Monday 13 August 2012

Liam O'Brien Interview


Next up in Current Projects’ series of solo exhibitions at Metro Arts this year is Liam O’Brien, a Brisbane-based emerging artist. Liam caught up with Current Projects’ curator for the exhibition, Richard Stride, for an interview to give you a little insight into the show.

RS: For those unfamiliar with your practice, what are the interests that drive it and how do you approach them? 

LO: I think this is something I'm still struggling to come to terms with myself. Looking back over thepast few years, the majority of my work could be summarised as a critical response to the aspectsof capitalism that impede personal freedoms - specifically in relation to the body. However, asmuch as this was based on my own personal experience, it was also a product of art school, in which I felt pressured into making work that, to a large extent, had social reform as its primaryobjective. However, since graduating I've been considering the function of art on a personaland social level. Whilst every expression is to a certain extent political, I don't think that art isthe most effective medium for seeking political change. In addition to this, given my own culturalperspective, I don't feel like I'm in a position to be telling anybody how to live. So now I'm trying todistance myself from making didactic or semiotically-driven work. I'm responding more to aspectsof my daily life, and using particular occurrences as the inception for new works. Obviously concepts and aesthetics are still important, but at this stage I'm focusing more ontrying to generate emotive and non-verbal responses for the audience. It’s not an easy transition though.

RS: So do you hope that by shifting the focus from language to the sensory or emotive when creating your work, the viewer’s response will similarly shift?

LO: Yes, that’s my intention. If I have one main criticism of contemporary art (based on my own engagements) it’s that a lot of work is either too conceptually or too aesthetically driven, and does nothing for me emotionally. This reason, along with those I listed above, are why I’m currently focusing on this type of engagement. If you reject language as the basis for understanding a work, it becomes about trying to communicate on a more subconscious level, and towards a more shared experience.

RS: In the roles you play in your performances, do you hope to explore issues that are broadlyrelevant to the everyday person, or are they a more personal or introspective process?
LO: In the past, my performances were about translating my personal responses to certain issues into a generic ‘everyman’ performing identity onto which people could potentially project themselves. In this way, I was attempting to address issues relating to broader social experience. However, I’m currently unsure of where I stand on the issue. Certainly, I am trying to reach people on the level of shared (emotive) experience, but whether I can position this experience in relation to specific issues (eg. employment or alcoholism) is uncertain. Whilst my work does come from personal responses to the outside world, my daily experience (presumably one of privilege) is potentially much different to many other peoples, so what right do I have to assume this ‘everyman’ role? I’m beginning to think that whilst it’s important for me to be aware of my responses to the outside world and use these as the inception for new works, it may not be as important to communicate what the response is actually in relation to. That way the audience can only respond to the performance on experiential terms.
RS: In some recent performances, you have invited the audience to re-enact your original performances. How does that fit into this process, and what are your motives for it?
LO: Here you’re referring to the participatory work that I presented at the 2012 Brisbane Emerging Art Festival. This work was an extension of my ‘Proposals’ series, which focused on the creative re-appropriation and repurposing of urban space for the individual. For B.E.A.F I wanted to expand the scale of the work from an individual to a more social level in order to see whether that increase would make the work more successful - successful in the sense of inviting people to experience what I had felt in carrying out the initial engagements, and the existence of that feeling as proof of a particular ideology at work. In the end it was a bit hit-and-miss, and only one of the engagements (involving flour) really communicated the intention. At this stage I’m not interested in pursuing this type of participatory practice.

RS: Where do you situate your art in regard to your actual performances and their video andphotographic documentation; or are you more inclined to see your practice holistically as artwithout concern for such distinctions?
LO: Whilst in the past I have presented the same action across multiple mediums, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that my practice is holistic. I think it has more to do with being inexperienced and trying to become a better practitioner. I’d definitely say that the majority of my practice is performative, but whether an action is most effectively expressed as a live performance, video or photograph is often difficult to determine – hence the production of multiple forms. It may be something that diminishes with practice, however I do like being able to chop-and-change. I guess you need to consider commodification as well, and whether you ever want your practice to be profitable.
RS: Where do you see your exhibition at Current Projects heading?
LO: The exhibition at Current Projects will be my first proper solo-show, and to a certain extent I’m feeling the pressure of that – of everything being on me and not wanting to disappoint. I want to use the opportunity to push my practice into areas that I’m not entirely comfortable with, and at this stage am planning on presenting a couple of more installation-based ideas. Overall, it definitely feels like a departure from my previous work. Whether it’ll pay off - I don’t know. I’m interested to see how people react.  
RS: Is there anything you would like the audience to bring to the experience of viewing your work atthis exhibition?
LO: No, not really. If people come that'll be good enough. If they take something away from it, that'll be better.