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Purple Moustacho is currently based in Sydney, Australia. You can see their short, The Genderator on Friday 11th of December, 5.55pm at Filmhouse. www.purplemoustacho.portfoliobox.io |
What is your making process? Do you use other mediums in your practice alongside moving image? If so how to do you see their relationship to your moving image work?
We work on a “layer build up” kind of process. We start with a premise and then add elements that give the character or the scene depth through a slow reveal, its like peeling an onion. We are not interested in black and white statements, we believe political, gender and social ideas can simultaneously be appreciated through humour, absurdity, horror, beauty, etc. For us it is important to portray these perspectives through a visual journey.
Which artists and/or directors are you particularly interested in/ inspired by and why?
Sissy: Bill Viola for me has been a great inspiration. How he creates time suspended mythical portraits of human nature and the subconscious through simple and elegant pieces of work.. I think he is just mesmerising. Gregory Crewdson’s use of light and colour to create these amazingly tense psychological scenarios in just one shot are very powerful.
Jorge: Takeshi Kitano’s 2000’s films are very powerful and visually striking, of course Matthew Barney creates amazing scenes and I am a big fan of Michael Haneke obscured, raw and tortured world.
Which newer artists’ are particularly exciting you in the moving image world at the moment? Is there a an artist who works with moving image should we all know about?
Sissy: Alex Da Corte is a bit out of control and a lot of fun.
Jorge: I would say Andreas Nilsson and the amazing uprising Justin Shoulder
What are you working on currently and do you have any future projects planned?
We are currently working on two projects, one continuation of the Genderator, which was initially conceived as a trilogy, and we are also working on a collaboration with Australian music composer John Kilbey working on imagery created through on camera effects with underwater textures.
What is your favourite film?
Sissy: This is a tough one... I could have so many in so many different genres.. Haneke, Malick, Jeunet, Carax, Reygadas, Lynch, Del Toro etc.. lots of their films are classics for me.. but recently I really enjoyed the stylised narrative aesthetic of 20,000 Days on Earth by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. Not being a Nick Cave fan I didn't know if it was real or not at times.. raw, elegant and a bit larger than life like its character.
Jorge: That is a hard question because different movies fulfil different needs, DOLLS from Takeshi Kitano fills me up with beautiful tragedy, Jodorowsky’s HOLY MOUNTAIN is amazing at symbolism and breathtaking sets but I also have watched many many times WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT haha.
There is quite a seductive aesthetic to your work The Genderator. Some artists working on political subjects shy away from such an aesthetic. What are your feelings about beauty and seductiveness within an political work?
Well in this film we are commenting on the sexualisation of female identity through basic everyday consumerism so we knew from the beginning there had to be an erotic dimension to the process. The fact that the objects actual purpose is void from sexuality just adds to the absurdity of this arbitrary “genderisation” of consumer goods through colour. We are interested in an aesthetic that is accessible for people who may not necessarily be into video art, we don't believe political art should always be approached from obscure, stern or shocking perspectives to be powerful. We want to connect with people in a different way by inviting them to feel, laugh, be a bit creeped out and (hopefully) then think about the subject at hand.
We work on a “layer build up” kind of process. We start with a premise and then add elements that give the character or the scene depth through a slow reveal, its like peeling an onion. We are not interested in black and white statements, we believe political, gender and social ideas can simultaneously be appreciated through humour, absurdity, horror, beauty, etc. For us it is important to portray these perspectives through a visual journey.
Which artists and/or directors are you particularly interested in/ inspired by and why?
Sissy: Bill Viola for me has been a great inspiration. How he creates time suspended mythical portraits of human nature and the subconscious through simple and elegant pieces of work.. I think he is just mesmerising. Gregory Crewdson’s use of light and colour to create these amazingly tense psychological scenarios in just one shot are very powerful.
Jorge: Takeshi Kitano’s 2000’s films are very powerful and visually striking, of course Matthew Barney creates amazing scenes and I am a big fan of Michael Haneke obscured, raw and tortured world.
Which newer artists’ are particularly exciting you in the moving image world at the moment? Is there a an artist who works with moving image should we all know about?
Sissy: Alex Da Corte is a bit out of control and a lot of fun.
Jorge: I would say Andreas Nilsson and the amazing uprising Justin Shoulder
What are you working on currently and do you have any future projects planned?
We are currently working on two projects, one continuation of the Genderator, which was initially conceived as a trilogy, and we are also working on a collaboration with Australian music composer John Kilbey working on imagery created through on camera effects with underwater textures.
What is your favourite film?
Sissy: This is a tough one... I could have so many in so many different genres.. Haneke, Malick, Jeunet, Carax, Reygadas, Lynch, Del Toro etc.. lots of their films are classics for me.. but recently I really enjoyed the stylised narrative aesthetic of 20,000 Days on Earth by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. Not being a Nick Cave fan I didn't know if it was real or not at times.. raw, elegant and a bit larger than life like its character.
Jorge: That is a hard question because different movies fulfil different needs, DOLLS from Takeshi Kitano fills me up with beautiful tragedy, Jodorowsky’s HOLY MOUNTAIN is amazing at symbolism and breathtaking sets but I also have watched many many times WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT haha.
There is quite a seductive aesthetic to your work The Genderator. Some artists working on political subjects shy away from such an aesthetic. What are your feelings about beauty and seductiveness within an political work?
Well in this film we are commenting on the sexualisation of female identity through basic everyday consumerism so we knew from the beginning there had to be an erotic dimension to the process. The fact that the objects actual purpose is void from sexuality just adds to the absurdity of this arbitrary “genderisation” of consumer goods through colour. We are interested in an aesthetic that is accessible for people who may not necessarily be into video art, we don't believe political art should always be approached from obscure, stern or shocking perspectives to be powerful. We want to connect with people in a different way by inviting them to feel, laugh, be a bit creeped out and (hopefully) then think about the subject at hand.
