Artist Interview: Nevercrew (SUI)
Nevercrew is swiss artist duo Christian Rebecchi and Pablo Togni. Working together since 1996 the pair travel the world creating dynamic and thought provoking street art. Most recently showing works in New Delhi and with Los Angeles next on the list, Nevercrew have made their mark in many places, and on many buildings, across the globe.
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MF: Can you explain the “mechanisms” in your work?
NC: We could say that the mechanisms in our work are the best way in which our work itself and our collaboration are described. While they’re always a subject, a part of the composition, they’re also a sort of explanation of our work in general and of every single artwork, but more on the “approach” point of view.
We use to create “systems” in which all the elements are put in a comparison, in which every part is important itself but also for the entire structure. As if every part collaborate inside an unique mechanism and in which the machines themselves are also made of smaller parts. So systems into a system into the system, we could say.
For the creation of these machines, moreover, we’ve built in the years a components archive that grows from work to work. Every single part is classified and ready to be used to compose something else. In every new work we create new pieces that become part of the new mechanisms but also of the archive, so that every mechanisms (and every artwork) is connected with the previous one, related.
So in this way, we consider also the natural subjects, the support and the other elements as components with which to build.
MF: What is the relationship between the man-made subjects and organic subjects in your work?
NC: As said, we use to put elements in comparison between them and we do it to create “living systems” to analyze the system itself. In our process we actually summarized elements that for us can generate a stronger and more direct impact on the emotional and conceptual side, making the reasoning more global and, when needed, more specific at the same time.
One of these elements is the relation between the human system and the natural one. Where one could be seen as a (necessary) superstructure built on the second one and always in communication with it. As the systems in the systems mentioned above, this could be seen also from the human point of view, where the relation is between his system and its nature, between it and the nature, an exchange of mutual responsibilities. But we wouldn’t say that mechanisms are only related to humans.
The fact that we use real elements, that sometimes looks like recycled elements coming from other machines, from the human world, is another way in which we try to communicate, to connect with people using a common language to say something in a different language.
MF: Your artwork has taken you to many places across the world. How did your particular style build momentum and gain success?
NC: This is really difficult for us to say. We have worked together for almost 20 years and our art is an incessant discussion. About what we do, about what we did and what we could do, about how and what we want to communicate, about everything. So from our point of view everything happened while we were working on it and there wasn’t a “changing point” or a specific act that transformed everything.
Just to do a very simple and superficial analysis, we could say that maybe we started to communicate in a stronger way when we started to bring forward a process and work hard on it, building something that now (for us) is in constant relation with us and with what surrounds us.
MF: You both touch on social, political and environmental issues in your work. Are these discussions always been of interest to you both? And do you hope your artwork makes the public more aware of these issues?
NC: Yes, these are all interests to the both of us. Of course they evolved in the years, but we always wanted to keep all what we think about in our artistic process, also because it influences our lives constantly. For sure our aim is to communicate and to evoke thoughts, feelings and to communicate part of our discussion and our interests mentioned above.
Difficult to say if our artworks have such a power, but we’re always satisfied when one of our works generate a discussion. Sometimes people see exactly what we want to say, sometimes they read new things related to the same issue and sometimes they just feel an emotion. If this happens we’re happy and in general we’re happy to see our works inside a constant communication.
MF: Your work not only manifests in street art and murals, but also installation, print and performance. Are these artistic outcomes always been of interest to you or has the work naturally progressed in this manner?
NC: We always liked to build things and to communicate in many ways. We have worked in this way since we were 15 years old and we still like to use different media to involve different elements inside our actual process. The 3-Dimensional element is in general very important in our work. Also in our paintings there’s always a relation between dimensions: the space itself with the viewer inside it, a painted 3D, the flat surface, a painted 2D, and often also real 3D elements (installations) interacting between them.
We recently started to work also on “canvas” with real 3D interventions, highlighting the surface on which we work and trying to bring the perception on another dimensional level.
Interactive installations and performances are more rare, but we’re very interested in them. As we communicate in the public space with our paintings/installations, we’re very happy to practically involve people not only with their final reactions but with their participation. It’s the same “system” we mentioned in the previous answers, where everyone is important as a single element and as part of the whole.
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Article written by Mel Fletcher
Text © Mel Fletcher 2016
Images © Nevercrew
Source: nevercrew.com
