This year, Aesthetica Magazine has interviewed some of the world’s leading artists, photographers and architects. These interviews reveal insights into how contemporary art is made, and why, whilst raising awareness about today’s most pressing socio-political issues. Here are some of our favourite quotes:
“Space is the ultimate realm of unanswered questions, and, in the absence of an answer, it offers endless possibilities. I would lie there and become more curious about the universe. It has truly captured my imagination. And yet, for the queer community, space is a barrier that we have not yet openly crossed.”
“Architects normally work for privileged people who have power and money. I was tired of working in this way. I wanted to use my knowledge and experience to serve the general public, and, beyond that, to help people who had lost their houses due to natural disasters.”
“Colours are very important to me – not only within my artwork, but also in everyday life. They are like emotions, and they have their own language. It is interesting to observe how colours interact with each other. I ask: what happens to us when we allow ourselves to be immersed in colour?”
“I see my images as emotional worlds that exist somewhere between social anthropology, psychology and existentialism. My work explores the experience of everyday disconnection and I try to invite the viewer to reflect on contemporary life and the idea of the self, both individually and collectively.”
“I’m very careful in being transparent about how I make images for the publication and its audience. I know that my work can seem otherworldly, and even digitally rendered to some eyes, but there is a realness in my images that simply can’t be created in Photoshop or 3D modelling.”
“Research and visual art are very much interconnected. They are both led by process but are also rooted in experimentation. It’s not a binary relationship where art is “all over the place” and scientific research is very rigorous. I don’t think there’s a gap between the two; I have strict protocols, but I also play.”
“For me, architecture is the most important art. It shapes our lives and the environment, but receives far less media attention than contemporary art. It’s important to celebrate the architects and clients who take a chance on a unique design, rather than conforming to their neighbours’ preferences.”
“I use the idiosyncrasies of each photo as my inspiration – the colour, posture, patina, format and composition – and I grab the “feeling” they instil in me as a guide to which pattern to choose. My colourful, abstract interventions add a physical depth to the picture plane.”
“I think a deep fear of death is one of the most powerful driving forces behind my creative practice. This relationship with my own mortality is paralleled by an intense connection with the living. I’m interested in human or non-human life, and that fuels my desire to create speculative worlds that dilate time.”
Işık Kaya & Thomas Georg Blank
“We live in a world that is obsessed with productivity and efficiency and, from a neoliberal point of view, the night as a time of rest and recovery is just a missed opportunity to produce and consume more. All these things come together to inform our aesthetic.”
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Image Credits:
Reuben Wu, from Field of Infinity (2019). Image courtesy of the artist.
The Gay Space Agency, © Mackenzie Calle. Project funded with support from the Magnum Foundation Counter Histories Grant.
Simose Art Museum. Photo: Hiroyuki Hirai.
Jessica Backhaus, Untitled 41, (2023). Courtesy Robert Morat Gallery, Berlin.
Jessica Backhaus, Untitled 11, (2023). Detail. Courtesy Robert Morat Gallery, Berlin.
Tania Franco Klein, from Positive Disintegration, (2016-2018).
Reuben Wu, from Field of Infinity (2019). Image courtesy of the artist.
Laure Winants, from Time Capsule, (2023). Image courtesy of the artist.
Laure Winants, from Time Capsule, (2023). Image courtesy of the artist.
© Bruce Damonte Goto House, Napa County, IwamotoScott Architecture.
Flare 3 (Red) (2023). Hand embroidery on found photograph. © Julie Cockburn. Courtesy of Hopstreet Gallery, Brussels.
Chloé Milos Azzopardi, from Les formes qu’ils habitent en temps de crise, (2022).
Chloé Milos Azzopardi, from Les formes qu’ils habitent en temps de crise, (2022).
Kaya & Blank, Second Nature (SN.76), courtesy of the artists.
