As part of FADs support for emerging artists we have teamed up with The Other Art Fair to showcase 14 of the exhibiting artists at Boxpark.
The Artists were chosen by Ryan Stanier (Fair Director TOAF) and Mark Westall ( Creative Director FAD) and they will have a piece of their work exhibited by poster In an exhibition at The Boxpark Gallery.
There will also be an art opening on Thursday May 3rd which will have live + performance art, Music + free drink + much more.
In the lead up to this event FAD will be showcasing each of the 14 Artists who were chosen
#SEVEN: Ricki Nerretter
1.If you weren’t an artist, what else would you be?
Dead! Because I don’t think you choose to be an artist, it chooses you. No escape route there. I was always involved in art one way or another. From Art School to being a singer songwriter when i was young, then to do my installations, it all really goes hand in hand . I had a stroke at 38 that made me start installations as my sight was affected by it back then (could not carry on with drawing or painting ), so I guess the real art is to adapt to your destiny! Also I openly admit without my art I maybe would not be around any more, battling depression and a stroke you need to move the negatives out and the positives in.
2. Can you tell us more about your work and what are the main ideas you would like to express?
For my installations I use old “everyday” items, some of them I have possessed for a long time as a kid , but getting older you suddenly see everything in a different light.
Using items I carried all my life with me, gives it a “familiar” base but I combine it in a way to show how I see things today . Inspiration comes from every corner and avenue I take. But all ideas are “lived in” in one way or another.
In” Give the Gift of Live” I address for example organ donation, something totally alien to me till I met a friend of mine who has lived with donated organs for 10 Years. The fight for getting on the list again, the power of this “Gift” and his strong will inspired me endlessly. Funnily enough I even used a Pizza Divider ( is that the correct word?) as a little OP table in it, just simply to display the “ever ready” and “easy access” to things we need to live, for example food.
But all money in the world can’t buy you the organs you need, in a world where you can buy almost anything. I use for most of my work a Gluepistol (and i carry the scares to prove it haha), as it enables me to work really quickly when an idea arises. I am not sketching or planning. If I have an idea I work on it straight away , even so it still takes days to complete, sometimes month’s as I always include new ideas or thoughts.
Once finished I put it under a Glassdome, because the material may be “old”, “used” and “Secondhand”, the idea I capture is not meant to be “dusty”!
Embossed with golden Letters which capture the spirit of my work (being a song writer I am always keen to use words).
3. How do you start the process of making work?
It depends sometimes it might be a very spontaneous thing or something which I wanted to do for a long time. Sometimes I find something at a Car Boot sale and that kicks off the whole project.
4. Do you consider the viewer, when making your work?
Yes and No, when I start it is all about getting the idea into reality.
But I do see myself as a “Storyteller” in one way or another. And to be a good at that, you should be able to capture ones imagination and trigger more thoughts. So really I “like” to consider the viewer !!
5. Name 3 artists that have inspired your work?
Grayson Perry, I do find his ideas brilliant and he keeps me wanting to see more…
Mark Ryden, I find his work amazing and wanted to carry a bit of his beautiful paintings with me at all times, so I have a collage of his pictures tattooed on my arms….
Ron Mueck, went to see his work and it left me speechless, perfection but also surprised about the feelings it provoked in me…
6. Name 3 of your least favourite artists.
Probably the Conartist who was able to get some money of my Creditcard ( I actually never manage that), apart from that I think every artist has the right to be around. Art is always a matter of opinions in my eyes, so who I am to say I “dislike” a fellow artist.
7. What defines something as a work of art?
Easy, a work of art can be anything. It does not have to fit into a frame !!
It can be extremely beautiful or extremely disgusting. It can be tiny or huge, grey or colour, man made or nature, it is really down to the eye of the beholder.
8. In times of austerity, do you think art has a moral obligation to respond topically?
No I don’t think it “has” to. Nothing wrong with reacting to these topics, but also nothing wrong with introducing colour into the grey of everyday. It certainly affects me and inspires me, but it is my choice to use it or just live with it!
9. Anytime, any place – which artist’s body would you most like to inhabit?
I guess it has to be Andy Warhol for so many reasons.
Not only he was an brilliant artist, but also the time he was working in seemed to be “The Yellow Brickroad”.
How amazing was his insight of “5 Minutes Fame” in regards of X Factor and Big Brother for example. How well known are his works to so many people, many of them maybe not even interested in art as such.
10. What is your favourite ‘ism’?
“Get Up and Start Something” ism !
11. What was the most intelligent thing that someone said or wrote about your work?Has to be from Holly my twin, she said: “There is no reason (after not showing my stuff in a long time) to doubt myself , but maybe to doubt if i shoed it the right people.
She always kicked my backside to keep on working, without her I would not carried on, arrived at where I am today.
12. And the dumbest?
Well, I don’t recall anything “dumb”, as I really truly believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. So maybe things were said I did not like, but that does not make them dumb!
13. Which artists would you most like to rip off, sorry, I mean appropriate as a critique of originality and authorship?
That is a good one, I guess it has to be Damien Hirst.
Just simply as he just went ahead and did what he thought he had to do.
I briefly met him a view Years back trough a mutual friend, he seemed to be very down to earth (for being such a “crazy” mind).
I find him very brave ,it must be a massive deal to actually realize ideas which are not easily made in a tiny workshop. (I guess it is rather hard to acquire a shark at Ebay, just think about the postage!)
The story how he did saw the cow in two “not really” same size half’s and then decided it has to be done again as “he” would know that it was not meant that way. Even so the viewer would have probably seen a reason in the uneven measurements .That really made me laugh!
14. Do you care what your art costs? State your reasons!
I don’t really care what I spend on the things I need, I rather have beans on toast for a solid week then not being able to sleep because I want to start/finish an artwork.
But of course you need the money to carry on ,money does not buy me “ideas” but buys me “free time” to work on my ideas.
Pricing of my work is a gut feeling, some pieces I worked on for days others for months.
What is value anyway?! I find it always depressing if you go to a Sale for example, as soon as something is cheaper or reduced it is thrown on the ground, not picked and it seems it suddenly is of lower Value then the 4 weeks before ?Makes no sense.
15. If Moma and the Tate and the Pompidou wanted to acquire one of your works each, which would you want them to have?
Moma : “ Oil Prices Are too high” regarding the troops (English as well as USA) and their loss of Life for the country. The price these soldiers pay is too high in every aspect.
Tate: “Dark, Grey and Worthless” an installation of Rats being different to how we perceive them. Living in London and having rats as a constant “neighbour”, visible trough all Decades , they survive and grow in large numbers.
So maybe we should look a bit deeper!? Maybe they are survival artists… not dark, grey and worthless after all!?
Pompidou: “It’s all about reaching the Climax”, a fitting tribute to the City of Love!?
In every respect we all want to reach the Climax. Upwards and Onwards, in the Job, Life and Sex. Always reaching for the Sky, getting higher, where the Air gets thinner.
16. What’s next for you?
I see myself as a Carry On movie.
Regardless what happens or what not happens…. every funny moment , every crisis a challenge. A good Excuse to carry on, Would like to share my art with as many viewers as possible as this makes it alive.Hate it or Love it, as long as it reaches out and gets you, then I am happy!
The Other Art Fair + FAD pre fair party Thursday May 3rd 2012 from 6pm at Boxpark
Join The Facebook Event for more info and a free drink: www.facebook.com/
