In a certain light, Smolenski’s entire body of work seems to be encapsulated within this project. Having learned a lot from his time working as a student in an influential sound lab in the Fine Arts Academy of Poznan, Smolenski always saw audio and visual art pursuits as being two elements of the same exploration. From Smolenski’s view, sound work seems to be the contemporary zeitgeist in the Polish art scene. More and more visual artists are beginning to express themselves within the realm of audio art, in part stemming from the forward thinking of a scene growing out of the audio culture fostered by sound labs, including the one where Smolenski got his start at the Fine Arts Academy of Ponzan.  It’s an exciting trend and Smolenski finds himself right in the thick of it.

One of the artist’s more exciting current projects is being an elemental member of the band BNNT.

Acting as a duo, Smolenski teams with Daniel Szwed to become two members of a sound-bombing experiment, traveling about performing sonic assaults on improvised public settings, gallery spaces, and musical festivals as BNNT. The project has been ongoing since 2007 and serves as a fitting example of Smolenski’s understanding of art being equal parts audio, visual, and performance; a creative cocktail of expression which the artist sees as integral pieces to the same experiential puzzle. Smolenski’s work seems to present a disdain for making distinctions between audio and visual creations, about this the artist states, “There are no definitions or clear cut distinctions. I try to blur them in search for a total reception…Often the perception of art is limited by habits. I aim at creating a more open experience.”

BNNT’s sound is raucous and dissonant, ominously dark and distorted. Incorporating recorded elements such as political speeches, crowd grumblings, and other sonic disruption to build a sonic output defined by a feeling of unrest and unease, the work as a whole seems very much about the nature of politics both in the subjects approached by their songs and the nature of how they put together performances.

The DIY style of their work is immediately present in their mobile truck stage, guerrilla approach of their often unannounced shows, and outfits styled after balaclava-wearing revolutionaries and other agents of forced change and dissatisfaction. Smolenski’s creation of a baritone electric guitar with a body styled after a hollowed out tomahawk missile adds the finishing touch that points to a need to be taken seriously as a carefully considered art performance bent on change.

The work seems appropriately timed given Smolenski’s ideas about the lack of open minded-ness in the public’s approach to art paired with the state of flux and economic difficulty the European union has undergone as of late.

The venue that seems likely to be the most in need of the change Smolenski and Szwed can provide would probably be the world of art, although it is hard to say in most instances whether politics guides culture or if things actually happen the other way around. We are pulling for the latter. In either case, the next time the BNNT rolls into town we would all do well to bum a ride.

By Matthew Hassell

The post Sonic Weaponry with Smolenski and Szwed appeared first on NY Arts Magazine.

To this day his art and his music remain inextricably intertwined. We got in touch with Maxxx as he was on tour with his band Deep Space for the summer. Based out of Austin Texas, the psych rock group describes themselves as being, “created in the wee hours of acid trips and séances within the desert lands of Austin TX.” Give their work a listen and you will certainly see why. Grimy, dirty guitar licks and solid drumming are immersed in a darkly soupy sonic mash of bass and extra terrestrial synth. It all seems to perfectly envelop the lyrics, which are echoing out to us from the far side of an unfathomable void. Deep Space is a perfectly literal band name, which seems refreshingly honest in this day and age. Maxxx is listed as contributing guitar and sonic alchemy.

Not that the camera had been forgotten, he still carries it with him on tour, but these days Maxxx is pretty excited about his paintings. The musical references throughout his work always seem to be at the forefront, either gleaning ideas from exciting song lyrics or actually utilizing the inherent history and beauty of out-moded forms of musical devices such as tapes and records as supports for his painting.  He states, “For me, analog media, like cassette tapes and 8 tracks, have an aesthetic beauty that an mp3 doesn’t possess and never will.

We caught up with Maxxx for a few quick questions in between shows while he was recently on the road with Deep Space. Here’s a section we found particularly enlightening in relation to his work:

NY Arts: Which artistic venture do you consider your main creative outlet, music or visual art?
Maxxx Von Wilmann: I see it as a kind of bricolage, I make music and my conceptual art practice in tandem. As for this moment I’m on tour with Deep Space writing this from Salt Lake City, so today, music, but I draw and take photos along the way.

NYA: Do you connect with any other musicians who make visual art as well? If so, who are your favorites?
MVW: Christian Marclay, I like his cyanotype cassette tapes and the collaged records … man I wish I had thought of that! Michael Borremans is a great blues guitarist, and in my mind is doing the best work out there in paintings or video. I saw a show of Alex Brown’s at Feature Inc. last November, he was the guitar player of Gorilla Biscuits. Raymond Pettibon as well, but I don’t know how much he plays music any more. Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO…the list goes on.

NYA: If you could create the album art for any musical group other than your own, who would it be for and why? ­
MVW: This is an impossible question. There are so many bands in history and present that I would love to be involved with. Brian Eno, My Bloody Valentine­; the sounds they create are like soundscapes, really atmospheric and painterly. Also, Neil Young or Van Halen.

That last part about sums it all up. Even the music Maxxx finds himself drawn to represents itself visually. Music and visual art have always been the same for Maxxx and his talent has flowed seamlessly between the two. We hope that never changes.

maxwillmann.com

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Belic’s universe is quite ordained, but at its best escapes a pragmatic order. His triangles are usually playful and imposed on us in an upside-down manner. The sculptures are made out of light material such as plexiglas or plastic, wood, or even cardboard. For Belic, the most important thing for them is that the essence of their entire existence be identified as musical.

The artist is the author of several books of art theory. What’s really being exhibited through his work is a certain philosophy of art which is not encumbering, as heavy theory can be, but is applied in a manner that is rather playful and accesible. It invites the spectator to challenge stale analytical views of space and numbers. It is as if Wittgenstein went out to his garden and started playing with his theoretical applications amongst the flowers.

However, his painting is a bit different, as it belongs to a certain Surrealist orientation, a road that has been somewhat already explored in various directions and almost forgotten on the international scene since the late 1970s. Milija Belic has participated in many group shows and has gotten many awards for his art, but his first one-man show was delightfully staged at Galerie Monod in Paris by the end of 2012. It was an exhibition long in the making, and one fans of calculated poetics will not soon forget.

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