KS Interview with Slinkachu
Slinkachu is as a London-based artist who creates very small street-based installations and then photographs them.Slinkachu has created installations in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Manchester , Norway and some other countries. To find some answers to our questions about this aritst and his work ,we asked him some questions and here are his Kind answers .
Kolahstudio: have you been painting, sclupting or any other kind of Fine arts? or maybe street art before doing miniature scenes in streets?
Slinkachu: I have always been preoccupied with creative things. I studied art and design at school and university, but my project using miniature figures was my first street-based work. It was actually an idea that i had while i was working as an art director, so it started off as a hobby and side-project to my real work.
Kolahstudio: Those kind small people are made of Oil/Plastic or other material?
Slinkachu: The figures are plastic. They are modified train set figures.
Kolahstudio: If i buy a spray can or two and tag walls or paint funny bubble charechters and throw ups… am i street artist then ?
Slinkachu: The term ‘street art’ is, i think, more a generic term that is a catch-all for any art produced on the street. Whether you think of yourself as an artist is a personal choice i think. Or perhaps a choice that is made for you by the people who see what you have sprayed or pasted – I think with my work, people started calling me an artist long before i really thoguht of myself as one!
Kolahstudio: do you do your works just in london,uk or you are active in many parts of the world?
Slinkachu: I have done work in other cities in the UK, and also Italy, Norway and Holland. I would love to make some scenes and take photographs in many other countries too.
Kolahstudio: let me ask you a special question . If Slinkachu goes to streets of Tehran as a local or foreign person and start to make a miniature scene in a corner… the police motorcycle will be there in 10 minutes or less.they will ask you what you do, then they will call their boss and will for sure take you and your small people to the police station and will ask you . what are these… who told you to do this?who allowed you to do this?
what is your answer please. (if you know that you will be in jail if you answer badly or out of their logic?
so ….(These are not interview questions. i ask you to presume you are in The Iranian police station.)
Slinkachu: I think i would answer very honestly!
officer: what are these toys? aren’t you satanist?
Slinkachu: These are miniature people. And no, I am not a Satanist. I am an artist and photographer.
Officer:what you were about to do with them?
Slinkachu:I place the figures on the street and take photos of them, to create scenes and stories. (and at this point i would probably show them the other older images on my camera, as i never get around to erasing them!)
–other oficer who just came to the room : who told you to do this?
No one told me. I work for myself – this is just what i do.
officer:who allowed you to do this in city?don’t you know you should have leggal permission from ministry of islamic culture or The city council?
Slinkachu: Er… no…. I didn’t know that…. Why didn’t those guys at Kolah Studio tell me that i needed to do that?! Damn them!
the other one: why do you take photos? do you sell your photos to western journals?are you spying?
Slinkachu: If this is spying, I am probably the worst spy in the world and almost deserve to be locked up for pure incompetence!
Kolahstudio: Your works reminds us the scale of our minds .when we concentrate on something it looks so big ,when we do not pay attention to something it looks so tinny. do you see Eternity in a grain of sand?
Slinkachu: I like to think that i am training myself to pay more attention to the small, forgotten things in life. In my mind the figures in my installations all have personalities and stories to tell. I try to think of the photographs as being snapshots of little dramas and comedies that are playing out all around us that most people don’t see – the secret lives that people live ‘behind closed doors’. We are always caught up in our own lives and in a western city like London everyone else is anonymous. You so often don’t even know your next door neighbour and people try to ingnore what goes on around them if it doesn’t invlove them. Perhaps this is different in a city such as Tehran. Perhaps in a city where the ploce will arrive in 10 seconds if someone is seen to be doing something unusual, then this kind of anonymity is something that people crave. Is it better to be hidden in plain sight, or hidden because you have to be?
The best part of living in a city like London, for me, is that i meet so many different people from all over the world. Almost all my closest friends are from other countries or have parents that are from other countries and very different cultures – South Africans, French, Americans, Kenyans, Isrealis, Vietnamese, Sri Lankans, Malaysians, Koreans, Muslims, Hindus, Christians – I think that it is only when you meet and get to know people from other parts of the world that you can see how much you all have in common and how much you can learn from each other.
Kolahstudio: who are your favorite artist or what kind of art is your main interest?
Slinkachu: I have a lot of favorite artists, but i am mainly attracted to art that has narrative and tells us something about the human condition. I love Edward Hopper’s paintings with their lonliness and hints of hidden stories. I am also a big fan of the comics of Chris Ware. In terms of ‘street art’ i love work that has the power to surprise. I think that unsanctioned work in a city can have so much power as it is placed where people least expect to find art and can be stumbled upon when people least expect it too. If you can make someone smile or think, when they are just on their way to work, then i think you have produced something quite powerful. I like urban art that talks about people too. I think there is something powerful in Swoon’s paste-ups work as she shows the beauty in everyday people. JR too produces some really powerful images that reveal and celebrate the lost inhabitants of a city.
Kolahstudio: what do you know/Think about IRAN? what are your every day news source? is it like big medias or no medias or what?
Slinkachu: I mostly read the BBC news here in the UK, as well as a lot of independant blogs from around the world. It was interesting following the recent elections in Iran and seeing how the net and new technologies changed the way people tried to expressed their support or disatisfaction with the way that the elections played out.
I have always been very interested in history – i even wanted to be an archeologist when i was younger – and Iran is a place that i would love to visit as it has such a rich and important history – not just important locally but globally too. It does sadden me that something like politics and the differing oppinions of politicians (which, lets face it, isn’t really something that a normal person bothers themselves with on a day to day basis) can stop people from learning from each other and appreciating each other. The best part of living in a city like London, for me, is that i meet so many different people from all over the world. Almost all my closest friends are from other countries or have parents that are from other countries and very different cultures – South Africans, French, Americans, Kenyans, Isrealis, Vietnamese, Sri Lankans, Malaysians, Koreans, Muslims, Hindus, Christians – I think that it is only when you meet and get to know people from other parts of the world that you can see how much you all have in common and how much you can learn from each other.
Kolahstudio: Do we see you in the future developing hidden world of your people?
Slinkachu: I think i will always be preoccupied with hidden art, whether that is using the miniature figues or something else. I’ve been interested in using model buildings in my work recently and this is something i would like to continue exploring. Also, taking more night time shots and playing with light and shadows in the photography itself.
Slinkachu Website [+]
