J.L. I’Il send you some questions as thoughts that I’ve had, so don’t consider it as an interview… It’s just a chat with a friend that I love.

L.W. BEST GREETINGS…. LET US GIVE IT A GO
DO SEND THE CONVERSATION ( YOUR SIDE ) & I SHALL TRY & ANSWER (MY SIDE)

xxLAWRENCE

J.L. To give you a frame, Lawrence, the questions that I have for you are about concerns that I also have… so for me this is more a conversation rather than a interview. These are thoughts and ideas that somehow I pose to myself and I’d like to share with you.

I promise that I won’t talk about conceptualism and metaphor in this interview. I’ll start with maps. Do you think art could be a map of a living being?
Not like a service that you do in relation to society, but instead a way to understand the relation with the world that stays engraved as art as an “egyptian scribe”, in order to (try to) understand the relation with the world.

 

L.W. DEAR JOAO, THE PROBLEM WITH MAPS IN RELATING TO A LIVING BEING IS THAT IT PRECLUDES THE CONSTANT EBB & FLOW & CHANGE
A MAP IS THE WAY IT WAS WHEN IT WAS SEEN & VERY OFTEN   NOT AT ALL THE WAY IT IS

IN MY YOUTH I DISCOVERED THAT PAINTERS SUCH AS POLLOCK  KLEIN & RYMAN WERE TOTALLY INVOLVED IN TRYING TO PICTURE A MAP OF AN UNKNOWN TERRITORY

MY LAST SHOW IN MALLORCA WAS ALL ABOUT THE ATLAS CATALÀ & THE WORK OF CRESQUES ABRAHAM
THE CONCEPT OF MAKING MAP THAT EXISTENTIALLY TRIES TO PLACE YOU WHERE YOU ARE IN RELATION TO THE WORLD AS IT IS KNOWN
BUT THE DIFFICULTY WITH THIS KIND OF CONCEPT IS THAT AS ONE KNOWS MORE & AS ONE SEES THE CONFIGURATION CHANGING ( YOU & YOURS BRINGING  A CHANGE IN THE CONFIGURATION)   WHERE ARE WE?
WE HAVE PHOTOGRAPHS OF OUR CHILDHOOD
VERY SENTIMENTAL BUT IT MIGHT NOT GET YOU FROM HERE TO THERE & YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE

SMUGGLERS  CONTRABANDOURS  SMELL THE AIR BEFORE THEY CROSS OVER THE HILL
EGYPTIAN SCRIBES HAD THE ADVANTAGE OF NARRATIVE
MOST ART HAS TO GIVE UP THAT IMPOSITION OF ACCEPTING A WORLD ORDER IN ORDER TO EXIST

I GUESS I DONT KNOW THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION

J.L. I guess I don’t have an answer either… But as you say: “… you (the artist) find yourself in situations that are past the point of logic you understand”.
I agree with that, absolutly. Means there’s always an unmapped territory that turns upside down our vision of the world…  I guess it’s the main core of being an artist, the difficult part and the dangerous part regarding the communication process!

I understood and loved your thought “A MAP IS THE WAY IT WAS WHEN IT WAS SEEN & VERY OFTEN   NOT AT ALL THE WAY IT IS”.
Anyway, I remember onde day with Cristina Guerra we had a lunch close to the sea, we ate fish and crabs, wonderful chilled wine and then we walked on the beach. We are talking about everything and nothing and suddenly I asked you (in a kindly provocation) if your work was related to poetry. You stopped and you looked at me and grabbed a piece of wood that was there and said to me that your work is about objects not about feelings or poetry! From that day till now I understood that your work is about objects, the relation of objects and objects, objects and humans and about content, not context.

I know that you don’t like to bring your personal stuff to your work. Anyway…

What is the trigger for starting a new work? It’s a hurry? That’s life by itself? A methodic approach? Let me know.

L.W. DEAR JOAO,

I HAVE A FUNNY FEELING DEEP DOWN THAT POETRY WAS INVENTED SO THAT SOMEONE COULD TELL HOW SOMEONE FELT ABOUT A WORK OF ART THAT THEY HAD DISCOVERED
FROM THAT AWE WE HAD PEOLE PRODUCING LARGE AMOUNTS OF METAPHOR IN THE HOPES OF ATTRACTING THE ATTENTION & AFFECTIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE  (IF IN FACT THERE IS A UNIVERSAL SENTIMENTALITY    IF IN FACT THE ENTIRE WORLD AGREES IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO EAT BABIES) BUT

THAT DOES NOT SEEM TO BE A CONSENSUS SO LETS STICK WITH HOW IT FELT TO KICK THE STONE THAT IS BOUNCING DOWN THE ROAD
& IF THAT CONSTITUTES POETRY    FINE
I WILL CONCENTRATE ON THE STONE BOUNCING DOWN THE ROAD

THE TROUBLE WITH MOST THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF ART IS THAT IN FACT THE ANSWERS ARE OFTEN PREDETERMINED BY PREVIOUS AESTHETICS (RATIONALIZATIONS)
AGAIN   IT MIGHT BE BEST TO STAND IN AWE OF A PHENOMENA & ACTIVITY & ACTION OR JUST THE JOY OF A FUCK FOR A FUCKS SAKE   WITHOUT ALL THE TRAPPING

LOVE & KISSES

LAWRENCE