This month, the Kooness Team interviewed the Artist WOL75 on one of his enduring collections “M Red Collection”.
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With a strong focus on red and never-ending details, the M Red Collection is a series of thirteen artworks completed across a ten-year time span. As a matter of fact, the collection started in 2007 and always felt unfinished. For this reason, in 2019, WOL75 added two artworks to define it. Today, he believes that the collection still needs more and that, as his awareness increases, the collection will as well. The perfect example for this is the artworks “Play with Me” and “Play with Me 2”. In the former case, two main characters were depicted as the main subject. In the latter case, many more characters were added, as well as small details that remain unnoticed until you get to know the artwork well. These artworks are to generate some disturbance within one another. The concept is who is getting played and how can I visualize this.
Following, the artist replied to some of our questions:
K: What is the Purpose of the Series?
WOL75: The purpose of the series is to expose and question our human behavior and to investigate how our environment influences us. The process of my artworks is a reminder of society’s benchmarks and how these stick to our behavior and in our subconscious mind for a long time. The purpose of the M Red Collection extends to the control of these influences, and the pain of them.
K: What does the Prominent Red in the Series Represent?
WOL75: The red is prominent across all of my series, especially in its backgrounds alongside black and white subjects. These are the only three colors I used for the collection because of the strength of red, that has different associations according to your background and life experiences. For instance, love can represent love and passion as well as hatred, blood, death and anger. These are two extremes that come together in my artworks, and are able to expose the watcher’s emotions and feelings. I like giving space to the viewer to see what they are prone to grasp.
K: How do you make your artworks?
WOL75: My artworks start with an idea that I see or experience around me. When I start collecting information and ideas, within the contexts of pattern, memory, consumerism, manipulation, paradigms or control. These develop in concepts around it, then comes a work process. First, I create a concept around my sources of inspiration. Then, I start working in layers and use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to do so. I work on it layer after layer, using images from the internet or I take photos of myself to create postures. One of my main sources are objects, such as pipes, belts, springs, and wheels. For instead The Artwork “Play With Me, 2007” and “Play With Me, 2019” I used a clown Mask and fused them with my own drawings. These objects become symbols as part of a collage of metaphors in the artworks. Such as a clown mask, for people use to fool around, to describe the ideas of playing and roles.
K: Describe the Artwork Inevitable Perception
WOL75: The artwork “Inevitable Perception” starts from the size of the painting representing a large and well-structured belief. The artwork depicts a man chained to a gear that portrays the baggage of life. Heavy burden that moves with a machine reminiscent of a tank. The gear represents a heavy burden that seems impossible to get rid of. Not until you look closely and a key and key lock is revealed.
K: What have collectors and critics said about your work?
WOL75: Most people say my art gives dark emotions, however I really think it’s the dark emotions inside them that are triggered. I think my artwork brings people in a place where they don’t want to go inside them, yet my aim is a positive change and for them to find the solution within them and get to know themselves better. My artworks express a story towards freedom and liberation of the mind. Also, I create a lot of happiness!
Cover image: WOL75 Artist, Inevitable Perception, 2008. Courtesy of Gallery Wol75
Written By Sveva Berto
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