“Me la pasé dibujando y creando toda mi vida, desde que era un niño” cuenta MARK. Parecería ser la declaración de un adulto, pero se trata de un joven de apenas 26 años. Vive en Jersey, el asentamiento preferido por una gran comunidad de artistas y diseñadores emergentes que encuentran en sus calles la vibrante energía de Brooklyn y Manhattan a costos más accesibles. Desde 2009 se dedica al arte callejero: “Mi primera campaña fue en el verano de 2012 en Nueva York, luego de la cual he estado explorando nueva variaciones del arte público”.
Arte para llevar
Las paredes hablan, gritan, piden ayuda o dan un consejo, a veces de manera sutil y otras desaforada. Las pintadas buscan ser un call to action visual, haciendo de la caminata de los transeúntes un momento reflexivo: You may paint over me but I will still be here (“Podés pintar encima mío pero voy a seguir estando acá”), Having freedom is no the same as being free (“Tener libertad no es lo mismo que ser libre”), Everything is energy (“Todo es energía”). Pero en realidad no son pedazos de pared sino láminas impresas montadas sobre paneles, un formato de arte prêt-à-porter que busca instalar (y hacer realidad) la idea de que el arte es para todos: “Mi objetivo es llenar las calles y las casas con arte, creatividad y filosofía, que implica hacerlo económicamente accesible
Art advertising. New york city is the advertising capital of the world. There is a billboard anywhere there is(was) a blank wall. When I look at a city I see it for its potential to influence people’s lives in a positive way. Right now billboards function to serve the interests of the companies that put them up. I hope that my collaborations with billboard companies or my advertising interventions can show people what its like to live in an environment that serves the interest of the individual/public, to make their lives better, instead of the people who put the billboards up. Replacing art with advertising space has always been a goal of mine, but it has taken center stage in my career at this point in time after my collaboration with Prince Media billboards which was my first major art advertising initiative.
Generally my mornings are very calm. I wake up at 7am. I meditate for an hour from 8-9. If I’m eager to finish last nights drawings then I will go back to them right after my meditation, otherwise I will catch up on administrative work (packaging prints, responding to emails). Then, at around 1130 or so, I have breakfast, alone, everyday at a cafe. a bagel with smoked fish and fresh juice. It is by far my most important meal of the day (I only have 2 meals a day). I spend this time at the cafe refining my ideas for current projects as well as new ones. By 1230 i’m at my desk and stay there until about 8 pm working on my art. I eat a quick dinner and go back to creating until my brain shuts down anywhere between 1030pm-1230 and then I go to sleep.
I do a lot of research for images on the computer, as well as digitize every image (since much of my work ends up getting printed, either for ad posters or billboards, or for graffiti. it is essential to have a digital version of everything.) But I’ve recently started a new body of monochromatic work, which is completely removed from using my computer or digitizing, which I like a lot. It is a much more natural way to work.
The city wide advertising campaign has had its ups and downs. I have been very surprised by how much people engage with the work, stop in their hurried walk, even take steps back to see the posters, when normally if they were just regular advertisements they would keep walking and not pay any attention to them. So in this respect it has been a huge success – comparative proof that placing art everywhere changes the way people experience their city, instead of training themeselves to ignore unpleasant ads they are trained to be more aware of their environment, to see the beauty in it, to stop and think, to know there is something greater that is possible. But there is also a lot of competition for these ad spaces, since they are guerilla ads, and so my posters are frequently covered up by competing advertisers, other companies and brands. So it is a battle to truly create a strong presence of art in the city.
Aside from my city wide art take-over, I spend a lot of time working with hotels, installing art or painting murals (I recently created installations for 10 floors of a new hotel opening in Manhattan). This type of work inspires me to collaborate with more architects , hoping to create properties that have truly meaningful visual experiences, in unity with the experience of light, form, and space.
Imágenes cortesía de Mark Samsonovich www.loveistelepathic.com
FICHA TÉCNICA
Nombre: Mark Samsonovich
Profesión: Artista Visual
Lugar de origen: Jersey (Estados Unidos)
