Dear audience This is an interview between New Zealand Satirist David Stouch and English artist Luther Cummings. A dialogue between the two took place in a rented studio apartment in Wellington, New Zealand. The date was the 10th of January 2013. This is the transcript Thank you, Tom Peters (Of the Our News. It is News team) David:Luther, good morning! And thank you for joining me. Luther:That’s fine, I’m happy to be here. D:That is very good to here. And I must say, when some colleagues of mine told me that Luther Cummings was going to be in New Zealand, better yet, in Wellington for an art show, I was entirely gay with joy. L:Well thank you, that’s very nice of you to say. D:And how was your new year Luther, did you do anything especially special? L:Ah, yes I suppose you could say that, I was in Taiwan promoting a work of mine. D:Oh really! That is exciting. What work was that? L:It was a collaborative piece I did with a couple of artist pals of mine. Very enjoyable. D:Oh, that sounds splendid! L:Yes it was. D:I hope I didn’t impose by asking about your personal life like that, I know that some artists don’t like it like that. L:Oh no it’s quite alright. D:Yes, well it’s good of you to say that. I had a not so enjoyable experience with Tino Seghal last year when I asked him about some of his work. L:I’ve heard he likes to keep his methodologies surrounding his work a little secret. D:Yes I think he does. Oh I’m sorry, we’re not talking about Tino though are we, we’re talking about you. Right, sorry, I can get a little carried away sometimes (chuckles politely). L:No no, it’s fine. Just continue asking me questions. D:You’re too kind. Well Luther, why don’t we start off with you talking about why it is you’re over here in New Zealand? What brings you down under? L:Well, as you said briefly before, I’m promoting a work of mine. It’s an online work that involves a series of short performances by me. D:Yes I’ve seen them. They’re wonderful! Would you care to talk about them? Are they a follow up series to the 2004 photographic works, entitled “Excreted Earth”? I really loved them. So intense, enlightening. Subaqueous. L:Yes they were. But, no, this is an entirely different series of works. I’m actually very excited about them because they’re really taking me in a new direction. I haven’t felt this energized and full of inspiration in years. D:Oh that is wonderful. But if we could do so briefly, for the viewers at home as well as for me. Would you mind talking about your excrement? L:You mean Excreted Earth? D:Yes, that’s what I meant. I and the audience reading this just love that series. Such powerful works, so fresh and non-banal. L:Ah, sure, I don’t mind talking about them briefly. D:Superb. L:They were a comment on all the hype around global warming at the time. There was just so much heat and banter around what to do about it. People only gave their own opinions and nobody had any real solutions. I felt like, as an artist, it was my job to see through the situation and give my own take on it. D:You did a truly amazing job Luther; tell us about the subject matter you used. Was it your idea to use African children as the focal point? L:The children weren’t African. They were just covered in so much of the art that it was hard to make out what colour they were, or who they were. Though that wasn’t really the focal point; ‘who these children were’, it was more about the look in their eyes. It was a metaphor for all that was going on with the climate change issues, and everybody just being caught in the middle of it. There was just so much heat and banter around what to do about it. Nobody had any real solutions. The children acted as a fast tunnel that entered into our souls. D:You couldn’t see their faces though. They were head to foot in feces. L:Oh no, you could. If you looked hard enough you could see many eyes staring right back at you, the viewer. Their sweet innocence and sadness enter our souls and we can’t help but feel empathetic towards them and their situation, and hence our situation. D:Amazing. What did the feces represent? L:It represented the horror we as humans put our planet through. Our planet is our home; it’s our mother source. We treat it as if it doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t treat a family member the same way as we’ve all been treating the Earth. D:Yes, you are very right Luther. And it’s only appropriate that children covered in feces be used to convey this message. How beautiful, yet subtle. L:Thank you. It was a hard choice to make. Figuring out how I could best show the horror we put the Earth through, and how by treating the Earth this way we’re not going to survive much longer as a species. D:The way us humans are going, we’re going implode and die. Aren’t we? The Earth won’t continue to be a livable place. As our resources dry up, there will be no more fuel, and no showers. We’ll all be very smelly. People will be defecating everywhere, we’ll no better than highly evolved chimps. L:That’s right. So yes, that was a very important work of mine, and as an artist I needed to say something. I used that same approach in my next work, which is the reason why I’m here in New Zealand. D:How did you get the idea of using poop as a medium? L:Sorry? D:How did you get the idea of using human excrement as a major medium in the work? It’s something I don’t think I could have ever thought of! L:Well, you’re right, artists have very open and creative minds. The great ones do anyway. I got the idea of using feces as the main medium, purely because it seemed the most appropriate choice aesthetically and conceptually. Human excrement symbolizes the human subject in it’s most basic form. We are disturbed, horrible creatures. Hence our own man-made creation of global warming. D:Yes, you’re very right Luther. Children are the gateway to the soul, and human feces symbolizes us in our true form. Hence why you combined the two together in order to show, correctly, the effect we as humans have on the Earth. It’s genius Luther, true genius. L:Thanks David. Now, about my current work. D:As an artist you just see though things, don’t you? L:…Well. I think I have a knack for it. Yes. D:A problem comes your way, and as an artist you just see the solution straight away, don’t you? L:Well, I wouldn’t say straight away. There is a moderate amount of research that goes into my practice. D:Don’t be so modest Luther! I’ve followed your work for a long time now, and I see genius in every bone of your body. There is no other man on Earth that could have covered children in shit, and know that it was the one true answer to our global warming crisis. It’s just genius Luther, plain and simple. L:I think there’s a little more to it than that, but thank you David. D:You’re more than welcome Luther, more than welcome. L:Yes… So about my current work. D:Ah yes, sorry, looks like I got a little carried away there (chuckles politely). L:It’s quite alright, just ask me questions about my current work. Please. Now what would you like to know? D:Well Luther, why don’t you tell us about this new work of yours? As I said before I have seen it already. Truly amazing stuff. Outstanding even. L:Thank you. D:You’ve truly outdone yourself this time. L:Yes, well, I got the inspiration for this piece on one beautiful summers day when I was involved in a work at the MOMA last year. D:Oh, I’m sorry Luther, but I think we’ve run out of time. L:Are you serious? D:Yes, so sorry. Any last words Luther? When is your exhibition opening up? L:It’s… D:I have it here. Your exhibition opens up on the 12th on January, at the City Art Gallery in Wellington. L:Yup. D:Fascinating. And I must say Luther; I think it is even more enjoyable than the Fecal-Children series. L:It’s called Excreted Earth. D:Exactly. Thank you Luther, and goodbye. L:Goodbye… (David stands up and briskly walks off)
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 01:19:54 +0000
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