For Dan Russek, art abounds in urban settings, whether it be in the form of manhole covers, bike racks or other items and scenes that city dwellers regularly encounter. Spurred by an early love of photography, he has been surveying cityscapes with an eye for “public art that goes beyond the gallery.”
A professor in the department of Hispanic and Italian studies at the University of Victoria, Russek is the author of Exercises in Urban Mysticism: Practical Poetry, a 2020 book – written in Spanish, with the title Ejercicios de mística urbana: Poesía práctica, and published in Mexico – that explores the poetry of everyday life.
“One way I look at it is that I take the idea of modern art seriously,” Russek told the Independent. “When you see a painting by Jackson Pollock, you may understand its place in the history of art. But what Pollock is showing is a kind of texture, composition and movement that you can find outside of the gallery walls, appealing to a certain sensibility that takes you beyond the museum.”
Russek was intrigued by the 1996 book Manhole Covers, written by Mimi and Robert Melnick and published by MIT Press. It delved into how an object many consider ordinary can provide a record of the history of a city and, some would argue, be deserving of a spot in contemporary urban culture; in other words, seeing a utilitarian object as an “urban sculpture.”
Russek devoted a lot of space in his illustrated book to manhole covers, bike racks, various geometric structures and a variety of textures. Art, as he views it, extends far beyond the confines of canvas or paper. Indeed, by his admission, one of his favourite spots to be is on construction sites, especially in a place like Mexico City, where there are few restrictions for getting inside.
“You take something in itself that may not appear to be too interesting, but, when you look at it in a certain way, it becomes interesting. Or, to quote Gustav Flaubert, ‘Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough,’” Russek said.
As an example of this, Russek gives the work of American photographer Edward Weston in the 1920s and 1930s. As Russek describes it, in one image, Weston takes a simple green pepper and turns it into something “astounding.” The same can be done for bike racks and many other urban and industrial artifacts, he said.
Russek, who was born in Mexico, remembers being surrounded by relatives who were passionate about photography.
“As a kid, we would make an album while on a vacation. Each trip yielded an album, as did life events, weddings, bar mitzvahs,” he said. “Life was documented. It gave me a model. I began taking pictures in high school, and I realized I was interested in abstraction.”
Over the years, walking through the streets of cities like Chicago, Mexico City and Buenos Aires, Russek has been struck by many aspects of street art, including graffiti, another form of public art that is found beyond the gallery. In fact, some graffiti, he said, is as valuable as the art one finds in a museum.
“I wish I had my camera with me all the time. The reflections of light in the afternoon over the pavement, it’s phenomenal. The light making reflections on the water from a gutter – life is full of these interesting moments. Bringing the camera is a good thing because I don’t have to look for anything, the world sends it to me,” he said.
Russek completed a PhD in comparative literature at the University of Chicago, specializing in modern and contemporary Latin American literature and visual arts. His fields of research include the links between literature and the visual arts and media, urban studies and esthetics. He has explored the relations between modern technology, culture and literature, and centres on the notion of epiphany and the phenomenon of light. His first book, Textual Exposures: Photography in Twentieth Century Spanish American Narrative Fiction, was published in 2015 by University of Calgary Press.
Some of Russek’s next plans involve going beyond the printed page. He wants to make videos, as the medium “allows you to do more stuff, with music and the matching of images, that you cannot do in a book.” He also writes poetry (sonnets in particular) because, for one reason, “you can take an object or an emotion and write a poem about it and elevate it to a new level of importance.”
Argentine writer Julio Cortázar is an example Russek cites of an artist reaching beyond the confines of a particular medium, an approach that is multifaceted or experimental. In one work, Último Round (Last Round), Cortázar created an almanac-style book filled with articles, poems, essays and illustrations.
Aside from teaching and writing, Russek is the coordinator of the Latin American and Spanish Film Week, now in its 14th year, held in the fall at UVic’s Cinecenta. He is also the president of the Hispanic Film Society of Victoria.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.