Ektopia

WK INTERACT is a master, a master of motion. I’ve yet to see static artwork that reaches out to you like his does. I’ve just got hold of his latest book, Exterior - Interior Act 2 (published by DGV) and am shocked at how much better it is to see proper pictures of his work than the ones that I’m used to seeing on the internet (unfortunately I’ve yet to see a WK piece in the East of England!).

The book starts off with a transcribed conversation with the French man (now living in New york) that took place in Dec 2004 where he openly and honestly answers the interviewers questions very articulately. He discusses how he got started, his old heroes, his views on the scene, etc. Interestingly he refers to his work as storyboard illustration, graphic art and photography. This all becomes clear when you delve deep into his pieces and how they’re created. He claims to have always been interested in motion and this all fell into place when he started experimenting with stretching images through a Xerox. His images finally showed motion in a way that made sense to not only him but us as well. What I really like about his work is that he finds the locations for his pieces first and then creates the story he wants to tell. He then goes about storyboarding the scenes and then onto creating the actual piece. These processes are documented textually and photographically in Exterior - Interior Act 2 and the results are often as beautiful (IMHO) as his finished pieces.
 

Once the talking’s all done we are left to get to the point…the finished artwork. His black and white images just can’t be ignored. He wants us to look into the motion and not be overloaded with colourful distractions. I find it’s kind of difficult to get distracted with his work, it’s almost hypnotic. I can look at it without initially seeing it all, and the longer I look the more I detail I see, almost like a Mandelbrot fractal. These twisted and contorted bodies are moving so fast that the images can sometimes be difficult to focus on at first as yours eyes are automatically drawn to certain areas in the picture. The sporting images are particularly like this…following the skateboarder or the BMXer taking jumps can be an almost physical experience.
 

There’s a darker side to some of the images in the book as well. There are loads of hooded assassins jumping around corners (literally), and lots of images that portray struggle (physical and mental by the looks of it), which is perhaps what he’s most famous for (there’s a great image where someone’s getting their neck broken by an asassin…you can almost hear the crunch!). Top this all off with some pretty sexy imagery as well (Butterfly Dreams) and a whole host of installation work (on walls and interesting objects) and you have one fine book. If you’re at all interested in his work or just want to study the human body in relation to movement you owe it to yourself to take a look inside this book. If you’re not lucky enough to live in NY to see his work up close I should imagin that the 208 pages in this book is the next best thing.