Ivan Juarez
Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW and senses, could be a key medium for artistically communicating concepts and meanings of the site. My interventions try to be respectful to where they are, but at the same time full of a statement with complexity and purpose. In some specific projects I take metaphorical approaches from our surroundings. I think, symbolic strategies still occupy a special place in contemporary culture, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, carrying the symbolic connotation of the landscape, the memory of place and the question of preserved tradition, memory, spiritual need and language. These significances are in particular occasions powerful inspiring concepts for my art work.
Another interesting project of yours that has particularly impressed us and on which we would like to spend some words is entitled Window to landscape: we appreciated the way you have been capable of creating a point of convergence between a kind of imagery belonging to universal imagery and direct experience with concrete aesthetics you convey through a personal language, establishing direct relations with the viewers: a crucial aspect of your practice is oriented toward the understanding the landscape through sensory experiences: so we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?
In my artistic process the aesthetic experience is a significant reference of my work. In this particular topic, I have been developing an artistic research interest, Sensory Landscapes, which is an art practice and educational initiative dedicated to“ sensing the landscape” through the conceptualization and findings of innovative methodologies for exploring the landscape through sensory experiences. The projects carried out at this research propose to sensitize on ecological / environmental values through complex intersections between creative practice, critical response and sensorial approach to our landscapes. They respond to people’ s diverse experiences of landscape, becoming instruments that utilize experiential approach as a method of site-approximation by increasing the perception of the enviroment through: scents, textures, sounds, tastes and scenes.