TEH LADY is a collaboration between Barbara Tosti and ilan katin. The photographs are of Barbara wearing masks of her own creation. Using these photos ilan created two works, an audio visual painting and a still image.
Barbara Tosti:
“For me masks, as with any representation in an image that you do not touch, are a kind of interface. Masks as interfaces have two roles: to hide and to express. It is all ordinary and yet extraordinary. It is also a mechanism that helps you to detach from your representation. This relates to work on lucid dreams because if you look at yourself in the mirror and talk you end up not recognising who is talking, and at the same time you recognise yourself without your body.”
ilan katin:
A contemporary work of art is best expressed through collaboration, acknowledging the influences of the past and present. For me this work draws inspiration from the Picasso painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. The work is con-temporised in the following ways: it is a collaboration and not created from a singular point of view. The figures are photos, taken at the direction of the artist who is also the subject, the mask being a creation of the artist as well. Overall I see my role as a framer or facilitator, to contextualise and enhance the work, to be a part of an intrinsically motivated conversation.
By delightful accident the collaboration resulted in two related works. The main piece is an audio visual painting that departs strongly from Le Demoiselles. The still image was to be of composition of the final work now serves as an illustrated bridge between the inspiration source and the final.
