AMERICA IS A CONTINENT, NOT A COUNTRY. CULTURE HAS NO BORDERS.
"I belong to America in every aspect. The music I make is very influenced by America, not only North America but Mexico, Cuba, Brazil…all of this that is America, including Argentina. I am a son of all this."
Moris Argent
Porno Política Pop
Sunday July20th 2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina
What kind of freedom or limitations do you associate with visual art opposed to creating music?
I find limitations in the music, sometimes, because words…they told me…why do you do this? Because Words are not enough for transmitting experience or sensations...the music...yes...but there are too many musicians...too much music. I look at the Rolling Stones and open it up and see “Tenacious D”…so I see 2 guys one bald with beard and the other is …”ahhhhhhhhhhhh”…on another page there is another musician. In one magazine there are 20 different musicians...so I think that there is a saturation of music. Look at this piece…there is a man with an English flag and he is having fellacio with a girl. I cannot do this in music. I am remixing what I see today…my friends say, “you are not Leonardo DaVinci, you are not Picasso or Monet…you are not a painter.” I am not a painter…maybe I draw…but I make collage. I make collage.
Tell me about your Collage art.
I do collage because in the collage I can put 10 different things. For example Elton John with the English Flag, The Nazi symbol in pink, the Falkland Islands, Empire State. I consider it a little story…if I make a drawing for example, (Moris refers, with much passion to a collage piece that is in the corner of his apartment wall) this is a story of Elton John, I suppose he is singing to this girl. The girl is having sexual intercourse with this chap…I am against war and that is why I have the Falklands…Argentina…we lost a lot of guys and England too lost many men also. I am against war. We also have the Empire state or something similar and another photo of Elton John. The American Flag and this is a famous building here in Buenos Aires that is similar to the Empire State.
Tell me what it means to you to be American.
I belong to America in every aspect. The music I make is very influenced by America, not only North America but Mexico, Cuba, Brazil…all of this that is America, including Argentina. I am a son of all this.
I was born in Uruguay, a very poor country. I went to school in Argentina and I lived under dictatorships….my country has suffered much from many years of dictatorship and without democracy. This has made me…made us hard…in the times of military regiments we are speaking very clear… (Moris goes to the door to reenact a loud military knock on the door. He shouts in the tone that he had heard when younger.) WE WERE UNDER MILITARY DICTATORSHIPS MY FRIEND. The military, I think, in all countries are the same…I don’t think that any country is better or worse…but I am a son of all that…I am a son of bossa nova, jazz, Louis Armstrong, Tango, Carlos Gardel, European influences, France, Spain…Buenos Aires is a port town like New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco…with all the sailors and ships who have came from other countries…this has influence in my music and my ears…I am all that.
When did you first realize you were an artist?
When I got on the stage and started singing and people said…ok…from that moment I realized I had an art that could be put on the stage people could like it or don’t like it…I didn’t care. I think in my case the entertainer and the artist are very near. I like to entertain. I have always this double way of getting to people. “Alright goodnight everyone…have fun the world is a big sin!” and people would start laughing…because my influence is also the Greek theater…the laughter and truth…so in my case I take influence in a very old art. So in reality I do art in an old way. 5000 years ago in Spain, people would pain with nothing…their hands…they put black and make a bull fighting…I see this and if these people thousands of years ago can do art and paint their times…this influenced us to paint our times…I try to do something new. In reference to now, I think we are the sons of the A bomb.
In 1945, when the Nazis were in a point of no return because when people in the world were unsure if Nazis would win the war…the A bomb made a mark in History…from this point the world was never the same.
When you could learn how to interpret laughter and pain was this when you realized you were an artist.
Yes, when you can manage saying something serious, harsh and vulgar. I think art can be amazing, bring pleasure, be nice and decorating but art has to picture reality.
If you had an all expense paid drinking binge with one artist, writer and musician who would they be and why?
I would choose Beethoven, because of the 5th symphony, great talent and his great love for music…he was a very capricious man. For art I would like to sit down with Leonardo Da Vinci because he was a great drawer but more importantly he had a great inventive mind. Lastly, I would like to sit down with Thomas Edison because he eliminated humans. That is very big. If it wasn’t for him we would be using candles. He was a genius…So Beethoven, Da Vinci and Thomas Edison.
Talk about your latest series of work and what are you trying to express.
I say like Stravinsky, “I am not trying to express myself…my feelings, my emotions or what I think of the world…” I will show you one (from a huge pile of pieces that he has stared away he pulls out a 8x11 collage piece)…I am not trying to express myself…I am just showing what could be the future of entertainment…2 guys naked on a huge marquee overlooking the city...I think they are from Finland…playing at Luna Park (a big venue, much like Madison Square Garden, in downtown Buenos Aires) I am just offering something…you can take it as you want.
Do you feel the same creative feeling when creating art opposed to music?
No…with art there are right angles, curves, alignment. Music is more direct…so it is a different kind of art. Playing the piano and having beer with friends…very different then being alone with your art. This is a lonely art for me compared to music.
Do you believe that Argentine art, culture, history, ideology affect you as an artist or do you believe that nationality is only a mere classification.
I believe Argentinean culture has affected me in many ways. Nationalism is not a concept that we embrace…we are a mix of different cultures. Barack Obama or Clinton appears with the American flag and it means something different than here. People say ok…If I appeared with the Argentine Flag here…people would kill me. The American Flag means country, his pride, his culture…they are represented by that. Maybe you know better than me. For us…no. The flag means police, military, lawyers, taxes…I will remember a phrase I heard a long time ago in London…I was with a friend having a coffee…we were not close friends…”right or wrong…my country” What was this guy was trying to say to me? Then he stood up and starting singing the national song and everyone in the bar started singing it too. We don’t have that here.
If you could come back in the next life what would it be?
If I could come back in the next life I would come back as an alpinist. It is healthy and not intellectual…I suppose and besides…I will tell you why…I was friends with a man who was an alpinist…that climbed to a very high mountain here in Los Andes… (7000 meters) so I told him…did you climb alone…”yes” what did you experience when you were up there alone and he said I cried...and...I cried about 10 minutes…then …and then I went back down because the wind was about 150km an hour. I said how great how a man (30 years alone) climb that big mountain. I asked him did you have many problems and he said yes…I had 7000 problems….every meter was a problem… “cada metro una problema”. He was a great man.
More a biography of Moris visit -
http://www.rock.com.ar/bios/0/143.shtml
"When I use repetition the thing that catches my eye is consumerism. When an object is repeated it creates an idea of necessity. It is for you and everybody else…it loses the special effect of individualism. It takes individuality away."
Talk about what inspires you and what is a primary subject of your work?
I like taking pictures of textures and things that specifically, when you put an individual view and perspective on the subject, you are able to take it out of its context and it means something else. When you take something out of its context and put a frame on it, the object or image transforms itself and becomes something else…something new.
Do you believe Argentine culture, ideology, history of feminism or art affect you as an artist?
What affects me is culture in general…not specifically Argentine culture. The things that we lose everyday or the things that we do not catch in the everyday nature of life, for example, when I use repetition the thing that most catches my eye is consumerism. When an object is repeated it creates an idea of necessity. It is for you and everybody else…it loses the special effect of individualism. It takes individuality away. The “necessity effect” that is created when multiplying an object is the idea that everybody must obtain the exact same object because someone else has the same object. I like taking a picture that captures and represents a unique moment in space and time…Something that should not be lost. For example…a tradition that I see...something that we lose in the modern world…I like catching a specific moment in someone’s life that repents their style of life…lastly, I like capturing corners or repetition where nobody is paying attention to.
You are also an Architect; compare the limitations or freedoms that you find between Photography and the design nature of your profession.
It is difficult to compare 2 art forms. The main differences are the tools that you use for each art form. When you take a picture you use your imagination to see something special…something different or a general view that can be appreciated from a different perspective and point of view. The limitations are that you are limited by reality and what already exists. With architecture everything comes out of your brain…you imagine everything…you see buildings where there are not…you see objects where there is nothing…you have to make that real.
I like taking pictures of textures and things that specifically, when you put an individual view and perspective on the subject, you are able to take it out of its context and it means something else. When you take something out of its context and put a frame on it, the object or image transforms itself and becomes something else…something new.
Do you believe Argentine culture, ideology, history of feminism or art affect you as an artist?
What affects me is culture in general…not specifically Argentine culture. The things that we lose everyday or the things that we do not catch in the everyday nature of life, for example, when I use repetition the thing that most catches my eye is consumerism. When an object is repeated it creates an idea of necessity. It is for you and everybody else…it loses the special effect of individualism. It takes individuality away. The “necessity effect” that is created when multiplying an object is the idea that everybody must obtain the exact same object because someone else has the same object. I like taking a picture that captures and represents a unique moment in space and time…Something that should not be lost. For example…a tradition that I see...something that we lose in the modern world…I like catching a specific moment in someone’s life that repents their style of life…lastly, I like capturing corners or repetition where nobody is paying attention to.
You are also an Architect; compare the limitations or freedoms that you find between Photography and the design nature of your profession.
It is difficult to compare 2 art forms. The main differences are the tools that you use for each art form. When you take a picture you use your imagination to see something special…something different or a general view that can be appreciated from a different perspective and point of view. The limitations are that you are limited by reality and what already exists. With architecture everything comes out of your brain…you imagine everything…you see buildings where there are not…you see objects where there is nothing…you have to make that real.
"I choose the direction of bright colors with involvement shapes and contrast, to try to create a positive."
June 20th Flag Day – Barrio Once Studio - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Introduce yourself, your age, nationality, where you were born and give a background.
Hello my name is Marcos Torino, 25 years old and I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Capital. I am a visual artist and I’ve been painting since I was young…since always. I started more serious 5 years ago. Now I am full time. I have another job to make money but still I am full time.
Tell me about your background and balancing art and work. At what age did you find conflict between balancing what you love to do and what you have to do to financially survive?
Since always, when I finished school at 18, where I painted a lot during those days, I started studying graphic design and at the same time I continued painting but in a small room in my house – just for me. When the graphic design study became troubled, I felt happier painting. I use to see the problem between the context of having a degree and having university training for art. I never went to Art University.
So you never went to Art University?
Never. Here (Buenos Aires) you can choose between art university, that is about 7 years, more academic, lot of working, all styles, or you can choose a specific artist that you like to work with a few years, that allows you choose your own way. I decided that.
Influences. Tell me a little bit about your influences?
I have a lot of influences. I don’t think influences are art for art, music for music, sculpture to sculpture. For my art I find influences in visual artists of course from old and new. I study a lot abstract art, Kandinsky, Russian constructivism – the study of shape and color.
Travel. I travel a lot around the world. When you arrive to a new place in the world you experience the food, structures and touch. Traveling opens your mind and I love being in the world. Egypt . When I was fourteen I remember going during the Menem era (Argentine President, 1989-1999 when the Argentine peso was 1 peso 1 U$D) had a profound effect on me. When you leave to another place and return you are never the same person.
Then I get influence from my city, of my partners and friends, from people who I paint with in my studio. My studio is a place where a lot of different artists paint (4 to a room).
Tell me how Buenos Aires as an influence on your art? Talk about the involvement between the building stuctures, light, and shape in your art.
Buenos Aires is a city (cosmopolitan) you can find different colors, shape. You know..you can find a white modern building with little windows between a classic European building and a Jewish building.
Talk about your studio and what barrio we are currently in.
This is a studio in Barrio Once (Buenos Aires, Capital) Its been an old house…maybe fifty years... of being a studio for art…many great Argentine artists have studied here. Famous artists…
How many artists paint here?
Right now there are more or less 20 artists currently at this studio. There are 5 or 6 rooms. There are people that come once a week and some people that almost live here.
Creating your art at your studio, specifically with a community as this place; has an influence on your art?
Not just pictorial influence…thinking and living influence. You can talk about things with people that are in the same travels as you. If you are all day painting alone in your little apartment and go to bed in the same apartment… you can go mad.
Talk about things that counter and create an abstract tension within your art?
I study intentional involvement of tension – some more and some less…I try to get that tension with color or shape or shadows and absence of realism. That is a tension that I think that it is something positive or negative but I think it is something that reflects our life.
Can you give a specific piece as an example?
No. It is the general sense of spontaneous use of color and shape.
What freedom do you find in abstract art and the infiniteness?
Abstract is huge and you choose the direction you move. I choose the direction of bright colors with involvement shapes and contrast, to try to create a positive. More positive or negative…no?.. I am not trying to create anything world changing. I try to make something that goes up.
You have been selected for an all expense paid drinking binge with your favorite artist and musician? Who would they be and why?
For sure I would drink a Fernet with cola…it’s a drink with Italian beginnings but it is very popular drink in Argentina because we are all sons of Italians….I think I would like to have drinks of with Miguel Abuelo…who is…was one of the greatest singers of a band here Los Abuelos Arenal….If I had to choose another from the world artist it would have to be another dead man…Kandinsky..to talk to him and the three of us would be there having drinks and talking…good fun.
Tell me about the younger generation of artists now in Buenos Aires?
Art is here now in Buenos Aires, I myself am my way and my art is South American art style and something that I have my own. I am from here and I live here. It is something that I like and it is something that is getting bigger. It is something that I support in my head and my heart…you know? It is something that started 70 years ago here….it is something that has started and that I`m involved in. I am in the present now and the new generation and going to the future…forward…you know?
Tell me about some upcoming installations…Future?
I am working on installation that will be in a gallery. I am constructing a black box of 3 x 3 meters where you will enter and have little light and an intimate climate. Before getting into the box you will be able to choose the music before you get into the environment. You will enter the box with 3 people and dance one song. It represents a context of escaping a reality for 1 song. You escape into an intimate dark place. Nowadays art is not just you are an artist, painter, sculpture or musician. Art is much more open…thank god...
Hello my name is Marcos Torino, 25 years old and I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Capital. I am a visual artist and I’ve been painting since I was young…since always. I started more serious 5 years ago. Now I am full time. I have another job to make money but still I am full time.
Tell me about your background and balancing art and work. At what age did you find conflict between balancing what you love to do and what you have to do to financially survive?
Since always, when I finished school at 18, where I painted a lot during those days, I started studying graphic design and at the same time I continued painting but in a small room in my house – just for me. When the graphic design study became troubled, I felt happier painting. I use to see the problem between the context of having a degree and having university training for art. I never went to Art University.
So you never went to Art University?
Never. Here (Buenos Aires) you can choose between art university, that is about 7 years, more academic, lot of working, all styles, or you can choose a specific artist that you like to work with a few years, that allows you choose your own way. I decided that.
Influences. Tell me a little bit about your influences?
I have a lot of influences. I don’t think influences are art for art, music for music, sculpture to sculpture. For my art I find influences in visual artists of course from old and new. I study a lot abstract art, Kandinsky, Russian constructivism – the study of shape and color.
Travel. I travel a lot around the world. When you arrive to a new place in the world you experience the food, structures and touch. Traveling opens your mind and I love being in the world. Egypt . When I was fourteen I remember going during the Menem era (Argentine President, 1989-1999 when the Argentine peso was 1 peso 1 U$D) had a profound effect on me. When you leave to another place and return you are never the same person.
Then I get influence from my city, of my partners and friends, from people who I paint with in my studio. My studio is a place where a lot of different artists paint (4 to a room).
Tell me how Buenos Aires as an influence on your art? Talk about the involvement between the building stuctures, light, and shape in your art.
Buenos Aires is a city (cosmopolitan) you can find different colors, shape. You know..you can find a white modern building with little windows between a classic European building and a Jewish building.
Talk about your studio and what barrio we are currently in.
This is a studio in Barrio Once (Buenos Aires, Capital) Its been an old house…maybe fifty years... of being a studio for art…many great Argentine artists have studied here. Famous artists…
How many artists paint here?
Right now there are more or less 20 artists currently at this studio. There are 5 or 6 rooms. There are people that come once a week and some people that almost live here.
Creating your art at your studio, specifically with a community as this place; has an influence on your art?
Not just pictorial influence…thinking and living influence. You can talk about things with people that are in the same travels as you. If you are all day painting alone in your little apartment and go to bed in the same apartment… you can go mad.
Talk about things that counter and create an abstract tension within your art?
I study intentional involvement of tension – some more and some less…I try to get that tension with color or shape or shadows and absence of realism. That is a tension that I think that it is something positive or negative but I think it is something that reflects our life.
Can you give a specific piece as an example?
No. It is the general sense of spontaneous use of color and shape.
What freedom do you find in abstract art and the infiniteness?
Abstract is huge and you choose the direction you move. I choose the direction of bright colors with involvement shapes and contrast, to try to create a positive. More positive or negative…no?.. I am not trying to create anything world changing. I try to make something that goes up.
You have been selected for an all expense paid drinking binge with your favorite artist and musician? Who would they be and why?
For sure I would drink a Fernet with cola…it’s a drink with Italian beginnings but it is very popular drink in Argentina because we are all sons of Italians….I think I would like to have drinks of with Miguel Abuelo…who is…was one of the greatest singers of a band here Los Abuelos Arenal….If I had to choose another from the world artist it would have to be another dead man…Kandinsky..to talk to him and the three of us would be there having drinks and talking…good fun.
Tell me about the younger generation of artists now in Buenos Aires?
Art is here now in Buenos Aires, I myself am my way and my art is South American art style and something that I have my own. I am from here and I live here. It is something that I like and it is something that is getting bigger. It is something that I support in my head and my heart…you know? It is something that started 70 years ago here….it is something that has started and that I`m involved in. I am in the present now and the new generation and going to the future…forward…you know?
Tell me about some upcoming installations…Future?
I am working on installation that will be in a gallery. I am constructing a black box of 3 x 3 meters where you will enter and have little light and an intimate climate. Before getting into the box you will be able to choose the music before you get into the environment. You will enter the box with 3 people and dance one song. It represents a context of escaping a reality for 1 song. You escape into an intimate dark place. Nowadays art is not just you are an artist, painter, sculpture or musician. Art is much more open…thank god...
ARGENTINA
Capital - Buenos Aires
Language - Spanish
Population - 38,740,807
Language - Spanish
Population - 38,740,807
