Michael Bilsborough - Bedroom Suite

Aseksualne orgije nakon što je vanjski svijet nestao.

www.michaelbilsborough.com/

Bedroom Suite #1 (2007)
 

Bedroom Suite #2 (2007)

Bedroom Suite #3 (2007)

Bedroom Suite #4 (2007)

Bedroom Suite #2 (study) (2007-11)

Hail Caesarean (2008)

The Eternally Obvious (mural) (2007)

The Eternally Obvious (drawing) (2007)

Heart of Glass (2007)
 

Leap of Faith (2007)

Failure to Levitate (2007)

Inverted Figure (2006)

Let Your Body Learn (2007)

 

Excerpt of an interview by Thomas Hollingworth for MAP Magazine‘s latest issue.

I have been away from my home country for sometime now but when I look at Michael Bilsborough’s depictions of savage debauchery and hedonistic excess my wistfulness vanishes, replaced by a longing of a very different kind. Characterized by near-flawless draftsmanship and stylized, often morbid renderings of genitalia his drawings are a portent of what everyday life for might be like if the temptations, weaknesses and abject futility that beset mankind triumphed over its staunch conventionality.

Rather than limiting the visualization of these shameful predispositions the formal constraints that the artist imposes on his practice instead reveal with alacrity an alarmingly vile and clandestine world. The simplicity of Bilsborough’s line evokes text book etchings; scented with the authority of anthropological studies their common depiction of a wretched humanity flourishes as a terrible imminent fact.

Anchoring themselves in such a way, these dark orgies almost seem like an x-rated paint by numbers – prompting participation and ultimately completion by viewers who subconsciously implicate themselves into the climaxing drama.

I contacted Michael Bilsborough on behalf of MAP Magazine to find out what makes him tick and why he thinks that when the chips are down the cocks will come out.

Your drawings could be interpreted as depicting the inside of a crèche twenty years after everyone in the outside world had been killed by some apocalyptic event or other, at which time the inhabitants of the crèche were too young to have been properly taught how to use a doorknob. In this context, your drawings could be interpreted as a powerful message about how essential education is to human life and to society as a whole. In any other context, your drawings could only be interpreted as a load of skinny people fucking. Which is it?

Sometimes, it’s a load of skinny people fucking, but often, they are fumbling and grasping aimlessly. Either way, some figures seem isolated, oblivious, or lost; even despite the densely populated mise en scene. So the fucking isn’t central.

The drawings embrace art history, which implies embracing education. But they definitely aren’t meant as prophetic messages about education! I think “apocalyptic” fits, and how could we avoid that? The planet is melting and we’re on the verge of successive wars. Then again, “apocalyptic” belongs to science fiction, which doesn’t describe the drawings.

I had thought about the images as stages or proscenia, but never the nativity scenes I saw every year as a kid, in which a baby, foreign men, and animals – a cross-section of the world – come together in a manger. That’s something for me to think about.

Think on, I would certainly relish the addition of a religious element to your work. On the subject of art – in particular your art – embracing history [and education] and serving what I suppose could be described as art’s function in the vernacular do you think that pre-apocalyptic Western society will ever reach a point where imagery as fragrant as yours is widely accepted?

I don’t know. For me, vernacular imagery translates as popular appeal and mostly includes advertising, especially photography, especially figurative, and especially manipulated. So can ads be fragrant? Maybe, but I doubt that’s a goal of advertising. Likewise, wide acceptance is not a goal of my work. That’s lucky for me, because overtly sexually-charged images are not widely accepted in this country, though they are widely consumed and stored in guilty consciences! But sexually-charged images are accepted if they are nestled in with something apparently non-sexual. Again, advertising pops up. And Catholic imagery might be another good example.

None of the people in your rooms look like they particularly want to be there, do you like to fuck or what?

 - www.artlurker.com/2008/07/libidinous-lines-new-york-artist-michael-bilsborough-interview-thomas-hollingworth-map-magazine/
 

 
 

Portrait of Michael Bilsborough...

Michael Bilsborough was born in the desert of California. He received a BA from Columbia University in 2001 and his MFA from School of Visual Arts in 2006. Bilsborough's work is precisely crafted and often monumental in showcase. His figuritive work corrresponds to biological ideals, while the spaces they inhabit belong to geometric archetypes. His work all draw from real-world memories. He is currently based in New York. We caught up with Micheal to ask him a few questions about his art...
 
Angels vs.Aliens, 2012
UTP ~ How did your passion for the arts and figurative work begin?  
Michael ~ Being born.
 
The Stranger, 2009
UTP ~ Who are some of the other artists who inspire you?
Michael ~ Friendship, or at least a personal relationship, with the artist is a condition of inspiration, at least for me.  Rachel Mason, mostly a performance artist, inspires me to magnify my vision.  TM Davy inspires me to keep it close to the source.  Kathryn Garcia inspires me to balance my motivations with my audience.  Sam Gordon inspires me to keep my eyes open.  There are many more: Keith Mayerson, Frank Haines, Robert Melee, Lisa Kirk, and Scott Hug.
 
Heart of Glass, 2007
UTP ~ How did the use of drafting film in your work come about?

Michael ~ Many years ago, I was walking in the desert where I grew up, and found a map printed on a translucent plastic sheet.  I knew right away that I could use this material.  It enables me to draw on both sides and build up drawings in layers.  I also like how a translucent material embodies the transparency of how I'm drawing.  I pursue drawing as a record of thinking, deciding, and even fantasizing and for that kind of transparency, it's fitting to use a see-through material.
 
Seven Veils, 2012
UTP ~ In your figurative work we have seen men with men, women with women and men with women. What inspired you to vary your pairings?
Michael ~ An artist has to see dreams (or nightmares) in male and female bodies alike.  There's little room for preference.  There are times when I intentionally draw women while thinking of a feminine space, or men in a masculine space. But sometimes, I draw figures and the gender just emerges by accident: I begin to draw a man, and then see that he'd look better as a woman.  Or vice versa.  Anyway, I think my pairings are quite unvaried.  I haven't taken on intersexed and transsexual figures.  I've also left out youths, animals, plants, produce, tools, furniture, and many other counterparts known to mythology and reality - for the most part. There is the occasional wine bottle or fruit.
 
Blush Response, 2012
UTP ~ That brings us to our next question, You have spoken about your Catholic background in past interviews and we can see this influence especially in some of your early works. What are your thoughts on it today?
Michael ~ Going to church while growing up meant visiting a life-sized, semi-nude, polished Christ on the cross once a week. Every Catholic church has one and to varying degrees, it's the focal point of the congregation.  In my work, every figure is potentially a crucified Christ, because that image is at the center of my "figurative" imagination.  For a while, Catholic art - the Italian Renaissance - inspired some of the pictures I made.  Now that's less of an influence.  And personally, I think the institution of the Church is so regressive that I can only respond with hostility.  I don't like to bring hostility into my art.  Or maybe I don't know how.
 UTP ~ What advice would you give the young artists of today?
Michael ~ Make friends with artists you really like and stay close to them.
 - un-titledproject.com/featuresblog/2012/2/12/michael-bilsborough.html