INTERVIEW WITH GROMYKO PADILLA SEMPER
S&A: Thank you, Gromyko, for this interview which will give us insight into your art. To begin with, your art is extraordinarily rich in pictorial elements where the viewer experiences unique realms of enchanting beauty created through symphonic compositions. The Garden of Afer, is a recent example of this and it would be wonderful to know more about the meaning of this piece. Can Afer be seen as a demiurge who resides in the mundus imaginalis of the modern Neo-Symbolist?
GPS: You are very much welcome Klaudia. I really appreciate this opportunity to share to you and others the things that make my works tick. I consider my work as a synthesis of both Western as well as Eastern influences (with various grey shades in the middle) married with my incessant quest to solve pictorial, symbolic, as well as visionary problems whilst maintaining a sense of the “now” without the usual postmodern irony that we often see in most contemporary artists of today.
I like the fact that you use the word “symphonic” because like an orchestra, I am indeed combining different elements to create something fresh. I refuse to say “new” because I believe everything we create today is a mixture, a syncretic compound of things from the past and the present, as well as our hopes for the future.
I am also glad you mentioned the word “ unique realms” because I believe it is the duty of a contemporary artist, (that is, us in this period of time) to recreate Imaginative solutions and invent ever more interesting perspectives of both the natural and spiritual aspects of Reality. The time to destroy has been done (by Duchamp, Malevich, Hirst, Koons, Emins, etc.) …It’s now time to create and recreate…a time to reenchant. This is the same reason why I coined the term Fernal, as being the creative opposite of the word, infernal. The antithesis of the destructive, ironic, pastiche implorations of "contemporary" "artists".
The Fernal is characterized by something primal, something paradisiacal, something that is free from the moral cages of our generation..a return to prima materia of creative consciousness. The goddess Afer is an invented deity that I co-created with British symbolist/visionary painter Bruce Rimmel. Indeed, she represents the Great Mother of Time immemorial. Lemme quote from my Fernogenisia (The Origins of Fernalia) to further shine some light on the Mystery of Afer:
GPS: You are very much welcome Klaudia. I really appreciate this opportunity to share to you and others the things that make my works tick. I consider my work as a synthesis of both Western as well as Eastern influences (with various grey shades in the middle) married with my incessant quest to solve pictorial, symbolic, as well as visionary problems whilst maintaining a sense of the “now” without the usual postmodern irony that we often see in most contemporary artists of today.
I like the fact that you use the word “symphonic” because like an orchestra, I am indeed combining different elements to create something fresh. I refuse to say “new” because I believe everything we create today is a mixture, a syncretic compound of things from the past and the present, as well as our hopes for the future.
I am also glad you mentioned the word “ unique realms” because I believe it is the duty of a contemporary artist, (that is, us in this period of time) to recreate Imaginative solutions and invent ever more interesting perspectives of both the natural and spiritual aspects of Reality. The time to destroy has been done (by Duchamp, Malevich, Hirst, Koons, Emins, etc.) …It’s now time to create and recreate…a time to reenchant. This is the same reason why I coined the term Fernal, as being the creative opposite of the word, infernal. The antithesis of the destructive, ironic, pastiche implorations of "contemporary" "artists".
The Fernal is characterized by something primal, something paradisiacal, something that is free from the moral cages of our generation..a return to prima materia of creative consciousness. The goddess Afer is an invented deity that I co-created with British symbolist/visionary painter Bruce Rimmel. Indeed, she represents the Great Mother of Time immemorial. Lemme quote from my Fernogenisia (The Origins of Fernalia) to further shine some light on the Mystery of Afer:
IN THE BEGINNING, AFER EXISTED BEFORE TIME. BUT TIME ITSELF WAS PART OF AFER
AND HAVE NO EFFECT ON HER.
AFER, THE GREAT ONE, IS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE. BUT FOR THE SAKE OF INVENTION WE SHALL DENOTE AFER AS "HER".
AFER, THE GREAT ONE, IS KNOWN BY THE DESCENDANTS OF THE FIRST SON OF FERIA (PHERIA),
ADAM, AS YE-HE -WE, BUT IN THE FERNAL TONGUE IFER-HI-FER-IWI-FER, BUT IS ALSO
VERSED "AIH-PHER" AND HENCE VERSED "AFER".
AFER EXISTED OUTSIDE THE EMPTINESS OF EBYON, THE ORBICAL WHORL OF DARKNESS,
THE VACCUI OF PROTOPARADISE WHICH BECAME THE COLLECTIVE CALLED FERNALIA.
AND HAVE NO EFFECT ON HER.
AFER, THE GREAT ONE, IS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE. BUT FOR THE SAKE OF INVENTION WE SHALL DENOTE AFER AS "HER".
AFER, THE GREAT ONE, IS KNOWN BY THE DESCENDANTS OF THE FIRST SON OF FERIA (PHERIA),
ADAM, AS YE-HE -WE, BUT IN THE FERNAL TONGUE IFER-HI-FER-IWI-FER, BUT IS ALSO
VERSED "AIH-PHER" AND HENCE VERSED "AFER".
AFER EXISTED OUTSIDE THE EMPTINESS OF EBYON, THE ORBICAL WHORL OF DARKNESS,
THE VACCUI OF PROTOPARADISE WHICH BECAME THE COLLECTIVE CALLED FERNALIA.
The Garden of Afer. Ink and acrylic on canvas; 152.4 x 91.44 cm (60″ x 36″ ).
Bruce Rimmel also wrote about her in his "Tierzecatar ~ The 13 songs of Fernalia":
"Afer greets the universe and announces herself and her song. From the vaginal form of a quantum burst, she creates her vagina and vulva, and from this portal, bloodwaters and birthwaters begin to flow. Simultaneously, this flow causes Afer to become partially-conscious, also to become aware of the complete worldline of the cosmos from beginning to end.
Afer then simultaneously creates the Fundament of the Heavens and the Fundament of the Underworld as well as her hands and feet. She becomes fully conscious with the creation of her three eyes. Then, a very strange verse of the song:
And I make a tower of eight vaginas
And I am a vision of eight portals
And from these sacred voids
Bloodwaters will flow,
Waters of birthdeath
Of living and everliving
And my body is made in my image
Afer is here creating her body emergent from a line of chakras, envisaged here as portals or vaginas. Afer then celebrates herself and her creation, and here the first song ends."
You would notice that we transposed a feminine identifier to the Creator. We tried to defy the usual patriarchal traditions ascribing the Creator as a male Being. We tried to imagine Her in allusion to the role of Mater Prima. She is known throughout the world in many names: Gaia, Rhea, Cybele, Tellus, Hera, Demeter, the Celtic Danu, Icelandic Hlín, Mokosh of Slavia, Kali, Thelema, etc.
Afer epitomizes the Creative Force of Life.
"Afer greets the universe and announces herself and her song. From the vaginal form of a quantum burst, she creates her vagina and vulva, and from this portal, bloodwaters and birthwaters begin to flow. Simultaneously, this flow causes Afer to become partially-conscious, also to become aware of the complete worldline of the cosmos from beginning to end.
Afer then simultaneously creates the Fundament of the Heavens and the Fundament of the Underworld as well as her hands and feet. She becomes fully conscious with the creation of her three eyes. Then, a very strange verse of the song:
And I make a tower of eight vaginas
And I am a vision of eight portals
And from these sacred voids
Bloodwaters will flow,
Waters of birthdeath
Of living and everliving
And my body is made in my image
Afer is here creating her body emergent from a line of chakras, envisaged here as portals or vaginas. Afer then celebrates herself and her creation, and here the first song ends."
You would notice that we transposed a feminine identifier to the Creator. We tried to defy the usual patriarchal traditions ascribing the Creator as a male Being. We tried to imagine Her in allusion to the role of Mater Prima. She is known throughout the world in many names: Gaia, Rhea, Cybele, Tellus, Hera, Demeter, the Celtic Danu, Icelandic Hlín, Mokosh of Slavia, Kali, Thelema, etc.
Afer epitomizes the Creative Force of Life.
S&A: There are a number of visual and textual references to gardens in your work. From where does your affinity with gardens originate? Does the meaning of the garden relate to, for example, a paradise of pre-individuation, ecological awareness, a sanctuary for the mind, or something else?
GPS: A Garden is a hortus conclusus. It signifies a sacred enclosure wherein living precious things are raised. It can be compared to a Petri dish where strains of microbes can be grown safely and securely.
The word was mentioned in the Song of Songs or Song of Solomon 4:12, in Latin: "Hortus conclusus soror mea, sponsa; hortus conclusus, fons signatus" ("A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up"). Taking my cue from this verso, I think my obsession with enclosing my figures in a garden setting, a hortus conclusus of sorts, originated from the Idea of securely protecting my figures from the harshness of conventional contemporary image making. It gives me the confidence to map my creations in a “sacred enclosure”, a sacred ground…my own Garden of Eden, a space where my Imagination can sow its seeds of vision and flourish prosperously. Indeed, it is an oasis, a Nirvana.
Another reason for my botanical penchant is rooted on my early frustration of becoming a botanist when I was just a fledgling. When I was younger, I indulged myself in the study of plant life, particularly Bizaare plant forms likes Ferns, Orchids, Bromeliads, Primitive Plants, Fungi, etc.
Compositionally, I wanted the Figures in my work to be presented as if they were caught up “in the moment”, a sort of a dreamy photographic snapshot. This method allows me to break the usual “iconic” representation of sacred figures by placing them on a natural albeit surreal setting. This gives the figures a sense of compactness and one-ness to its background/surrounding. I believe that a “sacred being” is part of everything else, and not above it. This breaks the hierarchical kitsch we see in most contemporary renderings of sentient beings/creatures.
Voyage to Artopia. Ink, acrylic, and goldleaf on canvas; 91.44 x 121.92 cm (36″ x 48″).
S&A: The discussion of gardens brings us to the meaning behind the flower motifs found in your art. Most flowers we encounter in your art are in full bloom. Situated in the foreground, their fleshy petals are the first visual elements to greet us and we, like pollinators, instinctively follow the promising fragrance to the sweetness of the vision. In some cultures such as the ancient Maya, flowers symbolize the vitality of the soul. Is there a similar connotation in your usage? What personal meaning do you assign to flowers?
GPS: The motif of Flora indeed held a strong aroma in my oeuvre. I like to think of my paintings as a sort of locus amoenus, which is Latin for a “pleasant place”. A typical locus amoenus will have three basic elements: trees, grass, and water. Often, the garden will be in a remote place and function as a landscape of the mind. It can also be used to highlight the differences between urban and rural life or be a place of refuge from the processes of time and mortality.
Gardens typically have overtones of the regenerative powers of human sexuality marked out by flowers, springtime, and goddesses of love and fertility. Flowers for me, symbolizes fertility. They also possess the power of subtle enchantment. In many of my works, they frame the composition, and are often enlarged, as if one is hiding behind them, hence, the effect of being bigger than the other elements of the painting. It’s as if we are “peeking” from the shrubbery and witnessing “forbidden” sacred and yet “erotic” images, as if we are having a daydream.
We seek and find. Flowers serve as a tempting veil. A delicate haze to where we could take a glance of Arcadia. Lydia Maria Child, spoke of them: “Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of the character, though few can decypher even fragments of their meaning."
GPS: The motif of Flora indeed held a strong aroma in my oeuvre. I like to think of my paintings as a sort of locus amoenus, which is Latin for a “pleasant place”. A typical locus amoenus will have three basic elements: trees, grass, and water. Often, the garden will be in a remote place and function as a landscape of the mind. It can also be used to highlight the differences between urban and rural life or be a place of refuge from the processes of time and mortality.
Gardens typically have overtones of the regenerative powers of human sexuality marked out by flowers, springtime, and goddesses of love and fertility. Flowers for me, symbolizes fertility. They also possess the power of subtle enchantment. In many of my works, they frame the composition, and are often enlarged, as if one is hiding behind them, hence, the effect of being bigger than the other elements of the painting. It’s as if we are “peeking” from the shrubbery and witnessing “forbidden” sacred and yet “erotic” images, as if we are having a daydream.
We seek and find. Flowers serve as a tempting veil. A delicate haze to where we could take a glance of Arcadia. Lydia Maria Child, spoke of them: “Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of the character, though few can decypher even fragments of their meaning."
Nostalgia of Callisto and Io in the Garden of Fernal Delights. Ink and acrylic on canvas; 76.2 x 101.6 cm (30″ x 40″).
S&A: Through your wonderful use of textures and forms, a multi-sensory quality is created in the work. You give us smooth human flesh, crackled walls, electrified skies, disturbed waters, and diverse flora. Each element provokes a sensory response that is not limited to sight. That is to say, the sensations of touch (wetness), sound (thunder signified by lightning) and smell (flowers) are likewise evoked. These visual elements overlap and interact with each other in a way that reflects the interrelationship of our senses. Would you like to tell us why the evocation of multi-sensory experience in art is important to you?
GPS: I believed that in order for us to understand the meaning of something, we need to take careful attention to everything that makes up something. The concept of the holon fascinated me when I first read it in Ken Wilbur’s writings. A holon (Greek: ὅλον, holos "whole") is something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. The word was coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine. Koestler also says holons are autonomous, self-reliant units that possess a degree of independence and handle contingencies without asking higher authorities for instructions. These holons are also simultaneously subject to control from one or more of these higher authorities. The first property ensures that holons are stable forms that are able to withstand disturbances, while the latter property signifies that they are intermediate forms, providing a context for the proper functionality for the larger whole.
This holonic reality is primal. In fact various philosophical treatises as well as sacred and religious texts speak much of “everything is part of Everything”, and that “As Above, So Below”, and that we are “stardust”.
Besides my Interest on holonic manifestations, I am also interested in the concept of Ikebana, particularly in the way Masters of this art form arrange Flowers. More than simply putting flowers in a container, ikebana is a disciplined art form in which nature and humanity are brought together. Contrary to the idea of floral arrangement as a collection of particolored or multicolored arrangement of blooms, ikebana often emphasizes other areas of the plant, such as its stems and leaves, and draws emphasis toward shape, line, form. One particular style of ikebana amuses me. Moribana. In this style, there are set points wherein flowers are arranged to various loci: mountain, heaven, helpers, meadows, valleys, the lowest of which is earth, etc. I like to play with the notion of segregating designations of my various visual forms. And whilst everything is made up of lines, shading and tone, and color, I wanted to suggest different realities based on suggestive textures and archetypal representations. In this, I do not consider myself a realist, but more of a symbolist. I do not intend to hyperrealistically render phenomena, I merely wanted to suggest it, and allow the viewers to add their own essentia to complete them in their minds.
S&A: There is a recurring figure we find roving the landscape within a few of your paintings; an anthropomorphic creature, sometimes resembling a small stone figure, at other times, appearing as a soft homunculus. We find this creature in The Binding of Metehuia, Memoirs of Feria, and peeking out of from behind the mantle in The Garden of After. Can it be conceived of as a type of monster? We are reminded of the Medieval European use of monsters on the margins of illuminated manuscripts. Monstrare, in Latin, means “to show, reveal,” what role do imaginary creatures play in revealing the meaning of a work?
GPS: Glad you noticed. Well, these rotund figures symbolizes either that of the primal masculine or the primal feminine. These automatist forms were inspired by the most ancient relic of fertility, that of the Venus of Willendorf. They are almost omnipresent in my works because I'd like to think of them as spiritual guides, that can indeed “mostrare”, that is, to show or reveal our hidden potential. Their mere presence albeit obscured makes us realize that we only need to seek these guides, and find them.
S&A: From reading some of your discussions elsewhere on the net, we get an idea of the subjects that inform your art; from literature, religious iconography, Japanese culture, to science. Would you be willing to tell us more about your relationship with each of these and how you translate it into your paintings?
GPS: I would like to think of myself as a gatherer of imagery. A collector of images. This is also the same reason why in social media platforms you would notice that I often blog about works of art and everything related or not even relative to it. Whenever I search, or travel, or just plainly walk around, I always make it a point to seek things that may enrich my own visual vocabulary. These may either be visual, or not…I sieve through the sensory experience and pick up “essences” that may contribute to my own visual, creative dictionary. And so my interests run the gamut from esoteric to the erotic, even exploring darker themes that most “purist” seekers would deem “taboo”. I make it a fact that if we don’t try to seek and understand things we know nothing about and judge them negatively, we are all missing the point. Life is about discovering and rediscovering. Sure we get to fall helplessly, but we do learn. And learn we should from everything. We live in a World were Everything is available to Us by the click of a mouse. Now what to do with these gibberish information is up to us. For me, I forage from even the most “demonic, dark, utterly inhumane” and vice versa, try to see if I can seek and learn something from it...I pick up the Gold from the Mud, in the muddied river.
GPS: I believed that in order for us to understand the meaning of something, we need to take careful attention to everything that makes up something. The concept of the holon fascinated me when I first read it in Ken Wilbur’s writings. A holon (Greek: ὅλον, holos "whole") is something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. The word was coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine. Koestler also says holons are autonomous, self-reliant units that possess a degree of independence and handle contingencies without asking higher authorities for instructions. These holons are also simultaneously subject to control from one or more of these higher authorities. The first property ensures that holons are stable forms that are able to withstand disturbances, while the latter property signifies that they are intermediate forms, providing a context for the proper functionality for the larger whole.
This holonic reality is primal. In fact various philosophical treatises as well as sacred and religious texts speak much of “everything is part of Everything”, and that “As Above, So Below”, and that we are “stardust”.
Besides my Interest on holonic manifestations, I am also interested in the concept of Ikebana, particularly in the way Masters of this art form arrange Flowers. More than simply putting flowers in a container, ikebana is a disciplined art form in which nature and humanity are brought together. Contrary to the idea of floral arrangement as a collection of particolored or multicolored arrangement of blooms, ikebana often emphasizes other areas of the plant, such as its stems and leaves, and draws emphasis toward shape, line, form. One particular style of ikebana amuses me. Moribana. In this style, there are set points wherein flowers are arranged to various loci: mountain, heaven, helpers, meadows, valleys, the lowest of which is earth, etc. I like to play with the notion of segregating designations of my various visual forms. And whilst everything is made up of lines, shading and tone, and color, I wanted to suggest different realities based on suggestive textures and archetypal representations. In this, I do not consider myself a realist, but more of a symbolist. I do not intend to hyperrealistically render phenomena, I merely wanted to suggest it, and allow the viewers to add their own essentia to complete them in their minds.
S&A: There is a recurring figure we find roving the landscape within a few of your paintings; an anthropomorphic creature, sometimes resembling a small stone figure, at other times, appearing as a soft homunculus. We find this creature in The Binding of Metehuia, Memoirs of Feria, and peeking out of from behind the mantle in The Garden of After. Can it be conceived of as a type of monster? We are reminded of the Medieval European use of monsters on the margins of illuminated manuscripts. Monstrare, in Latin, means “to show, reveal,” what role do imaginary creatures play in revealing the meaning of a work?
GPS: Glad you noticed. Well, these rotund figures symbolizes either that of the primal masculine or the primal feminine. These automatist forms were inspired by the most ancient relic of fertility, that of the Venus of Willendorf. They are almost omnipresent in my works because I'd like to think of them as spiritual guides, that can indeed “mostrare”, that is, to show or reveal our hidden potential. Their mere presence albeit obscured makes us realize that we only need to seek these guides, and find them.
S&A: From reading some of your discussions elsewhere on the net, we get an idea of the subjects that inform your art; from literature, religious iconography, Japanese culture, to science. Would you be willing to tell us more about your relationship with each of these and how you translate it into your paintings?
GPS: I would like to think of myself as a gatherer of imagery. A collector of images. This is also the same reason why in social media platforms you would notice that I often blog about works of art and everything related or not even relative to it. Whenever I search, or travel, or just plainly walk around, I always make it a point to seek things that may enrich my own visual vocabulary. These may either be visual, or not…I sieve through the sensory experience and pick up “essences” that may contribute to my own visual, creative dictionary. And so my interests run the gamut from esoteric to the erotic, even exploring darker themes that most “purist” seekers would deem “taboo”. I make it a fact that if we don’t try to seek and understand things we know nothing about and judge them negatively, we are all missing the point. Life is about discovering and rediscovering. Sure we get to fall helplessly, but we do learn. And learn we should from everything. We live in a World were Everything is available to Us by the click of a mouse. Now what to do with these gibberish information is up to us. For me, I forage from even the most “demonic, dark, utterly inhumane” and vice versa, try to see if I can seek and learn something from it...I pick up the Gold from the Mud, in the muddied river.
And so It Was That Paris Decided to Take a Selfie with Venus…Acrylic, goldleaf,ink on canvas; 121.92 x 91.44 cm (48″x 36″).
S&A: A distinct and expressive feature of your work lies in the fluid yet controlled execution of the contour line and its force of clarity. What is your philosophy of contour line and what initially attracted you to it as a predominant means of visual expression?
GPS: From the very beginning, I have been drawn toward linear Expression. I see it as a means to render anything I wanted to manifest. These lines are Boundaries of forms that differentiate one from another.
When I first saw the meticulous wood engravings of Albrecht Durer, I was stunned. I practiced hard to get to a level where my lines are charged by the deft, rapid, yet controlled lines of this German Master, whom I consider my “spiritual teacher” with regards to rendering everything with lines. For years I struggled by trial and error to perfect my lines. My early works are mostly woodcut line drawings as big as 4 x 4 feet, in the manner of Durer, Leyden, Doré, etc. and most recently that of the Japanese Ukioy-e masters.
My lines are mostly a fusion between the spontaneity of Japanese brushwork and the technical dexterity of my Germanic woodcut influences. I often switch between technical pens and good ole Japanese/Chinese brushes when rendering linear forms. With fine pointed script brushes I can easily sweep huge areas of linear contours. Delicate linear details are then left for my tech pens or quill pens to finish. Like Paul Klee, I take my lines for a “walk”. I hope this quote can be of use in explaining as to why I am attracted to it:
"Line is a rich metaphor for the artist. It denotes not only boundary, edge or contour, but is an agent for location, energy, and growth. It is literally movement and change - life itself." (Lance Esplund)
S&A: Earlier this year we saw the inauguration of the book, The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs. How did the project come about, what is its mission, and can we expect more volumes in the future?
GPS: Lemme quote what we wrote from the Introduction of the book:
From the fertile and Fernal imagination of artist Gromyko Semper, the Fernal universe was born. The ongoing collaborative creation and documentation of a Garden of Fernal Delights is a collaborative venture and will be the 2015 - 2016 Dreams & Divinity project.
The Garden of Fernal Delights is a sublime and paradisiacal place where all the delights of the natural world from the sexual to the surreal, the visionary to the instinctive, are celebrated as fundamental joys of being alive. The Garden of Fernal Delights is a multi-dimensional place where all is conscious and divinely intelligent from the animal to mineral to vegetable to the aetheric. All can communicate, co-create, cooperate. This Garden of Delights knows no violence, no notion of original sin, no hierarchy, no fixed temporal system. Rather it is a place of magic, of play and playfulness. It resides in the Garden of the heart and has no limit to its creativity. The Fernal concept was conceived by artist Gromyko Semper and then developed together with artists Liba WS, Bruce Rimmell and a community of lowbrow, visionary, surrealist, magic realists and fantastic artists. The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs and its traveling show express architecture, mythology, culture and all the other things that make the Garden magical.
This is our chance to explore a new imaginary world that is collectively co-created, and to try and answer: What does a world with few boundaries and few hang-ups feel like? How would the people live, dress and express themselves? What would their myths be like? How would they communicate? What animals would live here? How would the scenery look like? All this and more...
The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs takes on the task of documenting the Garden. The book is broken up into alphabetical chapters, e.g.: A for Architecture, B for Botany, C for Culture, D for Dreams, E for Erotica etc. The first page of each chapter is bilingual: English -Fernalese. There are over 110 artists from all the rebel contemporary styles: Outsider, Visionary, Lowbrow, Pop Surrealism, Magic Realism and Fantastic.
The show was Launched in BASH Contemporary Art, In San Francisco, USA. Simultaneous to the San Fran launch of the Garden of Fernal Delights, Gromyko Semper launched The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs at his solo at the Artesan gallery and Studios. In July 19, a book launch and group show was also held in France,in the Naia Museum.
We are currently eyeing a grand show in Asia, particularly in Singapore, for another Fernal Party and Exhibition, come early or middle 2016.
Visit The Art of Gromyko Padilla Semper to view more artwork and stay updated on his projects.
GPS: From the very beginning, I have been drawn toward linear Expression. I see it as a means to render anything I wanted to manifest. These lines are Boundaries of forms that differentiate one from another.
When I first saw the meticulous wood engravings of Albrecht Durer, I was stunned. I practiced hard to get to a level where my lines are charged by the deft, rapid, yet controlled lines of this German Master, whom I consider my “spiritual teacher” with regards to rendering everything with lines. For years I struggled by trial and error to perfect my lines. My early works are mostly woodcut line drawings as big as 4 x 4 feet, in the manner of Durer, Leyden, Doré, etc. and most recently that of the Japanese Ukioy-e masters.
My lines are mostly a fusion between the spontaneity of Japanese brushwork and the technical dexterity of my Germanic woodcut influences. I often switch between technical pens and good ole Japanese/Chinese brushes when rendering linear forms. With fine pointed script brushes I can easily sweep huge areas of linear contours. Delicate linear details are then left for my tech pens or quill pens to finish. Like Paul Klee, I take my lines for a “walk”. I hope this quote can be of use in explaining as to why I am attracted to it:
"Line is a rich metaphor for the artist. It denotes not only boundary, edge or contour, but is an agent for location, energy, and growth. It is literally movement and change - life itself." (Lance Esplund)
S&A: Earlier this year we saw the inauguration of the book, The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs. How did the project come about, what is its mission, and can we expect more volumes in the future?
GPS: Lemme quote what we wrote from the Introduction of the book:
From the fertile and Fernal imagination of artist Gromyko Semper, the Fernal universe was born. The ongoing collaborative creation and documentation of a Garden of Fernal Delights is a collaborative venture and will be the 2015 - 2016 Dreams & Divinity project.
The Garden of Fernal Delights is a sublime and paradisiacal place where all the delights of the natural world from the sexual to the surreal, the visionary to the instinctive, are celebrated as fundamental joys of being alive. The Garden of Fernal Delights is a multi-dimensional place where all is conscious and divinely intelligent from the animal to mineral to vegetable to the aetheric. All can communicate, co-create, cooperate. This Garden of Delights knows no violence, no notion of original sin, no hierarchy, no fixed temporal system. Rather it is a place of magic, of play and playfulness. It resides in the Garden of the heart and has no limit to its creativity. The Fernal concept was conceived by artist Gromyko Semper and then developed together with artists Liba WS, Bruce Rimmell and a community of lowbrow, visionary, surrealist, magic realists and fantastic artists. The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs and its traveling show express architecture, mythology, culture and all the other things that make the Garden magical.
This is our chance to explore a new imaginary world that is collectively co-created, and to try and answer: What does a world with few boundaries and few hang-ups feel like? How would the people live, dress and express themselves? What would their myths be like? How would they communicate? What animals would live here? How would the scenery look like? All this and more...
The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs takes on the task of documenting the Garden. The book is broken up into alphabetical chapters, e.g.: A for Architecture, B for Botany, C for Culture, D for Dreams, E for Erotica etc. The first page of each chapter is bilingual: English -Fernalese. There are over 110 artists from all the rebel contemporary styles: Outsider, Visionary, Lowbrow, Pop Surrealism, Magic Realism and Fantastic.
The show was Launched in BASH Contemporary Art, In San Francisco, USA. Simultaneous to the San Fran launch of the Garden of Fernal Delights, Gromyko Semper launched The Encyclopædia of Fernal Affairs at his solo at the Artesan gallery and Studios. In July 19, a book launch and group show was also held in France,in the Naia Museum.
We are currently eyeing a grand show in Asia, particularly in Singapore, for another Fernal Party and Exhibition, come early or middle 2016.
Visit The Art of Gromyko Padilla Semper to view more artwork and stay updated on his projects.