NICOLE M. BOITOS
A struggling student artist in Philadelphia, Penn., Ms. Boitos hit the big time when she connected with former members of the music group Swans.
By Sean Flinn | Spring, 1999
Sean Flinn: What drew you to
become a visual artist? When did you start working as one? What
specifically drew you to printmaking? Do you work with any other
mediums? Would you like to?
Nicole Boitos: As an inquisitive child, drawing was just my way of documenting what was around
me, what was in me...what I saw, regardless of the actual tangibility
of these things. Transcribing visually that which I could not
naturally perceive with my senses. Actually, not much has changed
since I was five! Just the expansion of my vocabulary and visual
language skills. I wasn't serious about any of this until around
high school, when I began taking classes at the university, which
is where, incidentally, I was first introduced to printmaking.
Printmaking is a rather indirect process, meaning what mark you
make upon the stone or the metal plate is not an end-result in
itself. The stages, instead of diluting the creative process,
provide you with so many opportunities to manipulate the work.
As many layers of line exist as layers of intent. And here you
can draw this delicate, wonderful little thing which a breath
could disintegrate, but which is also etched in hard, cold metal,
a material which has as much compositional integrity as does the
image. I've still interest in painting in oils, but just haven't
the time to make painting a priority, at the moment. That will
hopefully change soon, now that I'll be out of school for a short
spell...
Many of your pictures
seem to examine the relationship between man and animals both
real mythological. The aspects of those relationships come across
as being very negative or adversarial in your prints. Is this
accurate? What do you intend to communicate with pieces like those
found in your "Pastoral Series?"
The major theme,
or force in my work, as in my life, is conflict - struggle - and
resolution. I use the animals as vehicles for this rather simple
metaphor. Anyway, none of us are any longer affected by human
suffering, no matter its magnitude. But in animal life we remain
perceptive of tragedy, of pain...and with that our spirits can
still identify. I don't believe by nature we are humans. Trying
to be turns us cold and unfeeling, we stop communicating with
instinct. Animals are everything we will not allow ourselves to
be.
Tell me more about
the Dragon and St. George series. What interests you about this
story, and what made you decide to portray it in a series of prints?
Why did you decide to invert the outcome of the tale?
The St. George
series is perhaps my most direct exercise of the conflict/struggle
concept. The story is so universal - some form exists in nearly
every culture. It is innate mythology. Here the force of human
Man (St. George) full of virtue and valour charges against the
mighty black serpent of Instinct. Well, fool that he is, is defeated
and devoured by that of his own which he cannot kill entirely.
We all succeed in wounding our instinct, binding it with will
and earthly determination, but this is only temporary. He was
bound to lose at some point! So, here it is documented.
What qualities
must a subject possess in order to be "Boitos worthy?"
That is, what motivates you to portray a particular person or scene? After you've chosen the
subject, how then does the creative process unfold for you. Give
us some insight into your methods of composition.
Any subjects with
which I can directly or indirectly identify I consider. And working
in series allows me to work them through entirely - like a complete
thought rather than a solitary word or sentence. Of course, it
has seemed to me that such subjects strike me with a will of their
own! Once I have become taken by something, I spend a time giving
it shape - again, transcribing the intangible into visually recognizable
form. Next comes perhaps the step I consider the most important
- organizing the composition. What overall shape in which it will
be framed, how many key figures will be involved, their placement,
etc. It's vital, for me, to maintain overall balance, solidity
and stability of a composition while keeping everything in motion
at the same time. From there, all the detailed decision making
happens during the material creation process. What line should
go here, or here, or there...what needs strengthening, what needs
weakening...what needs dimension, what needs space. I never try
to make a print look exactly like the drawing from which it came
- you only create stasis this way. No matter how well you translate
that original image, it remains a copy.
What sorts of assumptions
have viewers made about your work? Have they been correct? Incorrect?
Suprising? Do viewers ever infer messages or themes in your work
that you find valid, but which you did not consciously imply?
This may sound
horrible, but I try not to listen to the assumptions of others
- they are limited by their definition. But impressions and insights
are invaluable, and perhaps an artist's greatest natural resource
outside of his/her own mind. Even if I disagree completely with
a person, that conversation or argument acts as a sort of catalyst
for a shift in your own perspective. With the Pastoral series
I saw many people, at a distance, say 'oh, how nice! Oh how pleasant!
What cute little bunnies!' As distance decreased between viewer
and print, I began hearing, 'Oh my god, what are they doing?'
Finally, if they stuck around, they would begin to notice all
the little things, all the hidden details and secrets. Then, they
would smile.
How did you meet
/ become involved with Jarboe and Michael Gira? What led Gira
to use your work for the Body Lovers album cover [pictured
above]? Are there any interesting stories behind your work
on that project?
The Swans. Well,
that's a long story, but here goes a brief version: Around Christmas,
1995 I was lying in a hashish coma on the floor of a friend's
apartment in Chicago. He had these huge studio speakers inverted
into even larger plastic barrels which were turned towards the
center of that very small room. His floor was covered with the
dry leaves he collected on the street, under which he was also
covered. Well, he had "Feel Good Now" on the record player, the
reverb filling every possible particle of dimension. It was crazy!
I thought perhaps this monstrous sound was in my head, but I could
feel the floor shaking, and my doing so seemed impossible. Needless
to say it made a rather indelible impression. I remember the next
morning reading the record jacket and feeling such a chill run
through me when I looked at Jarboe's and Michael's photos. A fateful
moment to be sure...I just somehow knew these two people were
going to enter into my life.
So, all this was in my head as I
flew back to Philadelphia, and I began collecting everything Swans
I could find, as if to get a better understanding as to what happened
that night. Then , that summer, they played at this spiteful pit
of a club along the Delaware - the type of place that has Jaegermiester
on tap - and I witnessed first-hand their incredible power. I
spent the next few weeks writing a letter to them, introducing
myself, and my vague intentions...I'm still amazed I sent it,
it seemed so ridiculous at the time, but I also couldn't rationalize
away how compelled I felt to make that link. A few months passed
and I received the letter that started my correspondence with
Jarboe. We became good friends in a rather short period of time,
considering the overall number of letters exchanged. Then, after
sending J a note written on the back of a Renaissance-style drawing
I did of a horse's ass, Michael wrote with the proposal for what
would later become the BodyLovers project.
It was a pretty intense
thing, the creation of that cover series. I was working in a large
downtown farmer's market at the time, and lacking a live subject,
i went to one of the hog farmers there and asked to buy a pig's
head (common thing in certain dishes, like head cheese). He looked
at me funny when I asked for the smallest one possible, and told
me to come back the next week, and he'd have it for me. So a week
later I give him my ten bucks and he hands me this box about the
size of a standard TV! I undid the layers of blue plastic, convinced
of a mistake, to stare down at this hideous lump of eye-less pink
flesh. God, and it was heavy! Luckily it fit into my empty freezer,
where it lived for about two months, while I completed several
propositional drawings for Michael. Afterwards, I thought about
doing something obvious with it, like attaching it to the end
of a stake standing in the ground somewhere in the park across
the street from my house, but I shuddered to think what the homeless
would do to it ... heaven forbid, right? I think I ended up just
throwing it in the garbage one day, sick of it all. I'm anxious
to see what other mutilated beasts I get to work from for the
rest of the series! Hopefully something I can at least eat!!
What artists influence
or have influenced you (these need not be visual artists) and
how have they done so?
I've been technically
influenced mostly by Albrect Durer, Rembrandt, Audubon, da Vinci,
Goya, Kollwitz ... mostly Old Masters. I'm passionate about their
ability to use line - very juicy stuff. But now that I'm so much
less defensive about Art, I have allowed myself to be influenced
by everything, whether I like it or not. Vocabulary is used differently
be everyone, and again, no one person uses it in the "right"
way. This is not to say I like everything I see - far from it!
I do try to give everything the benefit of the doubt at the time,
and you can never predict how something might strike you at a
different time. For example, I used to hate Folk Art, but now
I absolutely love it - indeed so far from being naive.
What projects do
you have lined up for the future? What sorts of developments can
we expect to discover in future pieces?
Presently, I am
working on a small number of projects. Foremost is a book with
Jarboe, which will contain 23 pieces of her writing, with 23 prints
of mine. But with the completion of my degree at U. Penn, time
for progress has been miserably and regrettably sparse. But, so
far I can say the images will all be in a style similar to that
of the Pastoral prints, but with insects. I also am starting in
earnest work on my new portfolio for graduate school. The styles
and compositions will be familiar, but with treatments likened
to the ancient Roman frescos and tiles that have been a recent
influence. I have sketches for a series of prints of "Trick
Riders", another more statuesque series in large square format
similar to huge Roman bath tiles from Pompeii, and another consisting
of solitary figures hovering over fighting beasts which will titled
"Family Struggles." This coming summer will afford me
the luxury of time in which to finish these, and get them out.
I look forward to it!
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