^{Image courtesy of Patricia Creyns}

Interview: Patricia Creyns

Luca Curci talks with the artist Patricia Creyns during CONTEMPORARY VENICE – Architectures of Identities exhibition in Venice on April 2016. She was born in Bree (Belgium). After secondary school in Hasselt the artist moved to Ghent (Belgium), a hotbed of creativity. Here she could thrive. Patricia enrolled at the KASK (Royal Academy of Fine Arts) and chose the sculpture department. She entered the class of artist Paul Van Gysegem. There Patricia worked mainly in metal, clay, plaster and polyester. A very fine time. It was a privilege to study at the KASK where students were stimulated to tap into their own creativity. This has brought her, after many years, to where she is now. Later on the artist completed her education at the LUCA School of Arts – the drawing section. Switching between two-dimensional and three-dimensional makes her work more complete. For her, as an artist, it is very important to keep on observing people: an endless source of inspiration. She consider this as being part of my artistic activity. Her great interest in humanity makes that her commitment to forces and counter forces, right and wrong, is more socially determined.

 

^{Image courtesy of Patricia Creyns}

 

Luca Curci – We were attracted by your last artistic production, have the artworks presented been created for CONTEMPORARY VENICE – ARCHITECTURES OF IDENTITIES or are they part of pre-existent works?
Patricia Creyns – A recurring theme: people who want to push boundaries, people who are stuck, who want to break out, to move or who are moving. My earlier work was set in boxes, shoe boxes put into wooden boxes where sporting heroes made of newspaper material. Sportsmen are par excellence people who push their limits in time and space. They are somehow retained, stopped. And yet there is hope “Out of the box, into”. Resilience. After that there were the newspaper-figures, identities in a landscape, a ruin, photographs of an Olympic open air swimming pool where the letters of the drawn figures symbolized their thoughts. Ruins keep on inspiring me – such as the remains of swimming pool cabins; cabins as boxes but taken over by nature and newspaper figures, stilled or in motion. I was already working on the series with the boxes-shoe boxes, but it expanded by the link with the dilapidated areas, the cabins. As an artist, you are in a continuous flow of growth and experiences and you create your own visual language. Architecture, being the art of creating boxes/spaces and being nondurable/perishable/transient, has been for long an inspiration for me. So, when I saw your invitation for “Contemporary Venice – Architectures of Identities” I immediately sensed a link with my work.

 

^{Image courtesy of Patricia Creyns}

 

L.C. – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
P.C. – Forces and counter forces – everyone’s fate … Some under dramatic circumstances such as wars and natural disasters; others in quieter, more relaxed situations. Hence the fact that sometimes my figures are depicted in a very relaxed way or – on the contrary, moving excessively. And this while they can simply step out of the box, which was not possible in my earlier work. You can always look at my work, wondering whether the newspaper-figures manage to escape from the cabins/boxes. With or without an extreme effort or movement. Besides, is an extreme effort necessary in the perspective of time? The boxes, representing the counter forces, are indeed not for ever, permanent or long-lasting. I hope, through my imagery, to evoke stories to my audience – using their imagination. I like people to look at my work as if they listen to stories and wonder what has happened and what is going to happen next. Personally I have always been fascinated by man with his limits, talents and his fate. As a spectator recently told me: “When I look at your work, I feel like going back to the 17th century when the artists told stories in their paintings.”

 

^{Image courtesy of Patricia Creyns}

 

L.C. – What do you think about the concept of CONTEMPORARY VENICE – ARCHITECTURES OF iDENTITIES? In which way did inspire you?
P.C. – Architecture is putting people into volumes/”boxes” – on such a scale that it creates a city. The inhabitants evolve in an individual and collective way in the “big” city, but at the same time also in smaller spaces, sometimes so small that people can get trapped. Moreover, the architecture is not eternal, buildings age, get outdated and decay. That is my inspiration: the fact that they do, I see as an advantage for my work. Ruins have a lot of charm AND they offer an escape route – through the cracks. This allegory is reflected in all of my work. That has been MY interpretation to participate. It has been very interesting to see how other artists show THEIR interpretation and in the end a wide range of visions on the theme “Architectures of identities” is offered: fantastic!

L.C. – Are you satisfied of this experience?
P.C. – I am very happy that I could participate in this project with such an interesting theme. I inspires me to further develop the theme – in my own way.

 

^{Image courtesy of Patricia Creyns}

 

L.C. – What do you think about the whole organization of the event, the selection of the artists, the communication management and opening ceremony?
P.C. – I am very satisfied with the organization and the friendly communication. Unfortunately I couldn’t come to Venice myself, but through the pictures of your event, I could easily follow along. My only comment/remark: I would have liked to see even more pictures of the participating works published so that every single artist is (being) dealt with. Generally I see an attractive total event with dance, performance, video and photography. A very lively event for artists from all over the world and of all ages. And that in an attractive location in the enchanting city of Venice, surrounded by water.

L.C. – Do you think that this experience could be useful for artists and can contribute to increase personal background?
P.C. – Absolutely. It is an event that attracts people from all over the world and it comes very well into its own on the Internet. Artists want their work to be shown, need curators with expertise and applaud serious organizations to which they contribute.

L.C. – Are you interested in future collaborations with our organization?
P.C. – I surely am.

 

^{Image courtesy of Patricia Creyns}

 

^{Image courtesy of Patricia Creyns}

 

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