Only black ink with water on paper
Jean-Baptiste Joly, 2014
_In critical texts about her, Carolin Jörg’s creative work has been consistently praised and described as „wayward“ (1), „approachable“ (2) or „filled with a sense of humour“ (3); her ability “to visualize a sequence of dynamic movements” (4) is stressed as well as her “effective playing between the twin poles of abstraction and figuration“ (5).
Of course these statements are correct, but it might also be that an essential aspect of Carolin Jörg`s work has been overlooked which in her latest drawings has come to the fore. In their minimalist composition, which are mostly of an organic and rather abstract shape, this new series of ink drawings bears no relation to previous themes, which Carolin Jörg has always shown from an unusual angle: no world of fashion, no dog breeding, no urban landscapes nor building sites, no floating paratroopers, no travel pictures nor drawings depicting the insecurity of individuals who doubt modern society.
Freed of all the appurtenances of Zeitgeist which until now she has used as a starting point for her drawings, since her stay in Paris in 2011 (6) the artist has faced up to the challenge of the “ghostly whiteness of the blank sheet of paper“ (7) and of black ink – either pure or mixed with water. But was this engagement with the material and simple shapes not Carolin Jörg’s main objective from the very beginning but it previously remained hidden behind the story telling aspect of her favourite themes? With this slightly different interpretation it becomes evident that Carolin Jörg’s drawings are not only approachable, full of humour or wayward but also that from the very beginning they pose a basic question about the materials and media used. I discussed this with Carolin Jörg in her Stuttgart studio on March 19, 2014._
Jean-Baptiste Joly: Can you explain how you work, using the example of the spiral you drew or painted with ink? I imagine you start with a blob of ink, and then you drag it out across the surface of the paper.
Carolin Jörg: It’s more pushing than dragging. I must also be sure that there is enough liquid on the brush.
Andrea Jahn, „Einführungstext“, in: Carolin Jörg, exibition catalogue, ed. Andreas Baur, Galerien der Stadt Esslingen am Neckar, 2007 ibid. Andreas Baur, „Vorwort“, in: Carolin Jörg, exibition catalogue, ed. Andreas Baur, Galerien der Stadt Esslingen am Neckar, 2007 Simone Kimmel, „Einführungstext“, in: Carolin Jörg, Flugnummer 318NIX, ed. Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus, Kunstsammlungen und Museen Augsburg, 2009 ibid. This new series of drawings was first showen in the context of „Retour de Paris“ in Centre Culturel Franco-Allemand Kalrsruhe in automne 2012. Stéphane Mallarmé, „Mimiques“, in: Divagations, Oeuvres Complètes, Bd. 2, Paris 2003, p. 178; Übersetzung JBJ.
JBJ: Do you use the brush straight away or do you make a sketch first?
CJ: I sometimes sketch in pencil first.
JBJ: How do you apply your brush? On the tip or using the thickness in the middle?
CJ: Normally the middle of the brush. When I draw, I quite automatically ask myself: How much liquid do I have on the brush? Is it too much or too little? Have I used too much pressure or too little? It is never a conscious control, it is more a question of coming to terms with oneself – after all one does know a bit about oneself. Usually I make the outlines first. Then I apply the liquid to the paper. It is all a matter of concentration. Just like juggling, or like a game. I move between precision and giving my hands free rein.
JBJ: Are the ink drawings created directly without „Repentir“, without any corrections?
CJ: Sometimes things do not go the way you wanted them to and you catch yourself trying to save them. This game with the ‘mishaps’ presupposes an irony in dealing with oneself, with one’s own clumsiness, which you then have to give a helping hand.
JBJ: So you then add a short comment, as a reaction to the mishap, and so you save the drawing, taking it to a level of self-irony.
CJ: Yes, that does happen. But it’s the shapes that determine the picture, they come into being as if by themselves. They seem to say about themselves: that’s good or that’s not good. In my most recent works it is simple shapes that have this within themselves. It must be an organic, vital form in which the hand of the artist is no longer noticeable, vital, organic and then also abstract.
JBJ: What do you mean by vital?
CJ: The vitality of the picture is defined through the drawing and the format of the paper as well as their relationship to the material. Waves or colour sequences are part of this vitality. It is always important to maintain a certain lightness. Each finished picture is the result of a balancing act between the surface and the format, a balancing between more or less complex shapes. How much drawing can be allowed at the same time, so that this lightness is maintained? Because the drawing should develop in one flow, from one movement. I can complete it or get stuck. Some drawings are troublesome….
JBJ: Your former drawings were mostly figurative or at least rooted in reality and often played with the alienation of everyday media images. Have you turned to abstract art in the meantime? What are your latest works based on?
CJ: No, it is not primarily a matter of abstraction nor a turning away from earlier themes: It is much more a question of reducing everything to a minimum, such as I have seen in the works of artists like Richard Tuttle: It is the constantly deliberate approach to new ways of expressing oneself or the simplicity of materials. This significant reduction to certain ways of working, the language of signs itself, has to be understood for itself, focussing on the „Here and Now“, not necessarily related to a particular motive.
JBJ: In concrete terms, what does this significant reduction mean to you?
CJ: I mainly use black ink with water on A4 or maybe A3 paper. Not all black ink is alike because I work simultaneously with five different inks which I often mix: shellac ink, which the French call „encre de Chine“, Leipzig black ink, Lamy ink with a reddish brown tone and Parker or Mont Blanc ink which is more bluish.
JBJ: So now you only do ink drawings on paper?
CJ: No, because the paper allows other things, not only drawings. The “forest pictures” for example were drawn on wet hand-made paper, for example. They were all made in one single go, taking not much more than 10 minutes per sheet. I started the series of Black Forest pictures in Paris, which was the beginning of a slightly different approach.
JBJ: Is this different approach completely new to you?
CJ: Not at all, there are many shapes that existed before and are being used again, letters continue to be included.
JBJ: Are writing and drawing the same to you?
CJ: Writing can be seen as a strong intervention and gives the drawing a different level of meaning. But usually the text, like in ‘oh’ or ‘follow me’ becomes almost invisible through its repetition and looks just like another part of the drawing.
JBJ: You have been a teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon since 2008. How do you feel about your work with students, about teaching? Does it disrupt your working process and make it more difficult or do you consider teaching part of your artistic work?
CJ: I have learnt one thing from teaching: It is easier to achieve a certain distance to the work of others than to your own work. In dealing with students I have also become more aware of certain things concerning my own practice. I have gained more clarity about gesture, physicality, the contrast between the organic and the non-organic, about format, material and especially the simplicity of the materials used. Balance has become a key word for me: creating something, observing oneself and one’s work and retrieving knowledge when necessary.
JBJ: How do you explain your desire for reduction?
CJ: The need for major reduction has become more and more important to me over the years and led to the development of a clear methodology. But in practice, this can not always be strictly carried through; otherwise the process would be too cognitive, I.e. the process could only be understood rationally. But this should be understood as non-verbal and gestural, as the result of a non-cognitive internalisation.
JBJ: You have used the terms gesture, gestures and gestural several times. What do you precisely mean by this?
CJ: How does a gesture arise? How to react to a possible lack in self-confidence and the consistency of a gesture that one has internalised? Basically, we are talking about reaching that moment when things can be created and to allow them to do so. If you miss that moment, the end result seems constrained. You must be present, in control and not in a trance. Action and reaction are part of the process and must be seen as a whole. If what you have formed remains organic, vitality is achieved.
JBJ: Why this quest for vitality in your work, if I may ask?
CJ: To give joy to oneself as an artist and possibly to others.