Interview With Sabato
Do you like black humor? I often see them in your work. Most of them are very subtle.
-Yes, humor is very important in my work. As a kid, I wanted to grow up to be either a cartoonist (like Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes) or a film director. I remember a quote by Truffaut (that I can't find anymore) where he said that all of his movies begin as comedies, only for him to realize that only tragedy can save them. I think that view influenced me because as I grew older and witnessed more tragedies in the world around me, I felt that nothing was funny anymore, but at the same time, you still need humor to survive these tragedies. So maybe that's where my humor comes from. I try to embed it in my works without being misanthropic or punching down. Humor is tricky because most of it does not age well as society changes and people grow up. Humor can also be used as a vector to protect those in power, making it more strategic. As an artist, I love embedding little humor because it adds layers to the work that different audiences can pick up on. Likewise, I think that works with a bit of humor stand out in a collection too, and we're lucky to have some fiercely funny MFers in this space like Lorna Mills, Kiszkiloszki, Salawaki, Xer0x, Diewiththemostlikes, and others
The two pieces you did for "Trader" have the most characters and the biggest scenes, which is not typical of your work. Why is that?
- I found the "Trader" theme interesting because it evoked an image of interlocking systems rather than just one individual. I'm a political science nerd, so I enjoy thinking about these things (like my Congress/Progress Drawing Exercises). The financial system, though, is much more difficult to depict visually because it can be quite abstract. A trading floor can be a physical space, but a market is a set of social relations that connect people across space. I also wanted to focus on aspects of our digital art market, like the crypto influencer games in "Speculative Bubbles." For this work, I wanted to work on a broader canvas while touching on an experience that many of us, as artists, curators, and collectors, can relate to modern art. I know Basel sounds super fancy, but it's not any different than any trade show.
What must we do to translate our observations of life into art?
-this is a tricky question. It's funny because "Speculative Bubbles" took me a while to visualize. At first, I wanted to visualize the cryptocurrency circuits as this monster being fed by users on their computers, but I felt that I was channeling Poppel too much (I adore their work). Then I thought of using pigs or livestock but felt it was too literal. I think I had to pray in the shower or something before the right image came along, lol. The crypto space oftentimes feels like someone blowing bubbles out of their ass while a bunch of people feed into those bubbles. So, to return to your question, what must we do to translate observations into art? I think first, we should practice doing so as often as we can. At first, it will seem clumsy, but over time, you will learn what details to keep and omit. Second, I think it helps to do the life things that feed into inspiration: go for walks, take your boo on dates, travel, go see other art, cook/eat new foods, read new things, etc. but also some rituals can help: meditating, praying, cleansing, wanking, you name it.