Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Leader Profile: Ilyse Magy

My work seeks to encourage the exploration, exploitation, and exhaustion of all of life’s possibilities, no matter how whimsical or perverted. Life itself can be art; the creative process in any mode activates the typically passive nature of daily existence.

In every medium—video, performance, installation—I approach my work with a childlike zeal. Some of the primary qualities of being an artist are those of being a child: the impulse to play, the impulse to make, the openness to engage others without bias, and interacting with the world through an active imagination. Engaging in art is a way to retain the excitement of exploration we have in childhood, yet enhancing it with a critical lens.

My emphasis on play and humor is critical; it questions the given, the habitual, the way things are. I use art as a means of illuminating the arbitrary constructions that govern our daily lives. In the creative act, play can be serious and stimulating, continuously opening new possibilities.

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