Jay Rechsteiner
In essence I am a story-teller. I use different materials such as found objects, magazines, video & audio footage etc. that I collect during my research or travels and weave into stories. These stories are often hidden within the materials and not instantly visible.
My work is in general process-based and sits at the intersection of different practices. Whether it manifests itself in the form of a drawing, a collage, a painting, an installation, an action or any other medium, my work is never so much about the discrete unit of work but rather the work as a part of the gesamtkunstwerk, the gestamt-story. My understanding of the gesamtkunstwerk in its truest sense is the entirety of my work as a cohesive body. It is very important to me that my work represents myself, my way of thinking and my opinions. Staying true to myself and having integrity is a very important aspect of my practice. I don't produce art for the masses, nor have I any desire to ride on the band wagon of current trends in the contemporary art world. More: http://jayrechsteiner.com/ |
My projects:
Work diary
Note that the language I am using in this diary is not necessarily very academic or 'smooth'. I It is rough and unedited but true in its essence.
work in progress 12 - 21 July
Before we set off on our journey I was interested in developing work that would explore the peripheral experience of travelling, i.e. work that does not concern itself with depth and the profound understanding of specific themes or the world in general but rather with superficial encounters and quick hellos, simply drifting by. The idea is related to the nature of the residency as we are travelling across Europe in a big red van. There is no exact outline of my work before the point before departure as I find it crucial to respond to new circumstances in order to develop one's practice and evolve as an artist.
As I found it rather hard to adapt my work method I was not really able to follow my plan. I made a few random collages, very bad collages I have to admit and focused more on filming certain parts of the journey. I came up with the idea to create a video installation with different screens. Every screen shows a different aspect of the journey. Besides the filming I also started to collect items.
Projects and artwork
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
As I found it rather hard to adapt my work method I was not really able to follow my plan. I made a few random collages, very bad collages I have to admit and focused more on filming certain parts of the journey. I came up with the idea to create a video installation with different screens. Every screen shows a different aspect of the journey. Besides the filming I also started to collect items.
Projects and artwork
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
work in progress 22 - 30 July
The Red Van is my main project which explores the impact change has on one's practice (and in a wider sense change in structure has an impact on the overall structure of a system). This project relates to my main interest in change/structure. As the diagram below explains everything that happens within the van (and also before during the planning period) is a structure in flux, i.e. under constant construction, always changing. Ideas, action, circumstances change according to change in circumstances and structure.
I continued working on a my collages/drawings and developed the concept of my film. Projects and artwork A film installation that consists of multiple projection Collection of found objects drawings/collages |
work in progress 30 July - 6 August
After a few weeks on the road I have come to realize that the main purpose of the trip is not necessarily developing certain types of works or work on specific projects but exploring the impact this new home/studio has on my practice. On the one hand I find myself restricted and confined in terms of studio space. We either work outside or inside the van. As we need to restore the studio space after each working session, i.e. transforming the van back into a mobile home, there is a need to be more organized and tidy. As I could leave stuff lying around in my London studio, I have to put everything back into my personal shelves, get rid of paper snippets etc. This routine has a major impact. From rather messy work I see a development to cleaner and minimal work.
Projects and artwork
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
Projects and artwork
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
After a week-long residency (29 July - 6 August) at ID Projects, St Angel, Haute Correze, courtesy artists Phil Ilingworth and Natalie Dowse we organized our very first (trial) exhibition in which we showed some of the work we had created so far. I decided to show my last six collages, footage of all four cameras on four different laptops and the collected items.
work in progress 7 - 25 August
The last few weeks were essential in my development as an artist. I have seen such a lot of lovely landscapes, buildings and art. Also the fact that I am away from London and my usual surroundings have had a great influence on my thinking and working as an artist. I feel very liberated. I have loads of ideas, some are awfully silly after a few days working on them and some are great (Well, I think they are great...). Anyway, since we left St Angel I worked on one more collage which ended up as a disaster. I believe the reason for this is the amount of art material I had collected in the various places and museums. The moral of the story: The more you have, the more you can mess up. I decided to put my collage-drawings back into the drawer with all my art material and spend my time on developing other pieces I had been working on in the last few weeks instead.
Once arrived in Lake Garda I started to edit and analyze my film material and organize the other work. And here we go, four pieces I developed since the collage disaster. They all link to my personal website. And yes, I actually have the great ability to find the right places to set up my work and take photos of it... Anyway, here we go:
I feel that I am finding myself as an artist. I have always had a leaning towards minimalism and conceptual work but I have never managed to go through with it until now. One of the reasons is the constraints in terms of available work space and material. At the Museum for Contemporary and Modern Art in St. Etienne I was lucky enough to see one of my favorite artists' work: Giovanni Anselmo. This exhibition was a wake-up call, I think. I have known Anselmo's work for years but I had actually never seen any thing in the flesh (or stone, vegetable and sand...) until now. One of the pieces I developed is in fact an imitation of Anselmo's work and is called 'imitation'. I am sure he wouldn't mind. In fact most of the work that is being developed in general is an imitation to some degree of something that already exists.
Once arrived in Lake Garda I started to edit and analyze my film material and organize the other work. And here we go, four pieces I developed since the collage disaster. They all link to my personal website. And yes, I actually have the great ability to find the right places to set up my work and take photos of it... Anyway, here we go:
- imitation
- I am building a house and I am far away. Somehow I am building my house. For now I have a pile of black stuff.
- cable
- Le sentier des peintres
I feel that I am finding myself as an artist. I have always had a leaning towards minimalism and conceptual work but I have never managed to go through with it until now. One of the reasons is the constraints in terms of available work space and material. At the Museum for Contemporary and Modern Art in St. Etienne I was lucky enough to see one of my favorite artists' work: Giovanni Anselmo. This exhibition was a wake-up call, I think. I have known Anselmo's work for years but I had actually never seen any thing in the flesh (or stone, vegetable and sand...) until now. One of the pieces I developed is in fact an imitation of Anselmo's work and is called 'imitation'. I am sure he wouldn't mind. In fact most of the work that is being developed in general is an imitation to some degree of something that already exists.
As for my film installation project, I wrote a little summary that sums up what happened so far:
At first I am using only one camera, my Canon camcorder which I use to film the departure, namely the van and the journey from London to Dover. Arrived in Calais I use it to film Chiara and eventually I decided to start filming Chiara and the baby, mother and daughter together. The initial scenes were quite long.They basically introduced the observing character of the camera, i.e. the person behind the camera and the person watching the scenes. This gave me the idea of of having another camera whose main concern is long still shots, my Fuji photo camera. The film develops from one camera to four cameras, each having a specific function, i.e. is responsible for a specific aspect of the journey. At first the use of the cameras is rather random. The functions of the individual cameras are developed during the first few weeks and become more and more clear and specific. It is important to understand that the film needs to seen as a whole, i.e. every function is only complete as part of all four functions. I am talking about the gesamtwerk, not necessarily as the entire work but the sum of the stages of development within the process of work and the four distinctive camera functions. It also investigates the relationship between movement and static images as well as the creation of pattern and rhythm within a moving image and the subtle narrative within a seemingly abstract way of telling a story. |
Stills of the four cameras
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The collaboration of the cameras is an interesting part of the entire film. The Canon camcorder and the Fuji photo camera work together for example. There are times when this collaboration breaks down (for example the static filming of rain on van windows).
It is a home video style film that tells a narrative. Its 'unprofessionalism' gives the film an intimate feel. The narrative is very simple: a journey in a van documented by the father of a child who observes his family. He plays the main role, the observer, he is seen only briefly in the video but usually only observes and preserves the material. His existence is acknowledged by Chiara's and Delphine's occasional reaction to him and the filming process. The narrative evolves around the scenes between mother and child and the changes in scenery and different stills include detail shots of the stills that document the geographical/physical movement, i.e. the change in settings.
Read all my notes about the film here.
It is a home video style film that tells a narrative. Its 'unprofessionalism' gives the film an intimate feel. The narrative is very simple: a journey in a van documented by the father of a child who observes his family. He plays the main role, the observer, he is seen only briefly in the video but usually only observes and preserves the material. His existence is acknowledged by Chiara's and Delphine's occasional reaction to him and the filming process. The narrative evolves around the scenes between mother and child and the changes in scenery and different stills include detail shots of the stills that document the geographical/physical movement, i.e. the change in settings.
Read all my notes about the film here.
links to projects and artworks:
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
www.jayrechsteiner.com/artworks.htm
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
www.jayrechsteiner.com/artworks.htm
work in progress 26 August- 30 September 2015
After about ten days by Lake Garda and Venice, we travelled to Lugnez in Switzerland where we curated a retrospective exhibition of my father who passed away in February 2015.This was probably the main event since the 26th of October as we were based for a few weeks in his house. At the same time I developed a few more pieces. Looking back at the work I have come to realize that since the death of my father most of my work investigates the notion of heritage; not heritage in the form of receiving money, property etc. from a relative after their passing but rather in the form of the continuation of the development of ideas and themes, i.e. cultural heritage.
Besides curating my dad's exhibition Mille Vie (http://franzuelirechsteiner.weebly.com/a-thousand-lives.html) together with Chiara and working on my wunderkammer 'Archive of a Thousand lives', I developed several works within the last few weeks.
Archive of a thousand lives
The Thing Outside
heritage
Restoring my father's work. And now it is my work.
Film project
As we have not traveled that much, I decided to film random footage and record sound for the edit. I am still not exactly sure what the outcome of the film installation will be.
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
work in progress 01 October - 31 October 2015
During the last few weeks I mainly focused on filming and have not developed much new work. In fact apart from three to four collage-drawings I have not produced any new work but only collected material for possible new work.
As The Red Van is stationed in Castelammare del Golfo in Sicily over the winter months I have loads of time to go through the work of the past months and focus on working on my film installation. I am still unsure what I want to do with all the footage. We are thinking of renting a studio space but I might actually use the Red Van as the studio space. Things are a bit unclear at the moment.
links to projects and artworks:
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
www.jayrechsteiner.com/artworks.
As The Red Van is stationed in Castelammare del Golfo in Sicily over the winter months I have loads of time to go through the work of the past months and focus on working on my film installation. I am still unsure what I want to do with all the footage. We are thinking of renting a studio space but I might actually use the Red Van as the studio space. Things are a bit unclear at the moment.
links to projects and artworks:
A film installation that consists of multiple projection
Collection of found objects
drawings/collages
www.jayrechsteiner.com/artworks.
work-in-progress from 1 November
Nomadic vs settled/fixed existence
Any kind of journey (temporal nomadic existence) is some sort of escape, be it escaping from war, hunger, starvation, poverty or from one's everyday life in the search for adventure. Social media is a form of travelling, not physical but in terms of information exchange with people in remote places. I think that humans are in essence nomadic although we search security and when we think we have something, a place that is secure, we appropriate that place and make it our own, we defend it, we live from it and we die for it.The Red Van is a nomadic experience. I am not sure if I have concluded anything amazingly interesting to be honest. I enjoy the constant change of scenery, seeing new things on a daily basis. However, sometimes I long for a stable home, a bathroom, a TV screen, all the things we are so very much accustomed to. However, once you have these things back, the desire for travelling comes back and haunts you.
Where do I belong to? What is my homeland? I find that my homeland, the place I really belong to is my past, not necessarily the present. Travelling, living a nomadic experience is being at home just as much as being in a stable home as the past is something one carries around regardless where one is.
All the work I have made during the trip so far does not necessarily investigate a nomadic existence but is merely the product of adaptation as my work practice needed to adapt to the altered circumstances. Within the work you can discover a change, a change in lifestyle, a change of how I respond to things, I way I process life etc.
The work I have presented so far on this blog is quite different from the work I have been making in Castellammare del Golfo as the days have become more stable or let's call it fixed. There is no need to be super tidy, there is no need to find shelter, a secure place for the van etc. We have a fridge, a TV, HOT water etc. This is reflected in the kind of work.
Find some of the work I have made during our stay in Castellammare del Golfo so far below.
All my work can be viewed on my personal website http://jayrechsteiner.com/artworks.htm
Any kind of journey (temporal nomadic existence) is some sort of escape, be it escaping from war, hunger, starvation, poverty or from one's everyday life in the search for adventure. Social media is a form of travelling, not physical but in terms of information exchange with people in remote places. I think that humans are in essence nomadic although we search security and when we think we have something, a place that is secure, we appropriate that place and make it our own, we defend it, we live from it and we die for it.The Red Van is a nomadic experience. I am not sure if I have concluded anything amazingly interesting to be honest. I enjoy the constant change of scenery, seeing new things on a daily basis. However, sometimes I long for a stable home, a bathroom, a TV screen, all the things we are so very much accustomed to. However, once you have these things back, the desire for travelling comes back and haunts you.
Where do I belong to? What is my homeland? I find that my homeland, the place I really belong to is my past, not necessarily the present. Travelling, living a nomadic experience is being at home just as much as being in a stable home as the past is something one carries around regardless where one is.
All the work I have made during the trip so far does not necessarily investigate a nomadic existence but is merely the product of adaptation as my work practice needed to adapt to the altered circumstances. Within the work you can discover a change, a change in lifestyle, a change of how I respond to things, I way I process life etc.
The work I have presented so far on this blog is quite different from the work I have been making in Castellammare del Golfo as the days have become more stable or let's call it fixed. There is no need to be super tidy, there is no need to find shelter, a secure place for the van etc. We have a fridge, a TV, HOT water etc. This is reflected in the kind of work.
Find some of the work I have made during our stay in Castellammare del Golfo so far below.
All my work can be viewed on my personal website http://jayrechsteiner.com/artworks.htm
Working in Castellammare del Golfo
new work
Looking back at the journey of The Red Van so far I have detected the following structure in my work:
The Red Van part 1
Four months stationed in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily:
making new work which is different from the work produced in and around the Red Van.
The Red Van part 1
- daily film record of the journey
- collages
- collection of items
- collection of ideas for future art: 1 week residency at ID Projects in St Angel, Haute Correze and a 2 week stay in Lago di Garda: processing the ideas for future art and manifesting some of it:
- Le sentier des peintres
- cable
- I am building a house and I am far away. Somehow I am building my house. For now I have a pile of black stuff.
- imitation
- Restoring my father's work. And now it is my work.
- heritage
- The Thing Outside
Four months stationed in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily:
making new work which is different from the work produced in and around the Red Van.
New work: Catholic Vantage: Click HERE
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The Red Van part 2:
Based on the work created during the first part I will continue producing work that responds to the constant changing environment and daily challenges, things, people etc. we encounter.
I think life is about stories. The history of mankind is written in stories. Life is about stories!!! Stories about the past. Stories of the present. Stories of the future. It is about connecting fragments and create a whole. There is ALWAYS a connection between everything. This is what I want to somehow manifest in the coming months. I will probably be collecting fragments of 'things' such as for example sounds, smells, images (moving and still) etc. and establish their connections/links. I am not sure yet how exactly I will manifest my collections/research. Another thing I am interested in are natural and man made interventions (graffiti, street art, weird constructions in the middle of nowhere, natural decomposition, merging of natural and artificial constructions such as plants breaking up concrete etc.)
Social media, global communication, work-in-transit
My work methods and the way I approach work has changed dramatically, from a messy to organized. My work has become a lot more flexible and I feel less attached to a physical place. The work I have been producing can be easily transported and exhibited worldwide. Besides this I have allowed the world of social media/communication influence my work as I have learned a lot from the popularity stats of images. I am getting more and more interested in the dynamics of social media and its organically growing world. This ties in with the way we are currently living.
Exhibition in Castellammare del Golfo on the 17th of March 2016
I showed some of the Tourist footage which looked great. I decided to convert my side of the van (my wall) into a diagram and not only work I produced as I see the Red Van as the over-arching project.
Based on the work created during the first part I will continue producing work that responds to the constant changing environment and daily challenges, things, people etc. we encounter.
I think life is about stories. The history of mankind is written in stories. Life is about stories!!! Stories about the past. Stories of the present. Stories of the future. It is about connecting fragments and create a whole. There is ALWAYS a connection between everything. This is what I want to somehow manifest in the coming months. I will probably be collecting fragments of 'things' such as for example sounds, smells, images (moving and still) etc. and establish their connections/links. I am not sure yet how exactly I will manifest my collections/research. Another thing I am interested in are natural and man made interventions (graffiti, street art, weird constructions in the middle of nowhere, natural decomposition, merging of natural and artificial constructions such as plants breaking up concrete etc.)
Social media, global communication, work-in-transit
My work methods and the way I approach work has changed dramatically, from a messy to organized. My work has become a lot more flexible and I feel less attached to a physical place. The work I have been producing can be easily transported and exhibited worldwide. Besides this I have allowed the world of social media/communication influence my work as I have learned a lot from the popularity stats of images. I am getting more and more interested in the dynamics of social media and its organically growing world. This ties in with the way we are currently living.
Exhibition in Castellammare del Golfo on the 17th of March 2016
I showed some of the Tourist footage which looked great. I decided to convert my side of the van (my wall) into a diagram and not only work I produced as I see the Red Van as the over-arching project.
work-in-progress from 26 April - July 2016
Since we are back on the road I have worked on several projects:
- 60
- square of paint
- nomadic encounters
- developing various other works
- A series of seemingly dull and meaningless works of art
At first I found it hard to actually make art on the move. I am spending most of my time collecting material, ideas and concepts which I eventually transform into tangible work. In Messina I started a new series of sculptures using found and abandoned objects on the beach. I also spend a lot of time mixing and drying paint.
working on 'Square of Paint', mixing and drying paint, Guidaloca, 28th of April 2016
I am happy to announce my participation at Art Basel 2016 with my newly by [small print] commissioned interactive sculptural intervention titled 'inVisible' which will be 'hovering' 4 meters off the ground in front of the main entrance. There will be no display of any kind and no other advertising except for this digital flyer.
work-in-progress from July 2016
Arrived in Vienna I was planning to go through all my research but instead I started to paint again as we have had a large space. I worked on Bad Painting Phase 2: The Assassination of Donald Trump. More here: http://jayrechsteiner.com/bad_painting_2.htm
I managed to finish the painting on the 28th of August. I would like to continue painting in the same style but as I have a new commission for two paintings I will have to hold myself a bit back. Apart from painting I have also started creating some sort of Vienna diary.