In conversation with Margo McClintock
Over the past decade when much art has been concerned with the 'grand gesture' and with easy allusion, Brisbane based artist and musician Eugene Carchesio has persisted with his small watercolour series and with an elusive symbolism which questions the duality of matter and anti-matter. Here he discusses that perceived duality, his enigmatic symbology and his work processes. Eugene Carchesio is the 1991 artist to the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Margo McClintock Looking at the images and the titles you have produced, your work could be compared to Surrealism in many of its aspects, for example, the use of non-conscious faculties, and putting opposites together.
Eugene Carchesio In a sense all my work is Surrealist in that it is intuitive and spontaneous. However I do attach meaning to it, which is the big difference. The
Surrealists' line was, "why bother explaining?" "A lot of life is pure chaos and totally irrational anyway". So Surrealism in that sense is very strong. It will never die.
Margo McClintock Both words and images are important elements of your work. You rarely use text as a graphic element within your images, but you always come up with wonderful titles. These are generally placed outside the image but interact significantly with it. How do your titles develop along with your images?
Eugene Carchesio The way I use titles is influenced a bit by Joseph Beuys. One has no idea what his works are about by themselves, but by using titles, he gives the viewer an entrance into them. I discovered that's the way I had to work too. The titles I give my work introduce a frame or context for my images. I love that relationship... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline