L’Artiste volunteered to translate this week’s installment of the interview and went straight into it:
miss viwi: What is art?
L’Artiste: “Phew. Bigger heads than I have failed to answer this question comprehensively. What do you think, Dietlind?”
dietlind: “Right.. there is no way to answer this question completely and thoroughly. In my opinion art has to be moving. What I mean is, a work has to evoke emotions in the viewer. Whether negative or positive doesn’t really matter.
What’s important for me are the thoughts, the recognition, the prompting of action or even the agitation”
Dietlind Wagner, Pania, Acrylic on paper, 2008.
miss viwi: Why do you do art?
L’Artiste: “I was born an artist. It is just in me, I really can’t do anything about it!”
dietlind: “Primarily I do art to work through personal impressions.
The extensive engagement with an object intensifies my thinking. Even my painted works, as simple as they might appear, are applied layer over layer. For me the process is more important than the end result.”
L’Artiste: “I don’t believe you here … if it were true, you would have made the Dedes and chucked them in the corner or sold them.”
dietlind: “No L’Artiste, this is absolutely no contradiction. The Dede puppets are a ‘Work in Progress’. Here the making is only the beginning…
I have referred to the Dedes as “Vodoo dolls gone mellow” before. Instead of attacking a body with needles to cause injury, I give my puppets character traits to gain an understanding.”
miss viwi: L‘ Artiste Dede, how do you see your relationship with Dietlind?
L’Artiste: “Do I have to say this publicly? To be honest, I am a real artist. Dietlind still has to work on it!
For the time being I need her as a muse, but it can be difficult working with her.”
Dietlind Wagner, Portrait of Dietlind, Acrylic on canvas, 2010.
miss viwi: Could you imagine working without Dietlind?
L’Artiste: “Yes, sometimes I wish I could do without her, but I know her value. If she wasn’t around, who knows what would happen.
You only recognise paradise when you have been evicted, don’t you? I certainly don’t want to test this one out.”
miss viwi: For whom do you make your art?
L’Artiste: “First and foremost for myself. It is my way of expression, I can’t help it.”
dietlind: “In this regard we are similar, but for me it is a form of processing rather than expression.
I should add that what I have done so far was either too personal or too mediocre to hang publicly on the wall .
The Dedes changed this entirely! They – and L´Artiste will certainly agree – want to be seen. They forge ahead into the public view. I think it is because they don’t need me as an artist. They can exist very well without me.”
Dietlind Wagner, Where am I, Acrylic on canvas, 2012.
miss viwi: Do you want to say anything with your art?
L’Artiste: “I have to come back here to the question “What is art?” Of course I hope the viewer will gain some insight when looking at my work.”
dietlind: “I agree. I hope the reader will find something for themselves and will recognise characters or situations.
Without recognition understanding is hampered. The Dedes are of course reflecting my world view, but I don’t want to preach! I leave it entirely up to the reader what to think.”
(Fotos: © 2012 Dietlind Wagner)
The interview will continue next Sunday, 3/2/13, at 8 am CET in |:::VEGGIETORIA:::|.
dedepuppets 