Next up in Current Projects’ series of solo exhibitions at Metro
Arts this year is Liam O’Brien, a Brisbane-based emerging artist. Liam caught
up with Current Projects’ curator for the exhibition, Richard Stride, for an
interview to give you a little insight into the show.
RS: For those unfamiliar with your practice, what are the
interests that drive it and how do you approach them?
LO: I think
this is something I'm still struggling to come to terms with myself. Looking
back over the
past few years, the majority of my work could
be summarised as a critical response to the aspects
of capitalism that impede personal freedoms - specifically in
relation to the body. However, as
much as this
was based on my own personal experience, it was also a product of art school,
in which I felt
pressured into making work that, to a large extent, had social reform as its
primary
objective. However, since graduating I've
been considering the function of art on a personal
and social level. Whilst every expression is to a certain extent
political, I don't think that art is
the most effective
medium for seeking political change. In addition to this, given my own cultural
perspective, I don't feel like I'm in a position to be telling
anybody how to live. So now I'm trying to
distance
myself from making didactic or semiotically-driven work. I'm responding more to
aspects
of my daily life, and using particular occurrences
as the inception for new works. Obviously concepts and aesthetics are still
important, but at this stage I'm focusing more on
trying to
generate emotive and non-verbal responses for the audience. It’s not an easy
transition though.
RS: So do you hope that by shifting the focus from language to the
sensory or emotive when creating your work, the viewer’s response will
similarly shift?
LO: Yes, that’s my intention. If I have one main criticism of contemporary art (based on my own engagements) it’s that a lot of work is either too conceptually or too aesthetically driven, and does nothing for me emotionally. This reason, along with those I listed above, are why I’m currently focusing on this type of engagement. If you reject language as the basis for understanding a work, it becomes about trying to communicate on a more subconscious level, and towards a more shared experience.
LO: Yes, that’s my intention. If I have one main criticism of contemporary art (based on my own engagements) it’s that a lot of work is either too conceptually or too aesthetically driven, and does nothing for me emotionally. This reason, along with those I listed above, are why I’m currently focusing on this type of engagement. If you reject language as the basis for understanding a work, it becomes about trying to communicate on a more subconscious level, and towards a more shared experience.
RS: In the roles you play in your
performances, do you hope to explore issues that are broadly
relevant to the everyday person, or are they
a more personal or introspective process?
LO: In the past, my performances were about
translating my personal responses to certain issues into a generic ‘everyman’
performing identity onto which people could potentially project themselves. In
this way, I was attempting to address issues relating to broader social
experience. However, I’m currently unsure of where I stand on the issue.
Certainly, I am trying to reach people on the level of shared (emotive)
experience, but whether I can position this experience in relation to specific
issues (eg. employment or alcoholism) is uncertain. Whilst my work does come
from personal responses to the outside world, my daily experience (presumably
one of privilege) is potentially much different to many other peoples, so what
right do I have to assume this ‘everyman’ role? I’m beginning to think that
whilst it’s important for me to be aware of my responses to the outside world
and use these as the inception for new works, it may not be as important to
communicate what the response is actually in relation to. That way the audience
can only respond to the performance on experiential terms.
RS: In some recent performances, you have invited the audience to
re-enact your original performances. How does that fit into this process, and
what are your motives for it?
LO: Here
you’re referring to the participatory work that I presented at the 2012 Brisbane
Emerging Art Festival. This work was an extension of my ‘Proposals’ series,
which focused on the creative re-appropriation and repurposing of urban space
for the individual. For B.E.A.F I wanted to expand the scale of the work from
an individual to a more social level in order to see whether that increase would
make the work more successful - successful in the sense of inviting people to
experience what I had felt in carrying out the initial engagements, and the
existence of that feeling as proof of a particular ideology at work. In the end
it was a bit hit-and-miss, and only one of the engagements (involving flour)
really communicated the intention. At this stage I’m not interested in pursuing
this type of participatory practice.
RS: Where do you situate your art in regard
to your actual performances and their video and
photographic documentation; or are you more
inclined to see your practice holistically as art
without concern for such distinctions?
LO: Whilst in the past I have presented the
same action across multiple mediums, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that my
practice is holistic. I think it has more to do with being inexperienced and
trying to become a better practitioner. I’d definitely say that the majority of
my practice is performative, but whether an action is most effectively
expressed as a live performance, video or photograph is often difficult to
determine – hence the production of multiple forms. It may be something that
diminishes with practice, however I do like being able to chop-and-change. I
guess you need to consider commodification as well, and whether you ever want
your practice to be profitable.
RS: Where do you see your exhibition at
Current Projects heading?
LO: The exhibition at Current Projects will
be my first proper solo-show, and to a certain extent I’m feeling the pressure
of that – of everything being on me and not wanting to disappoint. I want to
use the opportunity to push my practice into areas that I’m not entirely
comfortable with, and at this stage am planning on presenting a couple of more
installation-based ideas. Overall, it definitely feels like a departure from my
previous work. Whether it’ll pay off - I don’t know. I’m interested to see how
people react.
RS: Is there anything you would like the
audience to bring to the experience of viewing your work at
this exhibition?
LO: No, not
really. If people come that'll be good enough. If they take something away from
it, that'll be better.