"Each day ideas pop up into my head, which make me laugh or impress me. If I don't write them down they fade away and might even disappear forever. But when I do write them down and work them out, create the picture or installation, they actually exist, and I can repeatedly enjoy them with intensity."
On his website Mamabart quotes: "In this life, the force and beauty of art can have a major influence on our search for knowledge and fortune. It brings joy, and can move, trigger and dazzle us. Most of all I would love to create extraordinary images, which make people wonder, and make daily life more interesting. Interesting images lead to stimulating thoughts."
Stimulating thoughts, mainly for you or for others? It satisfies me to see others taking pleasure in it as well, therefore I will expose myself. There are unlimited ideas and therefore equally boundless ambitions. Often in my pictures you see the world from a side we are not familiar with.
Sometimes it’s hard to see how you made your work but it seems like you could really hurt yourself or do you ever use any software to manipulate the image? No computers have been used in creating these pictures. Everything you see is 100% real, live, without manipulation. The performances, aesthetics and photography together as one; for an honest result.
What can we expect from you in the near future? Well, this year finally I got round to making my new photo series. As well as other fine idea's which have been in the making for some years now: The first chapter of a Mamabartbook, some disturbing or charming performances, and I'm delighted to participate in the "TopLolly" website (www.toplolly.com), a website for idea's which seem too fantastic. All these things and more will be exposed on www.mamabart.com.
And what to think about Viewbook? My greatest gift and problem is that I have so, so many idea's. I even have idea's for my idea's. It's hard, to work hard on 1001 idea's simultaneously.
Viewbook looks like a gift from heaven. I can create different portfolio's in one format. For instance; I can show my artistic work to galleries and museums, my commercial products to advertisement agencies, my performances to festivals, my creative entertainment to night clubs, and my workshops and lectures to schools. I can swiftly select suitable material for specific clients. On my website people get lost, which is the point, but in Viewbook you can cut, or even select, so it definitely keeps everything clean and organized.
contact: info@mamabart.com
Who Uses Viewbook
AKI Art Acedami EnschedeArchis.org
David Risley Gallery
Resource Studio
Vlieger & vanDam
Event Architecture
David Risley Gallery
David Risley Gallery opened in 2003 and presents exhibitions of gallery artists, alongside curated group exhibitions mixing established and emerging artists.
As one of our top users, David Risley presents his artists using Viewbook.
| davidresileygallery.com
| Paul's inspiration
| paulswagerman.nl
Paul says: As a designer it’s risky to talk of one’s originality without sounding the complete opposite. It's not easy to formulate what your own work is about without using the necessary jargon. Being a designer I'm faced with the fact that we handle and deal with information very differently nowadays than we used to. I get inspiration from taking another close look at whatever it is i'm working on, how it is used now and how that is different to before. Simply put, I look at how we interact with the information and what influences it.
What defines your style? Aesthetics or making a 'graphical' statement alone is not that interesting to me. For me, the scenario people go through when they interact with information and their personal ways of dealing with it, is what's important. Like every artist or designer I like to leave my footprint in the sand, but I never forget what the objective is and who the work is for.
You are a self-proclaimed admirer of the narrative behind design. Does this mean the story always has to fit the Paul Swagerman plot? The ability to reflect on what is appropriate but surprising, and what works well, leads to highly functional as well as meaningful designs. Innovation is part of the process not the goal. The aim is to create conjointly, to ensure all parties are fully satisfied with the process as well as the end result.
