From 29th August to 28th September 2008, SILLY THING is hosting ‘Feast of Burden’, their debut exhibition in Hong Kong. It is also the launch exhibition for THINK SILLY Gallery. Adam and Carolyn arrived a few days before the opening, to set up their installation. We spent a few days together walking around this small island called Hong Kong, visited the Buddha and had local cuisine (such as pig kidney noodles and tortoise jelly). We also talked about a few things on art.
Text: Ron Lam | Translation: dilettante
Photo: Ben (Portrait), Ron Lam (Set Up)
The art work of New Yorker artists Adam Parker Smith and Carolyn Salas are delightful and terrifying in equal measure. They kidnap felt, the material representing childhood, to create gore-like skulls and dead bodies. Their work is a feast of contradictions, contrasting bright colours with its dark context. Every child-like element is sipped through the colander called reality, and its disasters, absurdities and fear. Seen through their ironic eyes, the art work echoes and intertwines emotions of an innocent child and a cynical adult.
A: Adam Parker Smith
C: Carolyn Salas
Q1. Do you live in Princeton? It seems to have become the new area for art.
C: Yes, especially around Williamsburg. There are some interesting galleries and bars.
Q2. Did you grow up in New York?
A: We grew up in California. Our youth was typically 1990s, surrounded by beach culture, surfing, music, cars, drugs, comics, video games and celebrity culture.
Q3. Did you plan to be full time artist after graduation?
C: That is correct.
Q4. How did your parents react about your decision to become artists?
C: I think we are lucky, for both our parents are very supportive.
Q5. Adam used to major in painting in degree and master courses, what made you change into sculpture?
C: We did not want to be restricted to one medium, the concept, rather, should dominate.
Q6. How did the partnership begin?
A: It was about one year ago, when we accepted a studio grant through Chashama in Manhattan. We got to know each other then and realised there is a mutual admiration. It was obvious that our work speak to each other, and we share similar media (fabrics), so we started to work together.
Q7. Your work fully reflects contemporary culture, such as consumerism, cartoon and comics. Are these the issues you are concerned with?
C: Our ‘metanarrative’ is based on personal and social relationships, also on fantasies and imagination; landscapes and natural environments and ideas about magic and supernatural matters.
(Editor’s notes: in critical theory, ‘metanarrative’ is a way of understanding of history, experience and knowledge. It is a method to understand the formation of certain concepts, such as history and beliefs. In this context, Carolyn is stating that she is inspired by the things as listed above.)
Q8. Your work is always bursting with bright colours. From the material, concept to the aesthetic, childhood seems to play a big part. Please could you tell us more?
C: Yes, we put our personal history and certain parts of our background into the concept and aesthetic of our work.
A: Textile has been our main media, but we are not limited to it. It is based on how much we would like to challenge ourselves in terms of the
material. The material of a piece is extremely important, for it is the media the work is presented in. Of course each media has its own limit, and that causes difficulties sometimes. For us, deciding on the material is like walking between a line called ‘struggling’ and another called ‘impossible’.
Q9. New York has been a heaven for artists, for the audience and galleries are very receptive. I heard that the art industry is starting to be saturated and it is a tough time for young artists. How do you feel about the current climate?
C: New York is extremely challenging in many ways, but that also pushes the careers of many young artists.
A: New York has always been the center of art in the U.S., for it being so vibrant and full of energy. One can see many wonderful artists gravitated towards this city. Of course we try to draw inspirations from different places and our personal experience.
C: It is true that the art industry in New York is getting saturated. Chelsea is full of galleries, yet new ones keeping opening up. They are getting smaller and smaller though, for rent reason.
Q10. There are some tiny galleries in Chelsea, they are so tiny that there is only enough space for one installation.
C: Exactly, the galleries are just waiting for the next ‘it’ area and they will all rush to it.
Q11. How do you feel about the galleries in Soho in Central (Hong Kong)?
A: Many of them are focused on Chinese art, as well as antiques.
C: I personally feel that what I have seen is not overly avant-garde. Like the Osage Gallery we went to, I thought the work by Shen Shaomin was amazing, but did not think much about the other work by female artists.
Q12. It was probably because despite Chinese art being the latest big hype, Chinese female artists have been neglected somehow. Osage probably wanted to draw some attention for them. Most people in Hong Kong would say that there is very little funding for artists, and the environment under-developed. Therefore it is a very tough place for artists, let alone doing it as a full time job. How do you feel about being an artist in New York?
C: It is also very tough in New York. The living costs are high there too,so it is very difficult to make a living as a full time artist. We try to put as much as time and energy into our work as possible, but we also have to make money on commercial projects such as movies and commercials. I even teach children sometimes.
Q13. Your work is delicate and complex, they must take up a lot of time and energy?
A: Yes, each piece takes about two months’ work, non-stop in the studio. I have not had a holiday for the past few months, so I am planning to go to Thailand after the exhibition at THINK SILLY.
C: And then back to non-stop working in New York for another six months probably.
Q14. Collaboration is never easy, for we all have individual mind. Do you find it hard at times?
C: Not really. We always discuss until we both agree on something. The hardest thing for me is to have to make myself sit down properly and endure a repetitive job.
Q15. How do you keep up with the energy?
C: Sugar!
FEAST OF BURDEN
AN EXHIBITION BY CAROLYN SALAS AND ADAM PARKER SMITH
Date: 29 Aug – 28 Sept 2008
Venue: THINK SILLY GALLERY
(Unit 8, G/F, No.18, Ka Yip Street, Chai Wan, Hong Kong.)
Opening Hours: 1 – 8pm
ADAM PARKER SMITH
www.adamparkersmith.com
CAROLYN SALAS
www.carolynsalas.com
