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 John Mendelsohn

John Mendelsohn is an artist based in New York. His paintings have been shown extensively in the US and internationally. He received a BA from Columbia University and an MFA from Rutgers University and participated in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.

RAP: What is your definition of “art” today?

John Mendelsohn: Art is what artists make.

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

John: Like a complex organism, it is an always transforming human ecology.

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

John: From the beginning.

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?

John: No great figures, only people doing their work. They are all around me.

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

John: Yes, and more beyond them – those who look, write, and talk about art.

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

John: New media always arise. I am focused on my work.

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?

John: Everything is always present.

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?

John: Look and experience

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

John: Absorb what they need and leave the rest.

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?

John: Style is organic.

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

John: They should fully give themselves to art.

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

John: Let us consult an oracle.

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

John: Realize you are immersed in a mystery.

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

John: Sometimes art has the capacity to change us. Only we can save ourselves.

http://www.johnmendelsohn123.com