Image courtesy of Julian Dupont
Interview: Julian Dupont
Luca Curci talks with artist Julian Dupont during BODIES+CITIES SKIN exhibition in Venice on May 2016. Based in Bogotá, Julian Dupont conceives art as an agent for change, for pushing the boundaries in order to explore paradoxes between that which is poetic and that which is real, revealing in the illusion within the imperative fiction (power and artifice) as unveil for the possible. After having completed a BFA in Visual Arts in the Javeriana University in Cali (Colombia), he participated in many shows and collective exhibitions in Uruguay and Colombia too. He works with drawing, photography, sculpture, video, performance, and installation that deploy a dialogue between the spatiality resolved in the illusion of concept and the spatiality resolved in space.
Image courtesy of Julian Dupont
Luca Curci – What do you think of the concept of the festival? In which way did it inspire you?
Julian Dupont – The accurate notion of “BORDERS+CITIES SKIN” in the frame of the BORDERS FESTIVAL I think it’s a strong statement to pursue in the times we inhabit, taking in consideration the imaginary landscape we create, believe and operate as individuals in society, and as society in individuals, opening this paradoxical conversation between the flesh as our primary frontier under the notion of the self, but also… in an expanded notion, unveiling the “body without organs” possibility, taking the architecture, the artifice-extension and the city as surface of a complex body in where the self it’s embodied to the space we are, the exo-skeleton of our projections, the skin we inhabit, the artifice we create, the abstraction in which we have always put our bodies in, in which we walk every day, recognizing his imaginary principle to talk and rumble with as poetics, giving birth to the enigma of the limit in the object in front of us as embodied gesture, attitude, transgression, living trace and living presentation of the dislocated frontier after the frontier… the place of the symbolic displacement operating in context. From this path the talk between my work and the Festival embrace a great dialogue, taking as matrix his prerogatives of explorations after representation and the ejected sign of contemporary life to find his resonance far away from closed signs… in the unveil of the living forms.
Image courtesy of Julian Dupont
L.C. – What are you currently working on?
J.D. – Right now I’m working in a series of sculptures will conform an installation body based on the monolithic form of the bunker as an exploration of the peace times coming to the territory I inhabit… Colombia. I’m interested in this symbolic body as architectural memory of the absurd confrontation has lived this land, giving presence to the materialization and failure of the impossibility, building in these archetypes of deflated war the weakness embodied in the convenience of ‘the architecture of the clash’, portraying in the construction of these structures the failure of the difference and the absurdity of the frontier wall, instead looking for the emplacement of alterity and the possibility of encounter as the horizon to pursue.
L.C. – There’s a lot of artwork on the market today? How do you differentiate yours from the rest?
J.D. – My signature work it’s based on the awareness of movement and presentation as living trace, unveiling from the roots of performance the notion of the work as experience, opening the possibility of drawing, photography, video, sculpture, installation or performance art as essential gestures of the symbolic presence we inhabit to create landscapes and site-specific environments as performance based sculptures.
Image courtesy of Julian Dupont
L.C. – What’s the art tip you usually receive? Do visitors’ suggestions enrich yourself and your art?
J.D. – For me the presence of the spectator it’s a vital force of the work of art himself, as symbolic maker you’re always considering the presence of the visitor to be part of the space you’re giving, so, without any doubt… the role of the experiencer it’s central to my work, the work it’s not complete until the appearance of the spectator, and the dialogue it’s a constant conversation to take place in.
L.C. – Did your style change over the years? How?
J.D. – I think over the years my work has evolved in a natural way, always crossing the boundaries of technique has primary displacement. From a certain period of time until now the passing from the resolution of contents as message as evolved to complex ways of resolution more focused on the formal aspects of the work.
Image courtesy of Julian Dupont
L.C. – What art themes do you pursue? What are your preferred subjects if any?
J.D. – In the moment I’m interested in the paradoxical dialogue between imaginary and rational fiction as map and territory taking place in contextual and psycho-political roots in direct relation with the artifice and power as main components of landscape.
L.C. – Did you feel comfortable cooperating with us?
J.D. – Our dialogue from the first word to the last one has been absolutely perfect. I’ve felt very comfortable cooperating with your group of work.
L.C. – What are your suggestions about our services? Is there something more we can provide to artists?
J.D. – I’ll appreciate to receive a printed memory of the exhibition.
Image courtesy of Julian Dupont
Image courtesy of Julian Dupont
