Selected essays on contemporary art
Interview with Herve Constant
By Debbie Ellison
What is it like to be an artist in the 21st century? What drives a person to dedicate his/her life to the one goal of being creative and producing works of art?
'A work of art is a gift, not a commodity…. Every modern artist who has chosen to labour with a gift must sooner or later wonder how he or she is to survive in a society dominated by market exchange. And if the fruits of a gift are gifts themselves, how is the artist to nourish himself, spiritually as well as materially, in an age whose values are market values and whose commerce consists almost exclusively in the purchase and sale of commodities?'
Lewis Hyde, The Gift.
DE : Being an artist in the 21st century where materialism is rife must be difficult. What motivates you in keeping focused on your work?
HC: I think that as soon as you have made a choice, a committed choice in any field it is a point of no return. It becomes just one way of living. It isn’t a separated commitment and dedication; it becomes a prime decision in one’s life, a kind of obsession.
Now, to say that materialism is rife in the 21st century is actually pushing it a bit too far, since materialism has been a reflection of any society in any century. Materialism is very much integrated into the fibre of any culture, past and future. My motivation is a reflection of a deep interest, a sense of discovery, which leads every time to new research in different fields.
Obviously, art does not do the same thing, epoch after epoch, merely changing its style; its function varies enormously from one society to another. Art has always interacted with the social environment; it is never neutral. It may reflect, reinforce, transform, or repudiate, but it is always in some kind of necessary relation to the current social structure.
There is always a correlation between society’s values, directions, and motives and the art it produces.
DE: Do you think art enables the discovery of oneself? And that the discovery can never really end - as the human psyche is always evolving and changing? What have this motivation and drive taught you about yourself?
HC: It is obvious that the main interest of being into the Arts is to undergo self-discovery. This discovery is probably the most enjoyable part of art; knowledge through travel, books, meetings etc..I feel I am very lucky as Art gives me the possibility to travel to some very exotic places such as Havana, Cuba (for the Festival of Digital Art), Seoul, South Korea (Biennial) Exile art in Copenhagen, St Petersburg, Russia, Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyvaskyla Finland, and most recently to Vilnius, Lithuania (Artist’s Book exhibition and touring). These travels have been a strong part of a self-discovery process. To mix and talk with different nationalities, see different behaviours and values makes one ask many questions. My main interest is to keep that curiosity and questioning alive. Life is full of surprises; it can change your perception of things, attitudes and characters. What is so important amongst this discovery is to keep in mind the humanitarian side of life. We are in this world for a short while. Therefore nothing is worth taking too seriously. “Flaner” (stroll) through our destiny, maybe is the description. Gathering information through our “Pilgrimage”, make the most of it. Becoming better towards our neighbours, more human and kind.
This motivation has taught me to concentrate to the maximum, to live fully in a certain puzzle and structure. Being aware of what is most important to my life, to give time and resources all to a given goal. In return, this leads to a fulfilment, peace of mind, being at peace with myself. Of course, those remarks can and might certainly be interpreted as very selfish and self centred. But, since the end result is our behaviour in a community, a society, I find it very, very important to feel fully satisfied, at peace and fulfilled. If it is not the case, the relationship with the world would be false, bitter and aggressive. The end result of this aggression can very often be what I notice: a strong will of purchasing and a vacuum of unhappiness. I am personally convinced that a great interest in a materialistic world is a reflection of a missing satisfaction of a spiritual quest.
DE:Self-motivation obviously is a key motivator for your work. What other influences motivate your drive forward as an artist?
HC: The more difficult it becomes, the more it challenges me to touch my own limits and potential, to see what point in myself I can reach. The Viennese psychoanalyst Otto Rank once wrote (in 1932) about the artist - “His calling is not a means of livelihood, but life itself…he does not practice his calling, but is it.” Today, however, whatever we do, we are supposed to do it for the sake of “making a living”, and the number of people, especially in the artistic and intellectual professions, who might once have challenged this view has notably decreased. Self-motivation can be generated by the life of some other artists. A certain way of living I respect, an attitude: their special commitment towards their work.
For we are what we are devoted to, and what we are devoted to motivates our conduct. I do not believe an artist gives meaning to his audience. Among the existential modes of truth telling are the solitude of the philosopher and the isolation of the artist: this is what the modern artist understood in maintaining an independent position as an outsider.
I usually work from a theme, which very often leads to produce a new series of work. Therefore, for the last few years it has been a continuous follow up of themes related to communication, poetry especially from the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, symbolism of objects and colours, Kabbala.
DE: I think this may sound patronising and condescending to the majority of people. Not becoming self-obsessed and one point focused does it mean you are less a quality of a person?
HC: I don’t agree with that comment or rather, I would say to be able to continue that commitment and dedication I need to make abstraction of a certain reality. That reality might not be the outside world reality. If I don’t create my own world I would simply find it too hard to keep my path. I need to make a choice. It is obvious that my truth isn’t the same as others, if you consider the different background, upbringing, race, education.
I see the world in fact as a circle. Half of it is immersed in the water. The circle is a book, our book. It turns at a different speed throughout our lives. In the end we all get approximately the same amount of experiences, bad or good. The major events in our lives are similar to all the rest of us in the world. Birth and death, unemployment at some stage. We all have in this world some importance.
DE.On visiting your website http://www.herveconstant.co.uk, it seems apparent that a large part of your work has a subject of darkness, death and war rather than happiness and celebration. Are these subjects close to your heart or perhaps you find it easier to work within such powerful topic subjects?
HC: From the beginning, I have always liked the drama and the theatrical in visual arts. I come from a background of theatre school; 5-6 years in total. I studied at the Conservatoire de Toulon for 4 years before moving to Paris to study at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Dramatiques, rue Blanche. Therefore, when I started, my interests were based on such artists like Soutine, Goya, Giacometti etc.
I do like the idea of existentiality in art. A kind of “Outsider”. We make choices, but they are very often imposed upon us. Also, since I come from a broken family and spent nearly 10 years in an orphanage, I am responding to my first few years in life. The lack of warmth made me more withdrawn from my contemporaries.
To study theatre was to search and try to mix more with other people and to become accepted. Apart from the idea of being loved - I wanted to discover poetry and plays and to appear in different stage characters. But the most important was the wish to discover a new world.
Around that time, at the start of my studies in theatre I was very much interested in visual arts, cutting photographs.
DE: It is said that art can be a form of therapy and I suggest that perhaps you have used it to exorcise the darkness you have experienced in your life. Indeed many psychologists use artwork in which to discover their patients’ inner thoughts. Do you think perhaps, that you may begin a self-nurturing phase in the near future, where you deliberately focus on topics more empathetic to the joys of life?
HC: I would say no more than a certain way of dressing could describe a personality. It seems evident that as soon as you put a line on paper or canvas it does reveal part of your person. Their subjects, colours, themes are describing your inner thoughts. In the end I don’t think we can lie, since a voice, attitude and aspiration all will be revealed.
I believe our first step in life, our first behaviour, is the one to bring us to our last one. We don’t change a great deal. It is true that we slightly change through our pilgrimage or “Chemin de croix” but the change isn’t of much consequence.
Even though I work more and more with photos and videos, the subjects are still very much similar with the past work. They are constantly referring to the theme of communication or rather non-communication.
Overall my choice of books, films, theatre and visual art is still more or less the same; their subject are still very much similar than before. I like a book, which gives me room for imagination and re-creation, where the mysterious takes place. In visual arts, I like space in the work and a surreal feel. I would mention artists such as de Chirico, Magritte, and the work of Giacometti. In books, writers like Marquez, Pessoa, Kafka, Rimbaud, Artaud etc. They all have presence in their writing.
DE. From your CV, one notices that you have had 8 years education in the Arts. From your point of view, how important do you think Art education in becoming a successful artist?
HC: Art school education is like being part of a stable. Quite a few of your peers will without any doubt continue within their chosen field. The chance to come across their path is very likely; it is a way to share the good and the difficult times, maybe to support each other and keep the adrenalin going through competition and career.
Art education is and can most certainly be fundamental in the sense that one has more focus and time to concentrate on diverse problems relating to education and creativity.
DE: More recently, you have been working with technology such as digital photography and videos. Could you explain this change in direction?
I have always liked photography. When I started painting and drawing, and later on printing such as lithography, silkscreen and etching, I thought photography was something different, something I couldn’t get into; another world.
Then the day I started photography, I was invited to Tuzla, Bosnia as an artist in residence for a month, in 1998. The 4 artists chosen were invited to work and show in a Museum of Tuzla. Since we were travelling across the country; being shown the aftermath of the war, I started to do a long series of photos depicting my feelings against that war. The view of the park we were taken into, with the small coffins of children had their photos on top, the park being turned into a cemetery made me realise all that absurdity. Shocking is the word. I took a lot of photos. On my return to London I went through the lot and decided I did find a new path, a new strong interest. I got some photographic material and now it is a strong part of my vocation just as is painting. My most recent paintings are very often based from the photos I took. The result has become more representational and figurative
DE. You have an impressive list of solo and group exhibitions, which have taken your work to a global level. How do you evaluate your own success as an artist and how do you believe others evaluate of artists in general?
HC: For me, real success is the urge and ability to keep involved in creative research. Of course, having exhibitions, obtaining reviews and prizes can feed the will to continue. That is my way to evaluate personal success. I doubt that is the understanding of success for most people, since success must be define by how much money and material acquisition is garnered and accumulated.
Money and selling is a way to keep the creative process going, to have more free time in the studio, travel and afford more art materials. It isn’t about having a bigger kitchen fitted or a very expensive car, but more about a spiritual quest, to keep at peace with oneself. Not a material acquisition or more physical comfort.
Real success is based on a real platform. If that isn’t the case, it will create a strong feeling of jealously, envy and hate. Artists like Cezanne, Pollock have been replaced by professionals geared to the organisational imperative, who feel a proper respect for all the advantages that can be gained through official channels and obedience to institutional procedures. Now, very often artists want art to serve their careers rather than seeing themselves as serving art.
What was formerly an ideal has become the very framework of ambition: “making it on sales alone.” The real reason to do anything is to do it for a personal pleasure, for oneself. That is where motivation, commitment appears. A genuine search.
DE: In the past 30 years of being an Artist, you have explored many subject matters and mediums. Could you highlight a few of your most favourite projects, explaining your fondness and what you were hoping to achieve?
HC:One of the themes which seems to have come back quite often in the last few years is Communication”. It seems to me to be the one topic which crops up regularly.. One of my first exhibitions in London was at the Centre Space Gallery. It was a mixture of paintings and text seen separately onto the wall. The text didn’t have a direct response to the paintings, only a vague parallel.
One of my most recent realisations is an artist’s book. The book is actually touring from Vilnius, Lithuania going next year to such places as Lille, France, Frankfurt, Germany. Other venues are planned for the New Year. The selection chose 116 artists from 269. The subject is the “23 Sins” depicting envy, jealousy, greed, gluttony etc.. I chose “Killing” for the reason that most recently I did a series of paintings and prints, photos using imagery such as toy’s guns, coffin, crosses etc. I thought that for the competition I had enough material to have a go for an artist’s book.
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