Sunday 4pm, emotional and physical wreckage detected, large cup of Illy Espresso and unexpected exhausted sudden tears. What? Parties attended, classes and papers finished, advisers advised with, alcohol consumed, mental capacity overstretched. No current desires or requests. Extraordinary weightless state of being, yes, unbearable. Skype daily with parents. Journeys, support, Success and Rejections:
Rejections:
1.Daisy Soros Prize,
2.Various TAships in various Departments @SAIC
Success:
1. SAIC 2nd year graduate international scholarship, 20% off tuition
2. TAships in Summer and Fall in Photo Department and First Year program @SAIC
Parents in Chicago last summerAugust 2009, photo Katya Grokhovsky
Summer plan:
23rd May -12th June - New York City - one week holiday and 2 week SAIC study trip
12th June- 18th June - San Jose/San Francisco- holiday/visit to friends
18th June - 8th July - Melbourne, Australia - visit parents, family and friends
8th July - back to Chicago
12th July - 20th August - TAship @SAIC
Coming up Here:
1. Bi-Weekly Interviews with People in the Arts I know, or I think I know and do not know at all.
2. Off-links to new projects I will be researching and documenting.
Interview 1:
Katya Grokhovsky - Katya Grokhovsky
K.G - What are you going to do in summer before your final year of MFA @SAIC?
K.G - As outlined above: I will travel to those destinations in USA and Australia, I will research, attend gallery shows, museums and studios, do the NYC study trip, have fun, work as a Teaching Assistant at SAIC and work in my studio on my thesis projects. Try to read as much as I can and go to things, like beach, music festivals, etc and of course, plan for future.
K.G - What classes are you taking next Fall semester? Why?
K.G - Metal and Writing for performance and advising.Metal, because I have always wanted to work with metal and writing, because writing is a big part of my practice, especially concerning performance, and I'd like to expand my knowledge in this area, keeping it for life.
K.G - What are you going to do after you graduate?
K.G - Hmm, practice ...my art? Teach? Travel? Reach the stars? I guess, the usual Art -wanted-things.
K.G - What are you going to do for your thesis MFA graduate show?
K.G - An F...ng Amazing something?...who knows.
K.G - What is to be done now?
K.G - Research, Think , process, digest and shop for summer. Pack my suitcase. It is time to do travel, I am ready.
K.G - Is this blog an artwork or a Blog?
K.G - Both.Is it important what it actually is? I don't think so, I don't like definitions as such.
K.G - Why did you move all the way from Australia to America to do your MFA?
K.G- Because Both countries start with A and end with A?? I wanted a change and a challenge. A big change, of a lifetime. I beleive I have already achieved it. Why? I am HAPPY and a better ARTIST. That's life changing.
K.G - Are you happy with your decision to come here and why?
K.G - I am over the moon . Yes, I actually am. It was very difficult at first to adapt to the fast busy pace and intensity and extreme lack of any time to do anything whatsoever, but, I am sure I made the right decision. There has always been a great pull of destiny, yes, destiny, to this place for me, somehow I knew I had to be here. I strongly believe in all that.
K.G - What are you trying to achieve with this blog/art/wrting thing?
K.G -Commitment to whatever it is I am doing and a time document of an incredibly rich research period, which I am sure will provide material for me to work with for the rest of my life.
K.G- Is it all about you, always?
K.G - No, it might seem so, but I believe "the more particular I get, the more universal it becomes". My art. Chantal Akerman said that. I also don't think it is that autobiographical, it is actually a record of a common experience, seen through my eyes.
K.G - What do you think about love, honestly?
K.G - That's a very personal question and it doesn't belong here, but I would be interested in answering this question in my work. It'll be a project.
K.G - Is everything now an art project?
K.G - Yes and No. Not everything, but almost everything. Life imitates art?
K.G- That is so cliche. Don't you think that's unreasonably sad and kind of pathetic, what about life itself?
K.G - I like cliches a lot. I fear them and hence, go towards them, why not be a full cliche? Art is my bridge to life. Simple. And life is my bridge to Art.
Three Main Projects which came out of experimentation this year and which will be Researched and Commited to as of Now:
1. Epidemic of Narcissism - Ascetic Achieving to live/The Goal - Conceptual Running and Sport as Art -The body and machines as tools for Success - NYC - Overachievement -I love Me - The Only Child
2. Parents -Life Support Systems -Mother-Father-Art
3. Mess: as sculpture//as performance//as photography//as drawing//as painting//as video//as costume
*MFA - is about raising the questions during and having to search for answers for the rest of your life afterwards.
*There shall be no personal record here of feelings about Spring blossoming of tulips and lilacs, or the gorgeous street I live on or my pretty apartment, or some newly developed feelings for so and so, or failed love affairs.
