Charles Richardson: Rehearsal After Dark
Visual artist Charles Richardson’s latest work is a continuation of his video installation Rehearsal that won the 2014 New Sensations Prize by Saatchi. Richardson has been hailed as one of the UK’s most talented new artists.
Rehearsal After Dark uses a 16mm projection showing the 3D torsos of two figures. The images, distorted and blurred, are layered with bright plastics and other objects. The work flickers on a bright background creating a virtual space. Richardson says he finds ‘the realm of real taken into a virtual space a very interesting proposition’ rather than limiting to solely the virtual and vice versa. The videos are accompanied by eerie piano music that twists the view of the images, creating an audio/visual, surrealist heaven. His work is a good reflection of the current wave of ‘post-internet’ art, highlighting what you can create with modern technology with messages showcased through light creative pieces. As a movement, there always feels like a certain level of irony accompanying it, with a mockery of the digital age. Youthful artists are targeting what they know and the use of video art is ever growing, as shown here, making unique and interesting work with the programs available now, Richardson’s work is a prime example of this.
Rehearsal After Dark will be showing 5pm-12am at Cabin Gallery, until 30th January
subtitleddreams.tumblr.com/
Creating eye catching on screen: WEARESEVENTEEN
How would you describe your work and why do you do it?
We aim to create work that is visually beautiful but also means something, has a message or at least makes people think. We don’t always succeed of-course but our aim is always the same.
How do you bring your vision to light?
The creative process is always different depending on the project and techniques used - but there are common stages - i.e. We always clearly need to first work out what we are really trying to say or communicate, we then explore stylistically what aesthetic best coneys and reinforces that message, then its the classic process of storyboarding, designing, animating, audio, etc etc - the process isn’t 'rocket science’ and is always easier when there is a clear idea that we can refer back to and question whether all that we are doing is reinforcing that idea.
The trickiest part is coming up with good ideas that feel fresh and original.
By George Alexander
ANNA POGOSSOVA-Playful Master of modern still life
Moscow-born Anna Pogossova studied Fine Arts in Sydney. With a major in Photomedia and a flair for the waggish, Anna explores the dialogue between old and new, between still life and fashion.
Would you say your art is provocative?
Not intentionally no; my objective is more playful than provocative. The erotic collages for example, were made up of many fairly mundane landscape images and household fixtures. None of these are provocative in nature, whatsoever, until they are layered in a particular way to suggest bodies. Suddenly they become something of a more pornographic nature. I think that kind of thing is quite funny.
What is the common denominator of your work? Your concept, so to speak?
There is one underlying idea across my art practice, which is concerned with the experience of familiarity in fiction. This is something I observe closely throughout the process of creating an image, or while reading fictional works. I am always thinking about how it’s communicated and read in a way, which makes sense and triggers recognition, regardless of how fantastical the content might be. This is so, whether it can be attributed to the artist’s fluency in sign and symbol, which is learned and handed down, or if there are truly archetypal forms, which are created and understood, time and time again, intuitively.
And how does this manifest in your work?
Each body of work, so far, has focused on a particular iconography, where cultural snippets were abstracted and regrouped to create an identifiable narrative. I approach every series as a kind of experiment, hoping to reveal something about the nature of our collective imagination.
Could you talk a little bit about a recent piece and the inspiration, creative processes, material etc. behind it?
I had a very clear narrative and tone in mind for the H series images, which would borrow heavily from film, particularly science fiction. I imagined a fully realised world, with very specific scenarios and locations, which I wanted to execute (the shipping container in the middle of the road, the cinema, and the billboards), in which the identities of seemingly autonomous objects are embodied, to convey aspects of the human condition from multiple heterogeneous perspectives.
Most of the works needed to be constructed as small-scale sets, which were photographed in a studio setting, and later digitally composited with real-life landscape images collected during my trips overseas. I’ve built up a library of images of various landscapes and skies, which I often pull from to construct my fictional environments. I would generally shoot two versions of everything, one on medium format film and the other on a DSLR, depending on what kind of quality I am after.
Does your work have any connection with renaissance artists?
I identify myself as someone who only works with still life, but I’m always looking for loopholes within that genre, often asking myself questions like: “how can I make the body still life? What can I get away with?” There are some elements of my images, particularly in the Empires II series, which appear to be similar in composition to that of some renaissance artists. I was thinking about Old Masters paintings at the time, and was pulling out specific forms to include, which triggered associations with classical antiquity; the columns, clouds, statues and the shell vase, pictured in Venus, which instantly reminded me of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. As I moved further along in the process, it became more intuitive and less directly referential to any particular era or style. I was more interested in the types of imagery that I instantly responded to as having seen or experienced before without being able to pinpoint where.
And finally, what is the muse of it all?
The Moon.
French-Japanese fashion label Maison Kitsuné presents its FW15 collection in Paris
The Maison Kitsuné brand was born out of a very interesting fusion. With an exotic background mix, this French-Japanese label showcased its Fall/Winter 2015 K.I.M collection last week in Paris
The Maison Kitsuné brand was born out of a very interesting fusion. With an exotic background mix, this French-Japanese label showcased its Fall/Winter 2015 K.I.M collection last week in Paris.
Love of fashion and music came together as architect and designer Masaya Kuroki, and ex manager and artistic director of Daft Punk, Gildas Loaëc, founded the brand in 2002. As Maison Kitsuné developed slowly and organically, it now has three stores - Paris, Tokyo and New York.
The K.I.M (Kitsuné Institute of Music) collection exhibited last week drew creative inspiration from South Korea’s pop culture, Moonassi’s drawings and the design of the South Korean flag. By referencing South Korea’s reputation as the “land of the morning calm”, the brand has combined and balanced out workwear and casual wear, together with a selection of different shades of blue. The collection included coats, shirts, bomber jackets, and denim. Blue, was surely the dominating colour in this collection, accompanied subtly by the colours of grey, tan, beige and black. Bold patterns were also visible in their new F/W15 collection such as houndstooth and checkered prints.
Once again, Maison Kitsuné has shown the diverse inspiration from other cultures and brought it together to this latest collection. In the past, the label’s design and ideas were known for it’s Parisian roots and also the 60’s British rock culture.
MINNI HAVAS:The Photorealistic Helsinki Fashion Illustrator
Minni Havas’s illustration career begun evolving since she was a young teen, and later by attending the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. Known for her photorealistic aesthetic, not long after that she was signed by Pekka in 2008.
“I began illustrating already as a teen but more professionally all started after I was signed to Agent Pekka 2008. They contacted me and asked me to join after one of my friends showed them my illustrations. It was when I joined my current agency Pekka they made a selection of my work that defined my style more clearly.”
The main stimulus behind Havas’s work is fashion. “I would say my main inspiration behind my artwork is fashion... But it is more like the things i pick up from the stream (life, internet, friends, random stuff) and I want to make something original out of it. I would describe my art aesthetic in a pop, fashion, detailed, airbrush, playful style.”
Throughout her career, Minni was involved with clients such as Citroën, Diesel and BBH New York. However, currently she is focusing on working with smaller companies where she is able to have more creative freedom. “At the moment I work with small clothing companies that make mostly children's clothing. They give me a lot of freedom with the designs and its creatively a good challenge. Many ideas come from nature and pop culture phenomenons... Colors come naturally and I tend to have certain colors that I use like pastels.”
We asked Minni to describe one ordinary day at work: “Lets say I have to make a pattern design for my clients clothing collection. I usually have many ideas written down in my sketchbook and I try out some of them and send sketches to the client. They choose whats most relevant and interesting and I continue to make the finished piece from that. I draw elements like animals and scan them and continue on computer to make the pattern. One pattern takes about three days to make and I usually give some color options to the client.”
A lot of people in the art industry appreciate Minni’s sense for detail and colours. She has had many good responses from clients and completed interesting projects. What keeps her going is true passion, and love for what she does. “I started illustration quite young like 15 or something. I made some illustrations for magazines and books. Art has been part of my life since I remember. I have challenged my self over and over again to achieve the goals that i've set for myself.. Its a life long process.”
At the moment Minni lives in Berlin but says she’s absolutely in love with London. “I love how London is so versatile. Many interesting creative spaces. Helsinki is always my home but it was time to leave for new ideas and stepping out of my comfort zone. Helsinki feels too small sometimes and i like to be surrounded by life and space so in that sense Berlin is similar to London.”
Stella McCartney is Minni’s true fashion inspiration, and if she could be another artist it would be Jesse Auersalo. “In the future I would love to see myself working with maybe Stella McCartney because I love her design aesthetics. And now that I have done mostly pattern design id love to work with someone like her. If I could be another artist it would have to be Jesse Auersalo, I really admire his style and ideas... and I always wonder how he creates his work. Also, lately I have been really into rugs and textile design and I have many ideas concerning that. I would like to develop my skills further and continue to make the things I love. I’d like to work more and more with pattern design for interior and fashion design.”
AIAIAI Mix 010: HWLS
The 10th edition in the AIAIAI mix series sees rising, Australian duo, HWLS, come correct with a downcast, beat-driven mix repping Evian Christ, The Weeknd, Clams Casino and Tinashe, among many other genre-expanding artists and producers. Comprised of Aussie beat heads Ta-Ku and Kit Pop, HWLS are the latest in a long line of remarkable producers to come out of the music-savvy Australian continent. Check the chat with Kit Pop about their influences, their creative process and the thoughts behind their stripped-down, black/white, visual aesthetic at aiaiai website.
The timeless luxury leather designer ÚNA BURKE
Designer and Artist, Úna Burke is a multi-award winning leather sculptor in the fashion world. Burke achieved her masters at the prestigious Cordwainer’s College at the London College of Fashion, and her graduate collection won the 2009 Design Awards for ‘Best Static Collection’.
Designer and Artist, Úna Burke is a multi-award winning leather sculptor in the fashion world. Burke achieved her masters at the prestigious Cordwainer’s College at the London College of Fashion, and her graduate collection won the 2009 Design Awards for ‘Best Static Collection’.
In 2010, Burke went on to set up her own luxury fashion label and also won several more national and international awards including ‘Irish Designer of the Year 2011’ and a nomination for the “WGSN Global Fashion Awards”. Her work is now exhibited in over twenty countries worldwide. Over the years Burke has collaborated with both clients and colleagues such as The National Museum of Ireland, Phillip Lim, and Nick Knight’s creative laboratory the ‘SHOWstudio’. She has also produces film and stage costumes, for the film ‘The Hunger Games’, where Jennifer Lawrence wore an arm brace that was made for her.
Burke designs are both seasonal fashion accessories as well as sculptural art.
She uses complex leather-working techniques and her pieces are truly timeless, elegant and sculptural. All designs are hand-made in the Úna Burke atelier in South London, with the best quality vegetable tanned leathers from the UK and Italy.
There is no doubt that the brand is very avant garde and is an inspiration to many celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Madonna and Heidi Klum. Burke’s designer collections regularly appear in high end fashion magazines, such as Vogue, i-D and Numero.
Future Shorts returning at Number 90 Bar Restaurant
The first and largest global pop-up film festival, Future Shorts, will be returning at Number 90 Bar Restaurant on Wednesday 28th January.
The festival which takes place in over 325 cities and 90 countries, and comprises a worldwide audience of a half-million people, on and offline, will be showcasing a programme of nine exciting short films at the Hackney venue, accompanied by live music, food and drinks.
Representing the diverse nature of its audience, the sister company of Secret Cinema will be featuring short films from across the globe, including South Africa, Switzerland, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Sweden, USA, Japan and the UK.
The films range from 2008 to 2014, and include documentary, drama, comedy, music, animation and fantasy sequences. The evening begins with the South African documentary “Staff Riding” directed by Marco Casino, and finishes with the Swedish comedy “Instead Of Abracadabra” directed by Patrik Eklund.
Future Shorts believes that anyone, anywhere can set up a screening and be part of a massive screening network and a powerful global community.
Live music starts at 7.30pm, and the screening starts at 8.00pm.
Viet Cong -Viet Cong
Canadian band Viet Cong manage to blend it all into something scattershot yet coherent, unified by a strong stylistic through-line and an abundance of energy. They've filled this album -Viet Cong- with cool but addictive melodies, distortion and sewing sounds together, guitar work that can sooth or bludgeon at will, and plenty of sonic atmosphere. They're making it clear they have the talent and smarts to become a major force in Canada's indie community.
TOUR DATES:
[all tix + tour dates: jagjaguwar.com/tour]
01.28.15 – Union Pool – Brooklyn, NY **
01.29.15 – Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
01.30.15 – Bar Le Ritz PDB – Montreal, QC ^
01.31.15 – The Garrison – Toronto, ON
02.04.15 – Oslo – London, UK
02.05.15 – The Deaf Institute – Manchester, UK
02.06.15 – Broadcast – Glasgow, UK
02.07.15 – Brudenell Social – Leeds, UK
02.08.15 – Green Door Store – Brighton, UK
02.09.15 – Le Point FMR (Ephemere) Paris, FR
02.10.15 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
02.11.15 – West Germany – Berlin, DE
02.12.15 – Loppen – Copenhagen, DK
02.13.15 – Pokalen – Oslo, NO
02.14.15 – Mejeriet – Lund, SE
02.15.15 – Hafenklang – Hamburg, DE
02.16.15 – Rotown – Rotterdam, NL
02.17.15 – De Kreun – Kortrijk, BE
02.18.15 – Le Botanique – Brussels, BE
02.26.15 – Commonwealth – Calgary, AB
02.27.15 – The Artery – Edmonton, AB
02.28.15 – Amigos Cantina – Saskatoon, SK
03.03.15 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR
03.05.15 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA
03.06.15 – Echo – Los Angeles, CA
03.07.15 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
03.08.15 – Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ
03.11.15 – Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
03.12.15 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN
03.14.15 – Dionysus Club at Oberlin College – Oberlin, OH
03.24.15 – Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
03.25.15 – Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT
03.26.15 – Treefort Music Fest – Boise, ID
03.27.15 – Barboza – Seattle, WA
* w/ Ought
** w/ Honey, PC Worship
^ w/ PC Worship, Unblonde
I am Dora x LSFF: ‘Is it Peculiar That She Twerk In The Mirror?’
I am Dora is a curatorial initiative exploring how women interact and identify with one another through film
I am Dora is a curatorial initiative exploring how women interact and identify with one another through film. As a part of London Short Film Festival, Jemma Desai, founder of I am Dora held a panel discussion with Aimee Cliff (freelance music and culture journalist), Emma Dabri (writer and PhD researcher, exploring how mixedness has come to be gendered) and Grace Ladoja (photographer and filmmaker, including work with FKA Twigs) on how women portray themselves through music videos.
The discussion raised important questions about women and the current wave of feminism. With stars such as Beyonce promoting feminism, are young people being introduced to a watered down version of the issues women are fighting against or is the promotion a helpful push to reveal the problem? The complexity of modern feminism makes it harder to define, with some believing anything a woman does as a feminist act. However, any woman having to change herself to please someone or any woman attacking another, for expressing her own identity, is surely anti-feminist.
A large debate throughout was the sexual representation of women and if the sexuality a woman shows is powerful or submissive. An audience member noted that you can sell music and still be remembered without sexualising it. Legendary artists such as Annie Lennox are still remembered and applauded without having to conform to the music industry image expectations. However, nudity and sex can be used as a representation of their art, enhancing their work.
Nudity should be optional but not used as a selling point. Many young artists are being sexualised for record sales, with many people putting their image before their art. Sia’s recent decision, to not show her face and let dancers such as Maddie Ziegler express her identity, is a radical choice within the music industry, taking the focus away from image and truly showing her artistic ability. Her personal choice is bold and powerful and this anonymity being a popular choice for many wanting to avoid fame and be appreciated for their work. FKA Twigs was originally rarely pictured, with her first video Hide showing nude hips with a ‘boy flower’ covering her. Many people originally thought this was a male body and the nudity is used artistically, the image, as expressed by Ladoja, is not sexy, despite being sexual. Her confidence has grown across her career and she represents herself as being in control, always the focus of her own videos, such as Papi Pacify, the sexuality isn’t as highlighted as Twigs herself. There is a feeling of confidence and ownership when artists choose themselves as the focus. Aimee Cliff chose to show Nicki Minaj’s Lookin Ass music video, which she stated shows her ‘shooting an AK-47 at the male gaze’. Minaj’s general distaste towards the camera and self-love is emancipating , and women acting proudly showing off for themselves is empowering for any self-conscious woman to see.
The panel discussion took many turns and through watching the videos many issues of gender, race and feminism came up. I feel it would have been interesting to include male music videos and explore the comparison to see if it’s the industry sexualisation or the treatment of women encouraging this conversation. The discussion will be an ongoing one and will sprout many more topics and issues, however, it’s hard to judge a woman through her music videos. Self-expression is personal but how much control do you have when becoming successful?
Check out I am Dora for information on future film screenings
Edifeye Talks:
The Future of Broadcasting with Boiler Room, NTS, Nowness & Reprezent
The Future of Broadcasting with Boiler Room, NTS, Nowness & Reprezent
Edifeye Talks returns to the Apple Store Regent Street on the 28th January to present ‘The Future of Broadcasting’, with arguably the most exciting panel to date.
Recognised for showcasing innovative and interesting people from the world of music, film, art and fashion, Edifeye has curated the event to discuss the future of film and radio and the collaborations of the future, with four of the most culturally important platforms in modern broadcasting.
The panel includes two of the UK’s leading digital exports, the founder of Boiler Room, Blaise Bellville, who is recognised for creating the leading platform for quality new music, and Femi Adeyemi from NTS Radio, the man behind the online revolution who has ambitions to make NTS Radio the biggest online set-up in the country.
It also welcomes Nowness Editor Terence Teh, and Martha Caidan of the BBC and Reprezent Radio - the UK’s only radio station that is fully presented by young people under the age of 25 - to discuss the evolving landscape of modern film and radio.
As always, tickets are free but limited. Sign up here for tickets: www.apple.com
ZYANYA KEIZER: The next big progressive Fashion Designer
The Mexico City born designer caught the eye of many when her garments were shown in Amsterdam Fashion Week for the SS15 collection. Keizer, half Mexican and half Dutch, creates designs that experiment with unconventional and organic materials.
She began her training at Central St Martins in London, shortly after she moved to Antwerp (Belgium) to develop her fashion career. During her time in Antwerp, Keizer gained valuable experience with haute couture designer Iris van Herpen.
From the experience Iris van Herpen has passed onto the young designer, it is very clear that Keizer has a similar approach in her designs. Progressive design techniques and experimenting with the human body are the main elements visible in her material designs. Keizer’s pieces are heavily embellished and almost portray an artwork within fashion to express dreams, fantasy and the female beauty.
Keizer’s work was also shows at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Amsterdam, and her SS15 collection explored the fears of everyday reality. Fear of the dark, nightmares and what’s under the bed are some of the themes she explored through her garments. However, one particular source of inspiration was the 1781 painting The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli. This painting was the main discussion about the theories of the unconscious, such as nightmares and dreams. The collection featured many dark, deep colours as well as anatomically sculptured leather pieces and bead work.
The mysteriously, stunning and dazzling Norwich band: THESE GHOSTS
The mysteriously, stunning and dazzling Norwich band play today at The Shacklewell Arms.
The band formed in 2010, finding each other in the wilderness of the Norfolk fens – a fortuitous meeting of minds that led to brilliant first album You Are Not Lost, You Are Here.
The album was quickly followed by 2 stunning singles that hinted at greater potential for the group, and after spending some time in University purgatory with Skype & Whatsapp their only means of jamming, the 3 friends finally reunited to finish off what they started.
Indie electronica frequently compared to Radiohead. The LP was recorded with Jonny Cole and Matthew Herbert, released in September 2015.
For more information on These Ghosts, listen to a number of tracks from Still The Waves via the band’s Soundcloud.
Conflict and Social Fracture: An Interview With Paul Seawright
Renowned for his astute aesthetic and known for capturing riveting scenes of conflict and war, Irish photographer Paul Seawright boasts an internationally acclaimed body of work
Renowned for his astute aesthetic and known for capturing riveting scenes of conflict and war, Irish photographer Paul Seawright boasts an internationally acclaimed body of work. Represented by Kerlin Gallery, Paul regards Dublin as his home base, though his work has also been featured in esteemed sites around the world. While his last solo show in Ireland was the celebrated ‘Volunteer’ exhibition in 2011, Kerlin Gallery is proud to present ‘‘The List’’, a series of new work by the artist. In anticipation of this exciting event, we sat down with Paul to discuss the background, process, and motivation behind this remarkable project.
In ‘The List’, your upcoming solo exhibition at Kerlin Gallery, you photograph neglected, abandoned, and overgrown locations across America. What inspired this choice in subject matter?
The locations photographed are drawn from the public list of convicted sex offenders after their release from prison. The laws on registration in the USA prohibit ex-offenders from living close to certain types of buildings – churches, schools, public parks, bus stops etc. Their address must be registered and made public on an online database – ‘The List’. These restrictions make finding a home in major cities difficult and unintended clusters of ex-offenders have emerged in the post industrial and rural towns of America’s rust belt. The locations in the photographs are a glimpse into that world.
‘The List’ is the third in a series of works produced in the USA. Can you briefly describe the first two, and, additionally, the relationship between the three?
My work has been for some years concerned with conflict and social fracture. For several years I worked on a series titled ‘Volunteer’, landscape photographs made at the locations of army recruiting stations all over the USA. They attempt to reveal how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are made visible in the States, particularly in those states in the south where the majority of recruits are enlisted. These are often the poorest parts of the country, with high unemployment and immigration. They are also the states with the highest number of fatalities in the war. The second project was also an examination of how America has represented and engaged with those wars in a domestic context. ‘Things Left Unsaid’ is a series of photographic works produced in television news stations across the USA. The technology of the TV news studio is presented as an allegory of modern warfare and develops Virilios writing around war, technology and mass communication.
So all three are connected by my interest in how these global issues are largely invisible in society, kept in a sort of half light, things we wish to forget about or distance ourselves from. The photographs prick the surface of that normality and open up a dialogue about those things that we find difficult to discuss or acknowledge.
Furthermore, as an Irish artist, what has attracted you to America?
I only intended making one body of work in America. I had made work in Afghanistan (Imperial War Museum commission in 2002) and wanted to make more work about the conflict without actually going back there. Also the involvement since 2001 of the USA in global politics has grown to enormous proportions and more than ever, decisions made in DC affect us all. After spending so long there producing work, other ideas and concerns presented themselves and the other series just evolved.
How long did ‘The List’ take to complete? What was the most memorable experience or location throughout the process of the project?
‘The List’ took 3 and a half years to complete – going for a month at a time twice a year. Some of the interactions with both ex-offenders and indeed those living next door to them were memorable. The work doesn’t take a position and the longer I worked on it the more blurred this became. At times I agreed with tight restrictions and am horrified at what I have discovered and at times I felt great sympathy for men who were trying to move on and rebuild their lives in circumstances that are almost impossible. More than once I would arrive at an address on ‘The List’ and the house would be burn’t to a blackened shell or windows would be broken or boarded up.
In 2011, you had another solo exhibition, ‘Volunteer’, also at Kerlin. How did you begin working with the gallery? How have your two experiences with the site compared with one another?
I’ve been working with the Kerlin for 20 years. They saw my work in a show in Paris in 1995 and offered me an exhibition.
In your work, you tend to focus on scenery and setting rather than on the people that would inhabit such space. Has this always been a preference of yours?
People are absent in almost all of my work. I’m essentially a social landscape photographer. Therefore the photographs are always about people without ever needing to see them.
In this exhibition, you additionally depict details of the various landscapes’ features, such as “plants, fences and water damaged walls.” Did the series’ subject matter inspire this decision?
The black and white detail images are from the gardens in many of the locations. I started experimenting with ways in which I could expand the narrative. The locations and landscapes of these dispossessed individuals were powerful and evocative places and I felt that when I was there working, but I still felt I needed something to represent the darkness of the subject. So literally I returned at night and made these images that could be seen as metaphors for the absent victims in the project.
And, lastly, in what ways do you hope ‘The List’ resonates with its viewers?
The whole idea of the work is to present a kind of surface normality, with a slight sense that there is something wrong about the place photographed. That was often the case in the early landscapes I made in Belfast, normal on the surface with a sense that there is something enormous and significant hidden beneath. I’d hope the viewer gets that in the pictures and that it helps question how we look at the places we inhabit. I also hope it creates some debate about the impossibility of redemption in contemporary society and the acceleration of unlawful behaviour in an electronic age.
‘The List’ is on view at Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, from 30 January through 21 March 2015, with an exciting opening reception on Thursday 29 January from 6-8pm!
Clever, stunning and beauty dream by Teen Daze
Teen Daze is the name used by Jamison from Vancouver.
Jamison has been making music for years now, putting out a inconspicuous EPs, records and excellent remixes that have garnered him a great deal of fans. His new track “Reykjavik, January 2015″ goes between dream-pop, ambient, and downtempo. He is again seducing us with a clever, stunning and beauty dream.
Today at Birthdays. Doors 8:00pm
Five Outstanding Composers To Watch
The past year of cinema has been accompanied by some magnificent film scores, with the composers perfectly shaping the unforgettable images of 2014.
The past year of cinema has been accompanied by some magnificent film scores, with the composers perfectly shaping the unforgettable images of 2014 .
1. Alex Ebert
Lead singer and songwriter of Ima Robot and Edward Sharpe and the Magentic Zeros, Alex Ebert, won the 2014 Golden Globe for Best Original Score for his work on J.C. Chandor’s film All is Lost. Ebert has reunited with Chandor to work on A Most Violent Year. The stand out original track America For Me shows Eberts anger towards what is to be a good citizen while you also support negatives by being this. It’s interesting to see this personal song within the soundtrack for a film on corruption. The whole soundtrack is influenced by America in the 1980’s and is a character study of the lead Abel, creating a calming yet powerful outcome.
2. Mica Levi
The lead singer from Micachu and The Shapes this year stepped into film composing. She created A beautiful soundtrack for Under The Skin perfectly enhancing Scarlett Johansson’s seductive performance whilst also creating an unsettling feeling throughout. The track ‘Love’ is the perfect example of this, the slow paced beauty being contrasted by seemingly tense chords pulls together the desired image of the unusual.
Levi said of her own work that 'it's not necessarily going to sound very nice. It's supposed to be physical, alarming, hot.' This is definitely achieved through the use of the viola being able to contour the flow of the film. I would be interested in following Levi through her work if she did any further composing.
3. Justin Hurwitz
Hurwitz is a long time friend of Whiplash director Damien Chazelle, so it was no surprise for him to be asked to help create the soundtrack for the Oscar nominated film. The duo have previously collaborated on what started as a student film 'Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench'. From there their collaborative friendship has bloomed and Hurwitz is expected on Chazelle's next Singing In The Rain style feature. Hurwitz says planning for the soundtrack of Whiplash began even before filming which is unusual in film production. Hurwitz got to improvise and play his own music with fantastic big band pieces. The music is the glue to the film, without the perfect soundtrack it wouldn't be what it is.
A whole film score composed of a drum beat is an unusual route to go down, but for the Alejandro González Iñárritu masterpiece Birdman Sánchez has completed this major task. The constant drumming helps you see the theatre style of the film and confuses the line between reality and fantasy. Michael Keaton's performance is amplified by the beat following him round, showing his mental instability and the pressure he faces. Birdman was nominated for Best Original Score, but has now been disqualified due to the ratio of classical music to original score.
5. Jonny Greenwood
Radiohead lead guitarist, computer programmer, composer. Johnny Greenwood has an impressive resume behind him. His first work as a composer was on the documentary Bodysong, showing the story of human life through found footage. He's gone onto score many films thereafter. His most recent work is on Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice. This is the third time he has scored one of Anderson's films. The score was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the soundtrack includes an unreleased Radiohead song. There are elements of the score which are dreamlike and subtle but the soundtrack itself contrasts this with funky beats. Greenwoods work is forever developing as he makes his mark as one of the greatest modern musicians.
A conversation with KAREN MARGOLIS from Rooms 16: Superluminal
Obsessively crafted circles are the central motif to Karen Margolis’ work. The circle, sacred to many, is riddled with symbolic meaning
Obsessively crafted circles are the central motif to Karen Margolis’ work. The circle, sacred to many, is riddled with symbolic meaning. In Chinese gai tain cosmology, the circle is noted as the most perfect geometric shape and, accordingly, represents the heavens above the square earth. In Native American tradition, the medicine wheel is a symbol of life, perfection, and infinites. Even hip-hop super-group Wu-Tang Clan, 5 Percenters, praise the purity of the circle. “As God Cypher Divine, all minds one, no question,” Masta Killa recites in Visionz. In hip-hop culture, the cypher refers to freestyle rap, where interrupting another man will break the cycle. According to the 5 Percenters and their supreme mathematics, zero (or the cipher) is the completion of a circle: 360 degrees of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
It’s easy to see how Margolis finds boundless inspiration and energy from the round wonder. Margolis repetitively creates the shape to map out the inner dialogues of the mind. Influenced by her psychology background, she is determined to show audiences how our minds work with her art.
Rooms: Would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?
What drives me as an artist is trying to find out who I am. I feel like I exist in a fluid state within the world around me, absorbing certainties of others with no absolutes of my own. I spend a lot of time studying people's behavior and writing about it. I'm influenced by Diane Arbus' observation of "the gap between what you want people to know about you and what you can't help people knowing about you". Her work made me hyper-aware of the unconscious signals we all send out and compelled me to look below the surfaces of others as well as myself, to see the reality; so, I am focused on trying to reconcile the inner and outer me.
Rooms: Your original field of study was in psychology. Does this come to play in your artwork?
Very much so. As a child I had a lot of phobias and had become somewhat obsessed with the idea that there is another sort of energy inside of me that I could not articulate. I had seen a movie called "Forbidden Planet" that featured invisible creatures from the id and that really got my attention. After that, I found some books in the library on the inner workings of the mind and psychology became a lifelong fascination for me. In college, I focused on the brain and Experimental Psychology, which dealt with processes that underlie behavior. I didn't know what I wanted to do with psychology and ultimately dropped out of Grad School. My route has been rather circuitous, but as an artist, I wanted my work to be about mental operations, to somehow capture the mechanics of the mind. Also, it couldn't be personal and had to be about the universal. I used myself as a subject because it was easier. As an avid diarist with over 20 years of journal entries and detailed narratives of my dreams, I thought that they might be good material to begin with and created a system to chart and encode my interior monologues by translating them into colored fields of dots. These compositions on paper are visual diaries, encoded interior monologues. Working from my journals, I translate feelings into colored dots. My rules are rather loose and, depending on the writings, I use one day or a week that I transcribe into colors. I simultaneously divulge and conceal my intimate feelings.
Rooms: The circle is evidently a key component to your work. It represents the molecule, a neurotransmitter and an Enso (the sacred symbol in Zen Buddhism). The circle brings science and spirituality together in your art. Is this how you manifest all your identities and roles at once?
I look for the connective tissue between the universe and the microscopic. I have found it in the circle. It relates everything. As the most basic component in the universe, the circle can be found in all of nature as well as in religious symbols, like a halo or the Sephirot in the Kabbalah. I practice Zen Buddhism and became interested in the Enso because it represents infinity, perfection, and totality. Layering my metaphysical beliefs with chemical reactions in the brain became the basis of my work. This way I am able to reconcile the physical with the metaphysical
Rooms: Is the process of creating the circles a form of mediation, personal psychoanalysis, or trephining?
Creating circles is immensely satisfying. In meditation, you focus on your breaths and clarity somehow emerges; as thoughts pop into your head you can see that they are not real and eventually you are not held hostage by your beliefs. My process has evolved into a synthesis of meditation, stream of consciousness thinking in which I work through obsessive thoughts, and physical pain, particularly when I am burning, which I metaphorically relate to trephining. I first learned of trephination (drilling holes into people's heads) when I wrote a paper chronicling the treatment of mental illness, and the torture of it stuck with me. It was repulsive and compelling.
Rooms: You had a series where you created circles with maps. What meaning did the maps bring to your work?
I'm drawn to maps because they offer an implicit promise that they will help you find your way. In my work, the maps act as proxy for the physical self. Additionally, they frustrate expectations of any help navigating through the world. I use maps to explore arbitrary destruction and regeneration in the journey of life. After burning holes in maps, I layer them on top of each other; passages to new locations are created in places that have been lost. I invoke into my maps my philosophy that in loss something new and unexpected is found.
Rooms: Are the colors you use to represent emotions based on socialization and culture or personal instinct of how they would look?
I wanted to develop a standardized flow chart of emotions and worked with the Pantone Color System to designate a color to each emotion and coordinate families of emotions to color families (tints, saturated hues and shades). I knew from the start of this endeavor that I would not be able to have an intuitively based color chart, but, where possible, I used expected colors for emotions, like green for envy. The charts are a continual work in progress; I add new emotions to the chart as they come into my consciousness.
Rooms: By playing with the circle, you affect its perfection.
I am attracted to perfection but celebrate Wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy around the beauty of imperfection, aging, and deterioration. I don't think people would be very interesting without their paradoxes. I reconcile oppositions within my work, "without darkness, there can be no light".
Rooms: Your work seems extremely meticulous. Are you a perfectionist in all other aspects of your life?
I do immerse myself in details; it is just how I operate in the world, it’s not planned or thought out. That said, I am anything but a perfectionist. My mind is such a roiling sea of chaos that obsessive as I may be, nothing is perfect and all is a compromise.
Nike set to launch self-lacing ‘Back To The Future’ shoes in 2015
It looks like science fiction is becoming a reality in 2015, as sports brand Nike is on its way to release the famous self-lacing shoe from the movie ‘Back to the Future II’.
The 1989 shoes will have a ‘power lace’ function that would automatically enable them to tighten themselves when feet are placed inside. This function would be triggered by a simple technology inside the shoe, either one determining the weight of a person or a button on the side which would instantly create the tightening effect of the laces around the shoe.
Nike yet remains silent, as they haven’t given the official release date of the shoes. As far as the price goes it is more likely to be somewhat affordable. However, experts predict that this launch will be a big ‘BOOM’ in the market.
Easy Riding with Action Bronson
Ahead of the upcoming launch of his album Mr. Wonderful, New York rapper Action Bronson released the single Easy Rider last summer much to the delight of hip hop lovers everywhere.
Sampling from Mazhar ve Fuat’s 70s psychedelic rock track Adımız Miskindir Bizim, Easy Rider makes for a great chill-out tune with the power to transport its listeners to a land of desert sunsets, warm evening breezes, and motorcycle road trips much like those portrayed in the track’s eclectic music video.
Speaking behind the scenes during the filming of the music video, the big man himself described Easy Rider as a culmination of all his thoughts and feelings. With help from photographer and filmmaker Tom Gould, we are taken on a crazy trip through Bronson’s mind.
Set for release on the March 24, Mr. Wonderful has become one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2015; with the likes of Mark Ronson and The Alchemist featuring as producers, the albumpromises to take Action Bronson from his current status as promising music industry up-and-comer to fully fledged hip hop deity.
LAW Studio takes over the creative direction of Brutus Trimfit
The Lives and Works (LAW) London based bi-annual Magazine established in 2011, has now been appointed as the new Creative Director for Brutus Trimfit.
Over the years, LAW has established a strong wordily self-reputation for their edgy aesthetic visuals and delivering a powerful brand message.
For the 50th Anniversary of Brutus, both of the companies will be working towards expanding the existing clothing range as well as developing a new SS16 collection which will mostly feature classic and statement pieces and include a limited edition collection to mark this special event.
Keith Freedman, the son of Brutus founder, explains why he’s excited for the collaboration: “LAW is a groundbreaking, multidisciplinary agency and a platform for some of Britain’s most creative youth. We have a shared vision of what constitutes British style and it is therefore extremely exciting to be working together with LAW.”