Interdisciplinary Artist, 2Fik
Born in Paris in a Moroccan Muslim family, 2Fik has lived in France for most of his life. As he also spent several years in Morocco, he also identifies with it's culture. In 2003, on the spur-of-the-moment, he came to Montreal, a destination chosen for its apparent tranquility. Following his emigration experiences, 2Fik rapidly found himself amidst a fusion of religion, politics and society.
As an artistic director, photographer and model, 2Fik captures pictures of himself that he likens to a single image. He can therefore be found several times in his photographs, in various attitudes and sporting a range of accessories. Through his toying with reality and fiction, the viewer becomes confused. 2Fik's recurrent characters end up embodying real individuals to whom the artist gives a complete identity: personality, age, sex, origin, occupation and interests. These figures are related to each other: they arise from the universe and life experiences of the artist.
2Fik assigns them traits taken from his own personality, discreetly unfolding through his disguises. The protagonists come to live against the backdrop of a multicultural Montreal, simultaneously creating time a TV-style reality show where their destinies revolve around Fatima. She is central to all the other characters: Abdel, Manon, Benjamin, Sofiane, Marco, Alice, and Francine. The sum of these character's experiences and their emotional baggage add up to different social realities, providing keys to understanding their respective existence. Conducted from a voyeuristic perspective, the photographs generate our desire to know what was happening outside the frame. However, a second interpretation takes us beyond reality television, because these lives are in reality a reflection of our current society.
2Fik's photographs draw the viewer into a true societal melting pot. At first glance his approach induces laughter, however on a sub textual level the mood darkens to the point where viewers might find themselves questioning their own identity. 2Fik intends a playful, yet powerful approach as he attempts to achieve a social reflection. The approach is intended 2Fik playful, but powerful in the sub-text to achieve a social reflection. Stereotypes encourage viewers to discuss the idea of universality, because in the stories everyone can recognize a part of themselves. 2Fik's photographs transport us into a true melding of society.
I met 2Fik at a cafe on a recent Saturday morning. I was ordering coffee. 2Fik prefers tea. There was something about him (maybe it was his platform, high heel sandals worn with grey sweat pants and a white beater T) that I was initially drawn to. Whatever it was, I am glad I was moved to introduce myself
I love it when people get better and better as they unfold...
DR: I am sitting here with an amazing artist -- 2Fik. And 2Fik, I'm going to let you spell your name.
2Fik: 2Fik is spelled in two ways actually. My real name is "Toufik", T-o-u-f-i-k, but for the website and all of the art scene, I spell my self "2Fik", 2-f-i-k. Yep.
DR: And you refer to yourself as an Interdisciplinary Artist, yes?
2Fik: Yes. An Interdisciplinary Artist, yes. Totally. I work on photography and I also do video performances, so everything is mixed up. Sometimes it's both. Sometimes it's everything at the same time.
DR: Needless to say, I mean I've shared with you enough times, that I love your work. How you came to be the artist that you are. What is your background? What did you study...?
2Fik: My background is totally different from the art that I do. I come from a moderate Muslim family. My father was a baker and my mother was at home. She raised us. I'm not into art initially. I worked and I studied communication, advertising and publicity but I actually dropped these things to work more into community housing and social housing in Montreal.
How I came to art? Let's say that loneliness and creativity made it work. The winters in Montreal are very cold and people are stuck in their places. Nobody sees each other. I had this rough time in 2005 where I lost my boyfriend, my work and my apartment in less than three months. It was very hard-core. So, you start over.
DR: So you were back at home? You went back to your family...
2Fik: No no no no no. I stayed in Montreal.
DR: Uh huh...
2Fik: No, I handled it. If something bad happens you just get up. You learn from it. That's it. If you not dead, it's a good point. Just fight for it...
DR: Not being dead - it's a good starting point...
2Fik: Exactly. As soon as you know you are still alive, you just fight. That's all I'm saying.
So, it was a rough patch but I made it through and that's the point. In 2005 I found myself in a little apartment by myself for the winter and I started doing photos because I was bored and alone. I was thinking about those images where I am in front of the camera and after that I go to the Photoshop and work it to make myself believe that I had other people next to me. It started with two people then three then four then five then six...I made some photos where I am seen twenty times in the same photo. By the time I actually continued to create that, I did characters. I invented characters through some accessories. I had a veil that became Fatima. I had this immaculate white prayer robe that became Abdel, the Muslim guy. Each accessory became the base for a character and I injected a whole biography for them and so for myself, creating limits to my art. I always thought that un-comfort and limits are the best friends of art and creativity.
DR: What did you say? Un-comfort and limits?
2Fik: Un-comfort and limits are the bff of creativity because if you find yourself totally free to do whatever you want, you can be creative. In French we say Cahier des charges. It's a document that actually tells you your budget limits and what you should not go beyond. That is when I think art is really amazingly funny and entertaining, - when you have limits, especially if you define them yourself. Then you have to push through the limits. So it was by the biography that I find myself stuck and in the way with eight characters that have a real life and age and history. So I would not be able to make Fatima strut in a very short dress in the street because she is a Muslim woman and she respects herself and she won't do it. She respects herself. That's how she sees it. Wearing a short skirt is not respecting yourself. It's just another type of femininity. We see that clash with another character, Alice, who is more into wearing the highest heel ever, short skirt or long dress. Crazy thing. She just goes all the way.
DR: What's interesting is all of these characters are very defined which you could characterize as a form of limitation, but then together they are almost limitless in their expression.
2Fik: Totally. Because if you take them together than you can create all of the situations you want. The idea is that if all those characters where in the same room, they would fight all day long because they have different points of views, different situations and different values. But what I do is, instead of taking them for a fight, I take the into a huge party which is my photos.
I am really glad that it worked out. Really. Because I had nobody with me to actually tell me if what I was doing was right or wrong so I could have gone the totally wrong way. But like I said previously "Just follow your instincts." I think in all projects in general, if you deeply feel in your soul this is you, well do it! And, if people don't like it, well they're going to deal with it.
My Art? I really do it for me. Actually no. Let's do that again. The whole process of creation is for me. The result is not for me anymore. As soon as the photos are exhibited, it's not me. It's a photo. So the people can love it or hate it and I won't take it personally because it's not me. It's an image. Each person will look at the image through his experiences, his fears, his love, his fantasy - his life. So if you take it personally it means that you didn't cut the link between you and your art, which is, for me, very dangerous. So I have to make the separation because it's very intimate.
Some of the photos that are shown at The Invisible Dog remind me of situations that I had prior with my mother or my brother...people don't need to know that. It's very personal. If I was not disconnecting myself from the photos when they are done, when somebody starts to critique the photos, I would feel they are critiquing me. Whether you love it or hate, it is fine. I'm still doing my thing!
DR: Right. That's awesome!
Are you making a social commentary with this exhibit at The Invisible Dog?
2Fik Exhibition at Invisible Dog
French-Moroccan performer and photographer, 2Fik presents a brand new body of work at Invisible Dog. His previous exhibition, "2Fik or Not 2Fik", featured photographs of 2Fik playing a variety of characters enacting a narrative about identity, religion and sexuality.
His new project will feature photographic recreations of classic paintings. He has recreated the environments and photographed them, using himself as the sole impersonator for all of the subjects. 2Fik purposefully selected paintings that are primarily well-known in Europe.
Location: Invisible Dog
Time: April 20 - May 18, 2013
On view Thurs-Sat from 1 to 7pm and Sun from 1 to 5pmFor more information, click here.
2Fik: I think I am doing a personal social commentary. I would add the word "personal" because I am not a sociologist, I didn't study art, I am not a psychologist or anything I am just telling the story through my eyes. That is the commentary that I have about my life in Montreal and my past life in Paris and in Casablanca. I will not have excess of pride to say that it is social commentary. It's more my point of view about the situation, about the cultural clash.
What defines your identity? Is it your skin color? Is it your ethnicity? Is it your accent? Is it your haircut? Is it the high heels that you are wearing? Do you know what I mean? Is it in the details of how you show yourself or is it how you feel inside? And sometimes what you show is different from who you are.
Right now I am wearing this bright yellow t-shirt and blue jeans and I have this bushy beard but I know that if I wear a prayer robe, in that second I can be made to look like a hard-core Muslim guy and potentially a terrorist. So knowing that is a good way to balance the image that you have versus the thing that you want to say, so in that case when you know that your image can say one thing and your personality can say something else, you can balance all of them. That's how I try to play it off.
DR: One thing that inspires me about your exhibit is that it connects me to the notion that we all have very different aspects of our one person. I feel tempted now to explore the different aspects of my own personality. You take each character...each one just goes. You take that one aspect of each character and you just extend it...
2Fik: Yeah. It just goes all the way. There are nine more characters but I reduced it to eight because those eight characters are the ones that are very well defined and I am scared also of giving too many characters so people can get lost. But each and every character that you see are a part of me. It's obvious. Like Fatima could be this tender relationship that I had with this Arab-Muslim culture that I grew up in. And Abdel on the other side represents the whole hypocrisy thing that I hate in that religion. Alice will represent the whole superficial fashionista with very light issues that we have - "What should I wear today"? I just took those details of me and blew them up into a whole persona. I am actually flabbergasted to see people recognize themselves in those characters. I was really flabbergasted.
DR: Tell me about the effort that it took. How did you come up with the idea and what is it like to do the work?
2Fik: The more it grows, the more it is fascinating and complicated. In the beginning I was doing a photo shoot in ten minutes. "OMG! I feel like having heels tonight!" So I would just put my camera on the tripod and minutes later I was already in Photoshop. Now the whole operation for each and every shoot is so long and so complicated. I have to really read about it, get ready for the shoot, prepare the space and that is what I call the boundaries. I mean I hate the whole concept of technicalities. I am so not into that. I am so not into measuring the distance between this and this. Do you know what I mean? I just hate it. But the other side is doing that and shooting and seeing the results, you just have to pat yourself on the back because "Okay, I did it"!
What excites me the most with my work is that I push the boundaries every time. I put myself in situations because of this and that is fine. Worst case the photo shoot will not work and I will do another one. That is okay. Worst case? Somebody will insult me in the street if he sees me in a certain outfit. That is fine. I don't care. I know who I am. Say whatever you want. You can't touch me.
DR: You are doing your thing so...
2Fik: Yeah. That is what I mean. If I am able to look at myself in the morning and say "2Fik, you can be proud of yourself", that is good.
DR: From here where are you going? Do you have a hard and fast plan?
2Fik: Please. I already do have plans and I am just freaking out about all the things I have to do.
DR: Please do tell me.
2Fik: My next exhibition will be about the great paintings...
DR: Like DaVinci?
2Fik: Yes, all of the great paintings that we know. I chose like twenty big paintings that are known and I am recreating them with my characters. All of the characters are injected in the paintings.
DR: So you sort of superimposed them in the painting?
2Fik: No. I am finding a place that looks like the painting and I am re-creating it there.
DR: So they will be the main characters? Fatima will be The Mona Lisa?
2Fik: Yes! Exactly. Exactly. This is exactly the point. The thing is that because of this I have to read everything abut the painting - the history, the context, the historical political context, when, how, the technique of the painter, the characters and who they are - because if you look at the history of the paintings you can actually make links with your characters...
DR: Wow. That is so cool.
2Fik: So now because of this, another boundary is created. I have to read. I have to search. I have to look. I have to find places and rent places. I have to ask for people to open doors late at night so I can shoot. It's crazy but I love the idea of this. It's a whole new world for me.
DR: Are you going to do all of this in France or just wherever you happen to be?
2Fik: Oh, I have already shot four of them here in North America. Right now I am looking for a small canal. I am looking for a bridge with water because I want to shoot The Scream and I want to shoot it in New York, one way or another.
DR: What is wonderful about what you do is that the process seems to be as fun as the end result. I'm a little jealous...
2Fik: What I really do like is that when you look at a photo you don't see that there is a lot of work there. I like the concept that the work is not shown. People think that they can do that. Well that's fine, baby. Go and do it.
DR: You do this primarily alone so what do you do to keep yourself motivated and feeling validated?
2Fik: I came from this family where I always had love. My family always told me they loved me and that I was amazing. I didn't grow up with low self-esteem. I sometimes may have an excess of self-esteem. In that case a slap in the face is really practical. "Hello. You ain't a Goddess yet!"
I really do enjoy the fact of getting grounded sometimes because my imagination for me goes all the way. I am not looking anymore for validation or I am not looking anymore for being loved and cheered because I actually feel blessed about my life from head to toe. I have an amazing family. I have friends that came from Montreal and Paris for my latest exhibition. There were sixteen people from Montreal and two people from Paris. I had my brother calling me saying "I hope everything will be fine for you", my sister-in-law calling to ask how it went. Like, wow! Do I need any more validation than that? No.
I am a very loyal person and very straight forward. There is no crap with me. What you see is what you get. I think that is why I don't need validation because I know that what I am doing is straight so, be straight with me.
You must go all the way if you want something to work. If it didn't work, you made something wrong. I am not into this excuses thing. Like my little sister is fourteen years old and she is all about " Oh, I didn't do it because of this or because of that...". I look at her and I say, "I do not care. You deal with your problems". And she'll say, "Yeah but...". And I tell her, "No. You didn't want to because when you want to, you just do it".
DR: That is so great. That is so true.
2Fik: You wake up in the middle of the night, you decide you make it work. You are tired the day after? I don't care. You make it work.
DR: Living like that is very powerful because you remove every obstacle and decide that you are the person who will make it happen or not...
2Fik: That is why working by myself is good. Nobody can tell me anything about how I do my photos.
Looking for validation is, for me, a way of fighting insecurities. For me, my insecurities have to be dealt with by myself. You have to face your fears. Like Marco, for example. He is my character who is a closeted homosexual. He is not me, per se, but I had, for years, a problem with my homosexuality. I didn't feel like I was masculine enough. I was having trouble with how I put myself in front of masculinity. But the more it goes and the more I know I am not that masculine I realize that the more I assume my feminine part, the more masculine I act. It sounds weird...
DR: I understand how those things can work without making sense.
2Fik: Yeah. Just the concept of wearing high heels like I was wearing Saturday when you saw me. I felt like a man! I am sorry. Nobody can say nothing! I felt good. I looked good! I had beautiful high heels on. Snap! Now you can do whatever you want.
It didn't put off any inch of my masculinity.
My style is more into bending genders and images, bending everything that people think is concrete. Everything is bendable. Everything. You can be the darkest Black girl and act like a Swedish, Northern girl. I have an Asian friend who speaks in the ghetto-ist of attitude you can imagine. Whoa! What is that?
That is the world today. Today you cannot put a Black person in a box or a White person in a box or an Arab person in a box. This is not happening today. And thinking that is not the case will only make you look embarrassingly idiot because you didn't see what happens around you...
DR: Limits. There go those limits again...
2Fik: I am fascinated by the whole idea of limits and human beings and interaction. If my work can allow people to think for like five minutes, I am done with my job.
DR: A hundred years from now what do you want to be remembered for?
2Fik: I would love to be remembered as an Artist who had fun doing his art and who made people enjoy looking at it. It is really important to have pleasure. The way that Artists are shown now? There is this whole idea of suffering and sadness. Please. We all suffered at one time or another. Get over it! Have fun. So it would be this: The Artist who brought questioning about identity in a funny, pertinent way.
Thanks 2Fik!
The Invisible Dog Exhibition - 2Fik OR NOT 2Fik
As an artistic director, director, photographer and model, 2Fik captures pictures of himself that he likens to a single image. He can therefore be found several times in his photographs, in various attitudes and sporting a range of accessories. Through his toying with reality and fiction the viewer becomes confused. 2Fik’s recurrent characters end up embodying real individuals to whom the artist gives a complete identity: personality, age, sex, origin, occupation and interests. These figures are related to each other and arise from the universe and life experiences of the artist. 2Fik assigns them traits taken from his own personality, discreetly unfolding through his disguises. The protagonists come to live against the the backdrop of a multicultural Montreal, simultaneously creating time a TV-style reality show where their destinies revolve around Fatima. She is central to all the other characters: Abdel, Manon, Benjamin, Sofiane Marco, Alice, and Francine. The sum of these character’s experiences and their emotional baggage add up to different social realities, providing keys to understanding their respective existence. Conducted from a voyeuristic perspective, the photographs generate our desire to know what was happening outside the frame. However, a second interpretation takes us beyond reality television, because these lives are in reality a reflection of our current society.
Born in Paris to a Moroccan Muslim family, 2Fik has lived in France for most of his life. As he also spent several years in Morocco, he also identifies with it’s culture. In 2003, on the spur-of-the-moment he came to Montreal, a destination chosen for its apparent tranquility. Following his emigration experience, 2Fik rapidly found himself amidst a fusion of religion, politics and society.
2Fik’s photographs drawthe viewer into a true societal melting pot. At first glance his approach induces laughter, however on a subtextual level the mood darkens to the point where viewers might find themselves questioning their own identity. 2Fik intends a playful, yet powerful approach as he attempts to achieve a social reflectionThe approach is intended 2Fik playful, but powerful in the sub-text to achieve a social reflection. Stereotypes encourage viewers to discuss the idea of universality, because in the stories everyone can recognize a part of themselves. 2Fik’s photographs transport us into a true melding of society.
September 17th to October 9th 2011
EXHIBITION
The Invisible Dog
51 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, New York City, USAFor more information visit the website.
