Contemporary artist Visakh Menon talks about the algorithmic aesthetics of his work and the topic of Neuroaesthetics. An exclusive artist interview by the Asian Curator.
“Whenever I am seeing / experiencing work I like to rate it using a simple scale, I like to call it the 5Cs, Concept, Craft, Creativity, Clarity and Chutzpah. Although this is very subjective!”
Contemporary artist Visakh Menon
Artist Interview
Please tell us a little about yourself, what brought you to the world of contemporary art and how did you start?
I started out in advertising as a graphic designer and continue to work as an art director, designer & design educator. Art is something I always made but moving to New York in 2007 changed certain aspects of art making for me. I got my first studio, found a welcoming community of artists to engage with and also started showing my work, something I had never done before while I lived and worked back home in India. Also moving to NYC, gave me the chance to see & experience in-person so much amazing art, especially the masterworks at the museums, works I had only seen before in books and magazines. I spent the first week here going to museums like the MOMA, MET, Guggenheim, Frick, etc and that was awe inspiring but also terrifying.
Contemporary artist Visakh Menon on the primary role of an artist
How do you describe yourself in the context of challenging people’s perspectives via your work and art?
Challenging other people’s prescriptive interests me less than challenging my own perspectives. I am deeply interested in the impact of technology on society and the ramifications of online discourse.
As for the primary role of the artist, it was best said by one of my favourite writers, James Baldwin
“There are, forever, swamps to be drained, cities to be created, mines to be exploited, children to be fed. None of these things can be done alone. But the conquest of the physical world is not man’s only duty. He is also enjoined to conquer the great wilderness of himself. The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.”
Baldwin, James. The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985. New York: St. Martins, 1999.
How do you deal with the conceptual difficulty and uncertainty of creating work?
Having a varied set of conceptual ideas within a framework in place to play around with helps, besides which I am always experimenting with new materials, reading & watching as much as possible and pushing the dials on process to help move my work along. As Painter / TV host Bob Ross said “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents”
Is there any topic lately that you would like to be mentored on?
Lately I have been interested in the topic of Neuroaesthetics. Why do we find certain things beautiful or pleasing and how does our brains process this decision making when it comes to art. I am currently reading The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art By Dr Anjan Chatterjee.
What would you call your style?
I believe styles are fleeting. I like to think of my work as a continuum of exploration in ideas of geometric abstraction and colour field paintings.
Let’s talk about the evolution of your practice over the years. Tell us about your commitment to your current medium.
I started out with making videos and installations in graduate school at the Maryland Institute College of art. And then transitioned to conceptual drawing about 10 years ago. I still make video / media work sometimes. Drawing is my safe space, I rigorously draw everyday. My drawings and paintings are all tied together by process driven repetitive mark making. I maintain a fluid studio practice and constantly sketch & experiment. Normally it takes about 6-8months for me to work out a process for a new series before I actually start to make the work. Lots of stuff gets discarded during this phase until I hit the right notes.
I like working on a couple of different series of artworks at any given time in my studio as it gives me the mental space to switch things up. Right now I am also working on some 3D printed sculptures & VR works, which are still in a nascent stage, and hope to share them maybe later next year.
How does your audience interact and react to the work you put out into the world?
It’s always interesting to see how people react to my work especially because it is abstract and I am not making any social or political commentary with it. The major misconception with my work usually is, at first sight folks assume it’s made digitally (as in a digital print) and then there is always an Ah Ha! Moment when they realise it is actually hand made drawing / painting, this is especially the case with my “Interference” series. This reaction always fascinates me as it goes back right to the conceptual root of the work itself, and raises questions of labor, man made Vs Machine made & the laborious process involved in making my work.
“Whenever I am seeing / experiencing work I like to rate it using a simple scale, I like to call it the 5Cs, Concept, Craft, Creativity, Clarity and Chutzpah. Although this is very subjective!”
Contemporary artist Visakh Menon
Contemporary artist Visakh Menon on the source of creative inspiration
What are you looking for when you look at other artists’ work? Which shows, performances and experiences have shaped your own creative process? Who are your maestros? Whose journey would you want to read about?
One of the great joys of living in NYC over the last 13 years has been the variety of work I have got to see and experience at the fantastic museums and galleries around town. Too many shows / artists to name here but some of the recent highlights would be, Agnes Martin, Hilma AF Klint Paintings at the Guggenheim, Nasreen Mohamedi’s drawings and works by Vija Celmins at the MET Breuer, William Kentridge video works at MOMA, James Turrel’s light installations at the Mass MOCA, Bruce Nauman at MOMA PS1, the Rothko Chapel at the Menil Collection in Houston.
Whenever I am seeing / experiencing work I like to rate it using a simple scale, I like to call it the 5Cs, Concept, Craft, Creativity, Clarity and Chutzpah. Although this is very subjective! There is so much amazing contemporary art out there right now.
What was your first sale? Do you handle the commercials yourself or is it outsourced to a gallery/agent?
My first art sale was to a friend although I have been selling illustrations and graphics since I was teenager. I have some works available via a few galleries in the US and one in India. I don’t currently have a commercial gallery representing me full time. Lately I’ve been surprised by art collectors reaching out directly via Instagram!
Think of the biggest professional risk you’ve taken. What helped you take that risk?
Working on paper I think is a huge professional risk for me from the perspective of galleries and curators. Unfortunately the substrate often determines the “value” of the work commercially.
Tell us about your studio, what kind of place is it? Could you describe your usual work day in the studio?
My studio is located in Long Island City in Queens, NY. It is 70% art making space and 30% a design studio. I am usually there 5-6 days a week for about 8-12hrs each day. Depending on my work load with design projects I try to spend at least half the day making art, sometimes more. During the day I share the space with a friend & fellow graphic designer and the rest of it by myself. I have been in my current studio space since 2015 and had a few other spaces in the same neighbourhood before that.
How do you strike a balance between the contradicting motivations: commercial v/s creative?
How does your interaction with a curator, gallery or client evolve from the (brief) initial interface, to the working-involvement-relationship?I don’t experience any contradicting motivations between commercial Vs Creative, on the contrary I’m quite stubborn & uncompromising about my art practice. Running an active design practice also helps to navigate the commercial Vs Creative contradictions for me.
Let’s talk about your frameworks, references and process. What inspires you?
How does human machine interaction impact perception? This has been the conceptual framework of my interdisciplinary practice over the last decade. My current series of abstract drawings and paintings focus on the visual language of digital artefacts and the aesthetics of glitch, error and noise.
The term “aesthetics of failure” plays a crucial role in how I think about my work, alongside elements of chance and randomness. Cascone, Kim. “The Aesthetics of Failure: ‘Post-Digital’ Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music.” Computer Music Journal 24, no. 4 (2000): 12–18.
Contemporary artist Visakh Menon on algorithmic aesthetics
In my current “interference” series, I start with digital images and sketch via the process of glitching and exploiting data errors using custom programs and brute force methods of destroying and manipulating image data. This iterative process is driven by chance as I have very little control on the output as the various methods and programs yield surprising results. With that as a starting point I move to a drawing and painting process, although it’s never a one to one translation of the digital to physical. Compositionally these works are inspired by geometric abstraction and colour field paintings, and driven by the notion of repetitive mark making as an act of meditation. The algorithmic aesthetics of these works pushes into focus both the functional (generative) and dysfunctional (glitch) nature of code as a tool for expression.
Are you more of a studio artist or naturally collaborative by nature? How do you feel about commissions?
My studio practice is solitary. I have collaborated a few times with artists whose work I admire. I do work on commissioned projects if the project / space and client are in alignment with my vision and they give me the creative freedom.
What are you working on now? What’s coming next season?
These are tough times and I have not been at my studio since March due the pandemic. I had a solo show with SL Gallery, Manhattan that was scheduled to open in June but postponed for the time being, hoping that happens later this year. Currently I am working at home, making new drawings and hoping to be back at my studio soon.
For enquiries contact: V@vmenon.com
Before you go – you might like to browse our Artist Interviews. Interviews of artists and outliers on how to be an artist. Contemporary artists on the source of their creative inspiration.