Interview with Richard Emslie.
T.H I haven’t worked out any questions, im not very good at preparing.
R.E its ok, we can ad lib.
Long pause.
T.H whats your favourite dinosaur?
R.E oh wow. erm, I don’t know what its called, but it swims. It got a really long neck, like nessie. something-opidous. I don’t know. But yeh, that one. Small head, big flippers, it swims.
T.H Is there a conviction to your interest in eastern spirituality? Or is it simply another reference for research?
R.E I’d like to think that there was. I’d like to think I’ve touched upon something, which is the beginning of something that will shape my life from now on. I think I’ve found a calmness I’ve never really had before.
T.H can you explain to me your reasoning behind the personal nature of your page in the degree show catalogue?
R.E Do you mean the dedication. there are a lot of people that I missed out. Friends family and influences…There are other things in that, like my dad and granddad’s ill health at the moment.
T.H Are you then not using the catalogue as a means to promote yourself as an artist?
R.E I never really wanted a catalogue, and I was always gong to use it for that purpose. Because without their love and support I wouldn’t be here now. There are things in my past, that…I wouldn’t actually physically be here now. It was always a way of thanking them for giving me the support that enabled me to find out what I wanted to do with my life.
T.H you have more of a past then most.
R.E As far as times concerned, definitely, yeh.
T.H what’s the title of the work?
R.E A self an centred action, on a free standing wardrobe.
T.H What’s research?
R.E what’s research!
T.H Nun chucks, meditation, zen?
R.E everything is, everything. When you’re sitting on a bus, when you’re walking through town. Falling asleep. It’s all formative. It all informs. I could be reading a Wilber smith book set in the nineteen twenties about a bloke who’s trying to fly around the world. There may be something in there that you read into some kind of philosophical thought. You can think, I understand that. I count that as research.
T.H whats your interest in philosophy?
R.E I don’t know what I’m interested in, but I’m interested in being interested in things. I’m interested in so many things, and I’m disinterested in so many things. Then again there are things that I’m disinterested in that tweak my attention. If you forced me to say something. I’d say right now I’m discovering a new way of appraising things. I think that will always be apart of me, but I know it will not always inform my practice.
