Q&A with Michael Borkowsky

I recently caught up with artist, poet and all round nice guy Michael Borkowsky and would you look at that?  It’s all recorded for all the wonderful culture vultures out there.

Join us as we talk edible beds, food based paint and video games. What of it?

 

Hi Michael, thanks for interviewing with Cultured Vultures. Let’s get started, you’re an all-round creative individual aren’t you? Still-Life, Tasty Paint Maker, Poet… How did it all begin?

Well, I’ve always painted. And from the age of about 14 I knew that I wanted to be involved in a creative industry of some sort. I didn’t really know how that would manifest itself until I went to Chester University at 18, when I discovered how my work can possess a conceptual value, and how the ideas are the most vital aspect of making work. I seemed to have the ability to allow my work to fall within some sort of niche – some sort of area within fine art that was left a little untouched. I think I’m still able to find that now, with my paint making and my re-imagining of still life. My poetry has always been a sort of hobby. I wrote lyrics for an ill-fated band I was in for about 20 minutes. But other than that I just enjoyed writing. Though now I feel again as though my poetry has fallen in some kind of niche and therefore there is a great deal of value in exploring and developing the ideas contained within my poetry.

 

Neat, and what do you feel is the biggest challenge that artists face in this country today?

In my experience, it’s the competency and reliability of other artists and arts organisations. I think a lot of people enter into the art world expecting an easy, relaxing ride. When reality hits, they are revealed to be incompetent and impossible to establish any firm and lasting professional relationship with. It’s very difficult to filter through potential collaborations to find anything that can be valuable for professional development. And I believe collaboration is key to furthering your career. Although I will say that, when a collaboration is successful, it does feel like a massive achievement. It’s too easy to surrender and say it’s too difficult to become successful in any way. I’d actually argue that, with the rise of social networking it’s never been easier to put your work out there. People need to stop looking for excuses and learn that the biggest barrier to success is themselves. This is especially frustrating as it’s difficult for artists to shake off pre-conceptions of being lazy, staying in bed until 2 in the afternoon and then just getting up and messing around with paint all day. If you want to establish yourself as an artist, you need to have a bit of a sense of business about you, and the passion to seize opportunities.

Ah, that’s really inspiring. Where would you suggest people, such as recent graduates, should look for opportunities?

I’d encourage people to make their own opportunities. Find a venue to host a group exhibition, or open-call or something like a poetry night and promote it as much as you can. That way the ball will be in your court – competent artists and organisations will reveal themselves to you, and hopefully you’ll be able to establish relationships with them.

 

Great, a lot of your early work centres around food, from beds made of toast to your recent paint creations. What is it about food that appeals to you?

Well it all stemmed from looking at works of still life. There was something about the genre that appealed to me – it just seemed so sterile and predictable. I knew of the capacity still life had to incorporate symbolism, metaphor and nostalgia, and I knew that historically, there have been connotations associated with decadence, class systems and morality. But I developed a hunch – speculating that if the physical properties of food were directly exploited, then the genre of still life can be re-imagined with a relevance applicable to the 21st century. Directly using toast to make a bed highlighted the notion of seeking comfort from food. Making paints from food, however, contained deeper conceptual thought. My aim was to make a raw paint that was at once loaded with connotations associated with still life and could harness the raw possibilities of pure pigment. I sought to create a tension between infinite possibility and restricting subject matter.

How did you transition from food as a focal point to video games?

Recently I’ve been considering memory and the role memory has in nurturing experiences. In particular, I have been looking at the shortcomings of memory – an entity prone to distortion, manipulation the trappings of nostalgia. Such considerations are applicable to the utilisation of food, but frankly, after years of directly involving food in my work, I wanted a new challenge. I don’t like the idea of being typecast, and hopefully my new work has surprised a few people. My poetry seeks to disrupt the experience of gaming, often focusing on abstract concepts found within the game, or isolating certain themes within a game in a way that extends the experience beyond the game itself. I try and appropriate memory as a malleable material, and the poetry I’m currently writing seeks to exploit the shortcomings of memory- altering experiences and challenging preconceptions.

What made you choose to write poems about video games as opposed to painting the experiences?

Well, it’s sort of a return to the idea of wanting to find a niche. Poetry that considers video games is something hardly practised, if at all – yet it is an area that can be considered and developed for artistic gain. I’ve wanted to find a way to extend the poetry I make beyond that of a hobby for ages. So it all sort of came together. The idea might be developed and I might well paint video game experiences at some point. And indeed the poems I write are illustrated. Right now though I’m focussed on creating enough poems to warrant getting them published in some way.

What’s your favourite video game and can you describe it one sentence?

Final Fantasy VII. It’s the only one that changed my life in any fundamental way.

It’s a near perfect game with a narrative that changed my perception of what gaming experiences could be.

 

What should we be looking out for next from you?

Well hopefully I’ll have my poems published in some kind of form soon. But other than that, I’m currently involved in hosting an open-call exhibition around the theme of video games at Access Space in Sheffield – which will give other artists the opportunity to explore, investigate and play with concepts found in gaming and develop their professional practice in new, meaningful and unexpected ways. I am hosting it with fellow artist Sharon Mossbeck,  an artist who I’m also collaborating with for a project that looks at ways the sea serpent, Leviathan, can accommodate metaphor.

 

That’s awesome, think we’ll leave it there, thank you!

No problem, thank you for having me!

 

Want to see more of Michael Borkowskys work? You can find his website here,  or follow him on Facebook

All images are property of the artist.