What is behind it
Erdős Ibolya\’s interview with Zsuzsi Csiszér
It was not so long ago when in the art of Zsuzsi Csiszér the big-sized portraits were replaced by ripped portraits, and now she has made a step forward on the road of destruction creating quite a constructive result.
It was in January 2008 at the exhibition in honour of El Kazovszkij that we met her new pictures bearing her new style, which combine collage, decollage and comics adding some kind of individual mythology to it.
While in the case of ripped portraits she painted the rips of the pictures, now she does use the technique of tearing back.
She is persistent in finding what is behind the surface, just like the writing says in one of her paintings (\’Is there anybody behind it?\’)
When I met her and her works 9 years ago she painted transistors and heavily dotted \’Space\’ pictures.
Then the dots started to disappear from the canvas providing space for a collapsing metropolis.
Since then she has painted record covers, grass pictures, bubble blowing faces, women, blurring portraits, woman faces hidden behind a veil, then the damaged pictures came, first painted and now in reality.
I hardly get to know her current pictures when she is already painting the new ones, in which you can sense the previous line and the formulation of a new question.
She is an artist ceaselessly searching, constantly driven by the desire to discover her own self and the world, which naturally shows in her art. At the same time I wonder whether this way she is giving up the chance to form a more or less uniform style.
I asked her about this as well in a conversation about her new pictures.
E: Your latest pictures are composed of the mixture of several stylistic characteristics, as we can spot traces of collage, decollage, pop-art in them and there are parts with sticking, painting and drawing.
What made you take this step, which is quite surprising compared to what you did 1-1,5 years ago?
Cs: It\’s interesting what you are saying in connection with the remix. It reminded me of the musical expression \’bootleg\’, when a completely new song is created from songs that bear very different stylistic characteristics. In this sense, we can really talk about collage, the women portraits use pop as well, then I scratch the whole thing and they become decollage. I also paint dreamlike and funny graffiti faces so that there is a diverse visual communication in the picture. I check where the paper is not properly stuck on the canvas and if I find one like this, I tear it off.
E: These pictures are so full of details that the spectator can take a long time to take them in fully. The first things that catch our attention are the women, who are idolized icons of film posters, magazines and comics from the last century till nowadays. Only after this we are able to discover a lot of modestly present details, which contrast the effect created by the super women.
Will you tell me what motivated you when you found out this kind of visual expression?
Cs: The kind of challenge to change the visual dynamics that I was already used to and to disturb the spectator regarding form and content. I can express more by using the sticking technique, well, at least I think I can. We are overbalanced from the \’horror vacui\’ by an enlarged part, which in case of the portraits is a provocation. In this exuberant visual world the enlarged faces gain a new meaning, the smaller parts are more highlighted while the faces become more human. What I mean is what the looks refer to, how lascivious or cold a portrait can be as they are not stuck but painted.
E: The overal picture at the end is determinded by the details, the parts, which it consists of. We can see a part of an old TV magazine, a black and white family photo, the portraits of old Hungarian film actors and many of the poster women are from the second half of the last century. I have a very nostalgic feeling when looking at the paintings, as if you were looking back on time or searching through the little box found in the attic.
Cs: I have a huge collection of pictures, old photos, magazines, pictures taken from films, old postcards. Moreover, I have an incomplete stamp collection as well. Goods inherited or found at flee markets. I have them so that I can always select from them when I have an idea for a collage. This way it is not the picture that determines which direction I should follow. The photos show how much traditions have changed in my family, how I can fix this in my wider environment and how much I am an outsider in a world driven by fashion. I conduct a visual conversation with myself.
E: In the paintings there are inscriptions with stencil letters as well, sometimes in Hungarian, sometimes in English. Due to the type of the letters, I have a feeling as if the pictures had been stamped with these inscriptions, like a crate of bananas or something. However, these are very personal messages from you: Am I funny?, There is something behind it, Talk with me, etc.
These are the inscriptions for me that give the final atmosphere of the pictures and make them complete.
Cs: The inscriptions are additional layers of the pictures. They are always visible. I made a pattern for them so that they unite the information they convey in each picture. As if I was creating and artificial wall, where they used to stick posters, ads, all kinds of paper, then a graffiti artist came and put his own message across the whole surface.
The message always shows my attitude to the particular work. For example, \’There is something behind it\’ tells the spectator to lift the picture up a little and look behind it. This is a game.
E: Regarding the decollage line of these pictures, I suppose that your damaged paintings from 2008 can be considered as pre-paintings, though that time probably you were motivated by other ideas.
Cs: While creating the pictures you mentioned, my mind was occupied by the thought that what we see is only one reality and there is another one and another one behind it, so the thing depicted is not what it seems. Just like Heiddegger writes about the non-existent entity, and saying that the illusion veil is nothing itself.
In those paintings I used a peculiar way of picture destruction. This was more sophisticated and mystical compared to the present one.
The torn bits within the composed picture were the prints of conscious coincidenses.
I started to tear into the painted plain surfaces (the torn parts were painted as well), I destroyed the surface and tore it into pieces, I damaged the portraits. Eventually a new surface was created, which made it possible to re-think the aspects. Meanwhile, the sight of some ripped, neglected huge billboards by the motorways kept returning to my mind. It is due to this vision that I began to apply paper on canvas later.
E: Many elements of your personal mythology are about searching the idea of part and whole, microcosmos-macrocosmos, the idea that everything is in connection with everything , that there is a passage between different dimensions and even finding an underlying identity or meaning.
Cs: I only feel in my proper place when I play. At the moment I keep tearing. Part and whole. I like fiddling about with a picture or an object. I must see it in order to be able to be through with it. Following the good direction depends on little realizations. It is important, because during my development my works change and I don\’t cling to a style which people are used to from me. You have to recognize if it is not progressive. I think it\’s necessary to be home in more genres, because I need to express everything in an adequate way.
E: You say a style which people are used to from you. Aren\’t you afraid that due to the frequent changes you will not have a recognizable style? What do you think about this? Do you think it is important at all?
Cs: I do exploit a topic I am interested in. That\’s another thing that it\’s fast but it is possible to follow. Anyway, it is not the style that makes an artist, but the open-mindedness, insistence or non-insistence on routine solutions.
My problem with realist paintings is that the topic can always be new but I am imprisoned with my message. Since the way of expression is given, moreover, it is didactic, people like me would like to widen the possibilities of the style. So far I managed this by making chains of pictures, and when reaching a certain point – like bubbles or old ladies – I started to step over the boundaries of realism. Slowly I tried to neglect the techniqual constraints and to express myself in bigger contexts. This is what\’s happening now as well.
E: During the stages in your painting would you like to make the world more and more understandable, mainly for yourself?
Cs: Maybe this is one reason, but I also believe that what I do is important and this way I can open up channels for other people. My specific expression of perception might have the same energies as the energies of someone else\’s perception, therefore I may even be able to help. I believe in these common energies, otherwise my existence would be pointless, if I only analyze the world for myself. I must admit, sometimes it\’s good to find some truth while painting, but it\’s only enough to make me go on.
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