MUDDY PINK DINOSAUR, part 1: residency
Flemish artist Sarah Carlier moved into the Noorderlicht Studio in Groningen from 1 May to 10 June 2021 to work on her new project 'MUDDY PINK DINOSAUR'. From November 13, 2021, Sarah will be back in the Studio, where she will show the results of her residency in Groningen.
When public life first came to a standstill due to the corona pandemic, Sarah Carlier (1981) saw numerous creative initiatives spring up. “For the first time, I saw Joseph Beuys’ claim that everyone is essentially an artist actually become reality,” she says. She christened her regular walking route through the Haagse Bos, The Hague Organic Open Air Folk Museum (HOOVM) and observed the emergence and transformation of various sculptures made of branches, moss and bark. As soon as the measures were relaxed, the playful persons also disappeared. However, in Carlier, something had awakened.
MUDDY PINK DINOSAUR
In Groningen, Carlier will investigate how she can preserve the playfulness of the unintentional art she found in the forest within her own work and pass it on to others. The project’s title is an ode to the African American folk artist Mose Tolliver, a great source of inspiration to Carlier. She first became familiar with his work whilst travelling through the United States, and was attracted by its sincerity and rough, colourful and humorous imagery. Folk artists such as Tolliver have taught Carlier to utilise her intuition again, which, she says, had become side-lined over the years through her professionalization as a visual artist. This playful, unforced manner of making, which every person carries within them, forms the guiding principle for Carlier’s residency at Noorderlicht.
Meet Sarah!
In the studio, where a retrospective exhibition of her oeuvre is also on view, Carlier talks with visitors, students and pupils about what art can mean. And when she is not working in the studio, she visits Groningen initiatives and private museums or has conversations in the street, always in search of artistic creations by residents and local companies. A song, poem, painting, photo, installation, knitting or dance – Carlier is interested in everything that comes from an intrinsic need to create. The entire research, the conversations and the local art creations found by the people of Groningen will lead to new works by the artist himself. In the course of Carlier’s stay, all elements are woven into a playful, hybrid web that is constantly growing and changing. ‘MUDDY PINK DINOSAUR’ is an investigation into the role of play, creativity and art in everyday life.
>> trailer (in Dutch)
>> Sarah Carlier>> here’s more about MUDDY PINK DINOSAUR, part 2