Kate Clements: The bride stripped bare by her bachelors
What makes Kate Clements a truly great artist is the conversation that her work evokes about the female gender and issues of narcissistic female adornment.
To the uninitiated viewer, looking at Kate Clements’ intricate glasswork, it might be easy to dismiss her as simply another talented decorative artist.
Whilst there is no doubt that she is extremely talented at the physical manipulation of kiln-fired glass, what does really make Clements’ work stand out? What makes her a truly great artist is the conversation that her work evokes about the female gender and issues of narcissistic female adornment. Clements’ work goes far beyond obvious feminist debates about woman as object and the power of the female form. Instead, what Clements seeks to uncover is the very psychological reasoning that leads to the cultural construction of feminine identity, and how women’s efforts at fulfilling such ideals can lead simultaneously to feelings of guilt and individual power. Adding to this is her performance work, which examines the ideas of purity and power, using metaphors presented by external objects as a means of examining metaphysical notions of being.
Constructing decorative, non-functional glass headdresses which function as a separation between viewer and ‘wearer’, Clements highlights a persistent desire by women to transcend their physical nature, in the hopes of achieving the socially constructed fantasy of a ‘perfect’ woman. Using such an elaborate and fragile medium adds to the sense of counterfeit perfection suggested by the focus on veils and crowns, key motifs of the beauty queen and the bride. It is this close examination into our cultural constructs and farcical use of adornments that transform Clements’ work into something more than pure decoration, adding layers of meaning that make us examine the very society we live in.
Hi Kate, can you tell us a bit about yourself as an artist? What are your passions? What questions still need answering for you?
I work primarily with glass but I describe my work as sculpture and installation. I have just completed my masters at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Over the past two years I have explored the ambiguity of fashion—its capacity for imitation and distinction; its juxtaposition of the artificial and the natural; its ability to divide people by keeping some groups together while separating others and accentuating class division. I’ve come to understand the lifecycle of fashion as a process of creative destruction where the “new” replaces the “old,” yet nothing is truly new.
I am still exploring this and find inspiration in the perspective of critical theorist Georg Simmel whose observations over a hundred years ago remain all too relevant in today’s Gilded Age. “Fashion elevates even the unimportant individual by making them the representative of a totality, the embodiment of a joint spirit. It is particularly characteristic of fashion - because by its very essence it can be a norm, which is never satisfied by everyone...” Style, as Simmel suggests, both unburdens and conceals the personal, whether in behavior or home furnishings, toning down the personal to “a generality and its law.” My choice of materials comments on society’s need to conform and maintain distance.
Let’s talk about your chosen medium. What are the benefits and difficulties in working with glass? How did you first discover your interest in kiln-fired glass?
When I was 17 I took a pre-college course in kiln-fired glass at the Kansas City Art Institute, which was primarily mosaic and plate making. The professor saw potential in me and when I started my bachelors there in the fall I trained as his tech and teaching assistant for the course. I continued that job for my four years in undergrad. Because it was only offered as an elective, I learned the fundamentals through instruction but was substantially self-taught.
Working in glass has pros and cons. The glass community is small and very supportive of its artists. Because of the nature of the material, when you are working with it hot you usually need the help of one to four people to make a piece - so the sense of community is very strong.
A con can be the constant struggle of defending the material. The question of why someone creates paintings is asked much less than why someone works with glass. However, the constant question of ‘why glass’ pushes glass artists to address the relevancy of the material in the conceptual nature of the piece as well a technical one. Working within a craft material there is a wide spectrum of what people choose to do with it. It can range from pipes and paperweights to fine art. If I am speaking to someone outside of the glass world and they ask me what I do and I say glass they normally follow up with asking if I can make a pipe for them.
Breaking outside of the glass community can be difficult too. I would love to be showing in galleries that didn’t only represent other glass artists. Not to get away from other glass artists but so viewers could understand working with glass as fine art and not glass art. This seems to be a line that can be difficult to cross.
What relationships to the female form does your work provoke, and how important is it for you to express these concerns in your work?
I think initially my work was heavily reliant on the female form. As a young woman, I felt the pressures of conforming to some sort of social construct of beauty. At times that has made me feel guilty because I felt a sort of pleasure and power in partaking in that construct.
In recent work I have been addressing how these constructs get translated in different stages of the adaptation of ‘fashions.’ How taste, even ‘bad taste’ can be celebrated in aristocratic society, but once mimicked by a different social sphere it can become kitsch and regarded as ‘aesthetic slumming.’ The concept of fashion and its association with modernity is interplay between individual imitation and differentiation. Fashion, adornment, and ornament all have vicious life cycles; newness is simultaneously associated with demise and death. Though fashion and adornment are closely related to the body, ornament can expand to architecture and environment.
I really love your performance work which I find evocative of the work of Matthew Barney and his use of the body as a vessel for exploring ideas of the human condition. In your piece, Cleaning, the situation transcends the realm of normality and speaks of a higher plane of fantastical reality where juxtaposed items like smashed glass and sweet milk come together to form metaphors about us as human beings, speaking particularly of the paradigms that surround women as having to be ‘pure’ and ‘clean’, expressed powerfully in the denouement of the piece. Tell us a bit about your thoughts behind this and what you wanted to achieve.
This was a very early piece for me that was dealing with my personal experience as a victim of date rape. This marked a turning point for me that was also inspired by a speech by Eve Ensler where she describes the verb prescribed to girls as ‘to please.’ I felt strongly that for a long time I had allowed that verb to describe my interactions with men. There is a rawness and vulnerability in this performance that is mixed with anger.
Who and what influences your work? Are there any artists you recognise as having a big impact on you and your working style?
I just adore Jim Hodges’ work. I think the wide variety of materials and mediums and the way he handles them is truly inspiring and something I look to if I am nervous about working with a new material. Matthew Barney and Alexander McQueen were huge influences in the glass headdresses and the idea of masquerade and costuming. Other influences have been the palace architecture of Catherine’s Palace in Russia. I love the over-the-topness of the patterning and the idea of excess in a space that blurs the boundaries of public and private, the domestic, and the idea of display.
You have stated that your glass headdress designs function as ‘a separation between viewer and wearer’ but that this distance is only a ‘counterfeit perfection’. How important is it for you to address ideas of distortion and fantasy in your work?
I enjoy working with things that are recognizable, but nonsensical and fantastical in their execution. I am interested in the perceptions we have in what we think we are displaying, what we actually are displaying, and how we display it. Some materials can transcend their own materiality. The glass can be seen as ice, plastic, or sugar in the headdresses. In newer work it reads as growths or caviar. Regardless of what it appears to be the fact remains that it is extremely fragile and futile. In a newer piece there is a vinyl treated chintz sofa covered in glass beads. The shiny plastic is reminiscent of plastic covered sofas as a means to preserve something nice, but it can also read almost like a piece of porcelain because of the patterning of the fabric.
What is your definition of ‘creativity’? What does it mean to be ‘creative’ in today’s world?
I believe that creativity is driven by never being satisfied with what you’ve accomplished. That there is always something that can be pushed or questioned within a material or challenged conceptually and that ending up somewhere completely different from what you intended is usually a good sign.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself ten years ago? What have you learnt as an artist that was unexpected and what advice would you give to others?
The advice I would give myself is to never doubt your interests no matter if conceptually they might sound simplistic. There is usually something there that can be unfolded into something fairly complex.
Not being intimidated by not being technically trained in a material. Coming from an outside perspective and not knowing the right way to use a material takes away restrictions or inhibitions that might have been taught and allows a certain amount of freedom.
Herbert Golser channels mother nature in a quivering solidity
Golser’s latest exhibition at Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery showcases a tightly sculpted juxtaposition between fragility and structural durability – a combination that leaves you questioning whether these sculptures were crafted by the artist or Mother Nature herself.
Golser’s latest exhibition at Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery showcases a tightly sculpted juxtaposition between fragility and structural durability – a combination that leaves you questioning whether these sculptures were crafted by the artist or Mother Nature herself.
As one enters the unassuming Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery on London’s Rathbone Street, the space’s white-washed walls cite Michelangelo in describing the exhibition: “the figure already existed inside the slab of marble”. Indeed, Herbert Golser’s sculptures, which reveal waves, sweeping strokes and pointillist landscapes from within masses of wood, embody Michelangelo’s view in this regard.
Golser hails from Austria with lengthy experience in sculpting, particularly with wood as his medium, graduating from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the Technical School for Wood and Stone Sculpture. A great deal of tradition and time is felt from behind the works displayed in this particular exhibition; one cannot help but imagine the painstaking patience required to forge such detailed and fragile works.
Fragility feels important in this collection. At times as you wander between these monuments you dare not breathe at risk of disturbing the resting flakes and strands of wood sculpted by Golser. This grants the space an inherent stillness and calm that underpins the pieces displayed. A tight relationship between the sculptures and the space grants Golser’s work further dimension; shadows cast by towers of wood protruding from the walls and between the floorboards cast warped geometries, wall-mounted lattices reveal white from the walls in the grates of wood toying with the eye, rows and columns of miniature blocks laying perpendicular to the wall shift the sense of perspective as you pass a piece enabling a sense of movement. What originally seem like still natural creations, upon closer inspection, contain great amounts of life and vitality.
Each sculpted piece conforms to a series of repeated patterns which applies a mathematical quality to the works and yet the pieces which contribute to an individual work retain a sense of individuality – much akin to mathematics found in nature. This parallel exists to the extent where at times the viewer begins to question whether an artist exists at all: perhaps through a series of natural erosive processes these artefacts themselves in a gallery.
Herbert Golser’s exhibition, A Quivering Solidity, is open at Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery until 11th July 2015.
A festival for art lovers
Style and substance go on display at Muse Gallery and at a tube station near you. We interview artists Francis Akpata and Ewa Wilczynski.
I may not know what art is, but I know what art isn’t. The ongoing Art Below annual summer group exhibition in collaboration with London’s Muse Gallery and Studio, taking place at the Muse, is a festival for lovers of good art works. A total of 50 artists, established and unknown, are exhibiting their work - 25 artists from the 4th - 14th June followed by another 25 artists from 18th - 30th June. Why would 50 people want to partake in a gig like this I hear you holler? It’s providing a tad of everything for everybody. Besides to foster the spirit of public participation and engagement in arts, some of the works are also on display on billboard posters across the London Underground network throughout June and July. Is this a winning formula or what? Answer on twitter, please.
Artists taking part includes: Welsh painter, poet and television personality Molly Parkin, 83, Ewa Wilczynski, Hayden Kays, Lora Hristova, Francis Akpata, and Nasser Azam. Paul Lemmon, Ben Moore, Dora Williams, Ani Lang, Leo Jahaan, and Christopher Flower, expressionist figurative painter from Southeastern North Carolina, USA. And there’s more: Stephanie Brown, Louise Barrett and Marty Thornton, to name but 16 - London is becoming an art capital now. The show has galvanised what can be refer to as a frenzy because The London's Muse Gallery is based in the capital's cultural heartland Portobello Road, known world-wide as the home of Europe’s biggest street festival, the London Nothing-Hill Carnival. The Carnival Bands will take to the roads on Sunday 30th and Monday 31st August.
The Art Below was started in 2006 as a public art organisation by brothers Ben and Simon Moore with a vision to “enrich the everyday life of the traveling public by giving fresh insight into the very latest in contemporary art whilst at the same time providing a platform for emerging and established talent”. To date, Art Below have displayed the works of over 3000 international artists, both emerging and established artists in several underground stations in London and overseas. The Muse pieces on show: a mix of painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture and landscape, (a drifting jumble) arguably, I can say ranges from the absolute shocking to the damn-right sublime and some in between. To wrap up: Art Below Summer Show 2015 is the Glastonbury of Art festival and part the masterpiece of London’s big summer happening. Don’t miss it. 4 stars!
As part of my review for this piece I contacted two artists of this must see exhibition. First; Francis Akpata, is only on his second exhibition, but counting. Born in Nigeria, however, came to the UK in 1991. Akpata briefly (one year) studied Fine Art and Literature at the University of Benin, Edo State, and Western Nigeria. While he says he is mostly self-taught, looking at his works of art you will be forgiven for thinking that Akpata was some eons ago a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) or pupil of Édouard Manet (1832-1883). Francis said: “I hold the view that art should be an expression of one’s thoughts and feelings through images. I merge images and colours to express my thoughts”. Who could argue with that? However, Francis is exhibiting only one piece at the Muse gallery - titled In Repose, which precedes another one he exhibited last year called In Recline.
Francis Akpata
How would you describe your art style?
My style is either expressionist or abstract. The expressionist works are figurative while the abstract pieces describe feeling, ideas or pose a question. I paint primarily in oil for abstract work and then combine pastel, water colour and ink for figurative paintings.
Digital and computer art is upon us big time, which means that anyone with any proficiency in software design programs can produce a drawing at the drop of a hat. Does this worry you? And life drawing is now seen by many as an old-fashioned and unnecessary waste of time. Do you agree?
I think computers and digital media are tools that will also help separate artist from craftsmen. As I mentioned the artist uses his imagination and the tools, which could be paintbrush or a computer could be used by the artist. So it does not worry me, I intend to use digital media to make installation videos in future.
Francis Akpata
How do you evaluate art? Every attempt to define "good" art is doomed to frustration. Allowing the free market to decide, may sound intelligent, except that auction prices identify Damien Hirst as the best ever UK artist, which sounds a bit suspect to me, if you ask me?
I evaluate art as good when it is able to engage our imagination and understanding. Some artists like Damien Hirst are also able to market their works effectively, this is no different from Michelangelo who was able to get the attention of religious and political leaders in the 15th century which led to him painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Ever since the controversial works of Marcel Duchamp, avant-garde artists, have been pushing the boundaries of your profession to breaking point resulting in the ongoing debate about 'What constitutes art?' Is this not a trivial squabble between scorched academics? And would you agree that categories such as Contemporary Art, Fine Art; Visual Art; Decorative Art; Applied Art; Crafts; Art Glossary; Junk Art; Graffiti Art - these categories should be eliminated?
I believe the categories should be eliminated and that we should thank Marcel Duchamp for allowing us to separate craft for art. A craftsman learns a particular skill and uses that methodically without using his imagination. An artist uses different mediums, styles and genres to express ideas.
Francis poster is up at Green Park tube station till the end of June.
Thenceforward, welcome London-born Ewa Wilczynski who has been exhibiting since 2009 and this is her seventh outing. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, London, and the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris and has exhibited internationally and throughout the UK. The title of Ewa’s show is THROES. Shocking!
Why Throes as a title?
The title of the show THROES takes inspiration from death throes: that moment in-between life and death. My work deals with those elusive and ethereal moments - 'In between' in human nature.
How many paintings are you showing in this exhibition and why?
Ewa Wilczynski
The exhibition showed all the pieces I had made in the few years since graduating from St. Martins and living in Berlin and Paris. It was a chance to consolidate a whole body of work during these really influential and inspirational periods of my life as a young artist. So I had about 6 large scale pieces which took anywhere from 3-7 months to paint each one and several smaller works too.
Now, your CV, well what can I ask? A graduate of Central Saint Martins and the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris. An artist, actress and muse. Exhibited internationally and throughout the UK including campaigns across London Underground. Digital billboard campaigns across London. Exhibited at London’s Mall Galleries and your debut solo show at the Royal Academy of Art?
During my time at university I was always working, whether it be exhibiting in other countries: Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Toronto, having billboard campaigns of my work on the London Underground and digital billboards over ground using ad space like art space as an exhibition with Art Below, or working in film and fashion. Fine art has always been at the centre of everything I do, so even when working in these other fields I approached each project like I would a painting composition. I took the starring role as 'The Oracle' for Dennis Da Silva's short film Apophonista?! which was screened at Cannes film festival, and most recently collaborated with Joel Byron on our film A Thin Place.
How would you describe your art style and what drives Ewa Wilczynski?
I think what I do is quite different as I seem to have one foot in the past and another in the present. It's quite rare to see work like mine at the moment, and most people respond not only to the overpowering scale, but the overwhelming emotion they evoke. I paint using Old Masters' techniques, and am quite traditional in my appreciation for the craft and also my attraction to classical nude figures. I make my own glazes and paint layers and layers and layers of translucent colours over one another. This can take up to 7 months sometimes, but gives the most luminous effect where the colours reflect and change, and it also gives the paintings a sense of depth. But then the other side of me re-contextualises these techniques in the present day and I manipulate the form/composition in my own present day perspective , including inspiration from my interests in human nature, and as well as my own personal emotions at that time of painting.
You are in my humble opinion a high-profile artist. This is a huge accomplishment. Do you have that feeling of 'I have arrived - Let’s celebrate?'.
Oh thank you that's kind of you. I have a very strong work ethic, and always push myself to be the best I can be. So I get up 4am and work, work and work. So even when I had my debut solo show at the Royal Academy - especially being so early in my career to achieve such an honour - I was just in complete work mode and didn't have a chance to feel 'I have arrived'. Even now, I'm onto my next projects and challenging myself so have not really thought about things like that. However, the thing I am most proud about is seeing people's response to my painting, because that is what it's all about.
Ewa Wilczynski
What next for Ewa Wilczynski?
I will be auctioning my work with Avenir Magazine and Sotheby's at the Groucho club in the autumn and currently painting towards my next solo show! For updates follow me on Instagram and twitter @ewawilczynski or my Facebook fan page Ewa Wilczynski
The Muse at 269 Gallery & Studio, 269 Portobello Rd London W11 1LR
Opening Hours: Thursday-Sunday, 12.00-6.00pm
Watch out for the forthcoming exhibition titled: Art Below Regents Park 2015 from 05/10/2015 to 01/11/2015
Information on how you can exhibit your work on public space with Art Below go to www.artbelow.org.uk www.artbelow.org.uk/ab/Home.action
Art Vandalism – A Modern Social Problem
Vandalism of art has occurred for centuries. We all know this. But to think it still exists in our time is depressing.
Hans-Joachim Bohlmann may not be a familiar name to you. In fact, until recently, it was not a familiar name to me either. But this man led a rather interesting life. Interesting to say the least – he was responsible for damaging over 50 works of art, (together worth over £98 million) over the span of 29 years. In fact, his serial sabotage has made him become synonymous with the term ‘art vandalism.’
Art vandalism, or the deliberate damage of works of art, has seen a surge of incidences in recent years. Edward Eriksen’s The Little Mermaid sculpture in Copenhagen has been the subject of repeated damage, including a decapitation attempt). Before the Mona Lisa was encased in bulletproof glass, it sustained heavy damage from a sulphuric acid attack. And very recently, Anish Kapoor’s piece, Dirty Corners (which he describes as ‘The Queen’s Vagina’), was spoiled in a similar fashion – with the vandals marking the inside of the giant sculpture with yellow and white paint.
Chateau de Versailles workers cleaning up Kapoor’s vandalised sculpture. AP Photo/Michel Euler
Kapoor responded to this attack in an article by claiming it was ‘politically motivated.’ He was cited as saying that the motive of this attack was because his sculpture had ‘given offence to certain people of the extreme political right wing in France.’ He later makes an interesting point of drawing a distinction between political violence and artistic violence, with the former being destructive and the latter, creative. And that’s what really struck me.
This concept of political violence (which, when acted upon in this context, becomes art vandalism) is detrimental to culture. One aspect that is definitive of contemporary art is freedom of speech. Not a garish, brazen kind of freedom – not one that acts by the will of ‘freedom for freedom’s sake’ but a more refined, deeply poignant breed. And that is why acts of mindless (and mindful) art vandalism are so harmful. They represent censorship, prejudice, philistinism and all the obtuse masses of people that seek to devalue the work of an artist.
A similar incident occurred last year in France with artist Paul McCarthy’s giant inflatable sculpture, Tree. Conservative Parisians and politicians thought the 79-foot piece was in bad taste, claiming that it resembled a “giant sex toy.” But that was McCarthy’s exact inspiration. He stated that it was meant as a ‘joke’ but the assault and heckling that he received after the installation highlighted the sense of humour (or lack thereof) that his critics have. But the irony lies in the reaction. I believe that McCarthy’s intention was to cause somewhat of a stir – expecting individuals to see the piece and think ‘did he intend on making it look like a giant butt blug?’
Paul McCarthy’s controversial piece lying deflated in a Parisian floor. Martin Bureau / AFP / Getty Images)
Is there anything that can be done about vandalism in art? McCarthy responded to the vandals in perhaps the best possible way. He requested that the piece remain deflated and not be re-erected or replaced. Although his decision was driven by a desire to avoid any violence, I think that he may have paid tribute to this idea of artistic violence that Kapoor so vehemently condones. One that defies cultural annihilation, stands firm, resolute and in the words of Kapoor: ‘may scream at the tradition of previous generations.’ Fight fire with fire. Turn a bad thing into a good thing. This idea of artistic violence doesn’t seem so farfetched after all.
An Interview with Afriquoi
Delivering high-tempo tunes in the spirit of togetherness.
Based in London, Afriquoi is a UK afro cracking group, with every performer a band leader in their own right. The team stretches in age across three decades, devising from Africa, the Caribbean and the UK. How about that for World Music? They are an underground commotion, bringing an enriching fusion of live African music and electronica. Their masterful five-piece live shows always combine Gambian kora (the KORA is an ancient, and complex instrument from West Africa, shaped like a lute, with a 21 string bridge-harp and played like a harp), Congolese guitar plus Mandinka percussion styles (Mandinka is a drum-like instrument and has a body carved from hardwood and a drumhead made of untreated rawhide and comes from Mali, West Africa), with electronic music drawing on house, hip-hop, soul plus jungle, to produce incredible lock, stock and barrel exceptional vibration.
The music is furious, sometimes deafening and distorted, although it can safely be described as hypnotic, funky and high-spirited, but overwhelming too. One wonder’s how an audience could endure such an onslaught and still be howling for more. On the other hand, it’s a great choice that the Songlines Encounters Festival management included Afriquoi as the closing performance of the festival. From the moment the lights dimmed and the five men appeared on stage there was no let up for the next 80 minutes as they belted out dazzling hit after hit with ageless but ecstatic excitement. And boy-o-boy did the crowd, in the moment believe these guys? They were all jumping, swinging their arms in the air and crying for more. Afriquoi knows how to keep the adrenalin flowing and they more than lived up to their reputation as crowd-pleasers. It was impossible not to admire the energy fueling this festival, especially from an ecstatic close quarter. Here is a question and answer stint with Afriquoi the group.
For anyone that does not already know about Afriquoi, tell us more about the band?
Afriquoi is a cross cultural collaboration based on fusing African music with electronic music. We started by doing some recording sessions in 2011 with Fiston (guitar), Jally (kora) and the marimba player Kudaushe Matimba, who no longer plays with us. These collaborations came about through Wormfood, the promotions company, booking agency +label run by Andre (Afriquoi percussionist - who put the band together). Running regular world music nights every Sunday at Hootenanny in Brixton, Andre got to know virtually all of the UK's African musicians, and so invited a few favourites for a collaboration, bringing in producer Nico Bentley on the controls. We didn't have a set idea of what would happen, we just came to experiment - and Afriquoi was born! Since then we've collaborated with lots of different artists including Jamaican dancehall MCs Serocee + Warrior Queen, but the band has cohered to a regular 5 piece line-up, playing shows across the UK + Europe including Glastonbury, Fusion Festival, Bestival, Secret Garden Party, London Olympics + a ton of others.
Tell us where you guys hail from originally and what instrument or instruments you play and how long you have been playing together?
Jally Kebba Susso, kora, Gambia. Andre Espeut, UK/Martinique, vox. , Fiston Lusambo – Congo. Nico Bentley - UK - production/ MD. Andre Marmot - UK – percussion. Oli Cole - UK - live electronics. We've all been playing together since the act started in 2012, except for Oli Cole - "the kid" - who has just joined us on live electronics replacing Nico. (Nico has just been on tour with Seal and is currently Musical Director for Grace Jones so needed some cover....) Nico will stay involved as Musical Director and main producer.
Why call your group and sound - African-electro dance band? And your group comprises of Africa, the Caribbean and the UK. Do you have a point here?
Ha-ha we don't call it African-electro dance band - you'd have to ask Song lines about that. We just call it music - or 'live African dance music' as we don't like to pigeonhole ourselves... not to one aspect of African music or one aspect of dance music. We just want to make exciting, positive music to make people dance. Yes, we have a point as a group - to draw on the best of African music plus electronic music plus make a new sound that represents the 21st century sound of London.
Afriquoi are a great African-electro dance band with live vocals: Gambian kora, Congolese guitar, percussion and electronics drawing on dubstep, house and hip hop with musicians from Africa, the Caribbean and the UK. However, there must be some challenges, back-biting and the root of collaboration can be a tad tricky? Who is the trouble maker in the group and who is the peace maker? Tell us more about the in-fighting stories?
Ha-ha, we are all a bunch of rascals and ruffians - especially Jally. But we always get on well together and that's one of the things that makes playing together so special. Fiston at 56 has nearly 40 years of professional experience as a musician so we look on him and respect him as a kind of father figure - Papa Fiston. And that's one of the best things about the group - we are different ages, different ethnic and social backgrounds, but we come together and collaborate as equals.
Are you guys still able to make your kind of music sculpted by your original beliefs and not that of your manager or record company or better still for solely what brings in the cash?
Absolutely. We are completely independent and make exactly the music we want to. We all believe that it is only through making music that comes from an authentic place that you have any chance of success.
How do you or the group stay motivated?
Chin-ups, pull-ups plus Fiston's beef brochettes and Andre's roast chicken. No, seriously, we just love playing the music we play and it's always a huge pleasure playing for new audiences and seeing them dancing and smiling and enjoying our music. That's the main motivating factor. It has to be or we might as well be doing something else. Catch us at show at one of the festivals we are playing this summer and see for yourself. Gig schedule is attached.
We review: All That Fall at the Barbican
Imagine seeing a play with no live actors. Just chairs. Just lights. Just sounds. And imagine it being magnificent. Here's our review of Samuel Beckett’s one-act radio play: 4/5
The stunning set for All That Fall. Photograph: Ros Kavanagh
‘Is that it?’ was the clamour of a few of the audience members immediately after the end of the performance. But this wasn’t an exclamation of disappointment. It was an insuppressible utterance for more.
The Pan Pan Theatre production company brought Samuel Beckett’s one-act 1957 radio play, All That Fall, to aural life in the Pit theatre at the Barbican. The audience are invited to sit where they please, on sporadically placed rocking chairs in a room that can only be described as a ‘sombre listening chamber.’
Jimmy Eadie’s effective use of sound design had the actors controlling the entire audial experience. The actors (in dramatic soundscaping fashion) introduced the play by voicing the sounds of barnyard animals and ended it by mimicking the convincing sound of a storm – allowing us to be immediately immersed within Beckett’s dismal, rural world.
Aside from sound, the only other sense we are invited to use was sight, but of course, to some degree. There were dozens of light bulbs hung randomly (or so it appeared) on thin wires from the ceiling along with an array of lights on the wall facing the audience. Aedín Cosgrove’s ingenious use of lighting glared into existence by having you, at times, envision the headlights of a car or even the twinkling stars of an Irish sky.
I was rather afraid that this performance would have had the effect of a glorified audiobook. And I was also worried that the dearth of any visible actors would have (if you’ll excuse the pun) enfeebled Beckett’s vision. But my fears were allayed after that one hour and ten minute performance. This was a drama performance to a T – exercising the subtle nuances that any good quality play would have utilised, made more extraordinary by the fact that all this was done without any live actors.
This was a regressive experience too. The uniquely charming effect of having your sense of vision obliterated and completely bent into the will of the performance reminded me of being young, driven by the power of my imagination. I was focused solely on the words and envisioned my own characters – my own little, old Maddy and my own grumpy, old Dan.
My only qualm with this production was that there was just something missing. I felt that the lighting, despite being creative, was not utilised to an innovative degree. I appreciate that the true focal point of the play is in the words more than anything – but at times I struggled to see what some of the lighting attempted to convey. A scene at a train platform, for example, left me puzzled as to how the lighting connoted to that in any way. A few times it felt like I was looking at a constellation and trying to figure out how or why that disfigured coat hanger could possibly be Leo.
But the effect of trying to convince your audience to imagine the story yourself was indeed successful – and one that should be encouraged by all. If you believe in the legacy of a legend, know that Beckett lives on, and he’s at the Barbican.
4/5
United in music: Songlines Encounters Festival
Let’s sing and dance together.
I can think of no place that welcomes the music of other countries with more enthusiasm than the UK. We have long had an unquenchable appetite for the music of other countries. A visit to any of the several UK summer music festivals will offer everything from timeless King Sunny Ade music (Nigeria) to Toots and the Maytals, Jamaica’s own godfather of soul and the Southern soul sister number one Candi Staton (USA) to acts from Romania and Ukraine. Keeping with this tradition and celebrating its fifth year, Songlines Encounters Festival brought an explosion of international talent across the globe to perform live to a packed audience at London’s stylish Kings Place spot.
Mahsa and Marjan and Duncan Chisholm Collaboration
It was faithfully a celebration of the richness of our blended heritage and culture with enchanting line-up of unique global acts designed to appeal to music audiences of all ages, enthusiasts and Johnny-come-latelies. It was a must hear and a must see for anyone interested in great live performance such as act number one, Scottish fiddler Duncan Chisholm in collaboration with Iranian vocalists Mahsa and Majan. Fado singer put side by side with Cypriot musicians. Anglo-Bangladeshi Latin beats playing with Bangladeshi virtuosi. Songlines blast proves an overwhelming and emotional experience for lovers of world music. It could only happen at the Songlines Encounters Festival.
Where politicians delve around for more sticky tapes and plasters to hold us together, to all intense and purposes, the creative industries is doing a better job uniting us through music. Arts should be a lot higher up the programme of any political party in this country. On the contrary what we have now is backed funding and that is thanks largely, to the lotto – participation in the arts has levelled a bit. Well, back to the fiesta: it opened with fiddler Duncan Chisholm, one of the demanding people on Scotland’s active folk scene with six solo critically celebrated albums behind him. Duncan’s performance was flawless. He performed traditional and contemporary music from the Highlands glens inspired by the Highland glens which are his family home.
Duncan Chisholm
The only reproach I have of Songlines Encounters is why give such a dynamic fiddler-performer thirty-five minutes on stage? Too brief of course. The ladies sitting beside me felt short change. Nevertheless, Songlines made-up for it and Duncan returned later in the evening for a special Songlines Encounters collaboration with Iranian vocalists Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat (sisters). Hallelujah! Next on the bill was Gisela João, new fado singer now making huge impressions in Portugal and currently touring the UK. She sings traditional fado music at its very best. You can hear the “saudade” in her voice - a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese nature. Saudade is the Portuguese word for a feeling, a longing for something or some event that just might not happen. Gisela’s songs are based on love poems that evoke a melancholy “saudade” that draws in the audience to feel her world and make it all seem real. Gisela’s acclaimed debut recording was an album of the year in Portugal. She is one to watch!
Gisela João
Another showstoppers of the festival were world legendary Iranian singers – Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat - sisters. Their sultry voices intertwine so beautifully in a biological yarn of sound which had the audience transfixed from start to finish. Also their social conscious lyrics is a celebration of Persian poetry of love, unkindness, revolution and freedom, and of lives lived on the fringes. Readers take note - the sisters are forbidden to perform publicly back home in Tehran, however. How about that? What is more the sisters’ special Songlines Encounters collaboration with fiddler Duncan Chisholm really packs a deceive punch. Alright, musical collaboration between the East and the West have been explored before, though never with such experimental zest, or by three people like Mahsa and Marjan and Duncan so lauded with charisma and talent. The instrumental arrangement that followed was like no other I have seen. At the conclusion the sparks between all three led to a five minutes standing ovation. Amazing indeed.
Now wait for this, for the first time Songlines Encounter did what they have never done - there was a night of very danceable live Afro-electronica from Afriquoi, one of UK’s electro-African dance bands with live vocals, kora, guitar and percussion. They were a bundle of energy. Although the show stated 25 minutes late, nonetheless, when it finally kicked off for real, it was not a disappointment. They gave an extraordinary powerful performance, singing funk, rock, ballads and Afrobeat, you name it they had it all. The audience – young and old and racially mixed – showed their appreciation by non-stop, clapping and dancing and crying for more and more.
From one show to the next I find myself saying, this is the best I have seen. Then I attend another and I find myself repeating myself, this is the best Songlines Encounters has put on. Speaking to some of the attendees they were impressed too. One said: “all acts was the best”. Another said: “absolutely brilliant. Songlines Festival nailed it”. Songlines Encounters Festival is co-curated by Songlines Magazine and Ikon Arts Management. Watch out for 2016 festival programme, due out end of June, 2015.
All images by © Haydn Wheeler
5 up-and-coming artists to look out for in 2015
2015 has so far been a huge year for emerging artists and musicians. Jump on the hype train early and check out these five artists who are absolutely killing it this year.
2015 has so far been a huge year for emerging artists and musicians. Jump on the hype train early and check out these five artists who are absolutely killing it this year.
Source: YouTube Screengrab
London-based quartet BABEHEAVEN has only recently struck into the music scene – but what a bang they’ve made with their first single, Friday Sky. Lead Singer Nancy Anderson’s smooth soul vocals complement their ballad-like sound – dream-pop vibes meshed with trip-hop beats. Imagine the lovechild of The Durutti Column and Warpaint but with a 2015 spin on it.
Although we’ve only had a taster of BABEHEAVEN, we can be sure to expect big things from these Londoners this year. You can check out the music video for Friday Sky (directed by Raf Fellner, Tegen Williams and Frank Lebon) below:
Image via lilymercer.co.uk
With a career slowly beginning to blossom in his 30’s, Vic Spencer is a bit of a late bloomer in the Hip-Hop world. Hailing from Englewood, Chicago – the rapper is an emerging talent cited as the future of Chi-town’s rap scene despite fierce competition from his contemporaries born in the same city. That means you Lupe Fiasco, Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa.
Listening to his music is sometimes rather like a lottery draw. You can listen to a cocky yet deeply lyrical track like Relapse and then find something entirely different in The Writers. This ability to diversify his style is a hallmark of his experience and we can only wait to see how he progresses from here. But for now, let the track below do the talking.
Source: Photo by Nate Ryan/MPR
Careers can also blossom prematurely. Corbin (formerly known as Spooky Black) has already developed a large cult following since his breakout single, Without U from the mixtape Black Silk. He has been taking the R&B world by storm and he’s not even 18 yet. His matured vocals juxtapose a youthful face – yet his sincerity always manages to shine through with the tenderness of his subject matter. Girls. Depression. And an all-round feeling of dejectedness.
Corbin has transmogrified R&B and made it his own and into something that is darker, more visceral and original. Those of you who can lend a sympathetic ear to lyrics that discuss the pangs of adolescence and heartbreak, definitely give this boy a listen. Or even listen to his work just because it’s so damn beautiful.
Source: Youtube Screengrab
My aural senses are tingling. Something that sounds like Tame Impala? Check. An artist from New Zealand? Check. Jamiroquoai-esque pop-funk? Check. A contemporary revival of rhythmic 60s soul? Check. LEISURE has all these boxes ticked and more.
Their (or his? Or her? We don’t quite know yet) debut single, Got It Bad, was initially intended to have a couple hundred views on soundcloud. Now it’s on 200,000. There’s no surprise as to why what with that smooth bassline and catchy repetition of “Girl you think you got it bad?” LEISURE’s music is a nod to the early days of funk – nothing too complex, just plain, unparalleled grooviness. Sit back, relax and soak in the song below.
Image via soulculture.com
And last but not least on our list we have Ben Khan. A UK artist reminiscent of a cheerier Jai Paul tinged with nuances of a young Prince. After his first successful EP, 1992 – Khan returns to 2015 with his 1000 EP – a similar yet more evolved sound than his debut work.
Khan’s music resonates with all things synth and all things snare. The blues-sounding guitars compliment the electro-funk feel to his music. Khan is another artist that is boldly experimental yet equally unassuming. To put it plainly, he’s not trying too hard to be alternative and thus always manages to churn out absolute bangers. But the greatest thing? His songs are accessible to all kinds of musical palettes and moods. Bump the track below at a party, a pre-gym pump up, at a picnic on your stereo or even (and especially) in the shower.
Making art about food waste: Interview with artist Louiza Hamidi
For Louiza Hamidi, it is our conceptual exploration that reclaims moments as art. And she likes to make art about food waste.
For Louiza Hamidi, it is our conceptual exploration that reclaims moments as art. And she likes to make art about food waste.
I met Louiza Hamidi a few years ago when we studied together for our fine art degree, we have remained friends and collaborated on many works to varying degrees. Louiza and I collaborate on our pop up installation Food Waste Café, where we cook and serve food waste to visitors in a restaurant setting, but Louiza has been very busy with food waste since her degree. She has embarked on a food waste tour of England, exploring how food waste is managed in other cities, she has completed a half marathon fuelled by food waste and she has invested a great deal of time into collecting food waste from supermarkets and distributing it through Curb, an active food waste campaign operating on a pay as you feel basis.
With the new French law coming into effect requiring supermarkets to deal with food waste more responsibly; I speak to Louiza about what she’s doing and her thoughts on the current food waste situation.
How did you become interested in the issue of food waste?
I had been experimenting with different ideas around ‘sustainable living’ for years, becoming increasingly aware of my own consumption and critical of consumer culture. Foraging for food in bins was just the next step on the journey! I became very interested in the creative form of eating with one another, whilst simultaneously exploring the use of artistic processes as a tool for socio-political change.
How do supermarkets react with your requests for their food waste?
I am yet to collect from the bigger supermarkets but I do collect from local stores, community events and food banks. Requests can be a bit of a shock at first. I think people fear judgement, so sometimes owners or staff lie to me claiming they have zero waste. Once, I had been asking for food from an organization that told me multiple times that they didn’t have waste. Out of the blue, I received a call one-day saying that my request had not left their mind and that they had come to terms with the fact that they do have waste. She asked if I could come in and pick up the surplus that she now believed to exist! It was an amazing, amazing moment for me. We’d planted an idea, and been patient. We’d built trust and challenged pre-existing fear/shame about waste. It really confirmed that there is so much potential when stores say no, as it’s the invisible thought processes that continue out of our control that will make positive impact.
What is Curb?
Curb is solely a food waste campaign. We have a business plan that works toward putting itself out of business.
Curb recently faced the issue of turning up to an event with cooked food and being told they couldn’t serve it. Does Curb face these kinds of obstacles often?
This was the first time that we’d turned up and been told we couldn’t serve our food. This was not because of health and safety, or because the food was once deemed ‘waste’ but because there was confusion within the organization of the festival. It is a real-life problem that caterers who are charging prices for food at festivals, are going to need to cover their overheads. The caterer was just upset and fearful of other people sharing food as she saw us as competition. We were very understanding, compromised a great deal, but we were not going to let our beautiful food go to waste!
How do you deal with the legality of serving out of date food?
I just do it. I think there are times when corporate law has its place, and there are times when it doesn’t. I feel the issue of food waste is because we don’t listen to common law. We are people of the planet and there is food that is safe to eat being wasted, due to profiteering, constructed policies and beauty ideals. The bottom line of Curb is to disrupt this. However, in order to acquire and rescue the most food from being wasted, I have to compromise with the system at the moment and make sure there is no reason why food businesses can say that they ‘can’t’ give us their surplus. I abide by everything we need to in order to push forward our campaign – but I’m always honest about the contradictions and make sure I share these kinds of dilemmas with people in conversations.
Do you think the new laws in France are useful and will they be effective?
I think that the use and effectiveness that will come out of them is essentially getting food waste onto public and political agenda. I don’t think it will make much difference to the reality of food waste, as laws are very easy to get around if you’re a big corporation that makes lots of money and works with the government.
I think it’s excellent as a first step, but I find it so problematic! Distributing food waste to charities and non-profits is actually just moving the responsibility to those in the third sector. This has been hugely devastating for decades and is never a solution! It merely removes moral, social, ethical and environmental conscience away from those systems and institutions that cause it and on top of that, it passes on the weight, time, cost and conscience to those working with extreme effort to combat their mistakes. We need to get to the root, but I appreciate this kind of legislative change (whether truly enforced or not) is definitely the first step in the right direction.
And finally, how can we make changes to food waste in the UK or even globally?
As a human race, I think we need to rediscover our connection with food. I believe that we are only so wasteful because we have little to no respect for food. We are completely blinded by a construction of what food is – hidden away from all parts of the food chain and only exposed to food as a commodity to buy/sell. Most of us only experience food at the Retail part of the system.
If we could disrupt this idea individually and on a society level, we would have so much more respect for food. We need to become conscious of what is on our plate, where it comes from, how it grows, what it does to sustain life, how much value it has and what it means to share food with others… then I don’t think we would create policies, legislation or practices that puts colossal amounts of good food to waste!
This is what Pay As You Feel is all about for me. This is why Curb exists.
An interview with artist Hayv Kahraman
Iraqi-born artist Hayv Kahraman has blown away the world with her refined and virtuosic ability to tell a story. But what about her own story?
Iraqi-born artist Hayv Kahraman has blown away the world with her refined and virtuosic ability to tell a story. But what about her own story?
In a previous interview, you’ve said ‘I will always be a tourist wherever I go.’ That was six years ago – how has that changed now? Do you believe that the older you get, the stronger your affinity for Iraq grows?
That hasn’t changed much and I think that feeling applies to Iraq as well. My relationship with Iraq, “my homeland” is problematic since I left at a young age and so I wasn’t able to establish a strong link to the culture and life at large. My parents on the other hand, have decades of memories to replay and that is something I have always wanted to have. Perhaps the yearning to create a stronger affinity with Iraq is more relevant in my life right now since I am a new mother. My daughter was born in the United States and having her learn her heritage is important to me.
What have been the reactions from Middle-Eastern women to your work? And what have been the reactions from Iraqi people to your work?
It was interesting seeing the different impressions people had during the opening of How Iraqi are you? Many Iraqi’s braved the NY cold to come see the show. They expressed an intimate relationship with the works as we shared the same memories – a collective memory, of war in a distant country that was once our home. They wanted me to add more paintings to the collection as they told me stories and idioms they remembered using back in the day. And there was a glimpse of pride in their voices as they saw their colloquial Arabic written on a canvas in a New York gallery. In terms of feedback from Middle Eastern women, so far they have been positive and many identify with the works.
Being of an Iraqi Kurdish background, you and/or your family must have experienced persecution from the Ba’ath party. In what way has that influenced your work?
Yes that’s correct. My parents were persecuted in many ways. My mom was interrogated once and my father was pressured to teach a certain way (he was a university professor). I only experienced this once in school during our “Wattania” class. This is a class introduced into Iraqi schools in 1978 by Saddam and the Ba’ath party. It taught the politics of Iraq and the region from the perspective of the Ba’ath party. One day the teacher handed out a test. One of the questions read: “circle the correct word; is Iraq a democracy or a dictatorship?” I was 9 or 10 years old then and didn’t know the difference between the words. Ironically I circled dictatorship and was called in after class, given an extensive lecture by the teacher on how I even dared to say that and of course hit with a ruler. I now understand that it wasn’t the teacher’s fault as she was pressured to do/act this way by the government. This memory has manifested into a work part of the series “How Iraqi are you”. (See attached image “Wattania Class”)
I myself have had a similar story to yours. Having fled Baghdad (as a result of Ba’ath persecution) with my family in 1997, I moved to London. Now I’m beginning to learn how to read and write Arabic. For your most recent exhibition, How Iraqi are you? You also had to relearn how to write Arabic yourself. Could you tell us about that?
The texts in the works of How Iraqi are you? are personal memories from growing up in Baghdad as well as tongue twisters, aphorisms, and stories of existing as a refugee in Sweden all in which are written in colloquial Arabic (Iraqi). The works are based on the 13th century Baghdadi illuminated manuscripts or more specifically “Maqamat al Hariri” that narrated the everyday life of an Iraqi at the time. I wanted to use that idea and think of it from the perspective of todays Iraqi immigrant. The process of writing the text in the works became somewhat performative for me and very much part of the work itself since I was actively relearning how to write. The calligraphy in the Maqamat is that of the “Naskh” which is a slightly looser type often written while being narrated and in the Koran. As I drew inspiration from that, I still didn’t want to copy blindly. I took my time to examine the original text in the manuscripts, each letter, the thickness of the stroke, the shape and the angle. I was re-learning how to write my language as well as read and speak my mother tongue. The tongue that I had/have grown to forget and not use anymore. The tongue I regret not have continued to learn. I look at these Arabic letters with estranged eyes now. I was exported and so was my language. But it’s also my fault for not having kept it alive. I was too busy learning the western language and training my eyes to adapt to English letters. I can now see these Arabic letters from the perspective of an American or a Swede and that terrifies me. It makes me want to reiterate them, paint them, write them, re-learn them and re-memorize them: recover them. I am on the search for recapturing my amputated mother tongue. At age 34 I am searching for my 9 year old self that spoke and wrote fluent Arabic.
I’ve shown How Iraqi Are You? to some of my family members who are also living in London. They found it really interesting how you managed to capture some very specific Baghdadi colloquialisms and sayings. Do you remember these sayings from your childhood or did you have to research them?
I’m glad you showed them to your family! I’m always in search for aphorisms and collective memories. This series has become somewhat of an archiving process for me so if you think of anything do share!
Back to your question, yes they are personal. I remember singing them, saying them and living them. Words like “Ummodach” (that translates to a swear word and is accompanied by a hand gesture) that is now appropriated in Swedish schools among kids of diverse ethnicities; this of course due to the large influx of Iraqi refugees in Sweden. Or political sayings that we used to sing as kids in school.
Are there any future projects from you that we can look forward to?
At this point I am still working on this series, collecting aphorisms and stories. I will be showing more works in Dubai in the fall and look forward to engaging with that side of the world.
All images obtained at the courtesy of the artist
Field Day 2015 Photo-diary
The long-awaited Field Day festival took place last weekend in Victoria park under rays of sunshine and musical promises that were fulfilled – for the most part. Starting on Saturday with a rowdy crowd that rushed its way from stage to stage to see the artists headlining, the smaller acts performed beyond expectations while some of the headliners were good, at best. The highlights of the festival were undoubtedly Kindness, Mac Demarco, and Patti Smith, whose music and stage presence uplifted the audience with carefree dancing and head-banging moves. Todd Terje’s brilliant performance was only magnified by The Olsens and Sink The Pink, London’s famous gay, drag and queer club kids, and FKA Twigs’ gig was a theatrical show that deserved to be seen on a bigger stage. Ultimately, this year’s Field Day Festival remains a success for music lovers, and one can only hope the future line-ups will be as excellent as this year’s.
Photos by Suzanne Zhang
Art and activism; French supermarkets and food waste in the UK
With the recent news of France’s new law prohibiting supermarkets from discarding edible food, there has been a sharp increase in discussion about food waste in the public eye.
With the recent news of France’s new law prohibiting supermarkets from discarding edible food, there has been a sharp increase in discussion about food waste in the public eye.
France’s new food waste law is certainly a step in the right direction regarding responsible management of waste by corporations; however, this triumph is only a small part of the way to go and is problematic in many ways. Though public perception may see this development as the supermarket waste problem solved, many UK supermarkets have been claiming for years that they send their food waste to charities. This may be a surprise to those celebrating the Tesco CEO’s only recent public commitment to do the same; Tesco are possibly just catching up with their competitors. Waitrose’s website for example states that food fit for consumption is donated to local charities. From my own experience of dumpster diving, I know for a fact that this is incredibly misleading at the very least. My friends and I have recovered over a tonne in a few months from supermarket bins in one town.
Another issue with the French law is that it doesn’t address the cause for so much waste, the problem is simply being redirected, the responsibility is being passed on. Many charities that gratefully accept donations of food are given much more than they can distribute, meaning they still have to throw it away and in addition they must pay for the waste disposal. It is also unlikely that charities will have an arrangement for anaerobic digestion and so the food ends up in landfill, a worse fate than before. Companies like FareShare in the UK accept food from supermarkets and distribute it to charities. However, Fareshare disposes of donated food after a certain time period of having received it regardless of its use by date.
With waste being wrapped in so many layers of secrecy, law and bureaucracy it can leave individuals feeling powerless and uncertain of how to make an impact or change but there are many artists and movements in the UK taking action within their community to get people talking and bring these issues to the public agenda.
Disco Soup is a food waste movement sweeping Europe, an unlikely combination of food waste, cooking and disco. Originating in Germany as Schnippel Disko organised by Slow Food Youth Deutschland, the movement has been going strong for a few years now, recently having grown to be very popular in France as Disco Soupe. At these events, participants peel and cut salvaged veg in a party environment to create a dish to eat. The movement carries with it no element of monetary exchange, no sense of entitlement but a whole lot of community atmosphere. It is free flowing, anyone can organise one; simply combine a venue, a DJ, food waste and lots of dance ready participants.
Another inspirational and devoted activist in food waste is Louiza Hamidi, an artist I lived with and collaborated with during our degree. We continue to work together with our pop up installation/participation Food Waste Café, where we cook and serve food waste to visitors in a restaurant setting but aside from that Louiza is incredibly active with food waste in her community. She now runs Curb, an active food waste campaign operating on a pay as you feel basis, investing a great deal of time into collecting food waste from supermarkets and distributing it to the public. Despite the legally questionable ground of distributing food that has passed its sell by date, she is persistence and challenges the logic and validity of these laws allowing such waste to continue.
Artists like these are part of the driving force for changes in law, attitude and practices regarding waste, if not ethical conduct entirely. Although the fight to stop waste has already been going for decades, now is an important time to focus on waste and artists who work with these issues are crucial to inspire and motivate others to take direct action in combating them. Despite any criticisms France's new law faces, it reflects that this is an issue the public care about, it means supermarkets are legally bound to do what they claim to do already and it is certainly a step in the right direction.
Interview with artist and filmmaker Anna Franceschini
For Anna Franceschini, film is more than just a medium. It’s a living, breathing form in itself – it’s modernity manifested behind a silver screen.
For Anna Franceschini, film is more than just a medium. It’s a living, breathing form in itself – it’s modernity manifested behind a silver screen.
Milan born and bred ‘documenter of the soul’ Anna Franceschini boasts an impressive résumé of exhibitions, awards, fellowships and residencies across the world on her belt. With her numerous accolades one must wonder that she’s certainly got the art of experimental s film to a T – metaphorically and literally (See: THE STUFFED SHIRT film of hers). When viewing a film of hers I was always intrigued as to the thought process that drove such exceptional ingenuity. I was lucky enough to interview her and find out.
Very briefly, for those who have not heard of your art before. What would you describe it as?
I work mainly in experimental film, art films, and experimental documentary. By ‘experimental documentary’ I mean something that is in between straight documentation, visual anthropology, surrealist films and everything that escapes the conventional definition of 'documentary' but has, somehow, a deep relationship with the observation of phenomena and performances that involve the production of moving images in real time.
Now you studied media and film extensively. But what initially inspired you to get into this field?
When I was a child, my parents allowed me to stay up late at night only if there was a good movie on television. We would go to the video shop together with my father, which was also a bit of a ritual. This helped me to develop a 'taste' in film, and visions in general quite early on. Also, my mother and father had always been very attentive towards the cultural offerings I was exposed to. This doesn't mean they prohibited me to watch this or read that thing. It was quite the opposite – I always had a lot of freedom, but they were always present. They were always explaining, contextualizing, and entertaining themselves and I with irony. They had been the first and most important trainers of both my eyes and mind. And now, the more I grow up, the more I realize how important and inspiring that was. I now have a different look towards things, to be autonomous in my thinking. This is what led me to be an artist and this is what they taught me.
Anna Franceschini, The player may not change his position, HD video, installation view at Spike Island, Bristol, UK, 2014
What aspect of your work do you think defines you? In other words, what do you think makes you a unique artist?
I never thought about myself in terms of uniqueness, but I would say that my aim is to focus on some inherent characteristics of the film language like: movement, montage and light. I'm also interested in cinema not only as a form of art or entertainment but also as a technique – an apparatus. Besides this, I'm interested in a sort of 'cinematic experience' that encompass different aspects of life and experience. Traveling by modern means of transport, taking a escalator, watching the effect of the wind, living in a urban landscape. Everything that belongs to modernity, historically intended, is somehow cinematic. It's not by chance that the first experiments with moving images and the beginning of the modern era are coexistent. Modernity is cinematic and cinema is modern. Which makes the term ‘seventh art’ a little obsolete now. But all this is occurring in a beautiful way though. Cinema is aging gracefully.
You are a very visual artist as well as a filmmaker. Would you consider your art to be a viewing experience for pure aesthetic purposes or something else?
It's a very crucial question and answering it is quite complicated. The esthetic experience it's way more than the mere experience of 'beauty', it involves perception, rational thinking, emotional reactions, all that concerns the self and the Other. I think art has been mainly based on the form rather than its contents – otherwise it turns purely informational. Jean-Luc Godard used the expression 'politique des formes' and I think it's a perfect synthesis for what art is.
Lastly, what’s your creative process like?
It usually starts when a thought meets something that belongs to the so-called ‘phenomenological reality.’ It's an encounter between my subjectivity (or some aspects of it), and what I consider the 'outside.' It’s based on a process of identifying which is often subconscious. Then I interiorize these ideas and rationalize them in order to achieve a result.
Anna Franceschini, Polistirene, video, still, 2007
Jo Peel's Cityscapes
Jo Peel's new show ‘Cityscapes’ is a collaborative show with Anaka and Ashes57 and opens today at Jealous Gallery Shoreditch.
Jo peel is a Yorkshire-born artist who creates expressive paintings and animations of architectural structures. Often lacking people, these are the types of buildings that often go unnoticed. Peel brings these fade-into-the-background buildings to the forefront. Buildings such as tube stations, pubs, cafes, and fishmongers all have been glorified and gilded by her brush. She paints the dull greys and blues of these semi-dilapidated structures interspersed with shocking oranges and blues to give them life.
BM - Your chosen subject matter is the often ignored buildings one sees in run-down areas, what attracts you to these typically ugly subjects?
JP - Well for a start I don’t really see them as ugly, but interesting and therefore quite beautiful. The buildings I chose always intrigue me and have some sort of human history attached.
I don’t necessarily seek out run-down areas, but places that help shape the identity of where I am.
BM - The paintings also often lack people, why is this?
JP - I think that as soon as you put a person into a painting, it becomes all about them and the building becomes a backdrop. By taking the people out of a scene, the eye is then drawn to the building and this can become the focus of the image.
BM - Would you say the buildings have been personified in your paintings? For me they feel like portraits in some way.
JP - When looking at a building I try to give them some sort of humanity and imagine the personality of the space, so I guess that yes, they are portraits of buildings, rather than direct representations.
BM - How do you choose which buildings to paint?
JP - I never find it difficult to choose what to paint. Wherever I am, I walk around a lot, looking at the buildings and taking loads of photos. Normally the buildings I choose have some sort of story, or speak about their environment. My work in East London in particular was a reaction to the redevelopment happening around me and how the landscape is changing.
BM - Do you sketch the buildings themselves and then paint from sketches or do you work from photographs?
JP - Sometimes I sketch from buildings directly, but more often I take photographs and use those to create the work. I often take lots of different photographs and then make up a composition to suit me that might not actually exist.
BM - The way you paint is very fluid and free, which contrasts with the rigid forms you depict, is this an intentional device?
JP - I’m not sure how intentional or thought out it was in the beginning, but I’ve found that depicting something as rigid and straight as a building without rulers and with freehand lines gives it more character and aligns it more with a portrait or the natural environment.
BM - Were these new works created specifically for this exhibition, and if so did you paint them with the other two artists in mind?
JP - The works on show at Jealous are a collection of works made over the last few years and are predominantly taken from East London and the surrounding area.
BM - What exciting things can we expect from you in the future?
JP - I’m currently working towards a major solo show in Sheffield documenting the two twinned Steel Cities of Pittsburgh and Sheffield. Alongside paintings, drawings and a large mural in the space I have been working on a documentary made in the two cities.
I want to explore further the narratives between cities that share parallel histories and understand how this affects the people, culture and the buildings.
Jo Peel's new show ‘Cityscapes’ is a collaborative show with Anka and Ashes57 and opens today at Jealous Gallery Shoreditch.
Graphic artist Ashes 57, creates monochrome drawings rooted in the urban landscape through print and original works on canvas. Anka Dabrowska responds to feelings of displacement and notions of the outsider common to city inhabitants, combining delicate pencil work with city-found ephemera. Painter, printer and animator Jo Peel captures moments that are at once familiar and yet distant from memory, which leaves the viewer questioning their existence. This group show will take visitors on a crawl through urban city life, drawing inspiration from intimate elements of the city as a landscape, dwelling place and cultural hub.
Jealous Gallery 53 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3PT
HIGHLIGHTS : NOS PRIMAVERA SOUND 15
NOS Primavera Sound lived up to its promise of diversity and presented a stellar line of top acts, arguably the best so far.
Photos by João Gambino and Hugo Lima
Just back from NOS Primavera Sound 15, the Porto-based cousin of the Barcelona Primavera, one can report a stunning venue with liberal in-and-out policy, near bars and restaurants, which was not too packed, yet full of friendly faces. But what of the actual centrepiece, the music? NOS Primavera Sound lived up to its promise of diversity and presented a stellar line of top acts, arguably the best so far.
Thursday, 8.45pm: arriving just in time to catch the end of Canadian Mac DeMarco , watching "Chamber of Reflection" as the sun sank, beer in hand and full of expectation. Funny guy, DeMarco is, dirty-talking in between songs, but one should not be fooled by his bizarre rambles - the guy knows how to build his space.
Kicking off the more heavy beats of the weekend was Young Turk, FKA Twigs.
Bathed in purple and blue, the little girl with the big big voice was on fine form. Twigs delivered a dark, erotic performance, her signature twists and twerks smooth and provocative as always. Although the light show was good, there was none of the usual theatrics, just a body and a voice, yet her ethereal style and depth of emotion was superior nonetheless.
Next The Juan McLean, presented the surprise of the day. I knew the DFA label and of course Nancy Whang, the American singer and musician who makes out half of the duo, beforehand. Whang, who is known for her work with LCD Soundsystem,
Soulwax, Shit Robot and Classixx's, comes highly recommended. The energy with which the duo presented an awesome hybrid of sound and style really got the crowd moving and grooving. The closing (in a big way) act Thursday was Caribou, a man who needs
little introduction. Known for his experimental style on record, Dan Snaith delivered a live set, in which he produced a liquid, bass-dominated electronic style. It resonated within, the world fading into a top quality visual backdrop. For me, this hypnotising performance reached a new level and showed Snaith's determination to continue to lead, to pioneer his psychedelic odyssey.
For us the rest of the weekend started with Patti Smith, performing her iconic debut album "Horses" on the 40th anniversary of its release in a hard-hitting mix of rock, dedications and old-school-kool. Sitting on a grass slope in the sun listening to the punk poet laureate we felt the presence of true legend and I for one fully understood the importance of the album and it's foresight of and influence on a variety of modern genres. Patti was in the building.
Possibly the greatest anticipation of the weekend was the phenomena, which is Jungle. From releasing their single "The Heat" in 2013 to being shortlisted for the Barclays Mercury Prize in 2014, Jungle has risen so fast to fame it is almost unfathomable.
Yet, seeing the vibe-collective with the psychedelic, uninhibited style live on Friday night it was clear that the hype, by no means, is unfounded. The group put on a spectacular, organic show full of collective energy in a mix of tribal wilderness, 1970s-style funk and mischievous bass. And the pure and contagious joy with which those on stage performed, built an unmatched connection with the crowd - standing still just wasn't an option.
It was a real shame that Jungle clashed with another highly anticipated act, Run the Jewels. As the former finished we made it to the last few minutes of the Hip-Hop act. The bit we caught was a dense and unyielding representation of dark electronic hip-hop. Yes, such a thing does exist and I would have liked to see more of what this interesting American duo has to offer.
And then there was Movement ...The undoubtedly biggest surprise of the weekend. The Sydney trio gave a fierce performance in a fusion of their own stuff and wellknown covers. Despite the youth of the Movement project, which is part of the Modular label,
something truly unique flickered through. Furthermore, the humbleness and gratitude the group demonstrated to the crowd was inspiring and definitely added to the experience. Musically, R&B and dance blurred in a dark, thick tone. The bass slow, lazy. The atmosphere loaded, transcendent. The sparse beats and unrelenting depth were complimented by exquisite vocals and controlled instrumental interference. Movement performed in a way, which made me lose myself, swaying with the rest of the transfixed crowd in an experience of smooth yet demanding and faceted beats and undeniably salacious undertones. It was hot. It was heavy. It was Movement.
End of a Century: Nineties Album Reviews in Pictures
Full of stunning illustrations, End of a Century is a tour de force that collects the work of the late John Matthew Charrosin Wrake (better known by his trading nickname ‘Run’) and his partnership with music bible NME.
Full of stunning illustrations, End of a Century is a tour de force that collects the work of the late John Matthew Charrosin Wrake (better known by his trading nickname ‘Run’) and his partnership with music bible NME.
The personal introduction, written by editor and friend Andrew Collins, discusses Run’s student life and his success as an artist and illustrator, giving us an insight into the mind of a man with ‘a style of his own’.
Designed by his widow, Lisa Wrake, End of a Century pays tribute to Run’s visualisations of nineties album reviews between 1988 and 2000, an exciting period in pop music history. Run embraced this and provided keenly satirical imagery that sat beautifully alongside album reviews in NME, providing a visual guide for music lovers.
Using a clever blend of collage and illustration, Run’s career as a graphic designer and animator has always been heavily influenced by music, from the visuals he created for the live shows of U2 and the Rolling Stones, to the videos he helped produce for the Gang of Four and Howie B. Drawing on influences such as Dada, Pop Art and early animation, Run had a unique gift for creating illustrations that stay with the reader for a long time. Some of the bands featured include: Julian Cope, Chemical Brothers, Joy Division, The Fall, Madonna, Kylie, Flaming Lips, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Manic Street Preachers, Pop Will Eat Itself, Blur, Belle & Sebastian, Public Enemy and Bowie.
End of a Century is published by Self Made Hero, retailing at £24.99 (208pp/ colour, hardback) and will be available in late June. To order a copy and for more information, visit: www.selfmadehero.com
IT’S THE LEAST I COULD DO – A forthcoming exhibition from Ben Oakley
Savvy gallery owner, businessman and artist Ben Oakley brings us an electrifying and ingenious exhibition at the Ben Oakley gallery. And this time it’s his own.
Savvy gallery owner, businessman and artist Ben Oakley brings us an electrifying and ingenious exhibition at the Ben Oakley gallery. And this time it’s his own.
IT’S THE LEAST I COULD DO, is the upcoming exhibition from Ben Oakley, the man who hosts regular exhibitions by local artists at his gallery. And with his more-than-generous contribution to contemporary art, providing us with his own work certainly is the least he could do.
With a background in antiques, he has developed a keen eye for (in his own words), ‘quality and craftsmanship.’ So expect an emphasis on textures, bold, unique compositions and a diverse range of mediums as well as themes.
The exhibition is formed of several different pieces that Ben Oakley has composed over the years from his own experiences. You’ll find wood beside enamel, beside concrete, beside prints – and no less than a medley of varied materials. You can assemble around the assemblage, ponder at the portholes or find yourself beside the figurines.
For those of you looking for something truly unique and truly personal, then just head on over to the Ben Oakley gallery in Greenwich – you will be pleasantly stunned.
June 20th – July 5th 2015
Preview Evening:
Friday, June 19th 2015
6:30 – 9:30pm
9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich Market London SE10
Xavier Chassaing’s DRY LIGHTS
DRY LIGHTS: A new project released by French artist Xavier Chassaing, a member of the Antivj group, is an awe inspiring video piece of pure beauty but much more than that alone.
DRY LIGHTS: A new project released by French artist Xavier Chassaing, a member of the Antivj group, is an awe inspiring video piece of pure beauty but much more than that alone.
The group of European artists known as Antivj focus on lights’ influence on our perception, striving to create experiences, which challenge our senses.
DRY LIGHTS is a fully CG video piece taking us on a journey through a vast landscape of lights, a partly imagined world providing illusions with sharp realism. The film follows an elegantly and meticulously choreographed flow of energy in the form of pulsing and flickering lights through plants on dark waters and misty skies.
The work was inspired in 2013 by light installations at Proyecta Oaxaca Festival at the ethnobotanical garden in Mexico, where an hour long night walk through the gardens allows visitors to be engrossed in the light works. A central theme in Chassaing’s work is meditation and hypnosis, the manifestation and eventual productivity of dreams are elements he confesses to exploring however, the environment provided by these works leaves plenty of room for the audience to create their own narrative. Through the videos’ meditative nature, this narrative has potential to exist as a reflection of each individual viewer, making for a truly stimulating artwork on many complex levels.
Portrait Artists: from Threads to Acid Heads
With new technologies the art of portraiture has been completely redefined. I look at four interesting portrait artists of this new generation who have bent this change to their will.
With new technologies the art of portraiture has been completely redefined. I look at four interesting portrait artists of this new generation who have bent this change to their will.
Bryan Lewis Saunders
Image Credit: Huffingtonpost.it
“There’s a lot of truth in media,” says Bryan Lewis Saunders in an interview with the Guardian while discussing a self-portrait of him inhaling lighter fluid. As evident in the interview and from his works, Saunders is quite the avant-gardist. He gained notoriety for Under The Influence, an experiment he devised where he intoxicated himself with a variety of different drugs, and then composed a self-portrait for each one.
Whether it is acrylic paints or metallic crayons, the media he uses are always symbolic of the drug he had taken. From the pleasantly colourful Xanax to the frighteningly abstract bath salts, we get a sense of his emotions under the influence – all of them hermetic, isolated within his modest apartment in Tennessee. To Saunders, portraiture is more of an internal experience rather than a representation of the external.
Nikki Rosato
Image via Installation Magazine website
Over the years, we’ve seen portrait artist’s progress from using oil paints to all kinds of media in their work. Albrecht Dürer himself would be turning in his grave, scoffing with incredulity if he found out that artists of the future could compose a portrait from hand-cut road maps.
Well the emerging talent that is Nikki Rosato manages just that. She encapsulates the fragility of being human through these irregular sequences of road maps, formed on the shape of a body. She creates her pieces by using a Stanley knife to cut away all the landmasses between the roads – leaving behind an intricate system of blood vessels, pumping transport links and points of interests that lead to nowhere.
Image courtesy of Kehinde Wiley Studio
Kehinde Wiley
In the past, the idea of subverting artistic tradition is a bold notion. And to repaint artistic history is an even bolder one. But Kehinde Wiley successfully attempts to do both. When not travelling the world looking for artistic subjects, he’ll be spending his time in his New York studio, acutely detailing monumental paintings.
His subjects? Almost always African Americans. Where does he find them? On the streets of New York, with a camera crew and an attractive woman so as not to incite suspicion. He usually looks for alpha male characters, and paints them in a heroic way – akin to the style of the Old Masters. With the end result, we can discern an intense smorgasbord of different qualities and themes, leaving no surprise as to why he is one of the most prolific portrait artists of this century.
Image via Kumi Yamashita website
Kumi Yamashita
Kumi Yamashita maintains a virtuosic control of light and dark values in all of her pieces. But one particular body of work, Constellation, is like no other. These are constructed by hammering thousands of small nails across a white wooden panel and running one single black sewing thread across all these nails to form an image.
On her site, she describes these portraits as consisting of ‘three simple materials that, when combined, produce the portraits.’ And yet despite such simple ingredients – the portraits look exceedingly meticulous and you are left marveling at how one single thread can represent not only expression but emotion too.
Lesley Hilling : A Silent Way
An interview with artist Lesley Hilling ahead of her new show In A Silent Way in collaboration with Anders Knutsson.
Lesley Hilling is a contemporary artist who utilizes reclaimed antique wood to create her intricate and alluring sculptures. All of her materials have past lives, some of the objects she has included in her work include: bowling balls, lenses, saw blades, syringes, chess pieces, mirrors, and photographs. Each of these objects bring a new dialogue to the already complex plethora of interweaving stories present.
In 2013 Hilling created the character Joseph Boshier, and attributed her new exhibition to the fictional architect. The tragic story of fame, failure, and disgrace was believed by many, and can be read about in depth here: http://www.josephboshier.co.uk
BM – your work is very haptic and tactile, not only in the way it is produced, but also in the way it invites touch. Is this something you allow or would you rather the work is viewed only by the eyes?
LH – I go for that on purpose, and I’d like it to happen a lot more. I think that’s something quite important.
BM – In the Boshier exhibition there were little doors with things behind, often people think they aren’t allowed to touch an artwork. Does a lot of the detail go unseen because of this?
LH – When I did the Boshier show I was actively encouraging people to explore the works. It was about ‘what lies behind’ etcetera.
BM – That resonates nicely with the alter ego you’ve created.
LH – Yes, I think so, it was intended as another layer. Having people looking at them closely is a really important element. I started putting magnifying glasses and lenses in as well, so that as you moved around, the photographs inside became distorted. It’s all to do with memory, and how the memory distorts.
BM – How much of the aesthetic of your work is dictated by the original appearance of the materials, do you use existing joints and cuts or do you make them all yourself?
LH – I cut all of the joints myself. I think the work has two different sides, there are the pieces that are all antique wood jointed together, and there are the larger Joseph Boshier pieces. The Boshier ones are a cladded substructure. If it all goes horribly wrong I can just re-clad. So it’s only really the colour or the texture that dictates how the piece would come out, rather than the shape.
The Boshier pieces are a lie, whereas the others are quite truthful.
BM – Something very obvious in your work is your love of balance, both with colour and also with the precariousness each piece suggests. Is this something you do intentionally or is it something that happens more instinctually? A lot of the pieces look like they shouldn’t be able to stand unaided.
LH – That’s right and I love that. It’s amazing how they do stand. I think its about 40% me and 60% something else, I’m not quite sure what. It’s a bit dangerous. The bigger pieces are in sections, so when we’re photographing them or moving them and they are not in their complete form, they can fall over. The top section will balance the piece perfectly when in position, but the piece isn’t balanced without it and is liable to fall.
BM – Is the process of creating artworks for you cathartic or do you find it stressful?
LH – Both. Its interesting, because at the end of the Boshier documentary Derval reads out the last entry in his diary, and it says “My art has seen me through”, which does suggest how cathartic it has been, and I think it’s true. I can be one hell of a nasty, bad-tempered person if it’s not going well. My partner Nel knows when things aren’t going well.
BM – Your work gives off a very ‘mad scientist’ kind of vibe, do you think there are elements of that in your character? This seems to be what you have written about the Joseph Boshier alter ego. How akin are the two of you?
LH – Not at all. I’m so modern and young. I’m very up-to-date with things. I’m certainly not mad, I’m a bit reclusive maybe. (Laughs)
BM – A lot of artists are, I think you have to be.
LH – I’ve been with Nel for 32 years this year, so I’ve always had someone around, coming home from work or pottering about the house. She’s creative too, and we’re part of Brixton Housing Co-Op, which is the LGBT community. I know everyone around here, and there are loads of artists and poets. It’s full of creative people. So although I’m reclusive I still have a network of friends around me.
The Joseph Boshier character was a real recluse - his story was about guilt, loss and longing. Emotions that are important to me and my work. Maybe that’s why they have that Mad Scientist look about them.
BM – What do you think the connection is between the LGBT community and the arts community? Do you think its because artists are quite liberal and free?
LH – Maybe liberal, but also maybe damaged. A lot of people who do art are damaged in some way. We’re all a bit damaged I guess. Now it’s quite open to be a lesbian or a gay man but when we were young it was really difficult to come out. Years before that it was illegal. I think all that feeds into people wanting to have a creative outlet. There is definitely that correlation between artists and queers.
BM – Do you believe in the ‘Tortured Artist’ dialectic?
LH – I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it. A lot of artists have emotional baggage they are working out in the art and it makes it that much more interesting. Also I think people who can create convincing political work and those who come from cultures where they experience oppression, bring so much more to the work.
BM – Maybe the past experience of hardship is what differentiates a good piece of artwork from a good piece of craft?
LH – If you have all of that going into it, it really does help.
BM – Do you think there is still a disparity between women and men in the art world?
LH – I suppose there is, there is in the world isn’t there? Not so much in the west these days though. I think there are so many great women out there doing really great work.
BM – You are using what some would call a traditionally ‘masculine medium’, do you think that’s why you chose a male pseudonym?
LH – Actually I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a man. My dad was always doing woodwork and things, he built a boat in the front garden. So as a child I was always doing that with him. I’ve always had that interest. When people who don’t know me see the work that do assume I’m a man because Lesley can also be a man’s name.
BM – How much did you have to get into the Boshier mindset whilst creating the work, did it have any adverse effects? Did you start thinking like him? And did you create the works for that show or were they existing works?
LH – Yeah a lot of them were already existing, and I think that’s why it worked. I borrowed a lot of previously sold work so it was a bit like a retrospective. I don’t think I could have made the pieces specifically for the show. Joseph came out of the work, the work couldn’t have come from him.
BM – In your opinion, is the whole story, and the reactions from the press and the public part of the artwork itself, or is that all just auxiliary and a means of publicizing the show?
LH – Yes, it was part of it. The story was like another layer on top of all of that wood. The success of making up a story like that is dependent upon the reaction. In a way I felt it was slightly flawed, because so many people left thinking Joseph Boshier really existed. I wanted people to leave the show doubting.
BM – Did anyone come out of the woodwork genuinely claiming to have known him?
LH – Yes, we had someone claiming to have heard of him. A magazine also wrote an article and I don’t think they realized he didn’t exist.
BM – What has been the single piece of artwork or exhibition that has affected you in the most profound way?
LH – Chris Ofili, his work when he won the turner prize. I really love soul and black culture. I felt his work was saying “OK you can do anything” and I found that so inspiring.
Lesley Hilling's new show In A Silent Way is a collaborative show with Anders Knutsson and is on at :
The Knight Webb Gallery, 54 Atlantic Road, Brixton SW98PZ
6-27 June