THE Q&A: MIGUEL CALDERÓN, ARTIST, PROVOCATEUR

Miguel Calderón was once called the “enfant terrible” of the Mexican art world. His provocative, tongue-in-cheek style has made him one of the country's most successful artists. He is known for his eerie, sensational paintings, which mix grisly realism with something fantastical (some of which were featured in the Wes Anderson film "The Royal Tenenbaums", such as the one above), as well as his photography, video and installation work.

But after ten years in the spotlight, with solo shows in Mexico, New York, San Francisco and Sao Paulo, Calderón's work is growing up. His forthcoming exhibit "Tropical Vulture" at the Yerba Buena Arts Centre in San Francisco promises to be one of his most political pieces yet. With George Kuchar he has co-directed a video called "Conversations with a Tropical Vulture" that is partly inspired by the time his uncle found a severed head on an Acapulco beach. Beheaded bodies have become a norm in Mexico's drug war, and Calderón's installation seems to be commenting on the ubiquity of narco violence in Mexico, even in once-safe tourist havens.

We caught up with the artist after his recent show and video installation at the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City. Calderón talked about what inspires his work, the power of tabloid television and the fun of making art out of bad childish behaviour.

More Intelligent Life: Can you tell me about the different mediums you’ve worked in? Is there a unifying aesthetic across them?

Miguel Calderón: I started out with painting, and from there I moved on to film and video. I also play music. For me it’s a matter of whatever delivers the message that I want to convey, and I’m not intimidated by different mediums. I actually really like working with different mediums. And sometimes I jump from one to another, but then a year later I will get back to the one I was working on, so there’s continuity. It seems broken at times, but I think that with time, there’s a certain continuity.

MIL: For example, what would be the link between the videos you made of people undergoing exorcisms in Mexico and the unusual paintings that were featured in the film "The Royal Tenenbaums"?

MC: It’s kind of funny, because those two are both inspired by tabloid TV. I think it was probably the same show, which I was drawn to because the imagery was so bizarre. One of them, I saw an ad for a man who was possessed and just the way he acted really drew my attention and I kind of wanted to look for him... What I did was I just put ads on newspapers and through these newspapers I was able to reach a few people who claimed to be possessed.

The other piece... it’s also based on an image, one of I believe five brothers that would go up to the Dinamos, which is sort of a recreational resort on the outskirts of Mexico where it’s cold and people ride their bikes. The brothers used to molest women and tie up their partners and do it in front of them and choke them and torture these people. It seemed like a scene from "A Clockwork Orange" a little bit. What struck me was the image of [the brothers] hugging and being together and sad and holding each other. They seemed to love each other and hug each other and feel pain about this situation they were going through, but they were still accomplices in this terrible situation... I often really like to experiment and do different things and feel free to jump from one medium to the other.

MIL: What force would you say drives your work?

MC: There is a political aspect in my work that says "I don’t conform with the way things are and I won’t allow the situation to be dictated to me and I think I’m going to dictate my own rules." I sort of feel that my work in a sense preaches that. I don’t think it’s art for art’s sake. Ever since I was a child, I think the way I relate to the world is through my work. And I mean there’s probably a
million psychological analyses as to why–I can tell you that as a kid my drawings were a way of feeling accepted, a way of feeling that I was being outstanding in something.

But I’ve never had one set explanation for why I do art. I guess I started out painting and then I started mixing painting with certain actions that are very similar to actions I used to do as a kid which were considered bad, like manipulating signs in the street and taking pictures of things I shouldn’t have been taking pictures of. And when I realised that that could be art, I felt like, what can I say, I felt good (laughs).

MIL: How has the economic crisis in Mexico shaped your work?

MC: It’s literally taking me back to my roots, which is low budget and very basic.

MIL: Tell me about your recent video exhibit “Bestseller” at the Museo Rufino Tamayo.

MC: The piece at Tamayo has a very obsessive side, which is repetition of me shooting a similar thing over and over. It’s not very spontaneous. The place of escape for my family was always Acapulco, Acapulco, Acapulco, and I’ve seen the place transformed throughout the years. It has such a historical background, such a glamorous place for American celebrities and now it’s become sort of a failed Las Vegas.

I noticed a bookshelf full of bestsellers [in my family’s place in Acapulco] that’s been growing and growing. I always wondered where these books came from, where they went, how come they were growing so fast, what the content of the books were. And so I started seeing these women on the poolside and on the beach, and most of the time, they used the books to cover their faces. I was interested in the content and the context of the book itself, the function it had. The book has a story in it, but at the same time it was being used for something else. And then also there was the image, the image of the book, and then also there was the image I was looking at, which was of these women in the middle of Acapulco.

MIL: Is the piece intended to be a comment on tourism?

MC: Mmm, I didn’t set out to make it a comment on tourism. 95% of the time I don’t know what the pieces are going to say or do.

~ ALEXIS OKEOWO

Picture credit: "Bad Road" (1998), Miguel Calderón