Interview with “Squiggle” Artist

Ali Hericshi becomes lost in his own world when he is reflecting about his thoughts and feelings on canvas. As students and his colleagues observe his performance he concentrates on his expression. The artist continuously shares with the audience, what he is thinking about as he works. Here he begins explaining how the idea of Squiggle Game art occurred to him.

B.N.: How did the idea of Squiggle Game art occur to you?
A.H.: The Squiggle Game has a place in psycho-analytics. Children began to paint by following the points or dots with the help of their parents. This is exactly the same for adults. As an adult, this is what I am doing as I try to materialize the sincerity. I would want to do more chaotic figures but the aesthetics prevent me from doing so.

B.N.: What do you feel when you are making the paintings? Do the paintings depict different emotions?
A.H.: I do not make preliminary sketches. I try to reflect what is real. Of course I plan the painting as a whole but I do not use sketches. I ask questions of myself and I give quick answers to them because if you think too much, for example, on a negative subject you might come up with thinking that is actually positive. This puts distance between reality and the painting. I try to take the emotional to the sensual.

B.N.: What about the colors?
A.H.: The colors are not chosen deliberately. They do not symbolize things. They are used to give structure to the painting. I explained tones without using them.

B.N.: What do you think about abstract art?
A.H.: Abstract art must be meaningful. In modern art the things that seem abstract and complicated are the tools of the artist and the viewer has to find out the meaning. Just like cinema, when you watch a film either you understand it or you don't. But this is different in different types of art forms. Painting is introverted and silent. It must be introduced differently. There are a lot of nuances that different types of modern art are composed of. An example for this is that we have now moved towards the hard abstract from the easy abstract. It is the case that we have been visually "spoiled." People want to see beautiful things rather than bad things but bad things do exist and this must not be forgotten.

Mr. Hericshi concluded his thoughts by saying that abstract art must be told to people and that abstract art is not just a decorative future; that it is meaningful. He adds that abstract art is as meaningful as modern poetry.