Billboard Experimentation (2015)

Today, few artists can thrive by being only an artist. The socio-economic reality forces us to put prices on our work as we would on pies; or even to hold another job when art does not pay enough. I had the chance to focus full time on my art works for two years now. This opportunity does not present itself without effort. I first completed university studies in business administration and I am specialized in marketing. I have learned to accept the commercial reality and to adapt to it. During these three years of training, supported by rich personal developments of my early twenties, my identity evolved in three different parts, merged together, cohabiting: the social individual, the artist and the businessman Olicorno.

Sometimes interfering in conflicts, sometimes in harmony, the three Olicorno have common goals: popular success and self-realization. The artist has superior intellectual needs than the other two. He needs a lot of time and energy to achieve quality work. He seeks the depth of idea, innovation, personal enjoyment that has nothing to do with money; while the businessman watches the clock, eager to publish the next picture on Facebook. The businessman and the social individual seek financial comfort to support the artist, who is actually the one that costs the most. In a social event, the social individual is the one who seduces and has fun. The businessman stands to his side, waiting for the next opportunity. He is sometimes awkward but until now he has worked really well. The social individual wants money but he is often the one who ruins everything at a sale, because it is love and recognition he needs most. The artist also likes a little money, but he can not show it much. On the one hand because he knows that the artistic elite is very harsh towards artists motivated by money at the expense of intrinsic motivation that would justify a work of greater quality. And secondly because he knows that the elite is right. The businessman understands, but puts pressure because without resources, there's no projects, and no time for research. And finally, the three often conflict because they share a single body, which also has its basic needs. When the artist imposes a superhuman performance that requires an extreme effort of the body, for example for the #GloryRoad where I emptied my energy for the next two months performance, the other two cohabitants are found paralyzed and well fucked.

It is in this context of multiple personalities that I evolve, and in truth, I enjoy myself. An example of internal conflict happens when the social individual wants to party with friends while the businessman wants to optimize the website and the artist wants to finish reading his book on the theory of infinite number applied to the cosmos. A less obvious example of internal conflict is when I meet a friend I do not see regularly, or when I meet someone for the first time. I have in me these three relatively teenager forces, ready to jump at every opportunity... The more and more people know me, and follow my journey through social networks and accumulate questions or comments on my work, that they then share with me when we meet. It then often get an afterthought, when I find myself alone. I realize that I have usedmore than half of the conversation time and I inevitably experience guilt feelings. 

The idea of ​​#BillboardExperimentation performance is to enlarge this example of internal conflict representing my ego in the object of this 36x60'' painting (Which I chose without thinking much). The performances last for 2 weeks, during which I force myself to carry the artwork in all places and at all times. The weight of the canvas represents the weight of my ego. When I go to the bathroom, I sometimes go without my ego. When I talk with someone, my ego monopolizes the first moments of the discussion. I sometimes have trouble moving large objects because my ego is already taking up all the space, and passers judge my ego without questionning much its true value. These are some examples of learnings I do myself. They become caricatures when amplified to this point, but are still tinted with a truth not necessarily easy to manage!

​