Artist Statement
Interview with Theodor di Ricco
mit Louis von Reich
Berlin 2016
L. v. Reich: The first question. The obvious one. Why yellow?
T. di Ricco: I started wearing yellow in 1990. I was exhibiting a spoken word performance art piece, announcing to the listening public that yellow was the color of the 1990’s. If I was going to preach it, then I thought I should be it. Yellow has become my logo as an artist. I am internationally known for doing so.
L. v. Reich: You are surely not the only one.
T. di Ricco: I have been involved with performance art for thirty years. I have not met or read about anyone who continuously dresses monochrome as performance art piece. Many artists have had periods or phases of one color but none to my knowledge, either in visual or performance art, have used it to the degree as I have.
L. v. Reich: So yellow is the point of reference for most of what you do?
T. di Ricco: Exactly. To answer this question, I want to first interject that performance art is the act of making art at the moment, it has no beginning or no end, I am known for my continuous performance in which I wear the color yellow every day. Whether it is on my yellow bicycle, in a subway car or at an art gallerie, I sets myself apart as a yellow point of color within the images of daily life.
L. v. Reich: So where has yellow taken you ? How has it brought you farther ?
T. di Ricco: Yellow is my muse. It becomes an icon to relay my message which I have developed into an art, quasi-political movement entitled A.C.N.E....
L. v. Reich: … which I have read stands for Anti-Constructivist, Neo-Errorism.
T. di Ricco: Right.
L. v. Reich: And what is the message behind this A.C.N.E.?
T. di Ricco: Breaking down the fixed customs, stringent traditions and morals of any society through ignorance.
L. v. Reich: Can you give me an example?
T. di Ricco: The traffic light is good example. Crossing a traffic light when the signal is red can upset some of the natives depending on where you are. Another banal example, smoking where you are not supposed to. When a society reaches a certain level of prosperity, they turn on themselves. They become an nanny-state. Looking for ever bigger and better ways to improve.Thus they ignore the obvious .That social and economic inequality, racism, sexism, fascism still exists.
L. v. Reich: Before getting too political, were does yellow fit in?
T. di Ricco: Yellow evokes many feelings, many of them positive. For me, yellow is the color of happiness. The light one sees from the sun is in the yellow spectrum. The cones and rods receptors in the human eye interpret three colors; red, blue and green. Yellow is therefore interpreted by the brain through the green cone receptor. Since yellow is omnipresent, it is not seen, it is. Similar to the pursuit of happiness. It is common gaol in all humans endeavors.
L. v. Reich: So there is no other reason why you chose yellow?
T. di Ricco: No. Although all decisions are political, I did not chose yellow because it signifies for me a religious or philosophical concept. I chose it for it's aesthetic significations and by dressing in yellow and placing myself in the environment, I become the yellow brush stroke in the visual fluxus of life.
To this day, my research into yellow is letting others tell me what the color evokes for them. When it comes down to it, You can take the man out of California but you can not take the California out of the man. Berlin is grey and by choosing yellow it helps lighten up my spirits and those around me.
L. v. Reich: And the other senses, what do they evoke in you in regard to yellow?
T. di Ricco: If yellow was a sound it would be the hum of electrical transformer or the buzz of a bee hive. It would either taste sour or extremely sweet and it would smells fresh. To the touch, It is warm and dry.
L. v. Reich: Are there any other points of artistic reference in your work?
T. di Ricco: Yeah. I am fascinated in the transmission of concepts that are expressed in simple geometric forms; the cross, the six sided star, the half-moon. These three forms have become meta-icons that transmit powerful and complex messages. My work is to deconstruct these icons and others, diffusing their meaning and forming new ones. Hence the A and C. in A.C.N.E...; Anti-Constructivist. The Neo-Errorism or N. and E. is a result of globalization. People cannot expect to know every custom, in every corner of the world. Therefore, it becomes necessary to develop a global social etiquette. Contrary, the more nations globalize, societies within become more rigid, preserving their traditional values to the point of fundamentalism or extremism.
L. v. Reich: You propose new icons for a global world?
T. di Ricco A hundred years ago the constructivist created icons and a vocabulary to interpret the newly industrialized world. The anti-constructivist performance artists applies this to their actions thus blending and diffusing the fixed customs, stringent traditions and moral guidelines of any society.
L. v. Reich You have created an icon in your visual work. So you are not breaking down, you are also constructing.
T. di Ricco Yes, out of what is missing.
L. v. Reich: And what is that?
T. di Ricco: An international symbol for happiness. I have chosen the image of triangle point up and a square below. The forms painted next to each other have been interpreted as a tree, an arrow or as the two-dimensional pyramid.
In our present iconology, there are universal symbols for love and peace. yet none for happiness, except maybe the happy-face, which I do not think is appropriate. Happiness is not about smiling, it is about feeling a sense of security. I thought it was time for an artist to come up with the appropriate icon, so I did. The tree provides shelter, the arrow point to the way out or in and the pyramid has been around for 5000 years.
These three basic geometric forms combined with the three primary colors and the three positive emotional states of peace, love and happiness. create for me an infinite point of inspiration.
L. v. Reich: Why did you choose to become an artist?
T. di Ricco: I have always done art, ever since I could remember. I used to wonder when older artists would say that. Now I know what they mean. We are all artists. The difference is that i have chosen to live as an artist and make a profession out of it.
L. v. Reich: Why have you chosen this profession?
T. di Ricco: Because it represented for a me a challenge. I figured out early on that there were alternatives to the status quo. I went searching and I gravitated towards like-minded people. Those tended to be the sages, shamans, freaks and artists. It was nice to know that I was not the only one who had doubts about the Free-World. Once I broke away, there was no going back. Have you not heard this before ?
L. v. Reich: You do not draw.
T. di Ricco: I have refrained from learning perspective drawing. I wanted to remain as close to the abstract as possible. My visual work takes on the form of sculptures that are hung on the wall. One of my best works is bundle of shoelaces, spun into a sunburst, held fast with rabbit glue and powdered with yellow pigment. Oil and turpentine are sprayed onto the powdered surface which in turn acts as a glueing agent. Both elements of painting are sculpture are answered and I have created a beautiful soft art piece that looks like a sunburst. Besides, painting is dead.
L.v. Reich You still believe that?
T. di Ricco: As soon as that television screen was mounted on the wall, the last nail for conventual art was hammered into the wall. I am a firm believer that performance art is the art form of the 21st century. We are free to view what we want because we have a 'painting' that now moves and a remote that can controls it. It is the means of the performance artists to fill that space.
L.v. Reich In your visual work, I see elements of Minimalism, Fluxus and Pop Art,
T. di Ricco: This is what I was learning at school and that was the common consciousness at the time. Yeah, I like the purity of a two-demential form. I enjoy finding objects and giving them a new meaning and I am fascinated how advertising is used to manipulate a potential buyer. Besides, I really do want to bring my art to the people and not to a an elite group of yahoos.
We also learned of past art movements and I was fascinated with Constructivism, understood what DaDaism and Futurism wanted to say. As one ‚ism‘ lead to another, I blending them with the zeitgeist, and became an A.C.N.E. artist.
L. v. Reich: So how does an A.C.N.E. artist create work?
T. di Ricco: By assembling found objects ‚objets-trouvés‘ and giving them a new meaning. The shoelaces turned into a sunburst, for example. I found the letters E, U and E that were used in the DDR as store front signs and created a painting tributing Europa.
L .v. Reich How do you see the art market?
T. di Ricco: Let us start with the art academy. It is here that the the future artist, gallery owner, collector and art historian meet the art professor. It is a closed self-perpetuating system. It is well know that putting these five elements together into one project will create some kind of buzz depending on the quality of the partners.
L. v. Reich: There is certainly more than that to the art world.
T. di Ricco: The art world, for most, consists of work displayed in the gallery or museum, put their by the owner, a demi-god with a license to sell or to choose. It is then treaded into the market whose function is to falsely augment its necessity through price and demand.
Seriously. Who really buys art? It is not like people get up in the morning, see that the art piece is broken and go out to buy a replacement. Where would they start? The choise is infinitive. There is a whole lot of sensitizing to be done before Mr. and Mrs Miller would feel comfortable with their purchase.
L. v. Reich: You sound angry and frustrated. Then why make art?
Theodor: I am an Outsider or Underground Artist not because I want to be, but because I am excluded. I am driven by this challenge plus I will never get used to the injustice the the world. I feel compelled to do something about it in my own way and in my own culture. I do want to leave traces of my existence in order to bestow my life with dignity.
L. v. Reich: You use Gogo Sunshine as your alias in some of your work. Where does that come from?
T. di Ricco: I was first baptized Homo Sunshine by a lesbian. I later adapted and became Gogo Sunshine because I tell everyone that I am a professional go-go dancer, albeit the oldest.
As I see it, Go-Go dancers animate the crowd. They are there to work the party. That is how I see a portion of the work by an artist. We go to the openings, organize art events and dress in kooky-erotic clothing. We dance around, make small talk, networking and connecting those around. Not that much different from the work of a go-go dancer.
L. v. Reich: How do you qualify as a pop artist?
T. di Ricco The pop artist is in some degrees an opportunist. I use elements of pop in order to sell myself as an artist. In the world of commerce, one has to get people talking. One way is by advertising. I myself have a few gimmicks. I know people are anal. They love to collect. People have this need to identify degrees of intimacy between themselves and the world. Processing or sharing a common element makes them feel closer.
One way are the multiples I make. I have been doing small works on paper or collages, postcard size, for three decades. I usually make a series of about fifty at one time. I save my personal best and sell or share the rest.
In addition, I wear yellow, consistently for thirty years. For people who know me or know about me, my yellowness becomes their common element.
L. v. Reich: How do people react to your yellowness ?
Some do take notice and even fewer ask why. Those that do have told to me that often when they see something yellow and think of me and when it comes down to it ... that IS my art.
Plus I must admit, there are a whole group of positive benefits in wearing yellow which I did not occur to me when I switched to dressing in monochrome.
L. v. Reich: For example?
T. di Ricco: I stopped shopping for clothes. People are constantly giving me that one freaky yellow thing that they bought and seldom wore. Lots of shirts and occasionally some pants or shoes.
It also make my life easier. I do not have to worry about colors running in the wash and I don't have to think much about mixing and matching styles. If I have to chose a color, I take the yellow toothbrush. Also, I am never lost in a crowd, I am easy to spot.
L. v .d. Reich You mentioned your multiples. How did that get started?
T. di Ricco When I started living in Europe. I wanted to send something creative other than writing a letter and sending it. These are the days before the copy-machine and internet. I started making my own postcards or works on paper. mixing collage and abstract painting. Out of which, has developed a work process in which I create a multiple of one design.
L. v. Reich: How do you resumé what you have accomplished as a performance artist?
T. di Ricco I see my performance art work as traces within the zeitgeist. When I review my body of work, I understand why it was necessary to create the work at the time. I understand a red thread that weaves through every performance art piece that I have exhibited.
L. v. Reich: What about the message ? What do you want to convey ?
T. di Ricco: As with every action, it has a political, spiritual and an aesthetic statement. For me it is clear that when I use an action and call it art, along with being honest and authentic, the message must be relevant and the concept clear. The need to communicate information to people on how to survive, in other words, make art is one of the goals of the performance artist.
L. v. Reich: Every artist will ask themselves at some time or another why make art. What is your answer?
T. di Ricco: I have done this long enough to know. It is though the body of work which I have created, the experiences and contacts I have had throughout my career that have cleared up any doubts as to why I have chosen this profession. Not to be altruistic but it simply comes down to living a life well lived. The best revenge is to live a good life.
L. v Reich: You do a lot of writing?
T. di Ricco: Writing is an incredible media. I can compare it to painting in the fifth dimension; height, length, depth, time and virtual. When I write, I add layer upon layer of color and texture. Writing is abstract. The letter, the word, the sentence, the paragraph, the chapter and finally the book.
L. v. Reich: You said you view your book ‘Why I Live Here’ as your doctor thesis.
T. di Ricco: I have even gone so far as to attach the doctor initials to my name. It just stands to reason that if one is autodidact, at some point in one's life when a goal is reached a title should be awarded. Plus it is such an affront to a codex of western society. How dare I disrespect an academic tradition. My reasoning: I am an A.C.N.E. Artist.
L v. Reich: It wasn’t until your book came out and drew some attention that you received notoriety as well with your visual work.
T di Ricco: The word is still more powerful than the image and you are the proof. Journalists wanting to know my opinion on current events as if I knew something about them. I do, in fact.
The synergy was building, I am involved in many projects. I love multi-tasking. I am a product of multi-media. Give me a project and a budget and I can transpose my art in any given media. Art historians called us multi-media, I prefer the term serial artists.
L. v. Reich: With your controversial opinions, you have certainly ruffled some feathers.
T. di Ricco: Does that make me a bad person? I was not the first to call 9/11 an art piece. I just wrote it in a my book. Calling the USA an uncivilized society and using prose to describe the reasons ... well, the truth hurts.
L. v. Reich: We’ve haven’t mentioned Gallery SoToDo. Where did that come from?
T. di Ricco: SoToDo is my service to society. If you want something done, you got to do it yourself. So, To Do. It was my answer to the lack of creative contemporary stimulus in the town where I was raised. But I certainly was not the first.
Artists have always banded together to express an alternative consciousness, they are romantic not knowing how or whether their ideas and actions might later justify their means. As they progress, their collective consciousness is later institutionalized by their own justification. A contemporary example for this is performance art.
The means of performance art is the ephemeral nature of it's being. Performance artists have taken the means and turned it into a commodity. I firmly believe that the future of performance art lies in the marketing of this commodity and the internet is it's medium.
L. v. Reich: How has your organization evolved?
T. di Ricco: I started Gallery SoToDo as a organization to promote contemporary art. Instead of playing god, I invited all. The invitation process is organic. From the initial group of artists, they were invited again and or, they could invite someone else. With the participation of over 500 artists for 30 years, Gallery SoToDo, has become a benchmark for organizing and exhibiting performance art.
L. v. Reich: How?
T. di Ricco: I do this by inviting the artist months in advance. This gives them time to acquire funding because they are responsible for their travels costs. Participation is done on a first come, first serve basis.
I place the visiting artists privately with local artists and make sure that we all eat together at least once a day in order to intensify the contacts. I also promise to deliver a documentation of the congress in the form of a catalog or film.
I realized that an event organized around performance art ist not a festival, it is a congress. To come together and exchange is the true sense of that word. it is also the motivating factor why many continue to participate.
L. v. Reich: Through your experience how do you define performance art?
T. di Ricco Performance art has existed since the dawn of civilization. Human beings learned to be creative and social in order to survive. Performance art is used to communicate lessons learned und deeds accomplished.
Performance Art is uses the elements of time and space to communicate a message honesty and with authenticity. Performance art is the act of making art at the moment.
L. v. Reich How do you view performance art in what you do?
T. di Ricco Performance art is declared by the artist who exhibits it and understood by the observer who experiences it. It does not have a beginning or an end. It happens. In my case, the act of wearing yellow clothing fits this definition and name it a performance art action.
L. v. Reich: What is the evolution of performance art?
T. di Ricco: Everybody is allowed to make art but few dare. I have written a paper on this subject.
In short, in every society since the dawn of civilization, there are princes, fools, shamans and artists who have set themselves apart by accepting an alternative lifestyle. These persons act as a pressure valve within a micro-Machiavellian political structure of control by expressing concepts and ideas that balance the spectrum of society's consciousness, actions and deeds. In the artists' case, they set an example for how to live through making art.
L. v. Reich: So this is the current state of affairs ?
T. di Ricco: Yeah, The current political structure has created a situation where many in society are content to follow, albeit mechanical and are freed from the responsibility of how to make art or live for themselves.
It also demonstrates a collective discipline on the part of the artist vis-á-vis the rest of the society.
In order to prevent a state in which everyone is living (making art) for themselves, in short, a state of anarchy.
L.v. Reich: Well, with that thought. I thank-you very much for the informative interview. Go Gogo, go!
T. di Ricco: It was my pleasure.
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