Michael Sazarin lives for his art - in the truest sense of the word. Since 1981, the artist has lived in his own studio in the House for Arts and Crafts at Koppel 66. Here, he is surrounded every day by a huge number of paintings and drawings, some of which are stacked up to the ceiling and leave little room for furniture or even luxury items. Sazarin no longer needs that. He finds everything he needs in the paints, in the canvases, in his painting.
For a short interview, we visit him in his realm and talk to him about his creative process, his time in America and one of his most important artistic idols.
Mr. Sazarin, your creative process is rather unusual. Can you describe to us how you approach a blank canvas? Where do you start?
I usually start by emptying myself completely, meditating. I don't want anything. I can't do anything. You can't force art anyway. I approach it completely freely and start with pouring. I lay the blank canvas on the floor and pour diluted oil paint over it, several different colors. Then I can see roughly what it will be. I then let it dry for a day or two and when it's dry, I can put it on the wall. Chance now offers me how I can continue working. It's not me, Michael, who thinks of something; the picture paints itself. I'm just an assistant. That means every picture is different and fresh, a real adventure. Chance is my best friend, but of course I won't leave it to itself. Controlled chance, so to speak.
Silence is also very important. When I was younger, I used to paint with music. Nowadays it has to be quiet. Fortunately, my studio is very quiet, you can't hear anything here, even though we are right in the center of Hamburg. I need peace and quiet so that I can listen to what's going on. I love the peace and quiet.
How many paintings are in your studio?
About 600 canvas paintings, I have everything full of paper here, about 1,000 drawings. And a whole basement full. There are still a few unfinished ones lying around here that I can't get a handle on, I'm still waiting for a good day, but 98% of the paintings here are finished.
What subject do you like to deal with the most?
My motifs are not clear. You can see something, but what? What could it be? I don't do illustrations, I don't tell stories, but I leave the viewer room for their own ideas. "It's in the eye of the beholder." Of course, you can see physical, human features, especially in the drawings. Now and then I also paint landscapes. But many of my paintings are very abstract.
Do you have an artistic role model?
The landscape painter William Turner was a great visionary. When I saw him for the first time, I got goosebumps. I fled from the art gallery because I couldn't stand it, I liked him so much. He was way ahead of his time. His contemporaries said he was crazy. But what colors he used! A brilliant man! I learned a lot from him. When I discovered him, I was a night watchman and I studied his pictures all night to find out why he was so good. What is the piglet doing? And at five to twelve I understood. There is always a fixed point, which is usually right on the outside, but never in the middle. And from there he scatters the picture, he scatters the colors. I base myself on that too.
In an article by Peter Schütt it is said that you largely stay away from social criticism and politics. Why is that?
Of course I know what's going on out there, I watch the news and so on. But I don't bother with it anymore. My "hard drive" is now very full, nothing else fits on it. Especially not current events. As you get older you get slower, your brain doesn't work like it used to, that's for sure. I'm purely interested in art, philosophy, literature, the humanities. That's where my strength lies, that's where I get my energy from. The artist is rewarded in himself. Creativity, creativity is the greatest thing for me. Everything else doesn't concern me anymore. I concentrate completely on what I'm doing and not on what I can't change anyway.
As a young man, you spent nine years in the USA, working as a bartender, salesman, printer, carpenter, waiter, metal worker and machinist, among other things. What was it like for you to work in the States?
In America, they don't look at your papers so much, they just say: "Try it!" You do a lot of jobs there, but I only did that to earn money. I wasn't an artist back then, that came later. In America, I did what young people do. Go to the bar in the evening, drink whiskey, meet women, drive nice cars. I saw a lot, did a lot, learned about life. And that's a good thing.
Given the political situation, would you like to travel back to the States?
At some point I realised that I had to go back to Germany. After nine years I had had enough. My inner voice told me to go back and I listened to it. It wasn't a decision I made in my head. If that had been the case, I would have had to stay there. I had two cars, an apartment, and I was doing well financially. But I wasn't happy. At that point I had discovered literature for myself and in that context I realised that the German language is much more profound for me than the English language. Back in Germany I wrote a lot and then painting came. With full force. I was about 30 years old then and I have been painting ever since. That keeps me going. It keeps me away from alcohol, depression, loneliness. Nowadays I wouldn't want to go back. I have no business there anymore. Maybe for an exhibition with you. I'll brush up on my English at the same time.
You can find more impressions from Sazarin's studio in the following video, in which the artist talks in detail about the process of creating his pictures.
Exhibition: 02.03.2018 - 31.03.2018 in the GRACE DENKER GALLERY (Hammerbrookstr. 93, 20097 Hamburg)
http://www.sazarin.de
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