ART Habens Caroline Monnet
The“ Cougar” in my image has been stuffed and put in the museum with the other curiosities. Again, it is through the overt humour and lightheartedness in the work that I hope these sytems of signification become apparant to the viewer. So yes, I think about both accessibility of the image to the viewer and using the tropes and stereotypes that are already familiar, while at the same time being very aware of the communicatory potential in saying something meaningful about our society and how the viewer might be able to“ translate” and“ read” these cues, jokes or subversions in the work. work and don’ t think about having to present the work to a live audience until much later in the process.
Despite my irrational fear of audiences, I am not afraid of negative feedback. When it does come my way it really helps me figure out how the work is communicating or miscommunicating. All responses to the work are equally valid and helpful. Of course, positive feedback is very heartening and gives me the impetus to keep working. When even one other person‘ gets it’ and the work is able to impart just a bit of contemplation or emotion, it is very rewarding. And it feels just a little less lonely.
I am terrified of the audience yet art is made for an audience, so therein lies an inexplicable paradox for me. I have only attempted a few live performance projects and each time I nearly passed-out. This is why I hide behind the screen— the audience can see me, but I can’ t see the audience— at least not when the work is being filmed.
No, quite seriously( and there is a lot of truth to that first statement), I often have an unexplainable impulse and urge to do what I do( and I realize this is also cliché). I have attempted to stop producing work for short periods of time and witnessed my health and mental well-being deteriorate surprisingly quickly. The difficulty of making art is a lifelong challenge that I can’ t seem to dissengage from. That being said, I also usually make the
I have a number of projects on the go, some very long term that I will hopefully work on for decades and others much shorter in scope. Currently, I am interested in exploring simple video special effects( still involving the figure and landscape) and hopefully will have a new work finished by the end of the summer. I am also very excited that I received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council to produce a collaborative video work with my Mom who is a textile designer and craftsperson extraordinaire. This will go into production in late summer / early fall. This should be another adventure with just a few of those continuing growing pains thrown in for good measure! So I hope that the work will evolve in scope and complexity. Maybe one day I will even start painting again. Thank you so much for having me and asking such engaging questions.
An interview by
, curator and curator
Summer Special Issue 2015 23 405