Samir Knego
Samir Knego shares with us his study on line and text (and a downloadable zine!).
Hi, welcome! Could you tell us about yourself?
Hi! I'm Samir and I'm an abstract artist who is kind of all over the place in terms of medium and style. Painting and drawing have historically formed the core of my visual work, but I also love paper weaving, collage, photography, poetry, and making zines. For my "day job" I work at a public library, which is kind of multidisciplinary in its own way--reference work, tech support, digitization, community history, and of course the physical work of shelving and sorting, among many other things!
I love your series. You mentioned earlier that you create these on the copy machine. What does your process look like? Why the copier?
Thank you! Yes, this series started with several pieces done primarily on a copy machine--I copied over the sheets multiple times with different things in different directions and added lines/dots in pen and ink. I think it's interesting to think through what photocopier art means now versus in the earlier days of it when it was based on photocopying being a new and innovative technology. These days, there are digital methods of doing a lot of these same things, often faster and easier and with cleaner results and so photocopier art feels almost quaint or nostalgic. Personally, I appreciate the ways that some of the limitations of the medium force me to take it more slowly and deliberately. It has opened up ways for me to think about and go about this project that I've really appreciated.
The second part of the series came several months later and was done by scanning some pen and ink drawings and then manipulating them digitally to overlap and echo themselves. I was inspired by the layering and, well, the chaos and weirdness of the photocopier art from the first stage of the series. I can say that overall I think this was the first time I had been motivated primarily to make something really weird and largely set aesthetics aside for a moment in favor of that mission. I ended up being happy with a lot of those pieces for more than just their weirdness, and I also think that a slightly more restrained version of that impulse has made its way into my other work--to good effect!
The textures and lines immediately draw me to nature. If at all, what is the role of nature in your work?
Though my work is about as far from traditional landscapes as you can get, I do consider myself hugely inspired by nature and human interactions with nature--skeletons, maps, and (especially for this project) TREES! Most of my work (both visual art and poetry) is sparked by something mundane that I've seen while going about my day, and since I'm fortunate to live and work in areas with a fair amount of trees that means that trees and leaves are the inspiration for much of my work (though quite how obvious the connection is definitely varies). Because of my disability, many outdoor spaces are inaccessible to me, and so my interactions with nature are most often through the window of my house or car. As far as I'm concerned, this is just as valid a way of experiencing nature as any other, but it does mean that when I think "nature" it's more along the lines of a crunchy brown leaf in a parking lot than a breathtaking view from a mountain I just hiked up.
I also can't seem to shake an intense fascination with topographic maps. Oddly, I don't own any topographic maps, nor have I looked at them remotely recently--I guess it's more the vague idea or memory of topographic maps that inspires me (I'm almost tempted to look one up now just to see if I'm totally off-base with my mental image, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the shock right now).
What is next for the series? Is in continuing to evolve?
I hope so! This project kind of happens in bursts as I have the time/energy/ideas to work on it. I feel like there's so much more to do with these concepts. I want to go back to using the copy machine but honestly, one of the biggest things that has stopped me is that I'm using a public copy machine at the library and every copy costs money! If you look closely at the weaving, you'll see that I even photocopied one of my photocopier receipts into the piece. In some ways, I think there's something kind of cool about the way it attaches a literal cost to each layer--I feel like there's a lot of potential for conceptual stuff there. But while it's not wildly expensive (especially relative to other art supplies) it can add up and feels a bit indulgent at times. There's also an accessibility factor--I'm a wheelchair user and the copy machine is just high enough to be kind of annoying to use, ergonomically speaking.
Thank you for the activity coloring book! I know you also create zines. Can you talk some about your zine practice?
I originally got into zine-making for the community--I saw people trading these awesome zines and wanted to be part of it, so I started making my own! I also really love sending letters and had long been doing (very informal, just for my friends) mail art, which I think is true of a lot of people who swap zines. Though I often make zines that aren't intended for distribution, I generally still show/give them to people and zine-making definitely feels like the most externally-focused type of art I do. With all of my other work there is a strong element of just doing it for myself, at least during the initial stages of the project, whereas with zines I pretty much always have an audience in mind even if it's just one particular friend or even one very specific hypothetical person I've never met. I don't think this is inherently either a good or a bad thing--self-motivation is good but I also appreciate how zine-making/trading/community stops me from getting too self-centered.
My next zine (pretty much finished, but not yet printed) is just one long poem and will be the first time I've done a poetry zine that's an edition of more than maybe three. It's a bit of a weird one in both content and format, and I'm not really sure what people will think of it. That's one of the awesome but also scary things about zines--when you're accustomed to gatekeeping institutions that (if you're lucky/privileged) also serve to validate art as "good" then the do-whatever-the-heck-you-want nature of zines feels comparatively vulnerable. I didn't go to art school (or take art classes beyond the standard/required grade school stuff, for that matter) and in some ways I do feel a bit lost around people who did. And at the same time, I've got a studio and a show in a gallery and with those hallmarks of "real"/"acceptable" art, it feels disingenuous to think of/call myself an outsider. My experience with zinesters is that a lot of people blend high and low art (or institutional and outsider, or however you want to think of it) and I appreciate not feeling like I have to make some big choice about what to be or make.
What have you been listening to, watching, reading lately?
I listen to a lot of different kinds of metal but lately I've been mostly reaching for the doom and death-doom CDs--Candlemass, Switchblade, Khemmis, early Katatonia, etc. I also tend to really like live albums and Bloodbath's "Bloodbath over Bloodstock" is probably one of my most-loved albums ever--and I think what's currently in my car. For reading, this week it's mostly been kid books--if you're looking for picture books, King Baby is a total banger. The Narwhal and Jelly books are super cute as well. I've also been reading some of the old Nancy Drew mysteries.
So yeah, picture books and doom metal. That's the secret.
Download and print this mini-activity book that incorporates elements of the work from Samir's experiments. To get the intended experience, print double-sided and select "flip on short edge," then fold it in half with the title as the cover. Or do whatever else suits you. If you'd like to pick up a free physical copy in-person, stop by Samir's studio at the Eno Arts Mill during open studios this Friday, May 6th from 6-9pm!
Recipe of the Week:
Samir’s "Chill the heck out" Peach Cobbler
This cobbler is pretty easy and doesn't require super precise measuring. It may not be the prettiest but it is incredibly tasty. Some people fuss around a lot with peeling peaches and cutting out the topping and that's all cool but is not part of this particular recipe. This recipe is all about being relaxed and just throwing a bunch of stuff in the oven and eating leftover cobbler for breakfast/snack/dessert for as many days as you can. Enjoy!
Ingredients
filling:
6 large peaches, sliced/cubed according to your preference. You can peel them if you want, though I don't.
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
topping:
1.5 cup flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup milk (cow, soy, etc--use whatever you have or like. I'd recommend unsweetened if you have it, or go a bit lighter on the sugar if you don't)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 410 degrees F.
Combine all of the filling ingredients in whatever dish you'll be baking the cobbler in. Bake it for 10 minutes without the topping.
Combine the topping ingredients in a bowl. I recommend doing all of the dry ingredients first, then the butter (You can use a fork or your hands to break it up and get it well combined. Some people have fancy implements for this sort of thing but I don't have or know much about them). Add the milk last. The mixture will be fairly dry and you might consider adding another splash of milk, but keep in mind that the consistency is supposed to be dry and it doesn't need to be all stuck together like dough--there will be clumps, dust, etc, and that's all part of the proper experience.
Once the filling is done with its initial time in the oven sans topping, take it out and cobble (hence the name!) the topping over the peaches. Basically, just crumble/clump/distribute the topping over the peaches. Try to not have too drastic of differences in size/height of the topping clumps just so that it bakes well, but keep in mind that it will be a bit uneven, and there may be gaps where the peaches poke through, and that's all fine!
Bake the cobbler for 15-20 minutes or until it seems done (this might vary a bit based on your oven, how deep vs flat your cobbler is, and whether you used butter or margerine). Ideally, the filling will have bubbled up a bit around the edges.
Serve warm, cold, room temp, or however you prefer. It can be nice with a bit of vanilla ice cream too--I think it goes well with coconut milk ice cream, personally.