PINK NOT DEAD!

This is a set related to my Pink Not Dead! art project.

PND! Statement

Link to one of the english language articles about the project:

PND! at Ping Mag

Link to my PND! Blog:

pinknotdead.blox.pl/html

Below is the english language interview that idN mag did with me:

How did your obsession with pink begin?

- I am a pretty androgenic creature, so I do not feel limited by my gender in the matter of colors, shapes, tastes and so on. When I was a little child my mom painted our room pink - we had red furniture and I used to draw with golden crayon on the walls. In my beloved land of shadows (Warsaw is pretty grey and dark half of the year) that was something really pleasant.

Pink seems to either induce love or hate in people? Why?

- I believe that because most of the people do not question it, and do not put much attention to the things in general. It's always easier to adopt the immediate interpretation of phenomena and that one usually is influenced by our geo-cultural context. Asia for example has a heavily developed cuteness culture, Mexico is friendly with colors in general so this are the realities where pink is easily assimilated. In contrast Poland has a long story of suffering, is a heavy catholic - so pretty homophobic - country and pink as associated with superficiality (pink is heavily exploited on trash-pop market) or gay is much more difficult to assimilate there.

The overall intention of the "Pink Not Dead!" project is to activate peoples pink drive and to awaken their pink subconscious. What do you mean by that?

- The general intention of PND! is to focus on categories like happiness, pleasure, paradise and its distortions trough controversial but potent phenomena of Pink. Apart of that PND! in general terms proposes re-evaluation of something that seams obvious so expansion of experience and knowledge which is really important for me. The dark side of life due to its dramatic-expressive potential is much more present in the people's consciousness. The basic problem of paradise is that most visions of it are pleasant but finally boring - I would like to change this perspective. People that got involved with PND! started to notice pink, dream pink and finally to think pink - that is the dynamic I am interested in.

The "Pink Not Dead!" exhibition is provocative, e.g. Language 6 according to Albers (1929), which uses the swastika motif. Which piece pushes people's buttons the most?

- Miguel Ventura piece is a particularly complex one and deals not only with totalitarism in politics but also with specific dynamics of contemporary art. As for the pink swastika it interested me (specially that I am Polish and the Nazi genocide machine ran on my land) because it is a good pretext to reflect on paradise promises that lie behind all politics of evil. The dictators never promise hell on earth they end up doing, they create visions of a better society, better future and they are often real believers of it (Hitler for sure was one) As for the pieces that awake more attention than others I guess this are Mina by Jeronimo Hagerman and my Pink Sorrow.

You unite pink with unlikely themes such as death (Pink Sorrow), war (Pink Victory) and disease (Pink Virus). Can you brief as on the creative processes of these pieces?

- PND! intents to create total experience so there are no aspects of pink that should be avoided. As for Pink Sorrow I am seriously interested in funeral culture and functionalism of the beauty. Funeral esthetics help us to deal with unacceptable drama of death. The piece itself is based on original designs for children coffins just alterated (pink instead of white), it is a pretty perverted object which served me also to create certain echo with fundamental but obvious cases of pinkness like wedding dresses or cakes. Pink Victory is pretty much based on the same dynamics I mentioned in the answer to your last question, on the manipulation of the subject of Military Victory in politics. The concept of Pink Tank has also had strong presence at the contemporary art scene (to mention only David Cerny action in Prague, 1991) - you can read more about it at my blog. As for the Pink Virus we can talk about certain pink infection in contemporary pop and the object itself (made in China of course) attracted me because of the fetishistic character of the children toy - innocent by default.

What do you mean by "pink infection in pop culture"? In which creative discipline is pink the most infectious?

- By telling that I was referring to presence of the kawaii in Asia and the cuteness in the West. All the phenomena related to teenage girly culture: Hello Kitty, Barbie and so on. Also Western sentimentalism identifies itself strongly with pink color (pink novels, pink weddings etc.) I do not know if we could talk here about proper "creative discipline". It's more about the aesthetics of popular fashion and female merchandising that influence the way of thinking. The entire universe of manga, anime and J-pop, that penetrates deeper and deeper into the Western cultural circle, is also flooded with pink.

The exhibition confronts pink's innocence and sensuality. Which side are you more drawn to personally?

- To the sensuality. But my personal inclinations are one thing and PND! as project is another. This is sort of a tricky question because innocence plays a strong role in all seduction games since the beginning of humanity.

How many graphic designs does your Vaginette series comprise? Can you tell me what lies beneath the erotically charged surface of this series?

- Vaginettes is a set of 18 digital filigrees in small size (20 x 20 cm). I am as most heterosexual men follower of the Pink Oyster Cult. Already Brantôme in the beginning of XVII century was writing that Christians, in contrary to Turks, take lot of delight in watching female vulva. We are all voyeurs, mesmerized by the mysterious pink orchid. I was interested in creating the image which lays between spheres of religion and science - both in they essence located far away from sensuality and both at the same time having strong sensual potential in they iconography. As for direct formal influence I could mention spirograph drawings and playing cards reverses that always fascinated me because of they delicate beauty.

The exhibition adds a dash of pink to the architecture of the location? for instance you guys painted a colonial building pink in Mexico. You're taking the exhibition to Asia? where would you like to paint the town pink the most and how?

- When you export the project you should interact with the cultural context and reality properties to make it more efficient. For example if I would move it to Russia, the conversion of The Red Square into a Pink Square seams natural. If I would do it in Sweden to illuminate snow pink is pretty tempting. As for Asia in most people consciousness it has (among others) a strong connotation of highly technologically developed - sort of futuristic - reality. Hong Kong as much as Shanghai (I know and like both cities) has incredible city skylines. To use existing installations and turn this landscape just for one night into Pink one would be amazing and quite easy considering that the infrastructure already exists.

Your Pink Book, which comprises essays on the color by art historians, intellectuals, scientists and writers, will be out at the end of this year. Can you tell us what's your favorite quote about pink?

- I hope it will - publishing books its a hard labor of rising funds but right now the matter looks pretty pink to me. It's always hard to choose one quote. I really appreciate the contributed works. Maybe something from classical literature: Introduction to the fourth day of Boccaccio's "Decameron" or Brantôme writing about fine lady's fine leg. I particularly like one case from Von Krafft-Ebing's "Psyhopatia Sexualis". Here it goes:

Case 123.

B., thirty years of age, apparently untainted, refined and sensative; great lover of flowers; liked to kiss them, but without any sensual motive or sensual excitement; rather of frigid nature; did not before twenty-one practice onanism, and subsequently only at periods. When twenty-one he was introduced to a young lady who wore some large roses on her bosom. Ever since then large roses dominated over his sexual feelings. He incessantly bought roses; kissing them would produce erection. He took them to bed with him altough he never touched his genitals with them. His pollutions henceforth were accompanied by dreams of roses. He would dream of roses of fairy like beauty and inhaling their fragrance, have ejaculation. He became secretly engaged to his "lady of roses", but the platonic relation grew colder, and when the engagement was broken off the rose-fetishism suddenly and permanently disappeared. It never returned, even when he became again engaged after a long spell of melancholia.
(A. Moll, Centralb. f. d. Krankheiten der Harn- und Sexualorgane, v, 3).

You've explored the various hues of pink since 1996. Do you worry that ideas will run dry?

- I believe I explored various hues of all colors since I started working as an artist and I hope I will until I die. Although my oldest pink works date 1996 I focused seriously on Pink since mid 2004, always developing parallel not so Pink projects (check Funebre or Final Fantasy) I will not go with pink forever because what I appreciate most in life is diversity but at the same time I am not to much worried about the subject running dry. Pink is strongly associated with love and pleasure and those together with death are major subjects of human culture.

Some of the images here are set to the higher level of restriction although I do not consider any of them offensive. I am just bored of being flag as inappropriate for public. You can see any if you wish. Pink Not Dead!

115 photos | 11,771 views

items are from between 09 Feb 2005 & 28 Apr 2008.