Risa Horowitz wears many hats when it comes to her career. In addition to working at the University of Regina as an associate professor in the Visual Arts department, Horowitz is a conceptual artist who embraces many different mediums, including painting, drawing, photography, video, and performance. She’s also coming to Camosun as a visiting artist lecturer on September 27 to give a talk open to the public.
While some artists may shy away from using multiple mediums in their work, Horowitz embraces the variety it provides to help her achieve her desired outcome, without giving preference to a specific technique.
“My major training was in photo-based media, and while I often use photo- and lens-based media, each of my individual projects tends to dictate the medium that I use,” says Horowitz. “So, I guess the favourite medium would be that which is most well suited for the idea. Sometimes that’s video, sometimes that’s photo, sometimes that’s performance, sometimes that has been painting or kinetic sculpture.”
Horowitz says that she loves that the contemporary art world allows such freedoms.
“You know, there’s a great deal of opportunity and flexibility in not working in a medium-specific way,” she says.
Horowitz wants to reframe the concept that inspiration is the driving force behind art.
“There’s a stereotype of the ‘inspired, mad artist’ working alone in a studio in some kind of trance,” says Horowitz. “That’s a sort of bullshit stereotype.”
Horowitz is quick to point out that a great deal of work and effort goes into making art.
“Artists work their asses off—pardon my language,” she says, “and, so, when we make a project, we are highly motivated to create the project, and sometimes the work involved in creating a body of work, or an individual piece, it’s hard work. It’s challenging; it can be technically challenging, it can be conceptually challenging to ensure that the work that you make actually fulfils the idea that you intend to communicate through the work. And that part isn’t always fun and exciting. It’s hard work.”
Because of this, Horowitz says, she rejects the notion of inspiration when it comes to making art.
“Artists define their own work and do whatever we have to to see it through,” she says. “And sometimes it’s incredibly exciting, and sometimes it’s a slog.”
Horowitz says that, as an artist, no one tells her what to do.
“I’m never making work for someone else, so everything I do stems from my own interest. It stems from my own curiosity in the world, and my own passions, and my own intellectual engagement, so in that sense, I don’t know if the word ‘inspiration’ is the right word.”
Horowitz hopes to bring an overview of her practice as a whole, as well as a focus on her more recent Arctic work, to her visiting artist lecture at Camosun. Whether audience members are artists or appreciators of the arts, Horowitz says that she presents her work in a way that makes it accessible to a range of audiences.
“I try to be conscious of the particular audience when I give a lecture about my work,” she says. “But, that doesn’t change my work.”
Risa Horowitz
Visiting Artist Lecture Series
2:30 pm Thursday, September 27
Free, Young 117, Lansdowne campus
camosun.ca