What artists are doing now. Malagasy artist Joel Andrianomearisoa in Paris
An inspiration and mutual solidarity project for the creative industries
In the current situation, clearly our top priority is to take care of our families, friends and fellow citizens. Nevertheless, while public life is paralyzed and museums, galleries and cultural institutions are closed, in many of us neither the urge to work nor the creative spark have disappeared. In fact, quite the opposite is happening in what is turning out to be a time that befits self-reflection and the generation of new ideas for the future. Although we are at home and self-isolating, we all – artists, creatives and Arterritory.com – continue to work, think and feel. As a sort of gesture of inspiration and ‘remote’ mutual solidarity, we have launched the project titled What Artists Are Doing Now, with the aim of showing and affirming that neither life nor creative energy are coming to a stop during this crisis. We have invited artists from all over the world to send us a short video or photo story illustrating what they are doing, what they are thinking, and how they are feeling during this time of crisis and self-isolation. All artist stories will be published on Arterritory.com and on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. We at Arterritory.com are convinced that creativity and positive emotions are good for the immune system and just might help us better navigate through these difficult times.
From his studio in Paris artist Joël Andrianomearisoa answers a short questionnaire by Arterritory.com:
Are you working on any projects right now in your studio? If so, could you briefly describe them?
I worked on a project called FROM HOME which opened Saturday March 28. The project comes from questions that I had when the confinement started. What is being home? What occupies the mind? What does the heart ask for? What can the hours of a clock that moves through the silence perched on deserted streets give. From home, I carved my agitation into each hour, and time feeds a different perspective of creation that, inevitably, stems from the objects that surround me, that interweave the universe of my most intimate daily life.
FROM HOME is a collection of limited editions in which we are all complicit in some way, in which emotions and experiences are recognized, because we are all suffering – or sometimes enjoying – long hours of confinement and bewilderment among the objects that surround us, in our own isolated universe.
What is your recipe for survival in a time of almost only bad news?
Creating! For example, working on the project FROM HOME was for me a way to escape and focus on my inspirations which could come from anything I found in my studio. Being creative and getting inspired are for me keys to survive during this strange period of time.
I also cook a lot. It gives a rhythm to my days - from morning until dinner.
What is something that we all (each of us, personally) could do to make the world a better place when this disaster comes to an end? It is clear that the world will no longer be the same again, but at the same time...there is a kind of magic in every new beginning.
We have to find different alternatives. Maybe the relationships will change. It will no longer be always the market and the artist. We have to find new geographies, new territories giving us new ways to express ourselves with new mediums and new inspirations. A new breath is coming and we have to create it.
“it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life” Nina Simone.
The art world and the culture sector is one of the most affected. What is the main lesson the art world should learn from all this? How do you imagine the post-apocalyptic art scene?
The term “post-apocalyptic” is very strong! I hope the apocalypse will be something different!
I think we have to stay true to ourselves, trying to remain the same but maybe in a more human way. We have to listen… listen to the people, to the world, to nature. We have to bring back meaning in everything we do.
Joël Andrianomearisoa at his studio / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani / Photo credit: Alexandre Gourçon
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Une musique du temps présent II (Nina Simone), 2020 / Ink on wood / 68 × 51 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Quelques chiffons couteux en attendant les vrais, 2020 /
Textile, found ribbons, wood structure / 38 × 28 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. From home, made in Madagascar, 2018-2020 / Textile, found labels, collage on paper, frame / 30 × 20 cm. Edition 1/6 / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. I have no regrets for the past and this is not the end of the world, 2020 / Haviland porcelain and paint / 20 × 60 × 60 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Une musique du temps présent I (Jacques Brel), 2020 / Ink on wood. 68 × 51 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Together forever now until the end of time, 2020 / Wood, textile / 76 × 15 cm. Edition 1/2 / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. These are few of my favorite things, 2020 / Mix media, found objects / 60 × 60 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Kitchen exercises in three chapters, 2020 / Metal, found object in 67ha Antananarivo, nails / 27 × 27 cm. Edition 1/4 / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Taste of a bitter sweet kisses, red lipstick and ink, 2020 / Paper, lipstick Chanel Rouge Allure Ink Fusion 818 and ink / 52 × 32 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa.
Résistance, force et passion, 2020 / Metal, found object in 67ha Antananarivo / 26 × 10 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Réapprendre à lire, de la querelle des émotions à l’action pédagogique, 2020 / Textile, linen and coton on wood strecher, found ribbon by Byredo and handmade embroidery / 50 × 40 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Dis-le moi, tell me, ambarao, solitude, 2020 / Textile, linen and coton on wood strecher, printed textile and handmade embroidery / 50 × 40 cm /
Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. Confection artisanale d’un article incertain, 2020 /
Leather, wood strecher, nails / 50 × 40 cm / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
Joël Andrianomearisoa. And Soon Great Days Will come Again, 2020 /
Paper magazine, collage, frame / 52 × 42 cm / Edition 1/3 / Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
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Joël Andrianomearisoa was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in 1977. He lives and works between Antananarivo and Paris. Andrianomearisoa has participated in a number of group shows, including Africa Remix, Rencontres Africaine de la Photographie in Bamako (2009); the Havana Biennale (2006); The progress of love, Menil Collection, Houston (2012); and Divine Comedy (2014) among others.
Solo presentations include: De Profundis, Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2015); Je ne suis plus une femme noire, Kinani Festival, Maputo, Mozambique (2015); a special project in Tu M’Aimes at the 10th Bamako Encounters Biennial of African Photography, Mali (2015); Perfection, the grave of our own existence, Mikael Andersen, Berlin, Germany (2014); Sentimental, Maison Revue Noire, Paris, France (2013); Une Histoire, Centre Culturel Albert Camus, Antananarivo (2008) and Black Out, mentalKLINIK project space, Istanbul (2007).
Recent group exhibitions include the touring show The Divine Comedy – Heaven, Purgatory And Hell Revisited By Contemporary African Artists, curated by Simon Njami, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA (2015) touring from SCAD Museum of Art, Georgia, USA (2014-15) and MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany (2014); L’échappée belle, Grand Palais, Paris, France (2013) and The Progress of Love, a collaborative project between the Menil Collection, Houston; Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos; and the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis at the Menil Collection, Houston, USA (2012).
He has participated in the Biennale de Dakar, Senegal, (2014), the 12th International Cairo Biennale (2010), Africa Now! (2008), the 8th Bamako Encounters Biennial of African Photography, Mali (2009) and the 9th Bienal de La Habana, Cuba (2006).
