ART, WHATEVER IT TAKES

Since the early pandemic in 2020, Rome Art Program has conducted a series of interviews, “Art, Whatever It Takes.”
Artists, Art Critics, and Art Historians living in Italy, the U.S., and U.K., share their insights during these powerful times.

Interview with Christy Symington

Sculptor Christy Symington lives in London, Member of Royal Society of Sculptors (Board 2003-07). Studied in Paris, New York Studio School and MA from UAL London. Her work is in Permanent Collections of UK Parliament, Royal Museums Greenwich and International Slavery Museum. Christy has exhibited internationally

RomeArtProgram: What is your definition of “Art” today?

Christy Symington: For one to see the other, I am another you. Be it people, science, technology, emotional expression of the time, art serves to show, demonstrate and embrace the state of the era. It expresses the current and leaves a legacy.

RAP: Art is dynamic and regenerates itself… how does it change, and how did it change us?

Christy: It’s cyclical. The new to the old, the past to the present. How we receive it is the position of the individual in the moment it’s absorbed. It is constantly changing and our offers endless opportunity for change individually and collectively.

RAP: When (and how) did you understand that art was becoming very important in your life?

Christy: Twice. Age 6 I went to London with my mother after divorce. She took me with her after school to her evening sculpture classes at Kensington and Chelsea, til I was 12. I loved it. I was given clay to play with round the corner, out of sight of the nude model. At the end of each class I saw all the sculptures and heard the trials and tribulations of modelling and processes. My grandmother was at The Slade in 1927 and did fashion drawings for Vogue. Then through my twenties I worked ‘proper jobs’ in advertising, television, marketing and design. Following my divorce, I returned to London from Australia and started sculpture classes at K&C, for three months I thought, while I decided what to do with my life. That was 27 years ago, the journey continues.

RAP: What role does art play today? What are the “great figures” who have recently changed it? Do you feel close to any of these figures?

Christy: Crossing boundaries. Other to each other. Greats – Together, the several female elder artists, who in more recent years are receiving recognition for a lifetime of work, like Luchita Hurtado, Carmen Herrera, Rose Wylie. Also mature black female artists rising, Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Himid, Sokari Douglas Camp. Brancusi in losing the plinth. Jean-Michel Basquiat, died 30 years ago, a breaking lead for black artists in America referencing his ancestral heritage, which took a while to be understood in the Western genre. I made his portrait sculpture and referenced his Puerto Rican and Haitian heritage, my husband is Puerto Rican. Rodin – endless.

RAP: Are there still traditional figures such as collectors, muses, mecenate and patrons, in today’s art and society interaction model?

Christy: There are and they can elevate an artist’s exposure and possibility to enhance their practice. Artists also have greater opportunity to source and make themselves known to them. Still a dog eat dog world.

RAP: How have the new technologies and media culture changed art today, improving or worsening it…? What do you feel are your biggest challenges?

Christy: I suppose the point is that is not going away and over the next twenty years, it will be so inherent in the way we live that is hardly possible to imagine. Best to keep a positive grip on keeping up with the possibilities. Many are very exciting, specially for sculpture, it’s how you use it. Maintain traditional techniques and adapt to what new technologies offer. The challenge is keeping up with the technology and the potential of its applications.

RAP: Art as a mirror of man, in this moment of emergency seems to be shattered …what do these fragments reflect now?… Shadow or light of the moment?

Christy: There is light for giving place to non-white artists in the Western scene and to female artists. Shadow for the old hierarchies that damage and slow down change. This too will pass and the future is bright.

RAP: Understanding, interpreting, and then possibly judging the work of art; which is the right path when we are in front of a piece of art?

Christy: If it wasn’t there, none of those are possible. So look at what has been made and give the work a chance.

RAP: Which is the real role of Academies and Art schools today? What can artists learn from these institutions today?

Christy: Time. The time and opportunity to have work critiqued by tutors and fellow students in a supportive environment. The opportunity to listen to those critiques and respond to it or reject it. That’s invaluable in finding your path. How you do it and what you do with it can only evolve within discovering the techniques and life skills as an artist.

RAP: Art too has undergone a complex process of globalization; can having an authentic and genuine style be an advantage or a drag for an artist?

Christy: Depends if it goes with the time. Remaining authentic will be the best way, whether an advantage or not. Time catches up.

RAP: How do Art Galleries and Museums position themselves today, and, in your opinion, how should they?

Christy: It has become about the visitor experience. Yes it is important that art reaches a broader audience and is more accessible. I think there are positive intentions to make this possible in numerous ways. So we could celebrate this and it is being repositioned. Still, offering more contribution from people of colour being included in the management of these institutions would be very positive.

RAP: “Figuration” vs “Abstraction”: which of the two is better descriptive of the period we live in? Which one will have a better future?

Christy: An innate human desire is to belong to ‘others like me’, whether it derives satisfaction from bodily forms and naturalistic views, or from unseen non-delineated expression, or an overlap of the two. Both will continue to evolve and merge with advancing technologies, either in its making and/or its presentation. A cycle of the old and the new is always the future. They are really one and the same.

RAP: Today we often speak of “emerging artists”; what advice based on your experience do you feel you can give to young artists?

Christy: It’s a glorious arduous long road and there is no finish line. So enjoy the pastures and unexpected detours on the way, because they will happen, and keep fuelling your fire so the embers keep burning.

RAP: Art as a lens for reading the present, can it modify the space and time we pass through? …will art save us?

Christy: Art is a healer for those that make it and those that experience it. It may provoke us to action, calm us for peace or prompt enquiry for discovery. It’s communication shared and that can only be good thing.

www.christysymington.com