Академический Документы
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Louise Bourgeois with her parents Louis and Josphine circa 1915, photo: courtesy of
Louise Bourgeois Archive
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Untitled, 2002, tapestry and aluminium, 43.1cm 30.4cm 30.4 cm, courtesy Galerie Karsten Greve, Cheim & Read and Hauser & Wirth, photo: Christopher Burke
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Le Suicide Threat, 1987, watercolor and ink on paper, 30.4 15.2 cm, private collection,
courtesy of Cheim & Read, New York, photo: Christopher Burke
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Untitled, 2002, tapestry and aluminium, 43.1 30.4 30.4 cm, courtesy Galerie Karsten
Greve, Cheim & Read and Hauser & Wirth, photo: Christopher Burke
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The Birth, 2008, gouache on paper, 37.1 27.9 cm, private collection, courtesy of
Cheim & Read, New York, photo: Christopher Burke
wounded. At the hospital where her mother took the young Louise to
visit him, there were men with arms, legs and eyes missing, and these
impressions fed into her psycho-emotional iconography. Not much has
been said of this historical influence on her work, although Bourgeois
herself has recalled how disturbing it was.
Additionally, her scholarship in geometry, philosophy and mathematics forms part of her expressive language. She received a Baccalaureate in Philosophy at the age of fifteen her dissertation was on Blaise
Pascal and Immanuel Kant. No matter how simple a Bourgeois piece
may appear it always draws on multiple influences. When a spiral
appears in the artists work it is not only an embodiment of the
Fibonacci sequence but also the twist of strangulation or wringing out. It
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best. As I had hoped, Bourgeois answered all ten. Some of the questions
were multilayered in order to cover as much ground as possible. Bourgeois
answered these selectively. Though minimally worded, her answers say
much, both in what she says, as well as that which remains unsaid.
Bella Land You have stated that artists have to be useful, that they
have to fill a role and the idea that art is a guarantee of sanity. Your
work has inspired generations of artists to delve into and express their
personal experience and emotions. As an artist moved by your authenticity, fluency and profundity of artistic language as well as the palpable
energy in your work, I would love to know what you are working on at
this time, how you see your role as artist, how art is a guarantee of sanity
and what purpose art can serve today?
Louise Bourgeois Artists have access to their unconscious; the expression
of this is knowledge, truth and beauty.
BL Your art has always defied any categorisation and you have
constantly explored different dimensions, materials, ideas and formats.
Eclecticism and multi-dimensional approaches are atypical and rarely
seen in one single artist in the mainstream artworld. Why do you think
this is and how do you think you got past this bias?
LB I have nothing to prove. I live in a world of emotions and my only obligation is to express them. I will try any material, shape or form to get there.
BL How do you feel about being ninety-seven and do you have an idea
of what has maintained your vitality and inspiration all these years?
LB I feel that there is still a lot that I want to say.
BL You have said that your art is one of restoration and that sewing is
akin to a kind of forgiveness. You have exorcised, sublimated and metamorphosed the dramas of your childhood through many media and
expressions. Does the sanity this continuous process provides, make
space for you to forgive the past transgressions of others and yourself or
is the mending and restoring more of an emotional release of pain experienced through articulating the emotional dynamics in artistic form?
Are there areas of your childhood tapestry, which have been healed or
forgiven through the alchemy of your art?
LB I know my art keeps me balanced, as I am a person of emotional
extremes. You have to understand, I am not interested in the past per se. It
is that the understanding of the past is a tool that helps me in my present
difficulties. This is what psychoanalysis is. You have to understand why you
do what you do. My work is exclusively interested in the here and the now.
BL You have made many sculptures to re-create the people you miss.
Has doing so helped you to heal in the areas of loss or grief and what are
your thoughts on the existence of what we call the soul?
LB I have a fear of abandonment. I dont want to be separated from people
or things that I love. I am not a religious person, but I am spiritual.
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BL Are there any ways in which you see elements of a game as well as
synchronicity in life? If so, in what significant ways do you feel that you
have followed or broken rules, or made new ones in order to play in your
own way?
LB You have to pay for your mistakes. I take responsibility for what I do,
what I say and what I think. Whats the use of blaming somebody else?
BL Your mother is a primary figure in your work, in a place of honour.
She was your best friend and protector and you admired many of her
qualities. In thinking about cherished times with your mother, what
comes to mind? Can you share some insight into the human aspects of
your closeness? Did your mother have a hand in teaching you how to
draw? Do you recall some of your first drawings, what they were like,
how you felt when drawing them and if your mother saw them, how she
responded to your drawings?
LB As a child, I drew in the missing parts of the tapestries. This gave me
the feeling of being needed and useful. This pleased both my parents. My
mother loved to repair things, and I think I inherited that from her.
BL Your love of geometry as a language goes back to childhood and
weaves throughout much, if not all your work. Geometric formulae, as
well as shapes such as the spiral, recur in your work with potent metaphorical and emotional associations. Does geometry provide restoration,
healing and possibly universal principles?
LB With geometry, you have a consistent set of rules. There is certitude,
which is the exact opposite of the emotional world I inhabit.
BL Youve said that your emotions are too large for your body to
contain and that you create art to get rid of them. In getting rid of them,
what kinds of dynamics take place, for example: emotional catharsis?
Detachment? Epiphanies such as the retrieval of a lost memory or a
spontaneous vision? How do you experience your process of release and
metamorphosis in the making of art?
LB Im not sure there is any cure for what ails me, but I do know that my
art helps me to feel better. It gets me through the day and thats enough.
BL Ever since your childhood, you have been concerned with seeing how
things go together, come apart and can be repaired. You have also said
that your art is a form of restoration. In consideration of your idea that
the past guillotines the present, what issues do you feel society faces
today, from your perspective of restoration?
LB Everyone has a destiny, and everyone has to claim it. We have to
accept the fact that we do not get what we want even though, perhaps,
we shouldnt even want it. We are all wounded. We are all flawed. We
are all violent. We all want to be loved. You have to consider yourself
lucky to be born, and thats the way I feel.
I am grateful to Louise Bourgeois and Wendy Williams for their valuable assistance
and to my mother, Alma Land.