Like a lot of artists, I tend to work in series. What started out as album art for my dear friend Francesco Guarino’s recent release, ended up turning into a number of etchings and illustrations. I am delighted that three of these Re-enactments will be included in this year’s Halftone Print Fair at The Library Project in Temple Bar, which opens November 2nd and continues until Novemer 19th.
Recognition: A Re-enactment
The Re-enactments were a direct response to Francesco’s lyrics (the first week was spent clumsily translating them from Italian). In among the stunning melodies, arrangements and musicianship were hilarious, heartbreaking lyrics. At the heart of his album were relationships: fleeting, failed, passionate, imaginary. What I found myself doing, was dressing as I imagined the characters in his songs would dress, acting out scenes as he described them, reconstructing the worlds in which they were set, piecing together the city his narratives occupied and finally inserting my players into these sets.
Domesticity: A Re-enactment
They may be etchings, but to my mind they are performative, the re-staging of another persons’ memories: separations, feeling disconnected even in the midst of celebration, the nostalgic longing for domestic contentment long after a relationship is over. I don’t know if they are faithful to Francesco’s experiences; I don’t know if the songs that inspired them are even autobiographical. I didn’t want to know. What I do know, is that I was handed those songs, so dense with imagery, that I happily continued to re-enact them long after the initial project was complete.
