Feast Of The Transfiguration: An Interview With Orkgotik
What may seem grotesque to some, is a life-saving cure for others. That's what we're told by the Colombian artist based in Argentina, ORKGOTIK, who uses all his skills to build and create different personalities that help alleviate some of his childhood monsters: just like becoming one of them.
ORK started making clothes at a very young age to build characters for personal stories and just for fun, by using needles and leftover fabrics. That was the beginning of his career as a master shapeshifter.
His style is progressive, provocative and contemporary, reminiscent of New York's Club Kids, and if his style terrifies or scares you, this is exactly what the artist was looking for. Are you feeling uncomfortable? Great!
Like the beginnings of Fecal Matter, Anthr0morph or a young Leigh Bowery, ORK is not everyone’s cup of tea, but we love it. Neither Van Gogh, Allan Poe or Sex Pistols had an early acceptance amongst the public and they went on to become icons.
The GATA team talks to the artist to chat about the history and inspirations behind the fascinating and scary world of ORKGOTIK.
Hello ORK! Would you mind introducing yourself to the GATA family?
I consider myself a super pretentious faggot. But above all things, I’m a monster/scientist and a new flesh researcher.
When did you start your career as an artist? Could you tell us a bit about your creative background?
When I was a child I was fascinated with visual storytelling and my imagination was always a full-speed train. I began to use needles and my grandmother’s leftover fabrics to build characters for my private stories. They looked awfully creepy with body horror features because I lacked technique, but I ran with it.
When I got out of high school I was pretty aware of my gifts and my difficulties to connect with other teens also. So I got in touch with people just to shoot them with a camcorder in order to put out experimental short films.
I was living in such an awful town and I didn’t have an audience for my videos. Most people thought that I was a pretentious kid, super resentful of his own culture. But that was exactly what I was trying to say throughout but they didn’t get it. I started to feel stuck in a pointless goal and with no time left because of my day job, I decided to make myself a star by night, to get the fuck out of town.
That’s how I started to use my flesh as the main canvas. That’s how I got obsessed with myself as a work of art in front of the camera.
“I’m not into gender. I take the pieces I need from any kind of human body, animal or object like a hunter and mix them together like a blender”
Performer, creator, artist, how would you describe yourself and what you do?
I’m all of them; I’m a high range visual creator (Performance art, writing, makeup and prosthetics, clothing design, plastic and digital art).
Usually, I found myself exploring fields that I didn’t think I had the guts and let myself roll with my restrictions and limitations to weirdly end up getting out of them. I guess I have more power than I give myself credit for.
And gosh! I give myself so much credit sometimes.
Is ORK a single individual? We can see that your character is changing, and you are transforming into many different ones. How would you describe the process of mutation and birth of your new personalities?
My style’s really extreme but stylish. Shapeshifting into creatures that are always after the beauty of horror and the charm in trauma. I can go from super cyberpunk to stuff from sleep paralysis. I'm not into gender. I take the pieces I need from any kind of human body, animal or object like a hunter and mix them together like a blender.
“When Leigh Bowery and New York’s Club Kids caught my attention with their artistic approach to the human shape, I felt like god shouted directly into my skull: THAT SHIT IS FOR YOU, MY GAY SON!”
Do they all have different names? When do you choose to be one over the other?
There is just one Orkgotik but I explore different sides of my visual pleasures and desires through my skin. I don’t let myself be stuck in one aesthetic and whenever I get myself comfortable with one, I try to peel off completely. I don’t create for anyone but myself and I throw out of the window my own techniques every time I can.
Your look and style are a bit reminiscent of the CLUB KIDS. Has this cultural group been an influence on your career?
Yes, of course! Though I spent so much time without knowing what Club Kids were when I finally saw the Party Monter’s shockumentary, it was HUGE for me. It was like divine intervention.
By that time I was aware of the whole drag queen movement, but I was never interested in gender expression. So when Leigh Bowery and New York’s Club Kids caught my attention with their artistic approach to the human shape, I felt like God shouted directly into my skull: “THAT SHIT IS FOR YOU, MY GAY SON!”
You have talked about depression in the past, is art a form of therapy for you?
I have huge mood swings. And it is usually after a wave of depression that I can force myself to do the things I should. I wish I didn’t have to be my own punisher. Art is my form of therapy but I wish it wasn’t my only resource to save me from myself. Because art can sometimes feel so empty and unfulfilled.
We've seen you on TV. Was it Colombian television? We can imagine that you've been both praised and criticized by the media. Could you tell us a bit about the acceptance from the country, regarding your creativity and flamboyant image?
Although I was born in Colombia I don’t think their people have an opinion about me.
I don’t think they know what I do. Because I never performed there. I started my journey as Orkgotik officially in Argentina and I never went back since I left.
My national TV appearance was actually here and it was a dumpster fire anyway.
The production didn’t care at all about art. I looked like a Lynchian creature with the biggest cheeks and tiniest hands lipsync to a Hillary Duff song just to make everyone as uncomfortable as I could and it turned out to be extremely fun. That was the last episode for the show, and it was cancelled for good. I love to give myself credit for that.
“My style’s really extreme but stylish. Shapeshifting into creatures that are always after the beauty of horror and the charm in trauma. I can go from super cyberpunk to stuff from sleep paralysis”
Your performances are very extravagant; they surpass any limit; sometimes, you even call them “monsters”. Could you tell us a bit about where your ideas and inspirations come from?
They come from my childhood fears usually. I realized that everything that made me afraid when I was a child became the seed for what now deeply interests me. I don’t know why. I guess the stuff I tried to run away from ended up swallowing me like one big wolf mouth.
With Brazos de Guillotina, you moved into music, how was this experience for you? Would you like to produce more music in the future?
I enjoy music so fucking much. But I don’t know anything about producing it. I’m just extremely lucky because I live with a few out of this world producers like Astrosuka and Sátira La Castrada. And just for fun, I tried with this last one to create a fast beat track as quickly as possible. I wrote Brazos de Guillotina embodying a former Korean Idol with a post-punk fusion.
Lyrically it’s an ode to a toxic relationship from the point of view of a serial pig killer.
I have no idea if we would do another one. I think people didn’t hate it. Which was extremely disappointing, to be honest.
What have been your biggest inspirations throughout your career?
Olivier de Sagazan, Leigh Bowery and the villains from Sailor Moon.
Are there any future projects that you are working on that you can tell us about?
There are a lot of projects coming up. But there are only a few things I can tell you about: I’ll be working on my first solo show attached officially to an art gallery that wants to represent me as a contemporary artist which is a dream I didn’t know I had. I was also offered to be part of the creative team for an upcoming vampire/werewolf movie in which I’ll be in charge of the design of characters. It helps a lot mentally to team up with an artistic crew. Offering my powers to a wider vision different than my own is always so fucking fun. I hope to write a lot meanwhile and turn that shit into a new film that gets me back to my roots with all my new wisdom and vision.
GATA Magazine loves cinema, and we believe it can influence the lives of many artists. Are there any film/s that have been important or remarkable in your life?
I’m a huge fan of horror as well as heart-wrenching dramas. I’m a sucker for humans being devoured by their own desires and fears. But my love for cinema started watching a lot of classic movies by myself, especially the ones with powerhouse divas like Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Mae West.
I sure had life-changing experiences hiding inside a nearby film forum since I was twelve. And I remember vividly experiencing Takashi Miike’s Audition and Amenábar’s Tesis there. I found my favs Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf the following years through my own sadistic searchings. Among my all-time favourite films, I would count Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Lynch’s Wild at Heart and Żuławski’s Possession.
I recently added to my list La Casa Lobo, a 2020 Chilean stop motion film. That one still haunts my subconscious with its terrifying mood and artistry and I’m sure it is going to influence my nightmares and point of view for life.