Jan Senbergs’s latest show deals with his ongoing interest in Melbourne and his geographical imagined narratives.
Narrative – how important is it to your work?
Narrative is of secondary importance – The first priority in my work is always to try to make sure the painting ‘works’ in visual terms of structure and concept. Narrative then comes in depending on the subject, you see plenty of artworks telling a story first, or emphasising good causes or political positions that simply are bad paintings.
Mapping, development, architectural forms, cities and their impact on the environment are recurrent themes in your work.
I have always been interested in architecture and maps- not that I’m an expert in both areas but my interest has been of a visual nature- not of their functionality. In the seventies I had a strong fascination with the Napoleonic period of architectural dreamers, such as Claude Ledoux and Boulle who hardly built anything, but their drawings were ‘triggers’ for some of my paintings at that time which were imaginary structures- invented towers, buildings, sculptural forms. Never with a figure in the composition as it would straight away denote scale of the structures.
With the maps it was a similar interest. The early picture maps of the Mediterranean world and maps of the Ptolemy period, point on to the medieval town maps, showing images of architecture, social conditions, political and religious imagery- they were all fascinating ‘picture-maps’ with their limited cartographic knowledge. They are to me great artworks. In my picture map paintings of various sites and cities that I have done, these maps are very much on my mind as I’m working on my paintings. None of these paintings are meant to show some dystopian view of the world, or environmental preaching, they are simply my observations.
Is their a need for more social commentary or political engagement in the arts as opposed to its focus on style and the market – is this question being seriously addressed by artists here in Australia?
For me political art also needs to be good art- examples come to mind like Goya, Picasso’s Guernica, Mexican revolutionary painters Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros. There’s plenty of ordinary art supporting good causes and sometimes ending up as just strident preaching, with the art component seemingly of little importance. Political activism is of course an important right and necessity of any democratic country but where the boundaries between art and activism lay is a question that needs more debate I suppose. John Wolseley is an artist who comes to mind who is able to send an important environmental message, while still producing art of a significant quality. In my own case I’ve tried from time to time to include some political statement into my work, but I try to consider the aesthetic of the painting of first importance with the message following second. You don’t need to preach to make an important statement.
You’ve been very busy this year with exhibitions and taking part in the ‘Melbourne Now’ project.
I’ve completed a large ‘quartet’ work for the ‘Melbourne Now exhibition’ at the NGV as well as being closely involved in creating the children’s education art project for the same venue, which I enjoyed doing. The current show I have on at Niagara Galleries are works on paper dealing with my fascination of cruise ships. I love their absurdity and their magnificence- they are like huge floating sculptures or luxury cattle ships- the other aspect of the recent work is my long and ongoing involvement with my home town of Melbourne- its continual spread with its road tentacles reaching further and further afield. I’ve titled the exhibition – “Cruise ships don’t come to Melbourne much”.
Niagara Galleries
7 to 30 November, 2013
Melbourne
Leaving the restless city, 2013, acrylic on paper, 64 x 93cm
Cruise ship (1), 2013, acrylic on paper, 50 x 68cm
Courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
