Gorgon & Lycanthrope II, 2019-2021, oil on linen, 36” x 24”
Interview with Michael Ajerman
The London-based artist speaks with SARKA about the dynamics of intimacy and how flesh sabotages itself
Scratch & Sniff, 2017, oil on linen, 28” x 24”
What do you think of when you think of the word “flesh”?
Flesh is an exciting word. You think of things like voluptuousness. Even just typing that, an incredible openness. At the same time “flesh” is binary, there is an awkwardness to it.
I was in Rome this summer, on the bus. Looking out the window, sitting on a curb by the Colosseum was a woman in shorts. She was exhausted. Plopped right on the curb in shorts, and you could see both sides of her inner thighs were deep red from heat rash. It’s interesting how flesh excites the viewer and the sense of touch. At the same time as an organ or bodily system it sabotages itself and has complications from time to time. Always stay hydrated.
Mermaid & Vampire, 2017-2018, oil on linen, 24.5” x 18”, Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection
Your work features mythological creatures such as gorgons, werewolves, mermaids and vampires. How do mythology and fantasy inform your reality?
Mythological motifs were a veil for enticing connection. The combination of creatures was provoked by a news article that stated there was a higher level of people dating outside of their usual communities and cultures due to online dating. The idea of a more open or unique combination of coupling, courting, connecting either socially or intimately I found interesting. I wanted to find a suitable and interesting symbol for men and women in paint. Something to show our best and our worst.
Scenarios began to develop in my head, how could a mermaid and a vampire go out? He can’t do the sun. She is basically water based, usually by a beach, which means proximity to sun. I got off on the oddities - I found them amusing and intriguing. In all the paintings, the positioning and formal aspects were all trial and error, which gives the figures and paint an energy. In Mermaid & Vampire, how I painted the sand and the tactile feel of the mermaid’s body, the fins and scales, feel very real and help the painting even more. I think the animal still echoes in my work today that more feline-focused.
The research that I did for the body of work was enjoyable. Found it strange and intriguing that the myth of the Gorgon, the name of the actual creature is the family name of the three sisters that were transformed into the serpent-haired women that we know. The concept of a last name/surname taking on the categorization of a being is fascinating and strange. There are other version where only Medusa has the crown of snakes, it gets a little confusing.
The Gorgon-online-rabbit hole took me to movie clips old and new. One in particular was Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, where Uma Thurman plays Medusa. Living in a sort of garden greenhouse labyrinth overstocked with humanoid statues, her victims, Thurman enters the scene wearing fashionable sunglasses and a head-wrap, looking like a goth Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson).
Possessions, 2017, oil on board, 10” x 8”
What do you find thrilling?
En route to the studio on my bicycle, I deal with one very busy intersection. After biking uphill hard I try and beat its multidirectional traffic light. If I don’t, I wait for the light. At green the traffic flows down a very steep hill that curves sharply to the right and then and swerves left. I constantly think my wheels will wipe out on this initial dissent. Or some idiot in a car will get too close. This is thrilling, and nerve wracking at the same time. Yesterday, there was a large brick literally in the middle of the road on the first turn. After that, painting seemed a little easier.
What is your favorite texture?
Silk, fur, cold countertops on hot days, and bark.
To you, what does it mean to be consumed?
Consumed means having your blinders on. Not looking out the corner of your eyes to what is in the periphery. It has the aesthetics of being taken over by ones obsession, craft, ideals, a person or situation. I think we’ve all experienced it in different points. Hopefully, we have all learned from it.
Some would say that it is the true state one needs to be a creative, but I’m not too sure. Sometimes being objective/critical is as important as being lost in the moment. Maybe there needs to be a mixture of losing oneself and then a play back to critique how to move forward?
Complimentary, 2020-2022, oil on linen, 9” x 12”
Describe a perfect day.
Lou Reed once said he wouldn't know a Perfect Day if it bit him. The days that were great and exciting (perfect) to me, I didn't know that they were at the time. It would take a few days or weeks later for a realization. Then suddenly stopped in my tracks realizing, HEY! That day, afternoon, evening, was really something. Smile and radiate. I think it is best to grab each day, hope for the best, and fight like hell that at least one thing goes your way.
What is one thing you think will never change?
I think everything seems to shift and change every day.
Michael Ajerman was born in New York. As a teenager he took part in the Cooper Union Outreach Program, afterwards studying at the Corcoran School of Art, the New York Studio School and the Yale Summer School at Norfolk. In 2003, he completed his Masters Degree at the Slade School of Art, receiving the British Institute Award from the Royal Academy the same year.
He has consistently exhibited internationally in solo and group shows, with work selected by the David Zwirner website Platform, showcased by Diane Rosenstein Gallery in 2022. His work will be shown in the Courtauld Institute East Wing V1 this autumn in London, along with a solo exhibition at HemingwayArt in Oxford, UK, later this year.
He is a contributor to Garageland Magazine, where he has written articles on cinema, music, literature and painting. In 2018, he was awarded UCLA’s Kitaj Research Fellowship, where his investigation of artists RB Kitaj and Walter Sickert culminated in the lecture From Tipperary to Westwood.
Select press includes The New York Times, Flash Art, The Guardian, The Sun, Arte, Garageland, Bay Area Reporter and the Royal Academy Magazine.
His work is found in international collections including the Beth DeWoody Collection and the Wendy Fisher Collection. He lives and works in London.