Rachel Yurkovich
Interview by Emma Snodgrass, Intern
ES: In your work, you often allegorize civilization by using resources from the (non-human) Earth. What experiences and/or ideas influenced the manifestation of this theme for you?
RY: One of my professors once told me that I was using the human body too much in my work. So I found other bodies to stand in for the human (plants, insect, animal), and realized that it functioned better with what I was trying to communicate. Some things are better explained in allegorical terms, like the way parables work. I use the symbolic as physical material.
From that physical material, an action/reaction occurs creating an allegory for parallel human situations.
More recently the apple has been this physical material, functioning as the original symbol of desire and temptation in my work. It is chosen due to its cultural association with the forbidden fruit in the story of Adam and Eve. With things that are forbidden or labeled as immoral such as this, there comes a struggle for control and moderation. My work is partially an expression of this struggle, and a mirror for the consequence of our unsuppressed actions. I am in constant observation of my own and other’s thoughtless choices, especially where we don’t realize what we are doing to ourselves or others.
One type of gluttony or overindulgence that has disgusted me this last year is the United States’ cultural acceptance and expectation of Black Friday shopping. These consumers create stampedes, often injuring others in the process of trying to grab some giant TV so that there is one in every room in the house. I try to show the damaging consequences that such uninhibited consumption can bring through the documentation of situations such as many many fruit flies drowning in a glass of wine.
Interview by Emma Snodgrass, Intern
ES: In your work, you often allegorize civilization by using resources from the (non-human) Earth. What experiences and/or ideas influenced the manifestation of this theme for you?
RY: One of my professors once told me that I was using the human body too much in my work. So I found other bodies to stand in for the human (plants, insect, animal), and realized that it functioned better with what I was trying to communicate. Some things are better explained in allegorical terms, like the way parables work. I use the symbolic as physical material.
From that physical material, an action/reaction occurs creating an allegory for parallel human situations.
More recently the apple has been this physical material, functioning as the original symbol of desire and temptation in my work. It is chosen due to its cultural association with the forbidden fruit in the story of Adam and Eve. With things that are forbidden or labeled as immoral such as this, there comes a struggle for control and moderation. My work is partially an expression of this struggle, and a mirror for the consequence of our unsuppressed actions. I am in constant observation of my own and other’s thoughtless choices, especially where we don’t realize what we are doing to ourselves or others.
One type of gluttony or overindulgence that has disgusted me this last year is the United States’ cultural acceptance and expectation of Black Friday shopping. These consumers create stampedes, often injuring others in the process of trying to grab some giant TV so that there is one in every room in the house. I try to show the damaging consequences that such uninhibited consumption can bring through the documentation of situations such as many many fruit flies drowning in a glass of wine.
Still from "Eat Drink and be Merry"
ES: A still from Eat, Drink and be Merry shows fruit flies submerged in what I saw as (until I saw the full video) a petri-dish full of red wine. I thought this was a wonderful visual pun of sorts, articulating how your works operate as both visual and science experiments. Can you describe, a little, the method behind your experimental designs?
RY: That’s interesting; you’re actually the first person to tell me that you see a petri-dish.
The most organized I have been in an experiment was setting up a sort of science fair project with 4 different skin products applied to the leaves of 4 sunflower plants. In other instances, there is only one situation that is set up and semi-controlled.
I end up exploring one medium extensively until the process leads to new ideas. Once an idea occurs I get a drive to do whatever I can to bring it to life and see what happens. This works kind of like if a people group’s main crops consist of potatoes; they eventually come up with a wide variety of ways to prepare those potatoes. So then you get things like mashed potatoes, potato chips, and French fries, instead of the expected baked potato.
In my most recent exploration, I was working with apples in different forms. I peeled the red shiny skin from the Red Delicious apple, collected their seeds, and left a glass of apple juice out to get moldy; all in this table arrangement. I allowed the apple forms to sit out on the table for a couple months. Fruit flies nested in the peeled apples multiplying daily, bothering my studio neighbors. After noticing that some had drowned in the glass of apple juice, I decided to buy some sweet red wine and see if it would attract more fruit flies than apple juice did. This is where Eat, Drink, and be Merry started.
As it was in this piece, a must in all my work is that the medium is purposefully chosen as part of the message. The action and reaction of the projects must be genuine and not faked for the camera. When video documentation became necessary, it was tricky keeping a balance of “just documentation” and a more elevated/aestheticized video art.
RY: That’s interesting; you’re actually the first person to tell me that you see a petri-dish.
The most organized I have been in an experiment was setting up a sort of science fair project with 4 different skin products applied to the leaves of 4 sunflower plants. In other instances, there is only one situation that is set up and semi-controlled.
I end up exploring one medium extensively until the process leads to new ideas. Once an idea occurs I get a drive to do whatever I can to bring it to life and see what happens. This works kind of like if a people group’s main crops consist of potatoes; they eventually come up with a wide variety of ways to prepare those potatoes. So then you get things like mashed potatoes, potato chips, and French fries, instead of the expected baked potato.
In my most recent exploration, I was working with apples in different forms. I peeled the red shiny skin from the Red Delicious apple, collected their seeds, and left a glass of apple juice out to get moldy; all in this table arrangement. I allowed the apple forms to sit out on the table for a couple months. Fruit flies nested in the peeled apples multiplying daily, bothering my studio neighbors. After noticing that some had drowned in the glass of apple juice, I decided to buy some sweet red wine and see if it would attract more fruit flies than apple juice did. This is where Eat, Drink, and be Merry started.
As it was in this piece, a must in all my work is that the medium is purposefully chosen as part of the message. The action and reaction of the projects must be genuine and not faked for the camera. When video documentation became necessary, it was tricky keeping a balance of “just documentation” and a more elevated/aestheticized video art.
From "Red Delicious"
ES: What is important, to you, about dialogues across disciplines?
RY: I think it started with exploring state change: liquid to solid, life to death, growth and decay.
It was always about a movement and action. Whether frozen in plaster, documented by video, or just happening in front of you.
I find myself sometimes with ideas that I am not able to bring to life without the help of someone that specializes in the sciences. I was playing with apples and their symbol of desire, temptation and in some cases poison. Through research I had come across that the seeds of apples contain a small amount of cyanide. This had led to finding some questionable directions online of how to make cyanide out of apple seeds. I had to accept that at the time I do not have the facilities or knowledge to safely follow through with this project.
I enjoy when unpredictable things happen, however the results usually end with death or degradation of the material itself, or the consumption of it. In some cases such as the chicken in my back yard ( watch Egg Eating Chicken, 04.24.2014) that has grown accustomed to eating her own eggs in a strange cyclical-ness, simply exists as a reoccurring thing with no negative results other than the human reaction of disgust – is this cannibalistic? Is it like a woman that just had a baby eating her own placenta or drinking her own milk?
There is something exciting about working with living things - or dying things.
I find that I get more inspiration from going to natural history museums or zoos, rather than art museums or galleries.
RY: I think it started with exploring state change: liquid to solid, life to death, growth and decay.
It was always about a movement and action. Whether frozen in plaster, documented by video, or just happening in front of you.
I find myself sometimes with ideas that I am not able to bring to life without the help of someone that specializes in the sciences. I was playing with apples and their symbol of desire, temptation and in some cases poison. Through research I had come across that the seeds of apples contain a small amount of cyanide. This had led to finding some questionable directions online of how to make cyanide out of apple seeds. I had to accept that at the time I do not have the facilities or knowledge to safely follow through with this project.
I enjoy when unpredictable things happen, however the results usually end with death or degradation of the material itself, or the consumption of it. In some cases such as the chicken in my back yard ( watch Egg Eating Chicken, 04.24.2014) that has grown accustomed to eating her own eggs in a strange cyclical-ness, simply exists as a reoccurring thing with no negative results other than the human reaction of disgust – is this cannibalistic? Is it like a woman that just had a baby eating her own placenta or drinking her own milk?
There is something exciting about working with living things - or dying things.
I find that I get more inspiration from going to natural history museums or zoos, rather than art museums or galleries.
Rachel Yurkovich lives with her chicken in Cleveland, Ohio.
You can contact her at r[email protected] and see more documentation of her work on her website at http://www.rachelyurkovich.com.
You can contact her at r[email protected] and see more documentation of her work on her website at http://www.rachelyurkovich.com.
