CECILIA SANDRINI INTERVIEW
Dan Richards: Last time I was here you were drawing in pencil. You had a whole line of books and you were drawing the spines and focusing in upon all the details - you were excited about that and said that people didn’t always see the graft in your art and that you worried about that sometimes so here you were, grafting with the minutiae of book spines in pencil - traditional media - because, somehow, to yourself or other people, wanted to prove a point.
Cecilia Magdelena Sandrini: Yeah.
DR: So how are the paintings of the big streamers on the roof going?
(We both laugh like drains for several minutes)
How’s that working out for you? I see that you’ve still got the linear lines, the verticals going on...
CMS: Well, that’s for - I’ve split the space into three areas:
At the beginning its quite traditional; lots of drawings, cityscapes. Pretty much - if I could draw it from the roof then its been drawn. I like the roof. Text and image in the corridor and then, at the back, I’ve got all the stuff to do with the ribbons, some projection and then that (gestures to the painted, beach hut-like lines of the streamers) is running across one of the walls - as an installation piece rather than an actual piece of work.
DR: What’s the distinction between ‘installation piece rather than an actual piece of work’?
CMS: In as much as I don’t think it exists on its own.
DR: Without the show?
CMS: Yes. It completes the show though I’m not sure I have strong opinions about the piece itself.
DR: Like a transient title or a brand - something to draw people in.
CMS: Yeah - although it will be at the back so no-one will see it unless they’re already in.
DR: Right.
(laughter - ho ho)
So. Streamers on the roof.
CMS: Well, they’re ribbons.
DR: Yes, well, you can call them what you like.
CMS: When I ordered them, I ordered ribbons.
DR: Could you have ordered streamers?
CMS: Not on the website I bought from but there were other websites.
DR: So... ribbons. Where did the idea for that come from?
(As I ask, the coloured strips rear up and wave like an octopus startled by a fan heater)
CMS: Sitting diagonally from Clive Anderson on a train.
DR: Right. Was he wearing a deck-chair suit?
CS: He was working and he made me feel like I should be working too so I got out my notebook and I started making notes and eventually, by the end of the journey, I had this. In my head... and in my notebook.
DR: So it was a case of - ‘Clive’s working! Do something! Draw lines, Jesus! Colour the bastards in! Anything! Dear God!!’ - and that’s how it happened?
CMS: No. I liked the freeform nature of the idea, the ambiguity.
DR: Its ambiguous, its colourful, quite jolly and joyous - it has certain connotations with the seaside and circus... some people might mistake the ribbons for streamers...
CMS: Yes! That is a possibility - it could happen! Its nice experimenting. Its good to hang it out on a Saturday - over the street - see the reaction of the people below.
…
DR: All the work in the show was made in the last six months, is that right?
CMS: Yes. I started on January the 6th. Although there is some old work downstairs in the studio, it was in the last show, and it won’t be in this show. Everything happened in the last six months... mostly in the last three (clearly sensing chastisement in my quizzical look) I was experimenting! I experiment a lot... I had some wire and some paper... it was like Blue Peter down there.
DR: ‘Something I made earlier’ – that’s the title.
CMS: That is a really good name! (Wistfully) I could have made badges, Ahhh.
DR: How has living in the Big Smoke affected the work you’ve made? How has it changed and progressed since the Norwich Judge Me stuff?
CMS: The three themes of the show are the same as I’ve always worked with - I’ve always been interested in architectural work although perhaps that has evolved in a more illustrative direction whilst here; text and image - less computers this time, mainly been bashed out on a typewriter and with a pen... I like typewriters. I like the way that every time you write something it looks slightly different... seven different attempts and copies that get so far and then falter because I’ve put a 6 where an O should be. Although frustrating at the time, it is quite nice not having a delete button.
DR: Have you kept all those mis-spelt copies?
CMS: Yeah. Really, in regards to my hoarding, that’s the kind of stuff I should throw away but its being kept for the moment; the problem is, if its flat, its very easy to keep hold of. If it’s box-shaped, easier to throw - you can’t just stick it in a folder.
DR: What’s your work ethic like?
CMS: Get up. Have a coffee and a cigarette - start work.
DR: Are you goal orientated or more trenchant than that?
CMS: For small projects such as drawing, the plan will be to be done by the end of the day. If its a bigger thing lie the pencil work then, well, the limit I gave myself for that was seven days. For this ribbon wall painting the limit is five days.
Also, with the ribbons, I’ve had to wait for a sunny, windy day - which is...
DR: A wait.
CMS: Yeah. I’ve had sunny days... I’ve had windy days
DR: I’ve had days...
CMS: But a lot of them have been useless. Every time I work or do something outside I always say ‘Never again’ then end up doing something else outside - always weather-dependent...
DR: Never work with children or animals outside... or streamers.
CMS: I quite like being outside. That’s probably it; and I work a lot. Not all of it is successful but it’s the process - the learning curve.
DR: I wanted to talk to you about this idea of progression.
CMS: There are definitely themes running through my work - from and since art school:
Play - installations, interventions, performance, breaking down the third wall and moving outside. Also, apart from Judge Me, my work is usually quite colourful. Judge Me was daylight white but the reflections leant it different colours. Architecture and Text & Image. That’s the show, really - they’re the things I keep getting drawn back to.
DR: How do you define architecture? Is it the linear lines again, the structure?
CMS: The thing with architecture - now its drawings but it used to be photographs - interesting angles, mixtures and juxtapositions, noting styles and details that I’m not used to seeing on a daily basis. For this exhibition I’ve been drawing.
DR: From the roof?
CMS: They’re all from the roof.
DR: Did you see that as a way of tying the work in to the location and geography of your residency?
CMS: Partly, but also the convenience of being able to draw - to be able to go to the toilet without having to pack everything up, to be able to have a cup of coffee…
