H+ Now Represents: TISHK BARZANJI
Tishk Barzanji is a visual artist based in London, United Kingdom. His work is inspired by Ancient history, the Modernism movement and Surrealism. His process is about space, colour, deconstruction, breaking boundaries, understanding the living space in this fast moving world and human interactions within these spaces.
H+: What’s your favorite book?
TISHK: Unbearable Lightness of being / Cocaine Nights / On the road H+: We love the tropical aesthetic throughout your body of work. Have you been on any tropical vacations lately?
TISHK: Most of my work is based on my imagination, of other worlds I wish to explore. The most recent place I went to is California, I was hugely inspired by the colours and shadows. H+: Your work seems to deal heavily with architecture. Do you have a favorite building or structure that has inspired you?
TISHK: My favorite architect is Ricardo Bofill and Luis Barragan, most of their work is hugely influential to me. La Fabrica is my favorite. H+: (How) Has creating art been a therapeutic technique to cope with adversities in your life?
TISHK: It's helped me open up with my personal issues, and be able to convey it with people around me. Before I was creating art, I was very closed off and not open with sharing my personal life. I'm now confident about sharing my adversities. I want to show this in my work, to help other people who are in a similar situation. I feel now I can control my feelings through art, it's helped me focus. H+: Your work depicts lots of surreal landscapes and utopian worlds. What does “utopia” mean to you? And what role does it play in your art?
TISHK: Where there is nature and earth, life and water, I see a world that is unending, a world with no boundaries, where colour and space are the pillars of life. Equality is the forefront of this world, Nature is blooming, we treat it with respect. Mental state is taken more seriously. Utopia for me is the places my imagination takes me. My ideas on future living, and the way we connect. These worlds helps to convey the atmosphere and emotion in the colours, dialogue in the work. It's the structure that holds the piece together. H+: How has your artistic style transformed over the years?
TISHK: I began primarily using photography, this was my research stage. Over the years I focused more on my surroundings, small structures that are unnoticed. I enlarged these structures as the basis of my work. I am hugely interested in the theory of colour. I really focused on building a relationship with different variations of colours. The Colours really shaped my style, I've also become more focused on experimenting with shadows and the viewpoint of the characters. I enjoy creating work that depicts reality, but I am now reading more about surrealism and the dada movement, I'm very enchanted by those styles.
