“Kindness of Strangers” video

I created this video about the works of the Kindness of Strangers – series from 2019.

I stopped taking meds two years ago. I didn’t anticipate the new depth of feelings I encountered once everything wore off — and neither did I anticipate feeling seasick for half a year, as a result of stopping the meds from one day to the next.

I made this series of paintings and drawings while seasick — focusing on leaves. I didn’t understand why, but in the great way of Daniel Pitín, I didn’t need to know: I wanted to open a gate. Premature understanding could only limit this.

When the works were finally exhibited (first at Galerie Voss/Dusseldorf then at Reiners Contemporary/Marbella), I understood that I benefitted the most from interpreting them psychoanalytically: by considering Freud’s displacement and condensation (“verdichten und verschieben”).

These were works about the notion of leaving, about having been left, about the joys and sorrows and uncertainties of someone leaving. You can leave home, a family, your life.

I recorded the footage for this back in 2018, forgot about it, and then found it randomly last week (it doesn’t feature all the works of this series). The music is an improvisation over a track I recorded last summer on the the Octatrack — enjoy. 🙏