May 2014

Peter Hoogeboom and Shu-Lin Wu have collaborated on an exhibition at Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h in Montreal, Canada. They both work with ceramics and participated in the Un Peu de Terre sur la Peau, where they met. The rest is history and a fascinating one at that.

This show will travel on to venues in the US, Thailand, China, and the Netherlands.

Susan Cummins: When did you two meet?

Peter Hoogeboom: We met some years ago in France, when the first edition of the exhibition Un Peu de Terre sur la Peau was shown in Limoges. We stayed in the same hotel there, so we talked at breakfast and also did things together during the days, apart from the exhibition things. For instance, we went to a cemetery known for its porcelain decorations and plaques on the graves. (Limoges is the porcelain city of France.) Shu-Lin decided to visit me after I returned home, so a few days later I showed her around in Amsterdam. When the show went to Taiwan at the end of 2011, Katja Prins and I were invited to attend, and Shu-Lin showed us around in Taipei.

Ellen Maurer Zilioli has curated a show of the work of Bruno Martinazzi called Vivere Essere Volere Bene, which translates to something like “To Live, To exist, To Love: for the Pinacoteca Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin. This city has been Martinazzi’s home base for most of his life, so at 90-years-old, they are celebrating him. Martinazzi is a unique figure in the art world and one with a philosophical bent. I was very pleased to have his answers to some of my questions.

Susan Cummins: You are now 90-years-old, and you have accomplished many things in your lifetime. What are you most proud of?

Bruno Martinazzi: To get my ideas across, I cite Gianbattista Vico, an Italian philosopher and author of the volume Principi di Scienza Nuova, written between 1725 and 1744. In Volume 1, Part II, line 3, he writes, “First human beings hear without attention, then they keep attention with confused and touched souls, and finally, they reflect with pure minds.” From that principle, art and poems take form.