VISIONARY | Interview | Nyugen E. Smith | February 2008
VISIONARY | NYUGEN E. SMITH| 2.2008
OFFERING is a section of VISIONARY that profiles art that is shared outside traditional gallery and museum settings. | NYUGEN E. SMITH |NYUGEN E. SMITH | OUTSIDE CULTURES
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This interview was conducted by e-mail in November 2007.
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VISIONARY is a monthly online interview project that profiles individuals who are using culture to urgently, innovatively
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VIEW OFFERING - JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT
He will be apart of the multi-site exhibition SPRAWL, a multi-venue exhibition at the Jersey City Museum (Jersey City, NJ) opening March 20, 2008. Please visit www.jerseycitymuseum.org for more information. His work is currently featured in Afusion at the Brennan Courthouse (Jersey City, NJ)
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"...How could I possibly depict a "sin" in a multitude of ways without having experienced them all at some point in my life...Do I repent again and again when I create the drawings? Do the final depictions of sins excite, arouse, sadden, anger me? Then what do I do with these feelings and information...- Nyugen E. Smith, ConfeSHUNal
Noelle Lorraine Williams| Recently, you were hosted in Newark, NJ at Red Saw Gallery and at Mana Fine Arts by a group that you co-founded Rock Soup in your performance installation piece ConfeSHUNal.
Noelle Lorraine Williams|What were you hungry to explore in this piece?
Nyugen E. Smith| *With the ConfeSHUNal, I am exploring two ideas. The first is the need to clear one's conscience of what we personally view as wrong-doings/ sins. These wrong-doings/sins are usually concepts that have been burned into our psyche as behaviors and or thoughts that cause suffering in our current physical existence and if not atoned for while "living", will lead us to eternal suffering. There are also internal red flags unique to each individual (not dictated by seasonal trends in religious philosophies) which gives the feeling of committing a wrongful act. The ConFeSHUNal, prompts visitors to ponder wrong-doings and gives them a "reward" for acknowledging them. The "reward" comes in the form of a drawing created specifically for the visitor usually within three minutes of confessing.
The other idea is the exploration and acknowledgment of my wrong-doings. How could I possibly depict a "sin" in a multitude of ways without having experienced them all at some point in my life. How do I feel when I create each drawing? Do I repent again and again when I create the drawings? Do the final depictions of sins excite, arouse, sadden, anger me? Then what do I do with these feelings and information?
Noelle Lorraine Williams |What were your needs?
Nyugen E. Smith| I was in need of visitors to the ConfeSHUNal who were honest and willing to share their their need for atonement. I needed supporters of my bearing of the Communal Cross. By that I mean, people who delivered water, food, and other forms of sustenance to me while I was in the ConFeSHUNal booth.
Noelle Lorraine Williams| What communal needs do you feel that you were addressing in developing his work?
Nyugen E. Smith| The communal needs I feel I am addressing each time I perform this piece, are:
1) the need for someone to hear internal cries for freedom of guilt
2) the need to be rewarded - no matter if it's for something "good" or "bad".
3) the need to compare possessions. (Ha!-this happens even in this situation) Those who received drawings depicting their wrong-doings showed each other and sometimes traded them. This led me to wonder of some people share their penance with each other. (I had to say 90 hail marys for that sin, etc.)
Noelle Lorraine Williams| In what ways did people respond to the secrecy of your persona? Do you feel that in a way it made them feel more safe and at ease?
Nyugen E. Smith| Some people wanted to know who was in the ConFeSHUNal Booth. I think this was to satisfy their curiosity as to who was "hearing" their sins, who was flogging themselves in the booth for their sins, and what does the person look like?
I do think that it did make some people feel more safe to share. Although I did not care to know the identity of visitors, some people did want to show me the drawings they received. It made me wonder how seriously people take the question of morality in our time.
"This performance fits in by way of steering individuals in the direction of acknowledging destructive behavioral patterns within the self which ultimately affects our immediate community and subsequently our global community." - Nyugen E. Smith, ConfeSHUNal
Noelle Lorraine Williams|How does this performance fit into the trajectory of your work?
Nyugen E. Smith| This performance fits in by way of steering individuals in the direction of acknowledging destructive behavioral patterns within the self which ultimately affects our immediate community and subsequently our global community.
The seed we plant in our minds manifest themselves in physical form bearing the attributes of the same seed.
Noelle Lorraine Williams| What are your next steps?
Nyugen E. Smith| My next steps are to continue this exploration by way of traveling the ConfeSHUNal and continuing to chart the results of the information (sins submitted) in the areas that the project travels to. Also, I have now begun to explore my personal struggles with morality, judgment, and impact on my community through a new series of drawings and sculpture. This series is titled SELF.
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Categories: Spirituality,Performance Art,Outside Visions,VISIONARY INTERVIEW,Innovations
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