WORDS: GABIJA PURLYTĖ
Sam Keogh is a young London-based Irish artist. After having created a mesmerising sci-fi-style experience with his installation Terrestris at Project Arts Centre last summer, he is now preparing for the opening of his new solo show Mop at Kerlin Gallery on 27 September. Sam gladly agreed to give an interview on it, yet the response to the questions I sent him looked like this (editing strictly forbidden).
Can you tell us a bit more about what the exhibition is going to look like?
His eyes are large white balls with a large black pupil in the centre never moves. They are framed by a furry brown unibrow the same texture but a different colour to the rest of his body. His fur is green, matted, and dirty. It is especially matted in the space between his eyes and the mouth which has the effect of giving more definition to his face.
In Terrestris you talked about creating a new species of sculpture – does Mop follow on from that, and how? What materials/techniques/methods are you using here? Which of these have you used before, and which are new in your practice? when is his birthday?
His birthday is the first of June.
What does the title Mop refer to?
He is a mop for it soaks up those juices in his texture and attitude they taint his breath and his tastes and customs. He soaks up the rubbish juices and contains them because he is a mop. They are contained but spill over sometimes and produce a lesson in liberal tolerance of non-normativity. Tolerance quarantines the non-normative in a cheap binbag. Tolerance destroys difference by passing it through indifference of a cheap binbag. Oscar asks why is it better to put rubbish in landfills. Sesame street puts the question in the bin and calls it Oscar. Oscar is tied into a moral universe he has a proper place it is his nature to be grouchy. Ghettoized contained unable to lance himself as an abscess he is farmed for the production of bad taste garnished with charm.
How did the idea of concentrating on Oscar the Grouch come about? Is it connected to any childhood memories? Did you like Sesame Street as a child, and what did you think of Oscar as a character back then?
Carol Spinney invents Oscar. He bases the voice of Oscar on a New York cab driver who says ‘WHERE TO MAC?’ in a thick New York accent. Carol Spinney makes tacky paintings of big bird in different environments around the word like the Great Wall of China. Flying over the Great Wall of China. He has a white bowl haircut and a white goatee and jackets with no collars,
First season of Sesame Street Carol Spinney controls Oscars mouth with his left hand even though he is right handed because of how the set is designed. They fix this after the first season but the left hand is evil the hand that’s controlling Oscars mouth is evil. Nuns beat his mother for using his left hand in school. But then again the boy scouts shake hands left-handedly since the left hand is closer to the heart.
Was once orange but due to orange being harder to read on a black and white TV screen they turn him green. He was originally orange in the first episodes of sesame street but due to damp habituation and poor hygiene he grows a layer of green mold all over his body which produces penicillin products. Unprocessed and still growing though it is poisonous. It is not as bad as black mold in his bathroom but can still cause breathing problems. He gasps through words his laugh is gaspy ‘heh heh heh’. Green mold can live anywhere moist around the house in the fridge or attic or bin.
What do you think of Sesame Street from today‘s perspective?
Fuck you Oscar bad project. He is full of nostalgia and his appeal cancels everything else about him out. He can only use his fur to absorb his liquidized complaints and lazily half baked notions that there might be something interesting about over identifying with him in a lazy way that mix his laziness with his enthusiasm but the intensity of the laziness is stronger than he anticipated. A ton of laziness is the same weight as a ton of enthusiasm but laziness smells worse its flavor taints everything it touches it is more overpowering it muddies parts that might be more convincing without it when he spills milk in the back seat of a car in summer the car always smells a particular way.
What is the main idea of the exhibition, in simple words?
A rusty trombone.
Are there any specific texts that inform the ideas behind the exhibition (the discourse of “representation of the Other” is a very important one in much contemporary sociological/philosophical writing)? The dog.
He lives in a barrel and he lives on a diet of mostly onions and his only real friends are stray dogs. He thinks virtue is better revealed in action than in theory which means he does what he thinks. He goes to the oracle at Delphi once and he gets told to ‘deface the currency’ so he sets about defacing roman coins for a while. After this he realizes the oracle probably means to deface the currency of custom. So he sets about being outrageous in public as a means to show the contingency of things like common sense taste and good behavior masturbating in the market and saying “if only I could get rid of my hunger by rubbing my stomach in the same way as it is easy to get rid of my erection by rubbing my penis.”
Mop will be your second installation which transforms the whole gallery space (am I right?) Do you think you will continue moving in this direction? What kind of space/experience are you aiming to create here?
You know what’s right with this world? Nuttin!
You know what gets me hot under the collar? You name it!
And the next time some goody-two-shoes smiles and tells you to have a nice day, just remember:
Don’t let the sunshine spoil the rain,
Just stand up and complain!
Did the space at Kerlin gallery influence the contraception of Mop, and how?
His matted fur is sick. It contains putrefying food, it is damp with rubbish juice is stained from bloody condoms and coffee grinds and burst open nappies. These juices seep through to his interior where Carol Spinney can feel them stain his shirtsleeves up to the shoulders. He always remembers to keep his nails short before putting his hand up Oscar. He wretches but reminds himself he is made of the same stuff as Oscar basically.
Can you tell us about Radical Love – what was the main idea behind it, what has been done so far, and whether there are any instalments planned for the future?
Oscar hates himself an anxious and paranoid mess. The only time he feels ok is when he realizes he is sad he is content when he realizes this. But as soon as he realizes he is content he becomes angry because his nature is to be cranky and unhappy he can never stay steady settled down he is a mess of neurosis and anger but is ultimately motivated by love.
What will your participation in IMMA’s upcoming show In the Line of Beauty consist of?
Oscar GIVE HIM THE GOODS or he will burn him alive in his bin.
By Sam Keogh
