Spotlight on Isak Anshelm
Vitality Air
Blue Humanities &
a Sea of Regret
Stockholm-based artist Isak Anshelm
introduces his practice
In July 2019 I had the pleasure of being a part of the exhibition Coast at An Talla Solais gallery in Ullapool (Scotland). This group exhibition discussed the topic of coastal change, running alongside a show featuring artists David Cass, Joseph Calleja and the late Robert Callender. After the show, David asked me if I’d like to put an article together for A La Luz. The following is my contribution.
In the words of Slavoj Zizek: “nature does not exist”.
What does Zizek mean? Obviously, he is not claiming that there are no trees or rivers, rather that there is no singular Nature with a capital N, but a multitude of different natures that are socially co-produced with cultures. The meaning is that nature and culture cannot be separated, and that we as humans can no longer afford the luxury of making a distinction between nature and culture. Instead there is an urgent need to think of our environment – as Donna Haraway suggests – in terms of nature-cultures.
There is no place on the planet that is not severely affected by – or a product of – human action. Global climate changes will continue for decades to come. During the last decade this has been discussed within the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities departing from the concept of the Anthropocene. There is a wide-spread thesis that the geological era of the Holocene – that lasted for 10,000 years – has now been replaced with that of the Anthropocene. Humanity has become a geological force affecting and influencing every aspect of life on the planet. What does the Anthropocene mean politically, ethically, morally, aesthetically? My work as an artist is an attempt to explore different aspects of this era, and to problematize different kinds of nature-cultures. I have picked a few works within this theme to present.
After reading the two hugely influential works A Cyborg Manifesto and The Companion Species by Donna Haraway I became interested in her thoughts on nature-culture distinction. At the same time the topic of geo-engineering (carbon monoxide mitigation) was, from my perspective, being discussed as a real possibility. A kind of last resort with the planet at stake. I wanted to make a work that encompassed both the dissolved distinction between nature and culture and geo-engineering. Solar farms embody these issues interestingly, they are both utopian and dystopian.
Monocropping 2014 | Oil on canvas | 135 x 250 cm
Redeemer 2015 | Oil on canvas | 147 x 157 cm
Another project dealing with nature, culture and technology is Vitality Air. The starting point for this project was coming across a very strange product called Vitality Air. The company of the same name started to sell bottled Canadian air as a joke. However, it turned out that there is a huge demand for clean air in polluted cities and the air-filled spray cans became a success. The product is a bizarre ready-made: illustrating market forces ability to constantly convert catastrophe into economic profit. In the work, a painting of the can label is juxtaposed with a romantic picture of its bottling location and an interior with detoxifying plants.
Vitality Air 2017 | Oil on canvas | 157 x 167 cm, 100 x 150 cm & 200 x 135 cm
My most recent and ongoing project is again themed by a subject I came across by chance. The relatively new field of research Blue Humanities is, in short, a shift in focus from land to sea. The subject as a whole is intricate and multi-disciplinary, but as I understand it the notion revolves around the perception of oceans as something symbolic or metaphorical – an extension of humanity. This perception is in turn one of the driving forces in the destruction of the ocean. A way to understand oceans instead ought to be through its materiality. I found this interesting, as I had not considered oceans apart from their relation to humans. Even when working within the theme of the Anthropocene, I perceived the ocean as a pathway or food source – the real world stopped at the shore. With this in mind I started to explore the subject by creating a series of “oceanic portraits”.
As a group, they describe a world of water; and in part, aim to present the issue of rising sea levels. The title is borrowed from the fantastic song of the same name, by I Like Trains (below).
I Like Trains
A Sea of Regret
Some things are better left forgotten
Or the weight of the world will crush your bones
In an ideal situation
This will all be over soon
And I will leave this world in pieces
I will leave it to the scarab and the crows
Under seas and under soil
In a million years our bones will be your oil
One by one it happens to us all
When you least expect your sky will tumble down
We were surprised to find it was our time to sink or swim
And I will leave this world in pieces
I will leave it to the scarab and the crows
Under seas and under soil
In a million years our bones will be your oil
We're out of our depth in a sea of regrets and
I hate to say I told you so
We're out of our depth in a sea of excess and
This is everything I hoped it would be
A Sea of Regret XII 2019 | Oil on canvas | 95 x 135 cm
The choice of this subject matter – climate issues – springs out of a conviction that there has to be a political, economic and ecological system shift. There has to be a radical change. This should have occurred at least ten years ago. Today we have reached the stage where if no change is made, we face planetary collapse. In terms of making art it is of course interesting to do something in relation to what I consider our most important societal topic or an epoch-making idea like the Anthropocene. Aside from this, I believe that art can contribute to this discussion in a meaningful way. Alongside science, I think wide-ranging dialogue is needed. Not solely in order to bring about societal change, but also as a means to understand what it implies to live in a time where all the signs point to oncoming planetary transformation.
Sea of Regret VII 2018 | Oil on canvas | 40 x 55 cm
Reading list
Alaimo, Stacy, Bodily Natures: Science, Environment and the Material Self (2010)
Edited by Davis, Heather and Turpin, Etienne, Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Aesthetics, Politics, Environments and Epistemologies (2015)
Haraway, Donna, A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century (1985)
Haraway, Donna, The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness (2003)
Text & images © Isak Anshelm | Banner image taken during 'Coast' (2019), featuring Anshelm's 'A Sea of Regret IX'
