My main approach to work is an experiment. Even though I am exploring the possibilities of colour in space, I am trying to find something new in the expression of colour and its possibilities.
My work can start with an idea or, on the contrary, just start...
As I explore my perception of colour and its relationship to events, I try to prepare myself for new work. For example, my last strong feelings of colour were associated with the experience of sour and ultimate silence. I felt these colours, saw how they shimmer and change. I knew their texture. This sketch was in my head, and I kept it until the start of work. I try to create something that is not in reality. Sour or stillness has no body or colour. But I see some voluminous things with colour. I don't know what their exact shape is. I tried to recreate it, but it did not always correspond to what was in my head. Therefore, it turns out this way, there is a feeling, for example, sour, I see a colour, and then I start working and look for both the shape and the very filling of the hues.
Sometimes it happens, that there are materials - paint, paper, canvas or a piece of wood and I want to connect them. In such a situation, I simply listen to the materials and let them develop, and then it becomes something or looks like something.
I like to work in parallel on several works. Because I can not stop my process, but for example, while one artwork dries, I switch to another.
VALERIE MREJEN
Do it: Start working
First, listen to the news on the radio.
Prepare a cup of tea and drink it standing at the window. You see people walking in the street, cars, shops, it's fascinating.
Wash the cup because you hate starting to work when there's something dirty in the sink.
Make one or two phone calls.
Clean your table.
Go to the post office to get a registered letter. Wait half an hour.
Take cash from an automat
Buy a magazine.
When you're back home, have a quick look at it. Read the main articles
Drink a glass of water, eat a plum.
The phone rings, answer and talk.
You suddenly remember that you need to make a call.
The mobile rings. It's a friend: chat.
Check your emails again, in case you received any new ones
It's almost lunchtime: you start feeling hungry. You need strength before you start working, so go to the market and shop.
All wrong!
The moments when I am not working are the periods of Migraines. This pain is so strong, that I cannot open my eyes. I am like a zombie. I can only lie and wait for the pain to pass. Therefore, time without pain is precious for me, and I try to use each second because the next wave of pain will come. But anyway, at such moments, I lie and see the play of paints in my head, pulsation, cutting the violet-orange space with black.
My studio is my world. Here I can be free and happy, or cry and be sad. Be myself.
Bibliography and references
1. Biennale Arte 2013 - Uri Aran At: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHQ--mq_lRY (Accessed 12.04.2021)
2. Valérie Mréjen’s piece, ‘Start Working’, instructional piece for ‘Do It’, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist from ed. Hoffman, Jens (2012) The Studio, Documents of Contemporary Art. At: https://www.oca-student.com/resource-type/course-specific-resources/pt5sp-studio-start-working-documents-contemporary-art (Accessed 12.04.2021)
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