Brecht Lanfossi (alter ego: nozem) is a Belgian surrealist collagist/digital painter inspired by dream-like and psychotic consciousness free of reason and convention. He is a Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK Ghent) drop out who never gave up the idea of making some “art” one day. A way to interpret Lanfossi's work is to consider each work as a scene in a sort of vague state of mental functioning where symbolism dominates the whole experience itself. On the other hand he believes that it would be complete nonsense trying to answer the conundrum concerning his aesthetic creations. He also doesn't like to use the word “art” for his works because of the grotesque sounding connotation it carries with it. For the artist himself doing what he does is just one of the many existing desperate ways of escaping the global enslaved mind we are all currently living in. He thinks doing that sounds a lot better than the superficial, rat race driven, chaos that has become our norm.
What events in your life led you to become an artist and eventually attend the Royal Academy of Fine Art? "For me being an artist is all about expressing yourself without any limitations or boundaries -that's what inspired me to become one. Making "art" brought color to my dark, empty and lost soul during a period of mental health problems back in the day, so one could say that it gave me a purpose of living again and led to becoming an artist." What led you to drop out of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts? "I think I dropped out mainly because of the contradictory structure of the whole system behind the course of study. I don't know if it was only an issue at the particular college I went to or if it still is a well-known and widespread one. I only know for sure that for me, it ended in total dysfunction of what I was supposed to and wanted to do there. To give one of many examples of that contradictory structure it's best to talk about what was said at the very beginning of the course. In a first conversation aimed at the group of new students of the course, they said that we shouldn't create our work for them but ourselves. I was of course very happy hearing that because it gave me a feeling of artistic freedom, an easy-going atmosphere to develop myself in. Not much later, this turned out to be a lie or at least a sort of overstatement. You could intuitively feel how teachers tried to manipulate your whole process in a very non-constructive way. They only forced their preferences and perception of the process. This and a lot of other examples made me feel like I couldn't be my truest self, which escalated in such a manner that the bond between myself and the teachers became unworkable. How can you make honest work straight from the heart in such a situation?" How did leaving the Academy affect your work? "It led to the simple fact that I did not want to have anything to do with making “art” anymore; that feeling lasted for almost five years. I was younger and immature. I didn't know how to deal with those kinds of feelings more constructively; maybe I was too rebellious to take any responsibility for fixing my damaged perception about the whole situation. After those five years of not making “art,” I sort of "woke up" and realized that I could create again in an easy-going atmosphere of artistic freedom because the contradictory structure of the whole system behind a course of study wouldn't be a problem anymore. So the period between 2015 and now became and is still one of being a self-taught artist. One could say that this way of creating feels a lot more satisfying it truly is." Describe your creative process in creating your work and your source of inspiration. "For me making “art” is all about expressing myself without any limitations or boundaries, those things are exactly what influences my creative process. It is also giving me the chance to communicate about spiritual ideas and exploring the nature of perception. I find it very important to put that in my whole process too. I also felt that my way of working became more intuitive in comparison with my early days of creating. That way of working resulted in a sort of total dislike towards doing any research or contemplating too much before starting a piece of work. I don't want to run into inhibiting factors anymore after my experiences at the academy, where I lost a lot of time. To be specific in terms of techniques, I mainly combine handicrafts, collage, and digital imaging. If the process involves manual work and/or analog collage, I have to digitize the whole work to be able to combine it with other techniques or to realize prints on 100x100cm canvasses." Your primary medium is collage, is there another medium that you would like to work with in the future? "I'm already playing with the idea of using other media for a new “art” series I'm planning to make. But for now, it's still a sort of mental framework I'm contemplating before making specific decisions concerning which other media and materials I'll be using for the new series. I can already lift a corner of the veil by confirming that the new series will probably be called “The Gemcat Series”." You don’t like to use the word “art” to describe your work, why is that? "That's because of the grotesque sounding connotation of that specific word. What I do is not “art”, it's just one of the many existing desperate ways of escaping the global enslaved mind we are all currently living in. I firmly believe doing that sounds and feels a lot better than the superficial, rat-race driven chaos that has become our norm." Finally, what advice would you give to other young artists who may feel stuck or creatively limited with their artwork? "Don't take the works that you made so damn serious. It's a good thing to put it all into perspective, in a humoristic destructive way if necessary or with some self-mockery because it'll keep your feet on the ground. I think staying grounded is something necessary for making honest “art” straight from the heart. Make sure your “art” is a reflection or even an extension of your true personality; don't compare yourself to other artists. Making “art” isn't all about professionalism, efficiency, insurance, and safety. It's about eccentricity, risk, resistance, and adaption. Also, make sure you define what your “art” is to you before it gets defined by the masses. And to finish, never forget that rejection does not invalidate you!" Brecht Lanfossi Instagram: @nozem.art Toothpaste Zine 2020 Originally published on July 24th, 2020
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