Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25128
blue: Why did you go to Guyana in the first place? Alexis Rockman: I went there to get out of my own head, to do something that was challenging. I had no plans to do any- th ing there. But two weeks into the trip, I was like, "I've got to do something! I'm going insane !" So I borrowed a pencil and a magnifying glass and went out and got specimens. I spent the rest of the trip getting up every morni ng and draw- ing insects. I had to go to the jungle to have the ideas in the first place. blue: What is your fascination with insects all about? AR: They're incred ibly alien and interesting. I can't think of anything that is as interesting to the naked eye-as different from humans- as insects are. blue: Why did you choose this particular jungle? AR: There is a long tradition of naturalists going to Guyana. People like Charles Darwin , William Beebe, David Attenborough. I wanted to go to a place that I had read about. At that point in my life I was like, "It's time to do something, stop reading about it and go do it yourself!" blue: Tell us about the paintings in Expedition. AR: Expedition is about what it's like to go into the jungle- not ju st the Amazon jungle, but any jungle. It has as much to do with the pop cu lture perception of what a jungle is like as it has to do with the real thing. They're popular pai ntings of natural history. Each image represents a postcard from a trip . And how Americans, or one American perceives himself in that context. The only way I can give myself permission to make these paintings is if I actually went to the place and had an experience. If I want to make a painting about diseases, the way that it 's interesting for me to make that painting is to go and view it as a geographic site. To go there and to at least have a sense that I might have these diseases is an exotic experience. blue: That's interesting, calling diseases an exotic experi- ence. Can you say more? AR: On a certa in level, the idea of getting sick becomes a type of ecotourism. It's a badge of honor. Getting sick is cool. As long as you can escape to a first world medical faci lity. And there's somethi ng pathetic and fucked up about that, but it's also very real. That is a kind of inversion and perver- sion of extreme tourism. blue: Do you consider yourself a traveler? AR: I love the idea of travel and I love to go do it, but it's a real struggle for me. I'm sort of judgmental about that ,HE ENTOMOLOGIST." 1999. OIL ON WOOD 74