Claudio Yurdadön
Although it was just meant to be a temporary escape in Sweden, Claudio brought their artistic alter ego Vlad back to Belgium. Together, they create big concepts inside their small studio. It started out with photography, but now they channel their creativity in various formats: poetry, photos, video sequences, and even in different languages (English and Turkish). These varied modes of expression allow them to explore relationships, identity and our projections onto each other and ourselves.
We spoke about art, identity, a lack of narrative, and geometric shapes. Check out the full interview below.
Just wanna know who Claudio is in one sentence? This one is a good start:
“I want to be a form - a blob that’s always shifting and changing.”
Looking through your Instagram, art seems to take an important space in your life. Was that always the case?
“Actually, when I was younger, I didn’t really like art. Even in high school… I was so bad at those painting and drawing art classes. I hated it, and I hated poetry, because I felt like I didn’t get it. I did take some photographs, but it was just a side hobby. Art wasn’t a big part of my life.”
“Later on, I started facing a lot of family issues. It was a very chaotic time for me. Everything was hectic and I was depressed and anxious. That’s when I started creating art, because it became an escape for me. I actually used to draw sketches of people I’d looked up on the internet, just because I could get lost in it. Art was a way to take my mind off what was happening.”
“I also physically escaped to Sweden. That’s when I really bloomed as an artist, because I was on my own for the first time. I could experiment with photography and my writing. It’s when I started to identify myself more as an artist.”
You started under the name Vlad. Why?
“My art is really a way for me to process my inner emotions and turmoil – to express it and in that way make sense of it. The things I post are very revealing and vulnerable. When I first started out, I was feeling depressed and I just felt like I couldn’t do it. So, I tried to channel the energy of someone fearless. I created this alter ego – Vlad – who isn’t afraid to speak their mind and just goes for it. I figured if Claudio can’t do that, Vlad can. Vlad is that bitch.”
Claudio & Vlad (2020)
“Of course, that image – the image of who I want to be – has developed over the years. I have grown and I’m doing the things I want to do. So, sometimes I think Claudio is enough and I don’t need Vlad anymore. But then I remind myself it doesn’t have to be so black and white – I can exist as both.”
Who inspired you as an artist?
“One of my first artistic inspirations – and I know it’s become a cliché, but who cares? – is Frida Kahlo. What really inspired me about her is that she’s fearless. She’s all about creating your own reality. She was also very vulnerable in her art. She has many portraits where she played with her gender identity. And she was bisexual. To me, that was iconic, because I was developing my own sense of identity and sexuality at the time. I wasn’t exposed to many people who were doing that.”
The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me, Diego, and Señor Xolotl
Frida Kahlo, 1949
“I also connect with the Russian avant-garde movement. One specific artist of the time which comes to my mind is Dziga Vertov. It’s so experimental and it pushes the boundaries of concepts. It makes you see things in a different way. It deconstructs everything.”
“There’s also this Scottish artist, Margaret Tait. She calls herself a film poet... I think… maybe I just named her that. She makes these experimental types of short films with poetry voiceovers. That format inspired a lot of my sequences. Although our styles are different, I think they have similar themes and could evoke some of the same sentiments.”
Is there something that sets queer culture and art aside for you?
“My favourite part about it is that it’s so hard to define. I follow so many queer people, who I don’t know, just because I love what they’re presenting. They’re so bold and creative and fearless. Queer culture is just so unique and different. It doesn’t have limits and it keeps pushing the boundaries. I still have a lot to learn about myself, my queer identity and how I want to express it. Seeing how other queer people express themselves fearlessly is very inspiring to me. I learn a lot from the community.”
How do you define your style, other than abstract? You use so many formats…Is there a common denominator?
“When I was first developing as an artist, I strictly limited myself to photography. I was also interested in writing short stories, but for some reason it was difficult for me to create a continuous narrative. I just felt like I didn’t have the energy for that. Now, I write poetry. What I like about poetry is that you can still have narrative and dialogue, but it is condensed. It’s the same with photography: it tells a story in moments. My sequences are also fragmented – they’re fragments that exist within their own bubble.”
“In all of those formats, I tell a story in a short and condensed frame. In the beginning, I was very frustrated because I couldn’t create these cohesive and flowing narratives. Now, I’ve adopted it as my style. I got tired of focussing on the things I couldn’t do. So, I just owned it and developed the things I could. Who says art must come in a narrative, anyway? It doesn’t have to be a natural sequence of events.”
“I recently read the queer art of failure by Jack Halberstam. It really solidified and structured those beliefs. I don’t want to try and fit some narrative or mold myself to something that’s already constructed. I’m going to create my own mold, do things my way, and not try to meet some standard. In my art, I try to be true to myself and what I’m feeling.
“If at first you dont succeed, failure may be your style”
- Quentin Crisp
A lot of your work is about shifting identity. Tell me more about that.
“My work is very autobiographical. Identity is something I have always struggled with and still do. I grew up between two cultures – I have a Turkish and American side. When I was in Turkey, I felt like an outsider. I was different because I spoke with an accent and of course I was influenced by American culture. In the States, it was the other way ‘round. I was American, but I wasn’t American. Growing up like that caused a lot of identity issues for me, because it made me doubt who I was deep down to my roots. If people ask where you’re from… how do you begin to answer that?”
“It was only later that it became about gender and sexuality. Of course, I had that whole experience too. Am I gay, bi, pansexual? And what about gender? Am I male or female? Or nothing in between?”
“All this is present in my work. It’s just me trying to make sense of these constructs, because I do think identity is constructed. Our culture programs us to behave and act in certain ways, and I think we have to question and deconstruct that. If I didn’t create art, and I would just try to figure it out in my head, I don’t think I would get very far. That’s why I create – if I can express it, then I can make sense of it.”
Besides an artist, you’re also a biostatistician. Does that sometimes feel like being a part of two cultures too?
“Yeah, that’s actually something I’ve struggled with. I have many different interests and some time ago, I had issues trying to figure out whether I should take the artistic or the scientific route. Within the sciences, there’s this culture of viewing the humanities and arts as lesser, because they think it’s frivolous or whatever. So, it does get difficult sometimes. I don’t know if I did it myself, but I did keep my work as an artist very private because of it. The two were kind of isolated.”
“Now, I consider myself someone who is involved with both science and the arts. You don’t have to limit yourself. Studying something within the sciences doesn’t take away from my art, and vice versa. I think it even complements each other. My education has influenced my art a lot – I often use geometrical shapes and lines to add dimension to my sequences. The lines add perspective and create a new reality.”
“It’s funny, though, because now – with the way I look – it’s the opposite. People immediately think I’m an artist. They never expect me to be a statistician. People will have perceptions and ideas of you, no matter what you do.”
Can creating be a way to deal with people’s perceptions?
“What I like about art is that I can create myself in my own image. I control the image of myself. Of course, I can’t control how you’ll perceive it, but I can choose how I expose myself to the world. I do think that’s a way to combat the negativity. To take ownership, even if we can still be influenced by external forces.”
“When I said that no matter what we do, people will have an idea of us – it goes both ways. Something I’m coming to terms with is the projections I place on other people. I think we’re all guilty of creating an image of someone and sticking with that. I also think the relationships you have with other people and yourself are connected. The way you react to people relates to the way you react and interact with yourself. If you’re in this self-conscious mindset, thinking people are perceiving you in a certain way, you are doing that to yourself. You’re probably perceiving yourself in that way too.”
“Projecting in this sense, is an important theme in my work. In some sequences, I leave my body and interact with that vision of me. For me, it symbolizes how our identity is split in various ways, how we have many different aspects to us and how those aspects sometimes need to communicate with each other.”
If people could take one thing from your art, what do you want it to be?
“Hmm… I don’t want just one thing to be taken from it. I don’t want my art to have a static meaning or message. It should be open to interpretation. Of course, there may be some common themes people will recognize, but I think everyone will have their own feelings about it and interpret it from a different perspective.”
“So yeah, the answer to this question is up to the viewer!”
If you could dream big, are there any projects you secretly want to start?
“I don’t have a grand vision project at this moment because I am creating the concepts I want to create. However, I do feel like a lot of my style is influenced by limitations right now. Having to deal with a lack of resources and space has forced me to find creative ways to forgo that. It can be difficult to make a small space look like something that is infinite and of another dimension. If I had more resources, I could expand my concepts and take it a step further. So, I think that’s what I would want for the future.”
“And costume design! I want to develop that and work with different shapes and silhouettes. That would elevate my art.”
Claudio & Vlad (2020)
