WOL75 offers some insight about the MC Collection. Read the interview to learn more about how consumerism and group behavior play a significant role in modern society as well as his artworks.
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Kooness: Tell me about the MC COLLECTION series
WOL75: In the MC Collection, I mainly focused on consumerism and group behavior. In fact, personal identification is the main reason for the creation of this collection, as I felt strongly compelled by a victimized society. People are often driven by other people’s opinions and get influenced by their habits without questioning how we consume the data and information we have at our disposal all the time. The series is not really about food or material things, it is much more about the information consumed by our environment. As often I do with my collections, I started with ideas and concept sketches in 2008 and ten years later, in 2017, I started working on the artworks. I relate to these years as the backward evolution towards the social media era that controls everything and everyone. What I mean by this is that people started consuming the same information and only a fragment of it, not being able to view the bigger picture, keeping the same habits and interests. For me it’s fascinating that most people are being enslaved by this as the information they receive controls their lives. This is also why people become predictable and don’t learn anything new. The MC collection is to open eyes - and to teach you to be aware of your environment and information you consume.
Kooness: Describe the colour focus in the Collection
WOL75: Unlike my other collections, the MC Collection uses way more colours. For instance, I use green as the background colour to represent nature and nurture. This is purport to be a safe environment, like a comfort zone. I use the logos for products, both edible products and not, but are really meant as a metaphor to the information. It’s not about the actual products, rather it's about the information these multi-millionaire companies give to sell their products. My question is: what would happen if we didn’t have the same information day in and day out? I will take a large fast food company as an example; they say they sell happiness, however this is not possible by the selection of foods they sell - unhealthy and harmful. Then, in my artwork “City of Madness”, I use blue and pink to represent the propaganda.
WOL75. City of Madness, 2917. Courtesy fo WOL75.
Kooness: What adjectives would you use to describe the collection and why?
WOL75: The first adjective I would use to describe the MC Collection is hierarchical; this is because the artworks have strong and deep layers, as well as because I worked with layers and repeated/cloned images while creating it. Then, I would call the collection rhythmic and harmonious, as I can confirm the artworks feel good visually - both as the creator and as the watcher.
Kooness: How can you connect this collection to your own life?
WOL75: I relate this collection to my own life since I became aware of the information I got. I wasn’t aware of all this media, and as my father used to tell me, I used to see things from rose-tinted glasses. I was oblivious of the bad aspects of these, and improved my understanding towards people. I learnt to look and see beyond the rose-tinted glasses.
Kooness: Could this collection relate to any historical events?
WOL75: Actually, yes. I started developing this collection during the 2008 financial crisis. I was so fascinated by it. This showed me the effect of group behaviour, and how this affects who we are. A more recent situation that could influence my future work is the COVID situation. This was the perfect situation to become conscious about how we behave in a group without realizing and knowing it.
Kooness: How did you work with the space and proportions in the artworks?
WOL75: Well, to give you an example; When I was creating the proportions of one of the artworks ‘Slave To The Rhythm’, I was looking for a rhythmic dance. I found inspiration in the posture and the dance of an artwork from a movie scene from ‘A Clockwork Orange’, by Stanley Kubrick. And this inspired me to create the mechanical characters. Everything I used in terms of space and proportions, are from that movie scene. And to create these images, I also used photos from my son as inspiration when he was a couple of months old, drinking from a baby milk bottle.
Kooness: If this collection were a person, what job or career would it want to have?
WOL75: I would most definitely say it would be a guide. As an artist, I feel like a guide, as I will show you the way but you will have to walk yourself. It is about how I see things in the world, and want to show you around, to create consciousness and awareness. My purpose is not to create a beautiful picture, or an aesthetic artwork. My artwork is not aesthetic, but my artworks have a purpose. And my purpose is to send a message to become self-aware.
WOL75. Comedy for Slavery, 2017. Courtesy of WOL75
Cover image: WOL75, Consume me my love, 2017. Courtesy of Gallery WOL75
Written by: Sveva Berto
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