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JAVIER CARRO TEMBOURY

FROM THE GRANDES ÉCOLES OF PARIS TO THE AKADEMIE DER BILDENDE KÜNSTE IN VIENNA


DID YOU ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU WANTED TO DEDICATE YOURSELF TO?

Yes. I always had that artistic practice since I was young, and I realized it was possible to pursue it as a decision, even if it wasn't the easiest path.

And before delving into ceramics... I saw certain affinities within myself.

I found a medium that intrigued me. Perhaps it frustrated me, not because ceramics are inherently frustrating, but because often, when I tried to do one thing, something else would come out.

I think I'm an artist who works from accidents, not just in the pieces I make in ceramics, but in almost all my projects.

I used to work with images and painting, but I don't think I've stopped doing that, as my pieces are quite visual.




I WAS CLEAR THAT I WANTED TO STUDY FINE ARTS WHEN I FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL, AND FORTUNATELY, I HAVE ALWAYS DISCUSSED IT WITH MY PARENTS IN A VERY FRIENDLY WAY. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANY STRUCTURAL PROBLEM, AND BESIDES, IT WAS A PUBLIC INSTITUTION.

There are two types of higher education there. There's the university, which operates through faculties, including, for example, La Sorbonne, but they also have another system called the Grandes Écoles where you can apply for engineering or other disciplines. The art schools are more like Grandes Écoles.

There's the possibility of entering the Faculty of Fine Arts with the Selectividad grade, which is delving into a much more academic system. But once you're in a Grande École (which is what I did), to enter, you have to pass an independent exam.

My university is very free, following the same model as in Germany. For example, in Fine Arts universities, you don't have set subjects; you kind of pick and choose what interests you and build your own path.

I don't think there are two people who have taken the same journey in university, and that's interesting. "The university of Fine Arts doesn't make you more or less an artist. You have to cook it up yourself, honestly."





WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE TO EMERGING ARTISTS?



For young people, I recommend forgetting a bit about what they've seen before and avoiding having too many expectations (it always happens to me: when I have expectations, something else comes along).

Be open, be present in cultural spaces, consume culture.

Finish projects, don't get stuck.

Regarding expectations, I would recommend not having too many and being open to what may emerge, not saying no to anything, not rejecting any work (or maybe yes, depending on the situation, of course).

Be attentive and enthusiastic, it's a bit of a general notion.


HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ARTISTIC STYLE, AND WHAT INFLUENCES HAVE YOU RECEIVED DURING YOUR TIME IN PARIS AND AS A RESIDENT IN THE AKADEMIE DER BILDENDE KÜNSTE IN VIENNA?


I'm interested in working with existing objects and creating a kind of small anthropology, speculating, imagining processes that can draw attention to certain things. For example, usage marks we find on found objects or maybe everyday things I encounter.

I'd say it's sculpture oriented towards the object, and then the process is crucial to convey the content of the artwork. Well, many artists have influenced me in that sense: there's an amazing artist named Harun Farocki who makes documentaries. I was also struck by the work of Gordon Matta Clark or Robert Morris.

There's also the idea the French have of the flaneur, the stroller. A person who wanders around the city, sees things, takes a photo of a terrace, then picks up a flowerpot someone left on the street, goes home, and creates something with it. That idea of the flaneur is a Parisian cliché. I believe all my pieces stem from the act of taking a stroll.

In Vienna, I arrived with a somewhat defined project I wanted to talk about, that moment of pompous and omnipresent decoration from the early 20th century, or what would be the Secession style. You surely know about Klimt and many other artists from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien (The University of Applied Arts Vienna), and I wanted to speak a bit about the architecture remaining from that time.

But when I got to Vienna, I discovered something much more fascinating, which is the social housing built since the 1920s.

These are project housings (public housing) and they are impressive, amazing. I discovered them while biking around the city, seeing buildings with a central courtyard.





WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE IN TERMS OF EXHIBITIONS OR SHOWCASES OF YOUR WORK IN PARIS AND ELSEWHERE?

Most of the exhibitions have been in off spaces, alternative spaces and places set up by artists in their studios or scenes outside commercial galleries.

Then, I've had more institutional exhibitions, especially at the Academy of Fine Arts. Now, in September, I have my first solo exhibition in an institution that will be at the Palace of Vienna, at the headquarters of the Economic and Social Environmental Council.

It's a kind of congress-lobby, and it's my first experience in an institution.

I'm taking it slow and steady.

Luckily, before these two major exhibitions, I had seven years of off spaces, trial and error, things a bit more rounded, more cushioned.





DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE ANY REPRESENTATIVES WHO ARE SHOWCASING YOUR WORK, OR DO YOU TAKE ON THE ROLE OF PROMOTING YOURSELF AMONG GALLERIES AND POTENTIAL CLIENTS?

If, as an artist, what you want is to have a purely underground production and have it seen by your colleagues, print some fanzines and create teams that also involve concerts, there's room for that too!

What I would advise is not to stress about having just one model. Perhaps some people don't have to be artists in the sense of "I exhibit at the Reina Sofía." You can have an artistic practice that projects towards more academic things or towards architecture... there's no one recipe.

I think we need to demystify that hierarchy of artist-gallery-collector-institution.




Interview with Javier Carro Temboury, @temboury by Irene Santamaría + Alejandro Gata