Let's Talk Arts: Tony Oursler Reflects On 'Water Memories,' His Current Exhibition at Guild Hall

Fresh off his Public Art Fund Commission “Tear of the Cloud” at New York City’s Riverside Park last October, multimedia artist Tony Oursler has installed his exhibition “Water Memory” at Guild Hall in East Hampton. On view through July 21, the exhibition delves into the subject of water and notions of magical thinking. Recently, Mr. Oursler shared his insights and thought-process that goes into his work. On Saturday, July 6, Mr. Oursler presents a gallery talk at 3 p.m. at Guild Hall. A private members reception follows.

Q: You grew up in Nyack near the shores of the Hudson River in the era of PCB pollution courtesy of General Electric and Pete Seeger’s environmental education sloop Clearwater that was designed to combat all that. Did growing up near the river influence your relationship with water?

Completely, I feel best when near the water. I grew up with the politics of ecological and was a total river rat, floating, swimming, sailing, rowing, rafts, floating on ice flow ( much to my parents chagrin). The Hudson’s banks were an escape for the local kids, I spent a lot of time daydreaming out in that ever-changing space.

There is some connection there in the water to how art happens, but I’m not sure what it is. People who spend time around large bodies of water know about the beauty that needs to be treasured regardless of any political trend. Nyack also had a great history of art—Joseph Cornell, Edward Hopper, Thomas Wilfred, Constance DeJong, Karen Finley all called it home. Now, I adore Long Island and the North Fork and New York City, all different kinds of water worlds.

Q: Is “Water Memory” at Guild Hall only about the past, or is it also referencing our relationship with water in the future?

“Water Memory” invites the viewer to explore their preconceptions in the present and perhaps that affects the future. I want to know what you think now. The theme of the exhibition developed out of a personal rethinking of the ubiquitous element of water. That’s how I make art, by taking a second or third look at something until suddenly, some new relationships emerge. The waters are a mirror of human actions, belief systems, ecological, spiritual, scientific, psychological—it’s all in there. Holy water, hormones, micro-plastic. There is a good dose of humor and poetry as well. I love the work of a Dr. [Masaru] Emoto who spoke words like “love” to one tube of water and played “heavy metal” to another, froze them and studied the crystal patterns.

Q: Does the show have a particular relevance to the East End given our precarious relationship with water and sea level rise?

Absolutely. That area of the world is like a big hand reaching out into the ocean. It’s some of the most spectacular landscape in America. I was amazed to find a New York state cactus thrives there. But I’ve also found medical waste on the beach from hospitals in Connecticut. This is nothing new, it’s just now people are ready to take steps to preserve and to recognize interconnections that were perhaps ignored before.

It’s an American tradition, our first art movement was the Hudson River School. They were problematic in that they ignored the people who were here before us, that we’re are all immigrants, but on the other hand that art movement was directly responsible for the first land preservation and the establishment of the public park system.

That’s what art can do, suggest patterns, some beautiful but others on the darker side.

Q: As a young man, were you initially a filmmaker who became an artist, or an artist who became intrigued by including moving images in your artwork?

My generation sees all the mediums as fair game for art, computers too! I did start as a painter/sculptor but was always doing other things that I didn’t recognize as art till later. When I went to Rockland Community College and then California Institute of the Arts, I was freed by learning more, being exposed to so many wonderful ideas and art. I was a TV kid so it made sense to make moving paintings or vice versa. I’m comfortable with art that plugs in, it’s normal. We are all able to work on smart phones now—what a tool! In your pocket, 10,000 times more powerful than what got us to the moon. So funny to see flat earthers using this technology to promote their theory on social media.

Q: Can you talk a bit about the inclusion of video elements in your work. What was happening in the late ’70s that pushed you into the realm of multimedia art?

In retrospect, I turned TV inside out in my studio and a lot of people were doing that before me—Joan Jonas, John Baldessari, William Wegman, Nam June Paik, Tony Conrad. You have to remember no one could do any video before 1967 when Sony released the Portapak. Artists wanted to use it to make art. I guess it’s my generation’s take on popular culture that made it a bit different, more dystopian, esthetics of what would later become known as punk, computers were just beginning to make images and sounds. Installation of the moving image was the world in which we lived, so it made perfect sense that it would become art. I don’t dwell on the past but it’s an interesting puzzle.

Q: The LED screen pieces like “Cluster” remind me of looking at life through a kaleidoscope. Do the images that change behind the glass tell a specific story?

The Blots as in the ink blots series in the exhibition are new for me. I’m playing with our ability to see things that are not there, a very primal visual experience. There is a psychological component to the Rorschach test and a deeper history to the ink blot. I began to think of a new sort of test that would show the difference between us and machines. You know how you are being asked to prove that you are a human and not a robot when filling out a form online? Well I wanted to make my own test. The images are organic body forms, macroeconomic recordings of water. The idiots chasing AI [Artificial Intelligence] are making a big, big mistake. We need to celebrate what is human these days warts and all and what is human is to create to dream. Machines can’t do that and never will.

Those works are a celebration.

Q: The faces on the white egg-shaped art pieces at Guild Hall are somewhat unnerving in their realism and unsettling in their whispering. What are they trying to tell us—or each other?

I Imagined a deluge, could be information, light, color or the sea. I used molten glass and projection so it feels transparent, speculative like science fiction. I believe we are living in a Sci-Fi era and that’s reflected in the poetry: new-age, self-help encouragement, hostel algorithms, lonely AI and conspiracy theory, magical thinking bubbles up. For this show I’ve worked with artists, musicians and actors, Jason Scott Henderson, Jim Fletcher, Katie Langjahr and Josie Keefe to name a few. My performers hovered between cognitive and trance states when I shot them for this installation, they have an uncanny ability to catch the viewer in their current. I hope when people visit the Guild Hall museum they will find a few surprises but the message they take away will be their own. If so, that means the art is working.