The Tale of the Twelve American Indian Shirts (1996-2005)

In chronological terms, the first work on the theme of American Indian clothes is Sioux-Ghost-Shirt, dated 1996. However, in my paintings I have usually tended to avoid figurative themes, because I want to express – on canvas, paper or re-cycled material – spiritual urges, using invented signs or the spontaneous rhythm of coloured marks and lines. In fact, informal painting best represents my aims as an artist, in that it is instinctual and immediate. There is always a writing element to be found in my work, as an expression of energy; although the writing is often indecipherable and enigmatic, it nevertheless appears as a form of communication.

A crucial event in my life contributed towards this choice of a figurative theme, in the form of clothing: the death of my mother. The death of a dear one always arouses strong emotions. But this tragic event, which leads to intense examination of the self and the past, may also be the beginning of a fertile “materialisation” of that state of mind.

Why North American Indian clothing? Ever since I travelled in North America and in Mexico in 1972, I have felt in tune with their tragic history and their philosophy of life, in harmony with nature and natural phenomena. I am fascinated by their childlike-creative ability, which I think is exceptional, and which is expressed in objects of everyday use or ritual objects; it is particularly seen in items of clothing, especially in clothing with a ritual function used as a medium, or means of communicating with the spirit world. When I saw them for the first time in New York, in the Museum of the American Indians, I was absolutely overwhelmed by their beauty and their communicative power, by the variety and inventiveness of the range of materials used, and especially the natural materials, the flotsam and jetsam of nature.

I remember the Filzanzug, Joseph Beuys’s Felt suit; his choice of felt as a symbolic material has its origins in his personal life and relates to one of the artist’s most profound experiences. The materials which he preferred were those which communicated energy, such as felt which transmits heat. The felt suit did not have a practical daily function, but was rather – as Beuys himself said – a symbolic suit, an “image”, a “work of art”. He added that it was the most intimate home a man could have, a cave enveloping and insulating him. The heat it gives and holds is not a normal heat: it is different, it has a spiritual nature and it is also primitive and fundamental.

To create these works, I made use of images in books of mine on the North American Indians. In the preliminary study phase, I copy the shape of the chosen item onto transparent paper and beside it and around it I write descriptive facts related to it: origin, dimension, materials, etc. This preparatory stage is very stimulating for me. I am not trying to make an “artistic-creative” work; this procedure is the opposite of the spontaneous and energetic act carried out when painting an informal painting. Nevertheless this exercise, enjoyable as it may be, readies me for the concentration required when developing my creative work.

In the painting – which obviously shouldn’t be an exact copy of the preparatory study – the garment depicted remains the focus; but the completed work gains further dimension and meaning through the use of recycled materials, which are intended to add a degree of plasticity to the canvas. Material is an important part of my creative work (material=symbol=content).

Finally, the tale. Marie-Louise von Franz (a pupil of C.G.Jung) says: “Tales go beyond cultural and racial differences. The language of the tale seems to be the international language of humanity, of all races and civilisations”.

The tale of the 12 North American Indian shirts constitutes a means for achieving an end: first, it connects the individual works to each other, and then it embodies the idea of the tale as an archetypical phenomenon uniting peoples and cultures of all time. In short, the tale of the 12 shirts provides a pretext for recounting every human being’s aspiration to pursue the ideal of a life which is happy and in harmony with nature.

In an ideal setting for reading, the text would be written backwards, and read in a mirror, according to the principal of “indecipherable writing” which I generally adopt in my work.