JuiceArtMag

An interview with Artist & Model Eileen Botsford extract

1. Where is home?
I would never be able to answer this in the literal meaning of the question, I am part Greek, part American and part English, I have lived in these three countries for long periods of time and my lifestyle has never been associated solely to any of these nationalities, I am a magpie, or a ‘tourlou tourlou’ of all of them. I only know I most feel at peace when in Greece, and in a way being at peace is being at home.

2. Why Athens, why now?
Athens is very exciting city right now. I grew up in Athens and so what some foreigners may see as ugly in Athens, I just see it as life. Athens right now, more than ever before, is filled with contradictions, with new blood, new ideas, new projects, yet still maintaining certain aspects which are quintessentially Greek. It is a buzzing city and it has its own charm. Many Greeks who have lived for years abroad have come back to Athens now, and so that communication barrier that existed 10 years ago is slowly phasing out. Athens is also a port to some of the most amazing places on earth, which I call the Greek islands.

3. Are you really Greek?
Yes I am Greek. I was born in Greece, I went to Greek school in Athens and also lived on Syros for 4 years when I was a teenager. The Greek part of my family is from Syros, so my roots are from there and so are some of the happiest memories of my life.

4. How important is nationality when it comes to your work?
It is important, to an extent. Works that are created to express experiences which are country-specific, whether those being social or economical, are strongly related to the nationality of the artist. My works however, and at the moment, concentrate on the human as a being and within the society he/she exists. So however much I try to investigate the universal essence of the inner being, there will always be some aspects in what I have created that are related to where this being lives.

5. Do you feel you are succeeding?
Yes. Everyday I wake up healthy and able to do what I do for living I am succeeding. This for me is a dream, I am lucky and I know I am lucky to able survive out of being an artist. The hard parts in life will always be there, and most of them are challenges not obstacles.

6. What gets you up in the morning?
My dog! Thank god not an alarm clock, but my dog wakes me up, I hate alarm clocks. No really, what gets me up in the morning, mentally, is the prospect of being better at who I am, climb my invisible ladder of challenges even more, and taste life again.

7. Fashion or Art? Model or Artist?
Art. Artist. I was born as artist, however cliché that might sound, I never thought I might be something else, it all came naturally at the age of 3 apparently, when I drew a slice melon at 3/4 angle! Working as a model parallel to my work as an artist has been a bonus however. It toughened me up, models are tough people believe it or not, they have to face daily the fact that they are judged purely for their looks, shadowing a big part of anything they may be developing within them. Also working as a model influenced my work, I became fascinated by recording the human body in various mediums and using it within my work obsessively. Also modeling made me question so many things regarding our perception of our outer being and ourselves.

8. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?
Rarely. We are so brainwashed when it comes to seeing beauty, we have lost track of what is what and who is who.

9. Tell us about vanity?
“Vanity is my favourite sin” said Al Pacino. I think that about sums it up!

10. Do you aim to make beautiful work?
Yes, I need to make beautiful work or at least what I see as beautiful. I am not an artist that questions through ugliness, I am artist that questions through beauty.

 

11. What do you aim through your work?
Communication.

12. Why new media?
I fell in to new media while at my 3rd year in art school. I guess it is very much related to my character and my attraction to fast, almost instant results. My ideas come and go so quickly that working in any other medium, I would run out of drive half way through as my mind would be on to another idea. However I give credibility all forms or artwork, regardless of medium, there is good art, and there is bad art, now there is something that lies in the eye of the beholder!

13. Any chance of going back to basics?
Yes indeed, I long to work with other materials and escape the digital world for a while, not everything digital is good you know, we have to have a balance in life.

14. When are you most happy?
After a very productive day, meeting with family or friends and talking nonsense. When on Syros isle.

15. Tell us about 2007?
2007 was a buzzing year for me. It started with me working with performers and preparing for my project The Bodymode Show which took place at the Pearlfisher Gallery, London. In the meanwhile a worked on an amazing Theatre Production of Iris Theatre who put up T.S. Elliot’s ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ at St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London, and for which I created all the projections within the church.

My work was also shown in quite a few exhibitions in Greece, including ‘Cosmetics –Styles-Attitudes’ which took place at the Kalamata Municipal Gallery, ‘Stories Next Door’, which took place in an old neoclassical building in Athens, at the 1st Biennale of Conteporary Art in Thessaloniki, though their ‘Public Art Screening’, and at the Thessaloniki Centre of Contemporary Art in the exhibition ‘Heterotopias’. Simultaneously, I showed work at the Van Brunt Gallery in NY.

16. Tell us about 2008?
I have big plans for this year, in terms of my personal work as an artist and other projects through EBnefsi Design. All of them are taking place in Athens, and this is the most exciting bit.

17. Tell us about ‘Human’?
‘Human’ is my main forthcoming exhibition to take place in Athens which I am working towards. My work as an artist for the past 7 years has concentrated primarily on the human form, mind and behaviorism in relation to its social parameters. I have developed communication through the use of the ‘human’ through works in various mediums, interactive, net.art, video, site-specific and still imagery. The exhibition ‘Human’ is a collection of these works in one exhibition space, with the primary aim to explore all optical and audio sensory channels, set a number of questions related to the human form, mind and behaviorism and expand our mental parameters of perception on ourselves.

18. Tell us about 'Between Habitats'?
‘Between Habitats’ is my 2nd forthcoming exhibition I am working towards. In November 2006 I had the privilege of working for Habitat for Humanity as a volunteer at the Edgewater housing rehabilitation project for Bergen County, New Jersey, USA. During this time I was inspired to capture certain scenes that the building began to develop during its transformation process. These scenes where the touching moments of a buildings’ life which lie within the process of its alteration, the aspects that mark movement and change to the space and the aspects and markings that lie between the lives that have come and gone within it and the new lives that will again occupy the building. I recorded these scenes photographically and will exhibit them through ‘Between Habitats’ in Athens, which a city undergoing major structural, cultural and behavioral reformation, where buildings are constantly being torn down and put up, old buildings are given new life and meaning, spaces are being reevaluated and redeveloped.

19. Other projects?
I am also working on 2 other projects for 2008, which are also very exiting. I have founded and organized Athens Art Net , which is non-profit independent initiative focusing on networking opportunities for individuals with the Arts based in Athens or with links to Athens. The 1st Athens Art Net Event, will be taking place on April 13th at BIOS. It will include opportunities for networking and some very interesting speakers from Athens and abroad.In addition to this I am working as the creative director of Project World 2.5, founded and led by writer Daphne Kapsali. This is a top secret project so I can only give you a link for now: www.world2point5.gr

20. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
That is a scary thought! Having plans for 2008 is enough for me right now, taking one day at a time and making sure I live for the present is my most important vision right now…