Tobias Buckel about DAAD, paintings and mass media

The Kingsland Road Studios in London’s vibrant East End show the exhibition “Wanderlust”. The works on display are the result of the one year young Germans have spent studying with a DAAD grant at some of Britain’s most prestigious art institutions. The title of the exhibition refers to the artists’ decision to study and live abroad and serves to frame a wide range of topics, different media and methologies. Traditional fine art like painting and print-making meet photography, performance art and digital media. 2010lab.tv meets the artist Tobias Buckel, one of the exhibitioners and student of Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art & Design.

Tobias, which painting do you show at the DAAD art exhibition „Wanderlust“?

I'm going to show a few works from my MA final show, maybe two or three. "Boom Boom" will be one of those.

 

You came to London with a scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service / DAAD. What were required for that?

First, I had to send my portfolio and attend personal interviews later on. I applied for a postgraduate level scholarship, so I had to give proof of adequate qualification (Diploma / "Meisterschüler"). Besides the regular application forms, letters of reference and a written research plan, I had to present original paintings to a selection panel at the DAAD in Bonn. As I thought I have to make an impression, I rented a van to take my large canvases there which I had finished the months before.

If you could try to pin it down to certain subjects: What is your art about?

The starting point is that I want to create and discuss images. Not theoretical or conceptual, but through the physical act of making. It is an alternating process of thinking, making and reflecting. I have been working on transitional spaces and ideas of staging, often simple still life objects and interior rooms. The paintings are held in a state between representation and abstraction and avoid literal content to allow multiple interpretations.

There are subtle connections between your paintings. Which ideas, influences, interferences or subjects do recur?

The works all bear a certain silence and atmosphere, where the light comes from inside the painting. Most of the rooms that I paint are ambivalent in their nature and function – you never quite know if it is a private or public space. They can be living rooms or production spaces or stages. Some of them appear ceremonial and in some sense they are all "Andachtsbilder". They don't need to be explained but claim for contemplation. Even if they don't show people, it's much about needs and desire.

You were told to be a „German“ or at least „not a British“ painter. What does that mean?

Yes, I heard that two or three times during tutorials. And if I got it right, it's related to some sort of dryness or roughness. Maybe the German (or other Continental) painters often reduce "painting" to a minimum and don't over-embellish things to show off their skills and maybe also avoid illustrative description. I don't know, maybe it's a cliché. Everyone just knows one or the other German painter, especially the cool and cocky ones.

Were there changes in your practise during the stay at Chelsea College of Art & Design?

Some changes were due to very practical issues. Like the limited studio space, which led me to paint only smaller sizes. And I came here to question my practice and my sources (photography, observation, imagination) and during the year moved away from the photographic and perspective construction of pictorial space. After tutorials I realized that I had to get rid of some of my trained skills, to push further my own distinctive voice. The constant input here – theory, different tutors, and also the impact of the city –might be distracting sometimes. But I think it also makes you leave out all the parts and bits that are not absolutely necessary for your practice.

What images could painting put against the sensational stagings in mass media?

Compared to entertainment and sales industry, making a painting is rather lo-fi and humble. Well, at least as long as you don't run a production company as an artist. Most of the paintings in media are there to sell something (messages, opinions, products). I quite like the idea to make images that do not do that. Of course, that's absurd, because the moment you make a painting you "say" and contribute something. I just like to think about different dimensions of visual communication and try be critical with images that surround me. As communication as a whole relies on visual information increasingly, it is as important as never before to think about images, isn't it?

What about the viewer?

Most of the images in media are designed for consumption – the viewer can be passive and gets bombarded with visual and emotional information. Painting instead always claims for activity. On one hand, the process of making includes physical, bodily work. On the other, as artworks mostly stay ambivalent, the viewer has to take action to experience and interpret it.

One of your paintings is called „Drawing room“ – what do you think about the future of books?

Books will be available electronically more and more, I think. What seems interesting to me is the fact that online platforms and tablets do their best to have the books looking like printed and bound – with animated turning of pages and stuff like that. It's not just a text file and some images, or a totally different form of design.

Info: The exhibition runs until Oct 6th 2011@ Kingsland Road Studios (288 / 284 Kingsland Road, London, E8 4DN).

Images: Tobias Buckel