MEMBERSHIP SPOTLIGHT: VALERIA CAFLISCH

Membership Associate Ginny DeLacey sat down with International Arts & Artists and Hillyer Art Space Member and exhibiting artist Valeria Caflisch as she was installing her show Evidences which will be on view in Hillyer Art Space’s NIN9 Members’ Gallery from September 7 to September 28.

The works in Caflisch’s Evidences were inspired by images of 19th century Italian bandit women, but they have evolved into a series that questions our associations with household tools, gender roles, politics, religion and so much more.
Ginny DeLacey: You were originally inspired by images of Italian bandit women which you found online 8 years ago. What caused you to return to these women?
Valeria Caflisch: I came across these Italian bandit women by chance and was struck by them because of their strong, challenging looks. At first glance, I noticed their traditional dress and that they were holding some sort of tool. I assumed that they were holding brooms or other household objects when in reality they are holding guns. I was shocked at myself. Even as a modern woman I immediately associated these Italian bandits’ traditional dress with domestic tools. Something about these women spoke to me so I kept them in the back of my mind so I could return to them later.
GD: How did these women influence your work in Evidences?
VC: Two years ago I started doing still lifes. I thought back to the bandit women and decided to explore our associated relationships with household tools. Just as the bandit women broke my expectations by holding weapons instead of brooms, these works break associations by making household tools seem like weapons. These works invert the idea of tools allowing mundane, domestic tools to become strange objects.
GD: How did you decide to display these works? How do you see them working together?
VC: For me, less is more when it comes to exhibiting. There are other works in this series, one featuring a garlic press and another an avocado slicer but I chose not to show them because I wanted the works here to be able to speak to each other without becoming too overwhelming or cluttered. Silence is a Women’s Best Garment was done a year before The Ice Cream Scoop, The Whisk and The Grater but it fit in the space and spoke to the other works, so I included it.
GD: How did you choose what tools to represent?
VC: I chose mostly traditional tools. I don’t think I would want to paint an electric tool. I like the older tools which contrast with some of the more contemporary materials, such as soap and expanding foam, I experimented with. For me, playing with new materials is part of the game of being an artist.
I also chose a lot of metal tools because they allow for a lot of drama. The shine of the metal allows for exaggeration. I was trained in sculpture, never in painting so I think I’m drawn to metal because it allows for great contrasts of light and dark. It’s almost sculptural in a way.
I like to explore the balance of the past and present, the contemporary and the traditional. The Ice Cream Scoop is comprised of the actual ice cream scoop in a plastic bag, traditional oil paintings of the scoop, and green foam with round holes carved out of it. The implication being that the scoop was used to carve these holes.
The name Evidences combined with the presentation of these paintings and objects is meant to mimic and make fun of television crime shows. My works are playful. They play with each other and with the viewer.
GD: So associations are important in your work?
VC: My works play with associations, especially how associations can change between countries and between people. The crime scene set up of The Whisk, The Grater and The Ice Cream Scoopmake it seem like the objects were used violently on the other material shown. People associate the whisk with the foam and assume that how the foam was made, when it reality it wasn’t. I didn’t use any of the objects shown when making this series. In The Ice Cream Scoop the holes in the foam are slightly smaller than the scoop. Once, I saw a girl studying the foam, then studying the scoop trying to measure if the scoop actually made those holes. That made me happy, to see someone questioning my work and the “evidence” that was presented as fact.
I want viewers to take time with the evidence, to decide for themselves if they believe it. In our modern world we associate things with each other and then automatically assume them to be true. The dramatic lighting and presentation of the works in Evidences automatically forces our brain to think of a crime. But I want viewers to think about what they’re seeing. You can’t actually cause harm with these tools, you can’t kill someone with an ice cream scoop.

GD: Tell me Silence is a Women’s Best Garment
VC: The phrase, “Silence is a Women’s Best Garment” is an old English proverb. I originally came across a variation of the phrase in the German. The German is much stronger and translates as “The highest value of a female is her silence.” I wanted to use this phrase in its original German, but since my audience here is American I started to look for an English equivalent. I found the English proverb, which is quieter and softer that the German but still has the same message.
Again, the work is full of associations. The strainer, when used as a tool, strains things and keeps things back just as the proverb is telling women to hold their tongues. When I was creating this work, I meant for it to be ironic. I don’t actually believe the traditional proverb which is basically saying, “Woman, shut up.”
I think most people see it as an ironic work, but once a girl came up to me at a show and told me that she agreed that we women were the only ones who could keep the silence. That’s not the meaning I originally intended, but each viewer is allowed to draw their own associations and meanings. What I think a work means and what a viewer thinks can be totally different.
I don’t want my art to be so conceptual that it can’t reach people. I want viewers to be able to connect with my art and find associations within it.
GD: And you’re open to these different interpretations?
VC: Yes. One thing that drives to produce art my love of exhibiting works. Public feedback is important to me, not because it changes my work or what I produce but because I like to hear new interpretations.
Someone once asked if I had a favorite painting. I immediately responded the painting I am going to paint. For me, art is kind of like raising children. You love you children, but at some point you have to let them go.
GD: Having lived and worked in Italy, Germany, Jakarta, Switzerland and now Washington, you are truly an international artist. Do you feel your work is influenced by everywhere you’ve lived?
VC: Absolutely. But at the same time, I’ve never lived anywhere more than five years so in a way all places are my place, and no place in mine. This has allowed me to relate more to universal ideas. Also, my age has changed my perspective. I feel I’m in the middle of my life; I can see things from a distance and focus on what’s important.
See Valeria Caflisch’s show Evidences in Hillyer Art Space’s NIN9 Gallery before September 28.
Signup to become a member of International arts and Artists by visiting our Membership website or by emailing Ginny DeLacey at membership@artsandartists.org.