Precious Okoyomon and Gravity
LUX catches up with the New York-based Nigerian-American artist whose immersive installations portray the glorious chaos of nature ? and its imperilment by the human race
1. You have been labelled as chef, artist, poet…
I think of myself as a poet. Everything else comes from there. Poetry is where I first found myself ? in and within myself ? and made something of it. Now, all the other things that I do, whether they want to or not, have to take the forms of poems. Everything is just a sort of non-stop poem at this point.
2. Where does your creative process begin"
Most things that I do start with reading. If not there, they come from just being in the world.
3. Do words ever fail you"
Everyday language fails and then we find each other sitting in the cracks of everything, trying to fall into the blur. Okoyomon’s first solo show at the Luma Westbau, Zürich, in 2019
4. Can artificial intelligence create real art"
I?m not sure what real art is. If I did, none of this would be any fun.
Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine
5. Why does the kudzu plant appear so frequently in your work"
I love the vine. It?s been so special to have this extended collaboration with it over these past years. Some of the laws about cultivating it in the US actually made it very difficult to start working with kudzu. But now I know how to get around all of that and I feel like we have developed a real fluency with each other.
6...