of the internet and thus the ease of access to various sources information has greatly accelerated this process. Then a few years ago I came up with a project whose element was snowfall. That for its implementation I had to wait a few years (compared to usual) clearly shows the impact of climate change.

In everyday life, the presence of brazen advertising forces one to think about the nature of global economic systems and their 'growth at all costs' paradigm. It makes one think: just when did greed stop being a cardinal sin?

Do you think artists have a responsibility to respond to these issues? Why/Why not?

Thanks to their intuition, artists often see problems that the rest of the society does has not yet noticed. Often, they act accordingly. Hence telling them what should be a topic of their art is remiss.

On the one hand, of all human activity, art is particularly environmentally harmless. It's not like mass production. It's about sharing ideas, not material things. It doesn't need a huge amount of non-renewable raw materials, transport, logistics, broad and aggressive advertising campaigns. Artists should just follow their own way and be honest with their research.

On the other hand, there is the incredible growth of the global art market. Just think about all those art fairs and its carbon footprint. Artists should consider if they really need to participate. Especially when I'm not convinced this benefits the artist in any way.

'Latent voice', since 2015, site-specific, strings & rivers, links to recording selection (see below and Vimeo)

Using the principle of aeolian harp I got sound representing the subcutaneous / hidden / deviously creative power of flowing water. The sound is soft enough to be inaudible more than a few meters from the river, and loud enough to hear every infinite detail when the ear is close to the receptor. This will allow you to establish intimate contact with the elements - strings can be touched, and the vibrations are felt and heard.

Monthly Archives: November 2019

The Future of Art: Lionel Cruet

Tell us about your art. What do you create and why?

How long have you been practicing as an artist?

How have the topics of climate change and/or sustainability affected your artistic practice either directly or indirectly?

Was there a certain point in time that you became more aware/self-conscious of climate change/sustainability issues?

Have you reduced your carbon footprint in your professional practice in any way over the last few years. If so, how?

Do you think artists have a responsibility to respond to these issues? Why/Why not?

Is there anything else you would like to add on this topic?

Where can people find more of your work?

Future of Art Interview: Jarek Lustych

Tell us about your art. What do you create and why?

How long have you been practicing as an artist?

How have the topics of climate change and/or sustainability affected your artistic practice either directly or indirectly?

Have you reduced your carbon footprint in your professional practice in any way over the last few years. If so, how?

Was there a certain point in time that you became more aware/self-conscious of climate change/sustainability issues?

Do you think artists have a responsibility to respond to these issues? Why/Why not?

Where can people find more of your work?