ICUL CTION
C o n t e m p o r a r y A r t R e v i e w
Mark Franz
Special Issue
Zelda Deforested- and your work in general- conveys an effective criticism concerning the materialistically driven culture that saturates our contemporary age. But while artists from the contemporary scene, as Ai WeiWei or more recently Jennifer Linton, use to express open socio-political criticism in their works, you seem more interested to hint the direction, inviting the viewers to a process of self-reflection that may lead to subvert a variety of usual, almost stereotyped cultural categories. Do you consider that your works could be considered political in a certain sense or did you seek to maintain a more neutral approach? And in particular, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in contemporary society?
I do consider some of my work to be political, including Zelda Deforested, as it does hint at stereotypes often associated with certain political factions, such as“ preppers.” This is not overt, and is open to interpretation, but I could see how these associations could be made, whether intentional or unintentional. In many ways, political work can be seen as synonymous with contemporary art. My last visit to one of the world’ s most prominent collections of contemporary art was an immersion in politically charged art from artists around the world. This communicated to me that political art has immense cultural and economic value, and can even be seen as a form of entertainment, not unlike watching or listening to the news. But it also confirmed that art is a powerful venue for social change, as showing someone what his or her peers think is the most effective way to alter that person’ s opinion.
Besides producing your stimualting works you hold the Chair of the Graphic Design area, in the School of Art + Design at Ohio University and you teach Graphic Design, New Media, Visual Systems, and Interaction
Design: how do these aspects of your work influence your practice? In particular, have you ever been inspired from your students ' ideas?
My teaching and research are completely symbiotic because I enjoy teaching the principles and methods used in my practice. I am inspired by my students ideas all the time, and in particular, inspired by how group dialogue can produce increasingly good ideas. We use three distinct methods to develop ideas, one is the critique process, which is dialogue, and helps to verbally express and refine projects and ideas. The second is image making, sketching, drawing, and creating iterations or work in order to efficiently work through options. The third is research, reading, and finding references, in order to be informed about what is out there already, and what we can add to what has already been done. All of these methods produce extraordinary results that are inspiring.
Over these years your works have been showcased in several occasions, including your recent participation at It Figures: The Body in Art at the ARC Gallery, Chicago. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?
The audience reception is a important part of my process as a designer, and this is where the psychological aspect becomes really essential. I see formal qualities as building
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