Mr. Gresty : A brander in its most innovative interpretation

A brander by nature, an illustrator by heart, a curator by interest; but for everyone else just Mr. Gresty.

Being a designer for a multitude of companies, what makes you want to work with a brand?

A lot of my design work is branding start-up companies. I especially enjoy this area. Seeing the client’s excitement and enthusiasm towards my ideas and their new brand. I love working together on something like that, something new and fresh.

How would you describe your design identity and how does it show in your work for other companies?

I love to work with vibrant and positive colours and I always use a sense of humour and simple shapes in my work. In most cases my clients have seen other projects of mine and ask me to do my thing for them.

Tell us about the process of becoming the multitasking artist you are today.

I can’t let myself run out of things to do, if I do I feel lost. My system consists of working on all the commissioned projects first and then filling the gaps with all those personal projects. The variety of work keeps me stimulated.

You are a graphic designer, an illustrator, an author, a curator... How did you get involved with such a variety of work?

If I have an idea that in my opinion is worth trying, I’ll give it a go. As I work for myself and don’t have employees, I have the time and space to experiment. All those job titles share a characteristic; they are all creative solutions to a problem.

Many people say this is the future of the creative industry, the more you can do the higher you will get. Do you believe this is true?

I think that in the commercial world this could look good on a CV but on the other hand you can come across as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Some creatives will evolve their style and move on to the thing that they’re passionate about and pick up skills along the way. I believe I am one of those last creatives.

Working with typography a lot, what is your favourite font?

I don’t have one. Helvetica? No I don’t have one.

Is there a creative you are dying to work with?

I’ve never thought about it. To be honest I prefer to work on my own, but I am open to offers!

When did curating become a part of your career? What is it that attracts you to the field and what is the craziest idea you have ever had for an event?

In 2010, I started screen-printing and enjoyed it very much in Uni. I was in a bar in Clapton, Hackney, soon after speaking to the owner about the art on his walls, he said if I was interested I could put my work up! I said yes. At this point I had only created two typographic screen-prints. After a few solid weeks of printing lots of ideas from my sketchbook, I hung my first solo exhibition. Five years later and I’m getting ready to hang my 22nd exhibition. With the mixed exhibitions I enjoy seeing the variety of creative solutions to the same brief and like seeing my name in the line-up with artist who I admire.
The most creative and challenging exhibition was Whisper, based on the old game ‘Chinese Whispers’. I illustrated the first piece and gave it a title, I passed that title to the next artist and told them they could change the title slightly and that new title was their brief, then I passed their title to the next artist and so on!

You have been curating LHR exhibitions for the past two years. In your opinion, what is special about this 15th edition?

The 15th LHR Exhibition – The Things I Think About, When I Think About Thinking, has been the most open brief yet. I had been thinking about the mainstream media  and that if something is bland and non-threatening it does well. I have created a small handful of pieces over the last few years that I am happy with and others that I’m personally not keen on; I have noticed that these last ones sell really well and my favourite pieces not so much. So the brief was for the artists to submit their very own favourite personal piece, not following trends or public demand.

The LHR exhibitions have taken place in bars, the entrance doesn’t cost a penny and is open for everyone and the artists are as free as can be in the work they deliver. All these elements make for an experience that is everything but your everyday gallery stroll. What inspired you to create these events?

I wanted to be able to hang a collection of work, where lots of people would see it, hear about the artists and wouldn’t have to pay to see it. At the same time I wanted it to be available to purchase and when a piece sells for that artist to be able to keep 100% of the money. I don’t think a bar is the best environment for art but it helps me achieve the issue of cost. All it takes is some time and life is long, I have lots of free time!

The Things I Think About, When I Think About Thinking

November 6 - January 31, 2016 at The Hanbury

Line-up: Mr Gresty, Claire E Hind, Ian Viggars, Freya Faulkner, Shona Read, Emma Russell, VJ Von Art, Lee Bromfield, James Dawe, Jake Townsend, Wiktor Malinowski, Dan Buckley, Dan Huglife, Jeff Knowles, Dylan White, Simon Fitzmaurice, Steven Quinn, Ricky Byrne, Stina Jones, Silvia Carrus, Julian Kerr, Nathan James Page III, Sean Gall, Josh Bond, James Morley, Craig Keenan and Raiph Vaughan.

This is the 15th LHR exhibition and sadly my last. I will keep you posted.

LHR Exhibition curated by Mr Gresty. 2013 - 2015
gresty@mrgresty.com

HOO HAs - Yankee... The EP Launch

Yes you read that right. There is a new band in the undesiccate puddle that is London and they’ve put their money on the name: HOO HAs. Celebrating their new EP, ‘Yankee’, the band is inviting you all to their launch party.

As unapologetic their name appears, as equally insolent is their new sound. Yankee’s penetrance causes the song to be stuck with you for weeks, leaving your head spinning from the dynamic guitar sounds and the raw voice welding over them. Mixing up punk rock with an old school blues feel, Yankee echoes innovation in an effortless and straight-out-of-the-heart kind of way. As for the message behind the tune, the band describes it as a battle between the self and society. “Some say we are a product of our society – touching on moral and political frustrations too. Like we haven’t heard enough. Where do you live?”

If the boys blew you away with their music, there is no other option but for you to head over to Dalston tonight, as HOO HAs is hosting their first single launch party at The Victoria. The doors open at 19:30, and you will be welcomed with beats from Mystery Jets, Desert Planes, La Horse, and the band I’ve just been going on and on about (how could you not). 

HOO HAs debut single out on Lost in the Manor Records - Oct 30th Launch show @ The Dalston Vic 27th Oct, Free Entry

HOO HAs' 'Yankee' Single Launch at The Victoria

+ (Jack) Mystery Jets DJ Set - Support from Desert Planes + La Horse

27 October |  Doors - 7.30pm (Live Room)

Facebook event

HOO HAs

Ilse Moelands : A touch of heart, a mark on paper

Dutch illustrator Ilse Moelands’ drawings awaken emotions in an utterly beautiful way. Freshly graduated, she’s on the verge of publishing a book and continues to translate her fascination for the Far North into stunning drawings.

Ilse Moelands: I’ve always doubted about my future and thus I had a lot of difficulties choosing the right study; would I become a doctor, an artist? I have always loved fashion and it’s influence on our culture and identity. To me fashion is about people and their characteristics and for a while I wanted to continue in that direction, ignoring the fact that I can’t sew at all. I thought I’d give it a go and ended up enjoying the drawing part the most. I wanted to draw all the time, so I decided to change studies and go for Illustration Design at ArtEZ. I like the directness of drawing and printing. Sewing and designing fashion is a much slower process. 

Tell me something about your drawing process.

Often my urge to draw awakens when I am fascinated or frustrated. Then my ideas flow out of me on paper. I like to draw when I am alone, because I really have to be focused and concentrated.

You use a lot of older techniques such as thinner press and lino press, this is quite unusual in our digital era. Why these techniques and how did you come in touch with them?

I like to start with something physical, so I can smell the material; I want to have paint and ink on my hands. I just love the imperfection. It’s not that I don’t like digital work. I think there are a lot of possibilities working digital, but it’s not my cup of tea. At the art academy we had a really nice printing workshop. During my last year I spent as much time as possible in the workshop experimenting with all kinds of techniques and became intrigued with the older ones.

Your work instigates deep emotions, from the love for family to shame and loneliness. Are these feelings you experienced yourself when working on your drawings?

Yes. I always start with a very strong emotion, because it’s the only way I can make satisfying images. I think the world is a weird, crazy place and making art is my way to deal with that. It’s like therapy. But I try to make my work for other people as well. Emotions are a good starting point, but I always try to twist it in a way, so a lot of people can relate to my stories and images.  

Where do your ideas come from and when is an idea good enough to execute?

People and their stories inspire me a lot. I am pretty hard on myself, so things aren’t good enough for me very easily. But I am still learning to let go of this perfection, and sometimes I overthink things and I stop myself from making art. But I always try to remember that small ideas can lead to big beautiful projects.

Talk to me about your fascination with the Far North, what is it that attracts you to it and inspires you to create illustrations?

I have worked and lived amidst the snow, polar bears, seals, and Inuit, I grew a fascination with the extreme living conditions those people have to deal with and how they remain a balance of sensitivity and strength. The hard, isolated existence and the respectful way these people treat nature provide the basis for the graphic story I’ve created for my graduation. The Inuit are very proud people however I can’t help but feel they are a bit lost, uprooted from their original culture as times have changed so much there. This idea had an immense impact on me and on my work. I went there with a lot of questions, but I came back with even more. I would love to go back there one day and maybe live even more primitively and remotely.

You went to Upernavik, Greenland for half a year. How did you end up there and what is the most important thing you’ve learnt?

A year ago I applied for the Artist in Residency Program in the Upernavik Museum. After waiting impatiently for a very long time, I was so happy when I received a letter saying they had chosen me to go there. The most important thing I learnt during my stay in Greenland is to be more calm and relaxed. Nature dictates the rhythm of life, so you either go with the flow or feel very miserable. I had to let go.   

You're currently working on a book with Julia Dobber; tell me something about this project?

Next to the Greenland project, I needed something else so that when I was stuck with one project, I could escape into the other. I met Julia through a mutual friend and I instantly fell in love with her stories. Her work is about people who get through things, but nobody knows exactly what. For my graduation we compile six stories and complimenting drawings. Finishing them we both felt that there needed to be more, so our plan is to make twelve in total. I can’t wait to continue our exciting project and have the finished product in front of me.      

Is there a particular artist you would love to work with?

Several. I really like the work of photographer Jeroen Toirkens. He’s a Dutch documentary photographer who followed several Nomadic cultures around the world for years. Also fashion collective ‘Das leben am Haverkamp’, which is founded by some of my old fashion classmates. I really like what they are doing and they inspire me to carry on. Maybe one day we can do a project together.

What is your plan for the future now that you have graduated?

I always hate this question... It feels very definite to talk about the future. I can only dream about it. I would love to have a little workshop with all kinds of presses so I can make special prints and books. I hope I can do more residencies and visit other countries. I went to Myanmar a few years ago and I really want to go there again to start a new project. But there are a lot of other things I dream about, for instance more collaborations like the one with Julia Dobber. I really like dreaming..

www.ilsemoelands.com

ArtEZ

Ten years of tales from foreign lands from Paul Solberg

Ten Years in Pictures, Paul Solberg’s fifth photographic compendium, catalogues a decade of ethnographic encounters. From Hanoi to Cairo to Sicily to Jordan, we meet a startling diversity of artistic topography. The book reads as a world portrait where each part makes up a whole; each portrait stands alone with a poetic, poignant potency whilst weaving itself into a photographic tapestry of humanity. Solberg hones in on the intricacies in his anthropological portraits; choosing to capture the spontaneous, subtler details of cultural expression; but instead of cataloguing these subjects with a flat, documentary objectivity, he infuses these details with a joy, a poignancy and a simple reflectiveness. Through his photographs, we see “a world in which Solberg lives and wish we could all live”… we see a world in which we live in, but haven’t drawn our attention to. You are standing in Solberg’s shoes when looking at his photographs. The Moholy-Nagy new vision approach reframes his scenes and subjects from an alternative angle; encouraging us too to look on anew and afresh with, and though, his hungry, curious eyes.

Ten Years in Pictures represents ten years of collecting and curating tales from lenses and lives abroad. Ahead of its launch, Suzanna Swanson-Johnston caught up with Paul in his Manhattan home as he catches a breath between countries to discuss what this book represents for him and to reflects on ten years of recording life in his lens.

The book begins in 2004; the beginning of your professional photography career. Set the scene.

I have always been plagued by that chronic question of ‘Who are we? If you live with that, then you tend to be drawn to subjects like Anthropology, Philosophy, Photography out of a yearning for an answer. I come from a family where photography was a hobby; a predominant hobby, but a hobby, not a career. I ended up going to study Social Anthropology at university in South Africa and moved to N.Y.C. afterwards. As a kid in that city you can afford to be lost and that afforded me wonderful space in my twenties to live, and reflect. I met a director there and I assisted him on a film he was making, whilst ‘fluffing’ on Wall Street; talking to old ladies about their money in order to make enough of my own. Quintessentially Woody Allen.  I moved to Nice when I was twenty-six to work for an ad agency. I loathed it. But I am adamant that being shown a lack of success and having it revealed to you what you hate and what you’re not good at, reveals to you what you are.  The camera was always the most natural thing for me. But it wasn’t till my thirties, 2004, I was told I had the potential of it being my profession. I was offered a book deal, and with that came the promise of a career. I guess that tension, intensity, and desire has exploded into ten years of a densely packed period of work – which this book charts a selection of.  

“you need a lifetime of experience to shape your eye”

Does marking this decade herald a different direction for your work now? 

A photographer’s best work is usually in their later years; you need a lifetime of experience to shape your eye. Studying photography after you’ve learnt the technical process never made sense to me. Being thirsty and curious and learning about your subject grows your eye and that is the best school for taking pictures. I feel I’m still closer to the beginning of this whole process. It’s about paying attention, and I don’t always do. I would like to do a singular, biopic exploration of one subject at one point. My travel schedule is very disjointed so I’ve never in one place long enough. I am never that calculated about my career; I try to just stay relaxed, do my business and put it out there in the most honest way possible.  

How have you seen the world evolve and change over the past ten years?

2004/2005/2006 were the last years where we were pre mass-media; people weren’t continually connected to technology. Now, we are all plugged in but entirely disconnected in being so; always partially listening or watching. We are so obsessive about documenting that we are never experiencing; we watch everything through the lenses of our iPhones. 

Photography is an interesting dichotomy of that document / experience binary. I try to be as attentive to the world as I can and my photographs come out of that as an emblem of that experience. Thus, I work very candidly and organically.

The book is composed entirely of ‘found photos’; ‘found’ driving from Jordan to the Dead Sea and having a cup of tea with a man looking after fifteen orphans; ‘found’ as the light stroke perfectly on the surfers coming through Munich [City Surf]; ‘found’ when you happen to have discarded polaroid film in your camera and the sailors come off the boats [Service]; ‘finding’ ballroom dancers in the snow at the St. Peterburg market. This book was an exercise in of going through some of the thousands of images I’ve never looked back on and curating them. Half the book is unpublished material.

But I am highly aware that the cultures I have been recording might not be there in the next ten years, or five years even. Throughout my travels, the moment that has stuck with me the most is when I was dropped from a helicopter onto Alaska’s largest body of ice; the Bering Glacier. When you’re on a planet of ice, to hear the crackling and moan of the ice melting, you realize with a new clarity, the looming dilemma that the planet is literally disappearing from under our feet.

Having seen so much of the world, has your faith in humanity been inspired or disillusioned?

Travel turns you into an optimist and it teaches you that you know very little. The old adage “the more you know the more you don’t know” is really true. You go to different ends of the globe, and you learn, as cynical as one can be, people are generally good. I always think, why doesn’t CNN feature – in the same four story loop that they repeat over and over – an enlightening story about someone, somewhere, anywhere. They’re not hard to find, I know from experience; I’ve been welcomed into enough stranger’s homes. It’s hard to find a negative story on the road, why don’t you hear a good one occasionally from the news? I guess the sad story sells, otherwise we would hear them.

So that’s what travel does. It gives you the real news. The unedited news. The Egyptian cab driver that saw I was digging his Egyptian pop music he was playing as we drove through Luxor, and he finds me the next day, to give me the C.D. of music. I guess these small stories don’t have a lot of show-business to them. They’re more fireside stories. But that’s what I seek to capture ; the small details, the intricacies, the moments, the smaller narratives.

“It’s hard to find a negative story on the road, why don’t you hear a good one occasionally from the news?”

There is an anonymity to your work; thanks to the reluctance to provide a narrative, title or context and the new-vision-alternative angle of your lens...

I like to keep ambiguity. If there is a story, it is a collaboration with the viewer and I leave it up to them to impose their own decisions about who this person is and what their story is – I find that the interesting part. The identities are in the objects, not the names and the titles.

I find it far more fascinating when you hone in on the details.  Under a microscope, suddenly the invisible becomes another world of mountains, rivers and new shapes.

What has travel taught you?  

My travel process tends to be pretty unplanned; that’s how you find the spontaneous moments, you have to let the experiences happen through exploration. Crossing roads with no street lights in Hanoi; the orchestra of activity in streets dense with pandemonium and the weaving currents of Cairo; the sensation of dry in the Atacama desert; the solitude and the beautiful lifelessness; invitations into familiar strangers homes in Jordan; floating in the Dead Sea; the matte black of Lanzarote.

I appreciate how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to travel as much as I have; it’s something everyone should experience. You can read to escape your mind but it doesn’t compare to actually being there. I’ve stood in the spot where the bombs dropped on Vietnam and met the same family that still lives there. The faces, and connections, and people. It is being present in moments like that that is your world education. Travel builds empathy and expands perspective. A life of travel makes you realize everything is relative to your little world, so you don’t usually sweat the small stuff. You are humbled when you understand how provincial your concerns are.

Paul Solberg

Ten Years in Pictures Review

Frieze Art Fair 2015

Photos by Nick JS Thompson

Frieze Art Fair is incredible this year, and I’d recommend it to anyone. That being said, the myriad number of unpronounceable galleries and labyrinth layout can be overwhelming, and might lead to some of the best work going unseen.

Below is a list of some of our favorite galleries, and some of their stand out artists.

Exceptional galleries

Frith Street Gallery

Cornelia Parker, Massimo Bartolini.

Cheim & Read

Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, Jack Pierson.

Georg Kargl Fine Arts

Raymond Pettibon, Carl Andre, Elizabeth Peyton.

Lisson Gallery

Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor.

Frieze Projects

Jeremy Herbert.

Vitamin Creative Space

Liu Han-Chih

Maureen Paley

Liam Gillick, Gillian Wearing, Kaye Donachie, Wolfgang Tillmans.

Simon Preston

Amie Siegel.

Galeria Fortes Vilaça

João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Damián Ortega, Adriana Varejão.

Other notable mentions

Anthony Reynolds Gallery

Paul Graham.

Galerie Peter Kilchmann

Francis Alÿs.

Lehmann Maupin

Tracey Emin.

Galerija Gregor Podnar

Ariel Schlesinger.

Galerie Max Hetzler

Inge Mahn.

Victoria Miro

Conrad Shawcross.

Alison Jaques Gallery

Hannah Wilke.

Galerie Greta Meert

John Baldessari.

Mai 36 Galerie/ Victor Gisler

Thomas Ruff.

Herald St.

Matthew Darbyshire, Scott King.

Gagosian Gallery

Glenn Brown.

Marian Goodman Gallery

Anri Sala.

Galerie Gisela Capitain

Luke Fowler.

White Cube

Tracey Emin, Mona Hatoum, The Chapman Brothers, Andreas Gursky.

Sadie Coles

Sarah Lucas, Elizabeth Peyton.

No Jeff Koons in sight, but sadly still too much neon.

frieze

We interview Frankie Shea, founder of Moniker Art Fair

Moniker 2014

Moniker Art Fair returns for its sixth year, on October 15–18 at the Old Truman Brewery, having firmly established itself as London’s premiere event for contemporary art with its roots embedded in urban culture.

Building on the foundations of five years experience and it’s continued success, Moniker Art Fair will be again venue-sharing with London’s leading artist-led fair, The Other Art Fair, in what will be a showcase of independent and established talent all under one roof in East London’s iconic Old Truman Brewery.

This exciting spectacle will attract 14,000-plus visitors to the capital’s East End, forming one of the major satellite events of London’s Art Week when 60,000 visitors descend on the city to form an unparalleled international art audience. The partnership emphasises both fairs formidable reputations for showcasing artists operating under the radar of the traditional art establishment. Over a period of four days and across 21,000 sq. feet in The Old Truman Brewery’s impressive interior, this compelling combination promises to generate much interest and exposure this coming October.

Kilmany-Jo Liversage, exhibiting at Worldart gallery

Renaissance is Now byToonpunk, as part of the Renaissance is Now installation

Master Warhol by Schoony

BM - Why did you decide to start an art fair? 

FS - The fair was started out of frustration.

I was running a gallery and representing several artists within the street art genre with great success. The artists I worked with had strong primary and secondary markets and I was keen to secure wider exposure for them but found it difficult to break into the UK art fair circuit. So in keeping with the ‘do-it-yourself’ street art ethos, I decided to form my own fair focusing on street art and its related subcultures.

BM - Does the name Moniker refer to the use of pseudonyms by many street artists?

FS – Yes. I was working with friend and artist Felix Berube (AKA Labrona), a Canadian freight train painter who told me all about Moniker Culture and the Hobos of America. I registered ‘Moniker Projects’ as a domain name before I even thought of the fair I think.

BM - What sets Moniker apart from all the other art fairs that are so ubiquitous this time of year?

FS – We’ve established ourselves as London’s premiere event for contemporary art with its roots embedded in urban culture. This is what ties the fair together and we have firmly put East London back on the art fair map in doing so. We’re an unpretentious fair, accessible and unpretentious. You won’t find many obscure pictures on white walls with gallery assistants glaring at you at our fair. Every day is fun, we are known for generating a friendly unintimidating art buying atmosphere. It’s become one of the highlights of London’s Art Week for many people.

BM - You have decided to accept Bitcoins this year, why is this?

Nick Walker, Decibel No.1 . Art of Patron space curated and produced by Moniker Projects

FS – A mixture of reasons. I met several people from the Bitcoin community this year who really sold the benefits of the digital currency to me. Plus they were genuinely nice people who welcome social change. I wanted to know more about the decentralised system so decided to curate a 50ft Bitcoin inspired installation that will integrate artworks by Ben Eine, Schooney and Toonpunk. Bitcoin will be accepted as valid tender throughout the fair, not necessarily because we believe Bitcoin will our saviour(!), but exploring possible alternatives to the current financial system is a good thing.

BM - How do you select the Moniker-represented artists?

FS – Initially I like their art and then I like them. Sometimes it happens the other way around, I like the artist and begin to understand their work and their paintings may grow more and more on me.

BM - Which are the most exciting artists that we should look out for at this years fair?

FS – I’m looking forward to seeing work by SA artist Kilmany-Jo Liversage, Betz from Etam Cru, French Street artist Bom.k who debuts at the fair and Apolo Torres. Legendary Bristol stencil artist Nick Walker will be exhibiting his brand new ‘smoke series’ body of work in the Art of Patron space along side multidisciplinary artist Lauren Baker. The Renaissance is Now installation is going to be off the wall.

Moniker Art Fair

TIAF London

When? October 14th-18th

Where? Rag Factory, London

The Independent Art Fair London will be blowing us away again this year with 80 contemporary independent creatives from all over the world. Offering new talent as well as established artists the opportunity to showcase their work amongst others forms an inspiring environment full of photography, installation, video, painting, sculpture and every other way creativity can take form. The exhibition takes place in the heart of Brick Lane, in the eminent Rag Factory.

Samuel Small, Dump

Harumi Foster, Piano 2

Heraa Khan,  Social Standing

Prayer Wheel

Rear Lights Joel Clark

The Rag Factory

TIAF London

Paul Solberg - Ten Years in Pictures, Lifetimes in Print.

Ten Years in Pictures, Paul Solberg’s fifth photographic compendium, is a catalogue of ethnographic encounters with a startling diversity of artistic topography; drawing together sepia sailors, haunted soldiers, priests, Wild West horses, flower petals and Ai Weiwei that have gathered together in his lens across the years.

From Vietnam to Cairo to Sicily to Jordan, the book reads as a world portrait where the parts make up the whole but each part stands alone with a poetic, poignant, potency. Solberg hones in on the intricacies in his anthropological portraits; choosing to capture the subtler details of expression of culture and humanity. Instead of cataloguing these subjects with a flat, documentary, objectivity, he infuses these details with a joy, a poignancy and a simple reflectiveness. Through his photographs, we see “a world in which Solberg lives, and wishes we could all live”. There is a sense of standing in the shoes of Solberg when looking at his photographs; seeing the subject through not only his lens, but his eyes; with a universal awe and wonder. The Moholy—Nagy-new-vision approach reframes his scenes and subjects from an alternative angle; encouraging us too to look on anew and afresh with, and through his hungry, curious eyes. Life and art bleed, indeed - previous to his prestigious photographic publishings in Interview, the Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast Traveler, and CNN Travel, Solberg studied anthropology at university in South Africa before travelling extensively throughout South Africa, South America and Asia. These early formative experiences fostered his fascination for the forms of the world, and the influence is evident throughout. 

Ten Years in Pictures. © Paul Solberg 

paulsolberg.com 

Frieze Talks 2015

This Frieze London edition broaches some of the most interesting and thought provoking topics, discussing interactions between art, politics, design and environment in 8 inspiring talks. 

Here are some of our must-visit highlights:

Image via www.seancollymore.com       

Image via  uk.blouinartinfo.com

http://www.londonischanging.org

Image via www.seancollymore.com      

If you believe art has the ability to comprise political power you should definitely listen to installation and performance artist Tania Bruguera. Having dealt with detention from her own country, she takes the stage to talk about her politically motivated practice and her belief that if it is to be political, art must have consequences.

In an era where anyone can do anything, what happens when artists no longer have the financial tools to express their creativity? Justin Simons OBE, head of Culture at the Greater London Authority leads this discussion, addressing London’s redevelopment and rising costs of real estate and how it puts pressure on the city’s artists.

Fashion lovers will leave the art fair more than satisfied, having the opportunity to listen to renowned fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood about her changing relationship between art and her practice, addressing a.o.i. her commitment to environmental and social activism. As for rising talent, Frieze has selected Anicka Yi to talk about her ambition to make art a sensorial experience, going back and forward with Darian Leader, psychoanalyst and author of e.g. ‘Stealing the Mona Lisa’.

Other personalities providing contemporary art fans with food for thought are Fionna Banner, Emily King, Metahaven, Justin McGuirk, Viv Albertine, Gregor Muir and Adrian Searle.

 Frieze

Slow – Co – Ruption by Dineo Seehee Bopape

Dineo Seshee Bopape is one of South Africa’s most admired, unconventional artist. Her first UK solo exhibition at the Hayward’s Project Space, Southbank, can best be termed as surprising, unexpected, puzzling or wonderful that your brain cannot comprehend it. Too many gadgets going on at the same time. It’s like you are not supposed to grasp what the display is about?  Comprehending the works isn’t really the idea here I gathered. You walk into the space and you are challenged by a tremor of everything but the kitchen sink. From sculptural installation with video montages to constant flash photography, two TV set with no pictures flipping between analogue and digital visuals, a machine mix and re-mix ear-splitting sound. What is more? Timber, bricks, mirrors and plants, form multifaceted and wobbly configurations, often across the walls and on grass floor of the gallery, alongside a fresh sculpture conceived especially for Hayward Gallery Project Space. The presentation is overwhelmingly imposing.

Dineo Seshee Bopape
Video still from why do you call me when you know i can’t answer the phone, 2012
Digital video, colour, sound
Duration: 10 minutes 42 seconds
Photo credit: © Dineo Seshee Bopape. Courtesy of STEVENSON Cape Town, Johannesburg 

DSB: I was born in 1981 in Polokwane, South Africa. I was born on a Sunday. If I were Ghanaian, my name would be akosua/akos for short. During the same year of my birth, the name ‘internet’ is mentioned for the first time Princess Diana of Britain marries Charles; AIDS is identified/created/named; Salman Rushdie releases his book “Midnight’s Children”  bob Marley dies ‐ more events of the year of my birth are perhaps too many to have accounted for... I did my undergraduate studies in Art at Durban University of technology, South Africa, (2004), and attained my MFA from Columbia University, USA, in 2010. I work generally in a variety of mediums, mostly installation and video and drawing. My work has generally dealt with issues/ideas of representation so to speak... and memory, whilst some resist the pressure of having to mean something.

Here and now, what made you want to take part in Africa Utopia festival and what do you hope to pull off? 

DSB: I was invited to take part. And what I hope to attain is to brush up my talking skills, I get often nervous when I speak in public, and often unsatisfied after because there is so much stuff that remains unsaid. Perhaps agreeing to participate is a chance for another rehearsal for the next time.

How would you describe your art? Is it redemptive, ethical or relative and political. And when putting together your installations what is your end goal?

DSB: It depends on who the viewer is I guess. It can be redemptive. Whilst in the process of making a work, goal posts changes. There is a freedom of sorts that comes with not having a strict goal. The goal is an unamiable thing.  

Dineo Seshee Bopape
Video still from is i am sky, 2013
Digital video, colour, sound
Duration: 17 minutes 48 seconds
Photo credit: © Dineo Seshee Bopape. Courtesy of STEVENSON Cape Town, Johannesburg 

Dineo Seshee Bopape
Video still from is i am sky, 2013
Digital video, colour, sound
Duration: 17 minutes 48 seconds
Photo credit: © Dineo Seshee Bopape. Courtesy of STEVENSON Cape Town, Johannesburg 

Talk to us about your Africa Utopia exhibition at the London Hayward Gallery project Space?

DSB: "Slow-co-ruption" is the title of the show. I was thinking about data corruption, the data of narrative, of memory, of liberal socio-politics, self, language, sense and order and all thatcorruption implies… rupture... An interruption of a memory/a file/a story... about politics of space and the metaphysics of being... A death…  ‘Productive’ death…The show has 3 main works and 2 supports, so to speak. In the first room is “Same Angle, same lighting”, a mechanical sculptural work which I made in 2010 but is now in its 3rd incarnation. The first version had a light that was shining repetitively, back and forth on to a dark photograph (just looking over and over again). The 2nd version which I had shown in Cape town at Stevenson had a camera that was supposed to capture the information on a photograph and send it to a nearby monitor, but the machine kept on failing and what stood in the monitor with it was a pre-recorded video (showing the movement that was supposed to happen); an external memory of sorts…

(Flabbergasting response or what?) Rendered speechless.

Dineo Seshee Bopape
Video still from is i am sky, 2013
Digital video, colour, sound
Duration: 17 minutes 48 seconds
Photo credit: © Dineo Seshee Bopape. Courtesy of STEVENSON Cape Town, Johannesburg 

And now in its 3rd reiteration in Slow-co-ruption, the camera sends information to several monitors/screens (hosts). The camera goes back and forth scanning the information off the paper (a scanned colour photocopy of picture of a lush garden from a garden and home magazine from the early 1990’s). This machine is hosted on and by these wooden supports and shop display things. Around “same angle, same lighting”- (the other supports) are several copies of video grass green/sky blue and also slow-co-ruption (stickers of flowers and eyes) the flowers are an almost random selection of native SA flowers and some from the garden image in same angle…. The eyes are those of an anonymous person and also those of philosophers Biko and Sobukwe who are also known for having written much about a need for rupture – both mental and spatial (so to speak). In the other rooms are the video “why do you call me when you know I can’t answer the phone” a piece from 2013 which is itself about the rupture of meaning or sense, a corruption or narrative. Whilst “Is I am sky” also speaks of a thing of absence, self-presence and of a kind of a metaphysical death to make a very insufficient summary…

Dineo Seshee Bopape
Video still from Grass Green, 2008
SD digital video, sound
Duration: 6 minutes 52 seconds
Photo credit: © Dineo Seshee Bopape. Courtesy of STEVENSON Cape Town, Johannesburg

Do you have a favourite piece from this exhibition and what next for DSB?

DSB: Not really, I love the different pieces differently...but currently I must say I am most excited about the "slow-co-ruption" stickers. On what next?  I would like to show my work more on the African continent (abroad too), I would like to grow as an artist, to clarify my thoughts, for my work to be sharper, to continue being curious and continue to play... also to share with others... to remain healthy and able.

Southbank Centre

5 London Art Fairs you can’t say no to

Have you ever heard of the phenomenon ‘the fear of missing out’? Well then you better get rid of all plans in your agenda and all excuses in the making, as these 5 London Art Fairs are too good to pass on. 

The Other Art Fair

When.. October 15-18th

Where..  Old Truman Brewery

Besides bringing 130 emerging talents to the stage and enlightening you with the next big thing in terms of art, the ‘other’ in ‘The Other Art Fair’ stands for more than you can possibly want from a creative event like this. Besides innovative creative workshops for the curious and intrepid amongst us, talks by art experts and past exhibitors, shows, films and installations, there will also be a surprise event that most likely will knock you off your feet.

The London Illustration Fair

When? December 4th-6th

Where? Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf

If you are obsessed with graphic design, print and everything illustration based, The London Illustration Fair, which has earned the title of the only London based event dedicated to illustration, will feel like utopia to you. Bringing buyers and artists together in one creative environment, the fair has both an eclectic audience as well as a massive assortment of cutting-edge artworks.

 Frieze London

When.. October 14-17th

Where.. The south end of Regent’s Park

With 160 galleries from over 25 countries in the world, it is safe to say Frieze London is the most impressive contemporary art fair in London. Celebrating its 13th anniversary, the fair goes big, presenting contributions by artists such as Asad Raza, Jeremy Herbert, Lutz Bacher and winner of the Frieze Artist Award 2015 Rachel Rose. Organising inspiring talks, interactive installations, underground chambers and the return of the beautiful Sculpture Park, Frieze London is a feast for the senses.

London Photography Fair

When.. November 8th

Where.. Bloomsbury Holliday Inn

This boutique-style photography fair will astonish you with vintage masterpieces, unusual findings, and an abundance of specialist knowledge. Whether you are there to absorb the nostalgic atmosphere or to browse for photos that complete your collection, London Photography Fair will leave a mark on your memory.

Image via www.widewalls.ch

Moniker Art Fair

When.. October 15-18th

Where.. Old Truman Brewery

Celebrating urban culture within contemporary art, Moniker Art Fair brings something unique to the scene and foundations of a matchless experience.  Voicing a new generation of street artists and introducing Bitcoin to art fans, it challenges the status quo.

Hackney Wonderland 2015

Hackney Wonderland's sold out 2014 success has left us wanting more. The one-day rock'n'roll festival returns for its second year to Hackney's coolest music venues. With just 10 days to go we are gearing-up for it. Get your tickets before you regret it!

When: 10 October 2015

Where: Oslo | Seabright Arms | London Fields Brewery | Oval Space

Tickets here

Hackney Wonderland

TOY - Interview

Bo Ningen - Photo by Cat Stevens

To Kill A King - photo by Wolf James Photography