The sacred and the profane is the link between Daniel Melim and Pedro Kogen, for the next exhibition in the Gallery of Prazeres, in Calheta. What unites these two artists? They are both talented young men that are not afraid to experiment, or express their drive in multiple forms. What distinguishes them? The way they view everything that surrounds them. Daniel Melim has an almost naturalistic work that addresses the nature and human beings in a social context. It's a more carnal artist, more physical that transmits thru the drawings his emotions. Pedro Kogen is the reverse of the coin is an artist driven by logic, by meditation, which mirrors a three-dimensional work. He is less impulsive, more neural, more intimate and it shows from a distance literally. A duality to be seen on the 5th of October.
What is the idea behind this exhibition?
Daniel Melim: It is a meeting between the routes of both us. There are two distinct views. I work more in the area of the images in terms of painting and drawing and Pedro Kogen has a more three-dimensional aspect, with a common focus, we draw Pleasures. We designed the nature as well as our concerns, what interests us both, that idea of the sacred and the profane, in a simple and expanded way, not in the religious sense of the term. This will be the guiding thread of the exhibition, we did not have a definite idea from the start, because we came here to do an artist residency with a very open mind and from there we could see what appeared.
Your work reflects nature and its surroundings, whether in painting or drawing. It is in this environment that you feel more at ease?
DM: I work from three-dimensional models, in this case the nature and then redo the images in the studio; I still work them later with my imagination, if you will, through my personal references and much of the comic book universe. The nature, indeed here, in this environment of protected garden from the outside, or whether in the non-guarded beaches where I work, touch me, I felt directly in this places these natural forces such converging, the balance and unbalance of it. I feel life vibrating on those places.
Your artistic universe reflects some of the current Impressionists. The light and shadows are two aspects that concern you?
DM: Yes, in the sense of a proximity to the outside and the studio. I do not like being isolated, supposedly like a genius, creating in a closed cubicle, but in the sense of naturalism, impressionism later in the nineteenth century. Work the impressions from the outside, of such a nature that is not protected, in that sense yes. The light and shadow, textures, fluidity and rigidity, all goes to my work. My interpretation has always these two levels, the work on the street and inside that is more synthetic, more accurate in terms of image. I may develop this strand of clearance from the street, but there's always work within.
The non-guarded beaches what attracted you in this topic?
DM: Because, has this connection to a non mediated nature by the people, meaning there's nobody watching, I am responsible for my steps, I like that idea. The responsibility in today's context is not being watched, it is something that I feed and experience.
Why this whole sequence of drawings is black and white seems there has been a more thorough job than other color drawings?
DM: Because it took longer, are images made by hand. Reflecting the dimension of time, which has nothing to do with the inclusion of color, is related to the minutia one inflicts itself. Requires meticulous in this case is about textures. There is special attention to the roughness and how the story of this shower, this boat and this cliff is told. It is a single element black over white. As I intend to narrate each roughness very tightly this leads to a kind of extension in time, because I could also have done it in four strokes and I chose not to do so. It is monochromatic, but one feels this profound work.
The fact that you are an islander, of isolation to draw, beings of a sort of island in yourself, have any influence on your work as an artist?
DM: I think it took me a long time to realize the influence of having grown up in Madeira and although I reside in Lisbon for almost 11 years, only the last seven I realized the specific influence of growing here and not elsewhere. The return embarks the riches of the island and this dimension of which you speak, I do not know if it's the moment, but it feel very tightly to my individual presence in the world. As a person leans on a stone, or even on one element has this dimension of the island. If you notice in my painting there is always a single component, for more turbulent and dynamic that it is. This is the idea of the island, but especially the relevance of the vibration of these organic rocks, the cliffs, the stairs that people dig in the mountain, the terraces, this almost constant spring where everything regenerates and I think that this dimension is present on my sketch. On the other hand, I draw on the street, I offer drawings to people who are in recovery, this is the result of a project I have with a friend, a psychologist. There is also the work I did in Ribeira Seca, with Rigo, for a community that has a very different idea of freedom. It has to do with a lack of sense of community in a broader aspect. The island has this excessive isolation of the people and I also speak of me. My work goes in this direction to open myself to the community, being in an island, creates the need to free myself more, to interact with others, to nurture freedom and the sense of shared democracy.
One of the concerns reflected in your works is the light, shadow and geometry.
Pedro Kogen: It's more space and also has a concern with the support, how the designs hold, the eligibilities and how materials play with each other. I also have a parallel interest is that physical theory.
How we introduce a physical work, in artistic terms?
PK: The work of magnets (from the series "en attendant") is another of theme of this research. All these aspects are mixed and sometimes there are some that focus more what you were saying, the light and shadow. Before coming here in Paris, I had an order for a framework for a private collector, my concern after doing the design was integrated it into the frame. To this end I made a resin support with a magnetic plate, so the question is how the two plans clung with each other? Then I join all, the magnetic side, the light and the shadow. I'm trying to unite all these points and synthesize them.
The materials interested you?
PK: Yes, it has to do with architecture, although I try to deviate from this route. A person has a job and invariably brings all that baggage, I but do not want to say anything architectural, yes I have a look at the space and proportions, that comes from my training. The materials interest me. For this exhibition of Prazeres, I found burned wood and we will see how are going to use it for display. The material as itself and inserted in other areas.
You work on the three-dimensional?
PK: Yes, you're correct. I think when I do a drawing, I do not imagine it in two dimensions, I think it always in terms of a context, an environment. I have a kind of obsession. Even when I idealized something for a private collector, I know where the north, the south, the east and the west are, where that light will enter the room.
You imagine all before?
PK: Yes, it has everything. If the light is a more grazing, or if it is more tenuous. Everything enters in the final result.
And all is how you imagined it or are there any surprises?
PK: I cannot say that I can dominate everything, no one can be so sure. I'm not like other artist who leaves parts at random, I do the opposite. All do, is a good thing, to leave some to random, for example, in this work with Daniel, this artist residency, I test this chance, by type of meeting, the type of site. I'm trying to let myself be influenced by this aspect, because normally I'm more perfectionist.
Why you left architecture? Because you felt you explored everything in that particular area or you felt the call of the arts?
PK: I'm like all painters; I started drawing as a child. I decided to follow the architecture more because of the family. I spent seven years in a very good workshop, participated in fantastic projects that I will never have in life, the level was very good and had an excellent quality of life. I do not know if it was because of the crisis of 30 years, decided to change. I'm now developing a series of projects and do not consider myself neither architect nor an artist. From furniture to a magazine, to concepts for the cities of the future, I am simultaneously painting for galleries and I still do installations for public spaces. Basically, I cannot put myself in a bubble and a category. I do projects that propose me.
You think that living in Paris helped your new career, because if it was in Portugal would be harder?
PK: I do not know if it would be more difficult. I cannot answer that. Through a series of causes and effects I am residing in this city, I've been there eight years and know many people there. Helps because there is a lot of art and the level is very good. It is a city that does not stop.
Tell me a little bit of work they develop for this exhibition.
PK: It is the sacred and profane. In this context of drawings and paintings, I will propose that portrait a phrase attributed, I believe, to the Chinese, who claim that there are three sacred moments in life, birth, marriage and death. So I did a drawing for each of these steps. In conversations I had with Daniel always tried to create a link with the island, I'm not from here, he is and that contrast clarified something. I tried to use my distance as an additional layer to the work. Then these moments are related with a friend who got married here, are photos that I worked, I will do them digitally and the end with hand drawing. Closely we not see anything; you can only appreciate from afar. It is the intimate distance. I like to be close, but from afar. After I'm painting a waterfall, I am fascinated by the landscapes and mists of Madeira. I'll call it vertical hierophany, is a complicated term, which is used by Eliade Mirlea and simply means manifestation of the sacred.
