Short interview Vishal Sumarria did with me, investigating masculinity.
VS: In your words how does your work relate to Masculinity.
KW: Masculinity isn’t limited to the physical and biological. It’s long been a code – an idealised set of behaviours that are taught (mostly unthinkingly) and learned before children are old enough to question what they are learning. The western/European masculine ideal is rooted in an idea of strength, action and bravery. It shapes so much of the lives we live, and as we question our surroundings we increasingly question the old idea of masculinity. But as we blur the lines between male and female - reject 'old' masculinity - we also make it simpler and stronger. It becomes iconic - something we can aspire to look like, or to behave like... something to fetishise. My paintings explore the idealised worlds we invent and submit to, where masculinity now exists in the form of product or brand that we often have a masochistic relationship with. It's become something we save to buy into; slave to mirror .
VS: Can you expand on 'shadows in the glamour'.
KW: The pursuit of glamour and beauty is deeply rooted in most of us, but while on one hand it might elevate us, it can also be destructive both physically and psychologically – a masochistic addiction.
Oscar Wilde said; “Life cheats us with shadows. We ask it for pleasure. It gives it to us with bitterness and disappointment in its train.”
In some ways my portraits relate to Wilde’s novel the Picture of Dorian Gray. They investigate our chasing of the ideals of beauty and glamour and the damage this obsession can do to us. I try to uncover some of the scars and doubts that we try to hide.
VS: Why the use of monochrome?
KW: My black and white paintings belong to a series that I worked on late at night. When I paint at this time I like to use black, grey and white. Partly it’s because the contrasts are deeper; partly because it’s hard to trust colour in anything other than daylight. But also monochrome brings more universal associations – the feeling of being beyond any time or era.
VS: Could you talk a little about your painting technique from start to finish.
KW: Initially I start with an image found online or in magazines, usually from fashion or lifestyle publications. I look for images that are often quite banal on the surface but that I feel have a potential to became a story. When I start painting I work with a background that seems grey, though actually it always a broken grey – a mixture of other colours
I then begin by marking out a linear image and then, once I find the right composition and balance, I apply separate layers of black, grey and white, waiting for them to dry in between. I begin multiplying layers of deformation on top of the initial images. Sometimes this goes back and forward as I add and erase areas of paint I think work better. The process involves a lot of decision making and thinking before I make another move. I could do paintings in a week but most of a time it takes me from three to six months to finish one, though usually at least two or three are being worked on at any time. Some paintings in my studio have been ongoing for over a year and a half. I treat them as open, ongoing processes. Some of them haven’t ended.
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| Konrad Wyrebek, ‘We Are Slaves To A World That
Doesn’t Exist, 40 x 50 cm |
It was shot by Palida Pug B and styled by Scott Stephenson. Comme De Garcons SS13 collection.
Konrad Wyrebek, Work in progress on 3D laser cut sculptures and installation based on the Three Gracias and Black Calf
Konard Wyrebek 122 x 152 cm oil painting WorrallWorrall
