Movement, Film and Drawings:
A New Voice in Art
Interview with artist Timo Paris
by Hazel Clarke
If you’re curious enough, you won’t have peak through too many gallery keyholes of to uncover the artistic talent simmering in your town or city. This can certainly be said of Basel, the city in which I have spent the best part of the last ten years. This Swiss German city cradles a tremendous creative energy for its size, nurturing prodigy, passion and pizzaz.
Twenty-Nine year-old artist Timo Paris is a homegrown talent from Binningen in Basel Land, and I meet him at the occasion of his eclectic solo exhibition at the BC Gallery in Basel.
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Portrait TimoParis. Credit: Nathalie Gallus
Evolution of an artistic identity
A graduate in Fine Art at the Fachhochschule (HGK FHNW) in Basel and in the midst of completing his Masters at the same institution, Paris offers a deep and fascinating conversation in which we explore his creative journey–his early discovery of a passion for urban dance styles, the pioneering mentors who served as his inspiration and the twists and turns that have synthesised in his identity as an artist.
From an early age, Paris had an affinity for drawing and, encouraged by the works of his great uncle, soon found himself attending drawing classes.
"I recall recently seeing a painting hanging in my grandparents' house that I painted in 1997 when he was just three."
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Photo Credit: BC Gallery
Paris’ interests turned toward dance upon joining a dance theatre project led by pioneering Swiss choreographer Beatrice Goetze who was groundbreaking in her inclusion of "B boys" and "B girls" (break boys and break girls) on the stage. Captivated by this innovative dance form, Paris forged an enduring relationship with this performance style, transforming what was once a hobby into a professional devotion.
“It’s a dance genre that is not meant to be learnt in a dance studio. It's an urban dance style, coming from the "streets“ and is learnt to its full extent at parties, practicing with different communities, on the streets, hallways, shopping centres, he tells me. "The more I practiced, the more I realised it was part of a whole culture, bringing in other elements such as rap music, graffiti writing, and DJ-ing."
Tapping into his drawing skills, Paris indulged other creative expressions, with graffiti writing emerging as the most prevalent. With all these elements in circular orbit, a cosmos started to emerge. Productions with fellow dancers soon followed which led to him founding his first dance crew.
“While dancing, I felt connected to graffiti writing through my passion for rap.“
Keep A Blind Eye
We move on to discuss his solo show, ’Keep a Blind Eye’, his first ever in a professional gallery setting. I’m keen to explore the role the exhibition plays in his artistic journey. He shares how the different disciplines of hip hop culture have a deep interplay which has informed his artistic method.
“The show gave me the opportunity to explore these different genres, affirms Paris. "It’s a synthesis of my practice over the past three years, and placing them together in one space emphasises their connectedness. Each distinct piece brings new perspectives to the next. In the process, they 're constantly evolving and creating a well ordered whole. I was pleased also to see that people understand it!”
Photo: Credit BC Gallery
I am fascinated how he so seamlessly bridges genres that seem unrelated. Comics and rap music for instance appear to have little in common. Yet Paris’ unique perspective, elegantly intertwines these elements into meaningful compositions.
Creating a coherence between genres has nurtured this young artists’ growth, shaping his personal roadmap and helping him to navigate life as he reflects on his actions, and follows his instincts. “There is always a self-reflection and, as all my work comes from one source, there is a natural link between them.”
Photo Credit: BC Gallery
The attention economy
How does the show’s theme reflect his artistic process and vision? I wonder. The need to regulate stimuli are at the show’s core, is his response. “Our attention is hijacked at every given moment which affects the way we perceive things. The greatest tool I have as an artist, is to be able to control my focus. Meditation, which I discovered through my dance practice, has helped me achieve that,” he divulges.
Photo Credit: BC Gallery
Paris's research revealed that visual information is closely linked to intellect and thus shapes our experiences. ‘Keep a Blind Eye’ critiques the high value placed on visual perception in our culture, which is often at the expense of experiences through the other senses. He cites intuition and emotional intelligence as examples. These alternative forms of perception, he argues, are underrated in Western cultures compared to other parts of the world. The title underscores the importance of embracing the full spectrum of our senses, allowing space for diverse thoughts to emerge and flourish.”
Photo: Credit BC Gallery
“Sight creates duality as the beholder looks and analyses, whilst touch instantly creates a connection.”
Paris refers to his ‘body of work’ not only to describe the mass of his artistic output but also to emphasise the physicality and movement created in the body inherent in his creations.
Keen to explore further how he harnesses movement into his art, I ask him to elaborate. “I’m seeking connections between my dance practice and other media forms. Breaking is my passion. If I did further research into other movement and dance styles such as yoga, house, popping or even contemporary and classical dance, it would be to improve my breaking skills.”
Paris favours a self-taught learning approach, believing that true mastery in breaking cannot be achieved within institutional confines. However, his academic studies opened up new windows on the power of media, in particular film and photography. These forms revealed to him that the experience of dance differs significantly between the performer and the beholder. By deconstructing how his work is perceived across different media, Paris sets himself the goal to shape audience thought processes.
Photo: Credit BC Gallery
Testing his theories, Paris staged intimate performances with a cellist and violinist, using improvised movements in various spaces. “These experiences heightened my awareness of the different ways my performance can be perceived and how I can manipulate the beholder’s experience,” he reflects.
We delve further into the beholder-performer conundrum, comparing classical ballet with breaking. In ballet, staging and audience seating are crucial for conveying a visual impression, he explains. Breaking, conversely thrives in diverse settings, and offers a different dynamic.
Photo: Credit BC Gallery
“In breaking, the circle is vital. It’s a space where you exchange with other dancers, who are both participants and beholders, and thus attuned to your aura and constantly seek out your originality, character and energy. The intimate participative circle is fundamental to this role play”, comments Paris reminiscing on his travels to battles, practice sessions and parties in Europe, Asia and Australia.
The aesthetics of breaking
We discuss the critical importance of core strength, which he says, must be highly trained. “As you are pushing and standing in all directions, your joints–anchor points for rotation–must function. The joints and the distances between them therefore play a formative role in the aesthetics of breaking. Imagine an atom spinning.“
"When you’re in a vertical position, he continues, "you can use your shoulders freely and create illusions. If you're using your shoulders to support the rest of the body, free movement is not possible”
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“There's a sweet spot where the three disciplines of architecture, dance and film meet.”
​Walls become floors
Still from Scrupus by Timo Paris
Paris experimented with dancing in front of a wall while filming that scenario with a smartphone in a flipped orientation, transforming the wall surface in to a floor and vice versa. This playful concept prevails in his current show in which his latest film 'SCRUPUS' is the centrepiece.
‘SCRUPUS' explores the theme of perspectives and rotational points. “The work can be understood, says Paris, "as a realisation and synthesis of my experience of dancing in the streets or in shopping centres. These occurrences had a big influence on the way I move.”
Photo: Credit BC Gallery
Talking further about the advantages of film, Paris comments, "Filming my dance not only enables me to share my performance instantly all around the world without the need to travel to locations and perform, it also allows me to curate and manipulate passages, showcasing the moves which work and excluding those that don’t. I can speed it up, play it backwards, flip it or turn it upside down. Film operates in this ‘sweet spot’ and its beauty is that I can shape it in whichever way I want. And with that, a new aesthetic is formed. Whilst I am dancing the awareness of the camera is absorbed into my body”, he exclaims.
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SCRUPUS
‘SCRUPUS’, Paris’ critically acclaimed short film, does indeed takes centre stage in the show. The film visits the conundrum between wall and ground. “My goal was to stimulate the beholder to solve the riddle, not with their mind but with their body, and even if they do solve it rationally, and understand the direction of gravity, they still fall for the illusion again and again, as they experience a sense of disorientation, much like the feeling of flying that I experience for a millisecond when I dance, evokes Paris .”
Upon watching the film, I myself can’t help but move with it. Paris seems to tease you into his illusion.
But why is this important, I ponder? Paris’ response stresses the value of working with your body and intellect in equal measure, insisting that it can evoke a greater feeling of energy and appreciation for life and even a deeper understanding of your true self.
Trailer Scrupus: By Timo Paris
States of flow
We discuss the state of flow he feels when dancing, likening it to the acts of stretching and meditation which “transport” you within your body. “When in a “supra” pose, the distance between your ears and toes can seem like kilometres, whilst time elongates and distorts.”
“It’s a state of hyper focus or “flow” where the sense of distance or time is distortedand I wanted
to transmit this feeling in the
mood of the film.”
The film does not offer a linear narrative, rather, the intention is that the viewer can dive in or out of this world whenever they want, evoking further feelings of multi-dimensionality.
'Where Dreams Converge'
Balancing the allure of the visual with other senses, is one of Paris’s deep interests. 'Where Dreams Converge', an important piece within his new sculpture series, contains three forms. “The base acts as a pedestal in the shape of a semi-sphere stimulating an impulsive feeling of balance or spinning; the hand is the second layer which depicts an important pose in breaking and through linking with other crafts, represents a symbol of creation."
"Thirdly, there is an undulating membrane, which transmits the feeling of stretch. It
conveys the temporal intersection between my internal experience of performing and the experience of the beholder in the
physical setting.
"‘Where Dreams Converge’
was inspired by my experience of filming
‘Scrupus’, which involved weeks of performing in an environment touching nothing but concrete."
Human upset
The conversation morphs into an exploration of how physical occurrences can bridge the gap between feelings of alienation and our innate sensory needs. Circling back to ‘Keep a Blind Eye’, we land on its plea for humans to make space for a wider spectrum of experiences as a means to combat alienation and a portal through which to tap into emotions and bodily feelings. Training one’s senses holistically, Paris argues, might be a revolutionary act but has the potential to foster a greater sense of connectedness with oneself, others and the world.
I can’t help thinking that there lies a conundrum with art, a creative expression which is highly accented on the visual sense. However, I am deeply drawn into Paris’ insightful reflections, contemplating that ever-thickening layer separating human souls, creating the deep loneliness he refers to. Can we, with greater awareness of our bodies, emerge from this human upset? I speculate.
Gallery walk
I meander through the exhibits with Paris, fully sensitised to their narrative. There’s a piece that was produced during the pandemic. “I could not perform or do any “battles” so I practiced a lot and became more creative in my thinking, discloses Paris. “Even when I was exhausted physically, I still continued to contemplate how I could develop movement patterns.”
As we continue the tour, we discuss the different entry points to his work, from fine drawings to video, and each with its own set of rules. We immediately stumble upon striking digital collage works featuring Paris with ten legs and five arms. The contorted, yoga-like poses convey a sense of slow and controlled movement.
There is a strong parallel between breaking and yoga, Paris reminds me. “In breaking we call it 'freeze'. These
are the poses we aim to make look like they are captured in a photograph. I would
photograph myself and then use
photoshop to “collage” my naked body. I
would print on both sides then start the game of threading and shaping them in to position, whilst becoming aware of the impression my body makes on the beholder.”
Each piece is coated for functional reasons to keep the collage
robust, but also to give them a shiny allure—a haptic feel as
Paris describes it. At first glance these pieces look blue, but
at closer inspection you observe creatures emerging from a
mix of reds, greens, yellows and greys. I remark that there is
a morbidity emerging from the hues. Paris counters that this
is intentional, emphasising the importance of infusing a darker
‘code’ to portray a more realistic expression.
There are yet further games within this piece. “The photography is flat but you have the illusion of perspective. A strange confusion occurs that directs you into thinking you are looking at it from the opposite direction.” Are the contorted limbs moving? I silently question.
The Return of drawing
We move on to his series of line drawings. With their late 1920’s-like quality, these sublime pieces are for me. reminiscent of the illustrations of French author, poet and painter, Jean Cocteau, in his novel ‘Les Enfants Terribles’ (1929).
Paris began drawing intensively at age ten and continued until his Bachelor’s degree. He then explored other media, only to return to drawing a year ago. “Inspired by my experience of space, perspective, and rhythm, I free-styled with lines. After the two hundredth drawing, body parts started to emerge, and that was the moment it felt like mine. It was the perfect style for me because of the vast repository of body positions and limbs that I could portray, in addition to conveying the feeling of space.”
There is a beautiful simplicity in Paris’s line drawings. In keeping with the show’s theme, they strip out what is not necessary, to give space to reflect. I have the sensation that the drawings give my brain space and although intricate in part, have a clarity that is just lovely to behold.
Paris’ unquestionable talents span across a wide array of artistic genres. Whilst I have not witnessed a live performance of his breaking, his seamless integration of body and movement, space and architecture runs deep, infusing a cohesive energy behind all his creations. Paris offers a refreshing outlook on the connection between our bodies and our physical environment, perspectives that will resonate profoundly and enduringly with me.
Credits:
Creative Works: Timo Paris
Photography: B C Gallery, Basel
Background Photography: Hazel Clarke