Wednesday, April 29, 2009


Ausstellungsbeitrag: NATE DENVER




Animal Race (aus: 50 50 Word Poems)


Interview:

NATE DENVER / NATE DENVER‘S NECK
(Texte, Gitarre, Gesang...)

Interview via E-Mail Nathaniel Denver - Edda Strobl, 16.4.2009

ES:
I have chosen, out of the „50 word poems“ the drawing „Animal Race, large, painted on the wall. And „ten small knights“, „one large night“, and/or „serf vs. bear, priest, executioner“, additional, smaller, copies on paper.
The song will be: Ballad of the Bullied Demons (extended)

First, a more personal one: Maybe I‘ve chosen the animal race, which I read as fleeing animals in the first place, maybe thinking of you, becoming a fireman (as you told me the last time).
You hopefully will not sort of quit your occupation with art and music?
What made you become a fireman?

ND:
I see the animals racing into oblivion in an attempt to be the fastest beast on earth. They are delighted to be racing and are not fleeing, rather they are racing for fun. When the time comes, they‘ll be able to escape their enemies or their enemies will have no hope of escape.
I will never quit art.
I wanted to become a fireman so as to battle death and to lend a helping hand to people who need help.

ES:
Is there, generally, any connex between your musical and your visual (put on paper) art? If yes, where do you locate this connection, lets say, where is the bridge for you?

ND:
I rarely draw anything that is intentionally related to a song, or the other way around. Drawing and music are identical to me. My songs sound like my drawings look and my drawings look the way my songs sound. Hopefully I‘ll improve soon.

ES:
Talking about the „50 50 word Poems“: I think it is a very interesting approach towards textproduction to limit yourself to 50 words (reminds me of the method of Haiku writing, even if there it is 17 „syllables“), also in your drawings you seem to focus on the simple line. Only very little shading and hatching...
Regarding the method of reduction, is there any similar method that leads to your musical output (writing songs and music), apart from the fact, that all artistic „production“ works with the method of selection?
Is there a comparable method in your music-production with one in your art-production at all?
ND:
I‘ve always preferred looking at artist‘s sketches over their finished works. In the same way, I generally prefer demos to completed albums. This is partly why my drawings look the way they do and why my recordings sound as they do. The other reason is that I‘m limited by my abilities. If I could draw realistically, I would, that is what I strive for and one day I will! Musically, I‘m not a very good recording engineer and I never feel like bugging my friends who are good at it, so wallah, my recordings sound like baby brains.

I don‘t focus on reduction as much as minimalism. I add as little as possible. For drawings, I make photo copies once I think the drawing might be done so if i ruin it with more lines, I have a backup. Most of the time extra lines ruin it.

ES:
For me personally, in my artistic practice, music and drawing are kind of mutally dependent. i need to do both: using two completely different languages, which sometimes, for me, have a lot in common. (Plus: for sure its a good trainig for the flexibility of the brain...)
Concerning those two languages, does the structure, the rhythm, the gestus or the topic etc.... of the one influence the other language and vice versa?

ND:
They influence each other enormously and not at all because they are the same. They are best friends and interchangeable.


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