Street scenes, building a sense of community and turning the unseen into heroes
I felt instantly at home after meeting Sarah Adams, she was warm and gracious and we hit it off straight away. Our encounter was through her partner who fixed my musician boyfriend's trumpet, which I swear is not a euphemism for something else, he actually repairs instruments.
Anyway, after a few catch ups with heart-warming new friends, I discovered Sarah had done more than a stint in the world of illustration, but was adamant that wasn’t ‘happening’ anymore. Out of curiosity I asked to see some of her work, but she became shy and introverted, only adding to my intrigue.
In the end she did let me see one or two pieces, and I was bowled over with what she’d presented, it had such an impact. I felt like I knew the places on the page she’d drawn, the people she’d depicted. I was brought up in Hackney, the place in question, so her ability to show it off with such a visceral energy kinda broke me.
I was hell bent on speaking to Sarah further not only to bring her work to the forefront, but also to lift the proverbial shadow she’d casted over it.
Once we’d aligned our schedules I rocked up to her place with a packet of custard creamed biscuits in one hand, and a note full of questions in the other, and it wasn’t long until she jumped in to tell me about her work-space. Yeah this bit is my corner, I have all my special books, my paints, and this is how I organise it. It very much says a lot about me…course it’s a mess, and I think it's good to show it in a complete and utter mess.
I add that most artists liked working in a disorganised functional space which she considers and smiles at. Totally, but this has evolved over 10 - 20 years actually, I was doing a lot of photoshop on my computer which is why I have this big screen, I did a few books which I had to relay and send online.
Books? This is news to me. We've spoken a few times and Sarah’s never mentioned about being published, not that she’s obliged to but this revelation feels even more of a privilege, to see her ready to share something she’d been initially so modest about. I was going through the drawers to show you what I have and it’s a bit of a mish mash, there are loads of really old stuff, but it’s all been a journey.
What has led you to this point? Oh god it goes right back to Central Saint Martins in London when I did a post grad in illustration, which was about 30 years ago and it sort of built from there. I went on to do magazine illustration, then I started to get into children’s books because someone saw my work, and I ended up working for Walker books. I went on to do a post grad in children’s illustration after that.
Sarah's partner comes in as she’s talking and she politely tells him that she’s busy, before seamlessly carrying on from where she left off. So I took some key bits out, like the sketch book I showed you.
She begins to flick through a series of drawings of kids playing, sitting, jumping and I take the opportunity to ask if she can remember when her love of art started?
When I was around 15 I had to start looking at what to do for a career, and I remember looking through these books and one of them said something about being an illustrator, and I never thought of doing that. At that point the direction changed, and I went and did an art foundation.
I hate to ask the next question especially as I can see Sarah is surrounded by a sweet shop of memories, but I wonder if she can choose three pieces that represent her work. She goes ahead and rummages through papers in her blue dungarees and red long sleeved top, to show me a lino cut print she made. Ok, so, this is my estate…I just love the view outside my window and this is it at night. The lino print has many elements from intricate markings of light and dark, the London’s skyline in the distance, the fox below with an abandoned shopping trolly in the scene and I get the sense of what is often synonymous in Sarah's work whether she knows it or not, and that’s to make the often forgettable or lost subject the hero of her work.
Oh and there’s this, it’s based around the fairytale ‘The red shoes’ she says drawn to another of her pieces. I basically wanted to update the story because I’ve always loved it. The expressions that Sarah captures in this eclectic street scene where the protagonist Karen is on the run, is full of character; and I’m so taken with the illustration’s punchy authenticity that I can almost smell the chip fat clinging to the pavement and hear reggae bouncing in the air. I am transported.
Sarah finally sets her heart on the third piece with a project called ‘Lucas Eden’. It’s about a boy and his grandmother who moved to an estate like this. Sarah is now on her feet, directing my gaze outwards to a grey sky and concrete jungle of 30 or so flats below, the setting has an important relationship with the story she’s about to embark on.
So, Luca and his grandmother moved here from eastern Europe, I haven’t specified where exactly but they’ve been given a place to stay. They look out of the window and see land, and want to create a garden because they feel isolated coming from a different country. But this land is in danger because the authorities want to build on it, so they try to save it. Sarah goes on to talk about where she lives and what that means to her.
There’s been a movement on our estate and in our community garden about bringing people together. Local people have taken ownership of that around here, they’ve not been led by councils or paid people, they’ve taken initiative themselves to expand it. It’s very much resident led here, and longer lasting because of it.
I want to know what Sarah believes makes a good illustrator? Having a sense of place, I think you can take inspiration from your own experience, where you live, or the people you know. I think it makes it more personal, now most of my work is based around London but in some cases in children’s books they like to sell more internationally and they don’t always encourage a sense of place because they think it limits the sale of the book, so it can be a bit generic, but personally I feel like it’s more interesting if there is a sense of place.
Sarah looks out of her window as she’s done so many times today, half with concern and the other with a palpable sense of happiness. I’ve gathered that her starting point has a lot to do with where she’s from and what’s in her community, but she also highlights how our differences can have a great effect on the people who live there.
This is apparent in ‘Dave and Violet’, one of Sarah's published children’s books, about a little girl helping a dragon fit in. This story is set in Shoreditch park, and I dunno, I sometimes think about
Dragan -Dragan is Sarah's partner who’s Serbian - I think he’s never felt quite 100% accepted here, and I’m quite protective of that.
Sarah's body language changes slightly as she comforts herself by wrapping an arm loosely around her waist, and the other on her opposite shoulder.
When I was a child I was very quiet and I didn’t really say much, and I remember the harder I tried to please the other kids the harder it was for me, I feel like they disliked me more. I remember feeling frustrated and how unhappy I was; I was being bullied and that...and this character, Dave the dragon, he wants to help but the harder he tries the worse it is. And he’s trying so hard that he gets nervous and starts to heat up, flames come out of him and he makes it even worse. That’s based on how I felt as a kid. So it’s a mix of things, and I guess Violet is like me…but I think a lot of artists base their work on their own experiences, something real.
Sarah shows me another of her children’s book called ‘Gary and Ray’ and I see the familiar theme loneliness being probed again, as she flicks through the pages there’s a hint of surprise in her voice as she admits I seem to write characters who are lonely and don’t belong, I guess as a kid I felt lonely and I wanted to belong.
I think living around here on the estate there’s a lot of people that are isolated and forgotten about, you don’t often see them but I know they are there.
I agree with Sarah that loneliness is not an easy state to live with, that it should be talked about more often and tackled head on, having said that I see many of her stories resonating with those reading them, as a reminder they are not alone and that hope is never too far away.
Sarah not only champions her often displaced characters with spirit and awareness, she also puts her money where her mouth is and is an active member of her community; and what I love about her work is its pure honesty and definite style.
She has a great ability to draw your eye across the page and hold a mirror up to the world she creates, whether it be a place outside your door or the subject that lives behind it. That’s what makes her work so special.
Abfillage and self-expression: the art of Aluu Prosper
Aluu Prosper is a 24 year old Nigerian Painter and figurative artist, producing strikingly bold works which not only challenge the neutral colour palette, but also the figurative perspective with verve and energy. To hear more about the man behind the canvas I had to ask a few more questions…
Can you describe your studio to our Smoor readers?
My studio is quite a mix of different states. Most times organised and sometimes in a mess. Because of the style of art I do which is a fusion of collage, abstract and figurative art, when it’s time to cut newspapers and glue it to the canvas, everywhere becomes disoriented as well as during the abstract coloration. But it’s a beautiful place.
What does art mean to you, and how do you know when it’s good?
I always tell people, art is self-expression. There is no bad art. If someone chooses to express himself or herself in whatever way they can, then it’s art. It is a personal choice. What you see as a bad art, someone could see as a masterpiece.
How would you describe the art that you make for someone who’s not familiar with your work?
I call it Abfillage. I indirectly relay messages on newspapers to my viewers without making it so obvious, while painting my story and expressing myself in figurative form. It’s a fusion of abstract, figurative and collage hence the name Abfillage.
Do you have a dream place you’d like to exhibit and why?
There are a lot of places, definitely. Like the Guggenheim, The Tate, The National portrait gallery, and maybe the Louvre in Paris and so on. In terms of why I think it’s already obvious why I want to show there.
Influences, inspiration? Talk to me….
Erm, I would pick Picasso first of all, not because of his style of art but because of his relentless personality. I learnt a lot from his lifestyle (not the bad side???). But his zeal and willingness to succeed, and in terms of how I paint, it’s influenced by Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Kadir Nelson and myself too.
How much sketching do you do beforehand? is it necessary?
In the kind of art I do, I sketch on the canvas directly because I work from reference images I took myself or from my past, so I don’t do preliminary sketches in rough books or sketchpads, but it’s essential I sketch before I paint the figurative part of my work because I wouldn’t want paints going into places they are not supposed to go into at all.
You use newspaper as a base for your work. Is there a reason for this?
Yes there is. Just like Mahatma Gandhi said, In order to preserve culture, you must continue to create it. The social, economic and political stories in newspapers are part of our culture, our way of life, and society plays a huge role in our individual lives. I preserve these stories not by stacking the papers but by using them to create art. It’s like turning what could have been a waste into gold.
I know when I’m writing I sometimes use music to help concentrate -let’s just say a particular Max Richter song has got me through a lot-. Do you listen to music while painting?
I can literally do little without music. Everything could feel boring. Music initiates and invites a certain energy into the room and the work. I only turn it off when I’m done. You know I write too. I don’t use music when I write my poems, because I need full concentration. Words collide in my head if I use music to write.
Why is challenging the perspective of the human form such a big feature in your work?
Well, I would also ask you, why would I want to paint what already ‘is’ when I have the power to create my own universe on my canvas? God chose to make us the way he wanted to because he has the power to. I challenge the normal narrative but mostly the head because it’s the seat of wisdom.
There’s a parrot in the mural ‘Garden of Eden’ that you’ve painted showing a woman braiding another woman’s hair, in another piece a dove sits on top the oversized head of a young boy entitled ‘What do you believe in’ can you talk more about the use of birds, and your signature crown motif?
Well, as for the birds, it was contextual. Picasso was the first to use a dove to signify peace. The crowns dignify my subjects, it simply means they are special.
How does your Nigerian heritage influence your work, how important is it to acknowledge that part of yourself?
To be sincere with you, I’m not really proud at this moment to be a Nigerian because of the state of the nation. But there is nothing I can do about it because that’s who I am and I have to express myself and tell my stories in my works. The newspapers speak for themselves. As an artist living in Nigeria, there are more than enough things to talk about or express.
Did you know many black painters when you were growing up?
I was just a comic artist at a young age. I didn’t know about most famous black painters. I knew I got the talent from my dad. When I grew older, I started to know them one by one and get inspired by what they’ve done.
You’re becoming quite an established artist, making beautiful, memorable work. What would you say to other artists burrowing away in their bedrooms making art and wanting a piece of the creative pie?
Well, I am like every other artist out there too. But I would say to them, art is self-expression, make something unique, find a niche. You don’t need to go too far to find it, it’s within you. The beginning isn’t easy but with time you’ll be happy you never stopped.
Lucy Evans's paintings turns wounds into wisdom
I’m a Ukrainian artist born in Kyiv. I already understood in my childhood that I wanted to be an artist. When I write works I breathe. I graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and architecture in 2019 and currently studied in Beaux Arts de Paris.
Art for me is a search, freedom, is an opportunity to speak frankly with the world. In my works, I convey the vulnerability, fragility and at the same time the inner strength of a person. In my work, the soul is the main thing. My paintings often show strength precisely through fragility. I depict a sensitive, tender, fragile, difficult and mysterious world. A person can learn to turn wounds into wisdom, keeping beauty and tenderness in their heart, I think most of my works are about that.
I use different materials but I’m mostly working with oil on canvas.The technique is also very important to me, I’ve been mastering it for a long time, and I still do it, because it’s an endless path of search, which is an integral part of the work.
Being an artist for me is to live a life that is truly authentic to who you are.
Baptiste Pauthe: Beach flavoured paintings with a street-art edge
Grew up with surfing in front of the ocean, in the Landes between Hossegor and Seignosse. After graduating as an architect in Bordeaux. After a few experiences in an architectural agency, he leaves time to deepen his creation and make his painting travel in Spain, France, Belgium and recently in California.
Visual art is his means of expression, he develops his creations from painting to drawing, from illustration to video. In an intimate and sincere quest, he expresses himself out of personal need. In a refuge full of love that he insults and full of sorrow that he praises, his brain is regenerated through colors and texts that tell his stories.
Gilded Chaos by Benjamin Murphy
Artist Rowan Newton interviews artist Benjamin Murphy ahead of his striking new body of work Gilded Chaos, showing at Beers London soon!
After The Day After
Artist Rowan Newton interviews artist Benjamin Murphy ahead of his striking new body of work Gilded Chaos, showing at Beers London soon!
Gilded Chaos
Preview: Thursday 14 January 6-9pm
Exhibition: 15 Jan.- 13 Feb 2016
Why have you chosen electrical tape as your medium? When did this begin, and do you feel restricted by it?
I did it after a few too many beers one night around 6 years ago whilst I was doing an MA in Contemporary Fine Art at The University of Salford. I like it because of its limitations I suppose. There are no books about ‘how to draw with electrical tape’, so any techniques or solutions I need I have to work out for myself.
Why do you always use black tape, as electrical tape comes in other colours too?
All of my work is black and white, even when I’m not using tape. It’s a much bolder and more striking aesthetic, the world is multicoloured and anything black and white stands out in contrast to it.
Your pieces have a confliction between life drawing and still life. Often a nude study is at the forefront but in a staged environment with many still life objects dotted around in the background. What do you prefer, the still life or the life, and what is it that interests you about the both of them?
I always have the ‘still life’ elements in the background, as a way of suggesting possible storylines for the main character of the artworks. They are both important but the background detail is only there as a way to add extra potential narritive for the subject.
What is your reason for so much pattern work within your pieces, is this because it looks pretty, or because it is a challenge to recreate such intricate pattern work; or is there something else to it?
It is partly just a way of challenging myself and pushing my limits, and partly because I decided to make this new body of work as detailed and lavish as possible to resonate with the show title. (Gilded Chaos).
“I want to leave the works ‘meaning’ up to the viewer to determine”
There is a strong narrative to your work, is the message a direct one you wish to tell, or is it for the viewer to interpret for themselves?
I’m always careful to suggest multiple possible meanings and messages, but in a way that their interpretations are multifarious. I believe in the pluralism of interpretation, as any viewer who looks at an image will see it in a different way. So for this reason I want to leave the works ‘meaning’ up to the viewer to determine. I like to hint at things, but ultimately I feel that most of the work should be done by the viewer.
Is there room for you in the art world for just pretty looking art, art work that is just there to be enjoyed for its attractiveness but not so much trying to convey a message?
There definitely is a place for it, but I find that it doesn’t hold my attention for as long as works with more substance to them than their surface aesthetic. Craftsmanship on its own isn’t really enough without something else.
Constanza
Within your narrative there are regular motifs that pop up, skulls, crucifixes but the one that stands out to me in the toilet roll, talk to me about toilet roll?
I thought that that particular work needed something that was almost plain white in the center to balance the image, and so my first idea was a skull. The vase of flowers and the urn obviously both already have strong death connotations so a skull would have been overkill. As it looks like it is in some kind of funeral parlor or something the toilet roll seems to fit in, also there’s something darkly comical about it, which I like.
Will we see toilet roll in this show?
Yes the toilet roll one is in the show, it’s called ‘In Praise Of Darkness’. It’s titled after a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, who has been a big inspiration for the show.
There is a play with perspective in your work, the angles of chairs not quite lining up with angle of the shelf or the bed or the table etc. What do these mean for you?
My use of perspective is quite important and people rarely pick up on it, so I’m glad you have.
Perspective is utilized by the artist to transform a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional space. This brings the viewer beyond the frame and into the artwork, as what is seen in the foreground is imagined (through the use of foreshortening etc.) to be at the front of the image. Perspective in a two-dimensional image is an illusion, and its immobile vanishing points is something that is never seen in nature. This already makes the artwork static and artificial, before the subject matter is even considered.
Perspective can be utilized to create feelings of unfamiliarity and otherness when used in the right way. When I draw the person in the artwork, they are seen from below, as if the viewer of the work is looking up at them. This is drawn in a contradictory way to the one in which I draw the background, as the background is seen as if the viewer were above it.
This imbalance in perspective is what creates the subtle but very real sense of unease in the viewer, as it is not immediately noticeable to be the source of the uneasiness. This difference in perspective creates two ‘artificial’ viewpoints that occur from every singular ‘real’ viewpoint.
“Like a pop-up book, the character in the artwork is forced out of the confines of the frame and into the real world”
The way that the subject and background are seen creates the illusion that the subject is in fact a giant in their surroundings, and is much closer to the viewer than they appear, and that they aren’t really situated in the background at all, but on the viewers side of the frame. By placing objects in between the viewer and subject, the subject is then forced back into the background slightly, back into the picture.
Like a pop-up book, the character in the artwork is forced out of the confines of the frame and into the real world. The person depicted in the artwork is brought into the real world, and not the viewer into the artwork as is created with the correct perspective.
These techniques with perspective deny the viewers eyes from properly feeling that they can enter and explore the artwork fully, which the perspective appears at first glance to invite.
Which artists have influenced/inspired you with there use of perspective in their work?
I’m a big fan of the expressionists, many of whom do their perspective a little off; especially Vincent Van Gogh.
There is a voyeuristic nature to your work, as if you’re looking into private moments, what intrigues you about these moments?
The work is voyeuristic in a sense, but it is intended in a totally non-sexual way. I am careful to make the subject non-sexualised and non-passive in her surroundings. It is more like the viewer is voyeuristically looking at someone going about their daily lives, but in no way are the subjects naked for the pleasure of the viewer. If anything seedy is going on it is the fault of the viewer and not the subject of the artwork.
I like the subtlety of how uneasy this makes the viewer feel.
Do you feel now that we as people are being observed in voyeuristic manner, as we expose ourselves almost daily on social media, especially Instagram?
I suppose we are, but we put ourselves out there to be looked at. No one can see anything you don’t first decide to post. Instagram and facebook are inherently narcissistic, but then being an artist requires you to be a bit of a narcissist to begin with.
Are you ok with that or do you feel you have to do it to help build your audience and try and connect with them on a more intimate level. If you did not have your artwork to expose, would you be on social media?
I think I probably would still be on it, but I wouldn’t take it anywhere near as seriously.
More often than not your subjects are naked, is this to do with vulnerability? There are also kinky aspects to your work, corsets, suspenders, knives, are you turned on by your work? Is there a sexual releases for you in your work? Who are these women and do these settings exist?
It is more to do with innocence than vulnerability in my mind. Lingerie and underwear tend to be sexy in a coquettish way, by suggesting that which they conceal. For me those items are more of a way in which to cover up something, which in turn is a way of making the work not so much about sex. I don’t like to draw fully naked character as its tough to have them still appear tasteful and non-sexualised.
What frustrates you about your art and the art world around you?
The only real times I get frustrated with my work is when I can’t find time to be drawing, or when I’ve been drawing for so long that I can’t tell what works and what doesn’t. In the art world in general I’m most frustrated by the continuous rehashings of pop art that are so ubiquitous these days, Pop Art ceased to be interesting a long time ago.
Face to face how do you find talking about your work, is it something you are comfortable with, or shy away from?
I don’t mind it so much, I find that I often talk too fast and go off on tangents for far too long though. I’m much more coherent when I’m writing it down.
You have a solo show at Beers Contemporary coming up. What is the theme of this show and have you approached it any differently to past shows?
I’m really excited about showing with Beers, they are a great gallery and have been amazing to work with this far. To be even listed as one of their artists is an honor.
There isn’t a theme as such, but all the works relate to one another in some way. There is a lot of detailed floral pattern running throughout the works, partially inspired by William Morris. These works have taken a lot longer to produce than the works for my previous shows, due to the level of detail et cetera. This in turn has meant that as I’m working for much longer, my inspirations are all the more myriad.
What was the biggest challenge to putting this show together?
The level of detail has been a big challenge, as the smaller you go the more difficult it is. It’s also hard to spend days drawing the same pattern over and over, it makes you go a little insane.
What do you want people to walk away with once seeing this show?
I want people receive so many different and contradictory thoughts and emotions that they don’t fully understand them until they go away and ruminate on them. I also want the show to have a lasting impact in some way, be it positive or negative. Anything as long as it isn’t ambivalent.
Body Honesty
How this era’s art is debunking body shamers.
How this era’s art is debunking body shamers.
With armpit hair censored on Instagram, Gigi Hadid called ‘too big’ for modeling and period adds being banned for ‘inappropriateness’, it appears that for us women, there is no place left for anything less than ‘perfection’ in this society. Being aware that beauty ideals go back to an untraceable time, it is safe to say we have reached the limit. As we are the Selfie obsessed, social media horny generation with a strong opinion and a reasonably big ego, it seems the fingers are all pointed at us; and so we left ourselves with a mess, where deviations of what we consider perfect are selectively disregarded and 80 per cent of the female population feels awkward about themselves. Isn’t it time for us to fight this weird situation we have found ourselves in before we lose the idea of what the reality actually is? Being bored of the traditional female body parading throughout the art scene, these next artists challenge the idea of beauty and provide us with a brutally honest representation of female diversity.
Exploring the struggles of ‘black’ hair through pastel coloured still lives, Nayeka Brown might be the perfect badass example of self-acceptance. Confronting us with the reality of our definition of beauty in the context of a black woman, the photographer dares to tackle the taboos surrounding body image, race and tradition in an undeviating way.
If there is one thing to admire this Finnish artist for, it’s her courage to approach her body in a humorous way. Shoving a broom under her boobs, putting on a hat with ‘bread hair’ while standing on a treadmill, nothing is too absurd for this upcoming photographer. However while she’s having the time of her life making these shots, she’s simultaneously teaching the world a lesson about body shaming, taking a piss with beauty ideals and questioning the fact that abnormal may be normal.
Although still finishing up her studies, illustrator Layla May Ehsan is already getting her voice out there, and I can assure you it is a powerful one. Highlighting a painful and these days rather shaming thing that goes on inside women’s bodies, Layla’s period drawings are aimed to start a conversation, pointing out the ridiculousness of the lengths the world goes to in order to avoid the ‘gross’ subject of menstruation.
As tolerance is hiding behind a world full of stereotypes and discriminating thoughts, there is a powerful counter reaction going on to actively help our society towards acceptance. From indie films dedicated to a love for chubbiness to a photography movement capturing body reality of our diverse society, it seems we are finally ready to be honest about our bodies and if body honesty is the theme of this era’s art, than at least there is something we are doing right.
The story of painting rascal Ide André
“Everyone can say what they want, but I do hope that my work comes across as fresh, dirty, firm, crispy, dirty, clean, fast, strong, smooth, messy, sleek and of course cocky.”
“Everyone can say what they want, but I do hope that my work comes across as fresh, dirty, firm, crispy, dirty, clean, fast, strong, smooth, messy, sleek and of course cocky.” – Ide André
Somewhere between the concrete walls of the Institute of the Arts in Arnhem, a talented kid with a big mouth and an urge to paint was bound to challenge perspectives. Years later, he found himself rumbling in his atelier, experimenting with ideas and creating things out of chaotic settings. With a determined attitude and an open mind, he managed to turn everything into a form of art. Some people liked his work, some people questioned it; either way it got attention. Right now, he’s working on several projects all exploring the relationship between painting and everyday life with the carpet (yes, the carpet, I told you this guy can turn anything into art piece) as main subject. His work is a reflection of his personality: bold, impulsive, fun and with a fair amount of attitude. He however likes to use a couple more words when describing his own work. This is the short version of his biography, the end of my version of his story. If you prefer a more authentic one here’s the story in the artist’s words:
I once saw a show of Elsworth Kelly when I was a child. The enormous series of two-toned monograms clearly made a big impression on me. I remember staring with my mouth wide open at the big coloured surfaces. I’m not that much of a romantic soul to say that it all started right there, but it did leave an impact on me. I actually developed my love for painting at ArtEZ. I started out working with installation art and printing techniques, but I was always drawn to the work of contemporary, mostly abstract painters, until I actually became fascinated about my fascination with abstract painting. Because, let’s be honest here, sometimes it seems quite bizarre to worry about some splotches of colour on a canvas. Even though painting has been declared dead many times over, loads of people carry on working with this medium no matter what; from a headstrong choice, commitment or just because they can’t help it. I am clearly one of those people, and that fact still manages to fascinate me.
At ArtEZ you talk so much to your fellow students, teachers and guest artists, little by little you kind of construct your own vision on art. And that’s a good thing! All this time you get bombarded with numerous opinions, ideas and assignments, some of them (as stubborn as we are) that seemed useless to us and weren’t easily put on top of our to-do-list. Until there is that moment you realise that you have to filter everything and twist and turn it in your own way. Then there is that epiphany moment. That moment you realize you can actually make everything your own. I think that’s the most important thing I’ve learned during University: giving everything your own twist and constantly questioning what you are doing, subsequently always struggling a little bit but still continue until the end. Like an everyday routine.
I’m not going to enounce myself about the definition of art. That would be the same thing as wondering what great music is or good food. I think it’s something everyone can determine for themselves. I do think it is interesting to ask myself how an artwork can function and what it can evoke. There is this exciting paradoxical element within art. On the one hand we pretend that art should be something that belongs to humanity, something that is from the people, for the people; on the other hand is the fact that art has its own world, its own domain where it can live safely, on its own autonomous rules, and it doesn’t have to be bothered by this cold, always speculating world. There are pros and cons about both sides, and I think it’s impossible to make a work of art that solely belongs to one of the two worlds. As Jan Verwoert, Dutch art critic and writer, words it: “Art as a cellophane curtain”. Without getting too much into it (otherwise I’m afraid I’ll never finish this story), there is this see-through curtain between the two worlds. The artist is looking at the outside world through his work, and the outside world looks at the artist through his work. That’s how I see art and how I approach it.
My work often comes about in various places, with my studio as a start and end point. I buy my fabric at the market and from there the creative process really starts. I print on them, light fireworks on them with my friends, or sew them together with my mother at the kitchen table in my childhood home. I try to treat all these actions as painting related actions. Like a runner that goes to the running track on his bike; we could ask ourselves: is he already exercising running? On an average atelier day, I toil with my stressed and unstressed fabrics, chaotically studded around the room. Usually I don’t have a fixed plan. My process is semi-impulsive and comes from an urge. Often this causes little and mostly unforeseen mistakes, these ‘mistakes’ often prove to be an asset in the next project.
As for the future, (Lucky for me) I don’t own a crystal ball, so I wouldn’t dare to make predictions. And quite frankly I wouldn’t want to know. Young collectives, initiatives and galleries keep popping up and I think we continue to grow more and more self-sufficient. Of course there is that itch of our generation to always learn more, do more; an urge that I believe will never disappear, also not within myself. I will stubbornly continue to work on the things I believe in. Not because it offers me some sort of security (most of the time it’s the opposite) but because I just can’t help it.
Carnival Glass at Block 336
This December, artist-run gallery Block 336 is offering you a different view on art history, altering and mixing different cultures, times and movements with exhibition ‘Carnival Glass’.
Aiming to provide a platform for both established and emerging artists with an emphasis on collaboration, freedom and experiment, the project space combines the talent of seven artists in the UK art scene in one exhibition. Lewis Betts, Freya Douglas-Morris, Grant Foster, Brian Griffiths, Archie Franks, Lydia Hardwick, and Lana Locke will be taking on the challenge of combining numerous techniques such as sculpturing and painting to create beautiful entities, simultaneously exploring chaos to reach innovation. Art history connoisseurs will recognize references to Gothic, Baroque and Rococo aspects, while culture enthusiasts will be able to deepen themselves in the subtly integrated carnivalesque elements. Londoner and award wining contemporary painter Archie Franks is both displaying his artwork and curating the event.
As if there isn’t enough for your eyes the focus on, you can let them wander around in the remaining rooms of the building as there will be another exhibition going on at the same time. In his first solo show HOMEWARE_update, Corey Bartle-Sanderson displays the experimentation of combining objects that aren’t usually put together.
Both exhibitions will have their private view on the 4th of December.
ANDROGYNY: An inherent truth?
What can we learn from androgyny? The artist challenging gender fluid stereotypes and promoting a different kind of well-being: Nastasia Niedinger
What can we learn from androgyny? The artist challenging gender fluid stereotypes and promoting a different kind of well-being: Nastasia Niedinger
Nastasia Niedinger is a unique product of the millennial age. A contemporary creative on the outside looking in, she is a hungry observer and spokesperson for those equally curious about the modern human condition into which they were born. Fascinated by post-modern and generational trends, she utilises art direction to produce remarkable pieces with profound social messaging. Her primary mediums include writing, photography and experimentation with digital spheres, which she uses to highlight incumbent cultural mechanisms at play. Always aiming to help viewers understand better the world around them, Niedinger’s attitude seems ever forward-looking.
Universal androgyny. The concept may seem peculiar, but one photographic study suggests just that. Gender in Utero is an intimate study of androgyny with a strong ideological underbelly. Tired of just the “what?” and determined to ask “why?”, this collection and its critical rhetoric is bucking trends in the media’s recent coverage of gender fluidity - and in more ways than one.
Gender in Utero is unique in its duality, making clever use of art to support social commentary. The collection uses photography as a medium to document the phenomenon in its physical form: the artist iterates our physical inheritances - the appearances of both mother and father - and although this is often taken for granted, she has found it to be a profound and inspiring truth.
But the message at its core is the prevalence of androgyny in our behaviour and observed benefits for the psyche. The artist asks viewers to consider, “How do I feel? How do I think?”, encouraging them to evaluate the fluidity of their own behaviours and thoughts.
“I believe androgyny is not only natural but inherent. It occurs moment by moment, case by case, in each of us. Faced with a multitude of situations, we unconsciously flex between feminine or masculine behaviour.
Androgyny is tantamount to people’s ability to evaluate, objectivise, empathise, subjectivise, and so on.”
The project’s title, “Gender in Utero”, pays homage to the unique development of the human mind and advancement over time. “A component of human nature is our inherent adaptability, in the short and long-term.” And though Nastasia observes that action is constantly changing, more fundamental still is the understanding that consciousness itself is after all, genderless.
Its poignant insights are supported by classical writer Virginia Woolf and pioneering psychologist in creativity and “flow states”, M. Csikszentmihalyi, whose research claims, “A psychologically androgynous person in effect doubles his or her repertoire of responses.”
Execution of the collection has abided by strict principles, sourcing participants from outside of the modelling industry and rejecting androgyny as a means for fashion, which Nastasia claims to be constraining. “Often, designers encourage diversity for the sake of diversity, freedom for the sake of freedom, without explaining its value.” Examples include Selfridges’ recent Agender floor, which although publicised gender as a construct, for all its PR failed to explore the implications of the statement. The artist holds a critical outlook on the subject, stating that:
“Androgyny has been commodified by fashion, and hijacked by sex. Neither industry is exploring why aesthetic or sexual liberation does good for the well being - areas like self esteem, flexibility, and of course empathy”.
Gender in Utero was born out of a firmly collaborative effort between Nastasia, photographer Al Overdrive and makeup artist Sophie Yeff. The trio have utilised an acute sensitivity to human physiology to produce a gripping standard of portraiture. Its founders mark an expanding community, coordinating a larger production team to cater for its growing number of subjects.
These captivating pieces and rhetoric are a refreshing departure from ineffectual “gender fluid” posturing in the media, (many gaining views using provocative but unanswered questions). Instead, the project demonstrates the potential inclusiveness of androgyny, inviting individuals to celebrate the benefits of fluid thinking in everyday life. Gender in Utero boldly addresses the big “whys” which industries like fashion and sex overlook, and gives those who identify with the “genderless mind” a powerful visual means to reclaim androgyny.
Want to explore more? Interact here www.genderinutero.com
Sex in the art scene
How art is demolishing the misconceptions around sex and sexuality (and why this is a good thing).
SEX, SEX, SEX. Next to eating and sleeping it’s one of the most mundane and self-evident phenomenons in our human lives, however with constituted social norms telling us to oppress our sexuality and discard any exceptions on the ‘normal’ conceptions, thus treating it as a taboo subject, I bet that somehow some of you still feel the embarrassment creeping into your body when reading those three first words out loud in the office or during a family dinner.
Living in 2015, there is still so much wrong with the misconceptions formed around this broad subject. Yet luckily for us there is an active movement going on in the creative scene and the polished and one-sided approach we’re used to is gradually being substituted by an honest representation changing our narrow perspective on what sexuality really entails.
Describing themselves as a liberation from a culture of self-hate and impossible ideals, Ladybeard fights the reinforcement of a demeaning attitude towards sexuality. When we were all too busy flashing our boobs on the Internet with the hashtag #freethenipple hoping for a change, the team behind Ladybeard made an entire magazine!!! accessing real sexual experiences and voicing sexual diversity.
© Shan Huq SS16 - Photography Thomas McCarty - via dazedigital.com
Shan Huq
“These clothes are the essentials of your wardrobe, but also the essentials of your mind, the essentials of life and the essentials of your sexuality”. New to the fashion scene and already making statements, Shan Huq’s creations represent the reality of young Americans, tackling sexual taboos in a brilliantly cheeky way. Subtly touching the taboo subjects: gender, beauty and sex, the brand pushes the straightforward boundaries which the fashion industry continues to occupy.
Ren Hang
Having been arrested for “suspicion of sex”, Chinese photographer Ren Hang has experienced right handed how much of a taboo sexuality continues to be in this modern age. Yet instead of being discouraged by the extreme consequences of his work, Ren does not let this get in the way of his creative process. Showcasing the naked bodies of his friends in its purest form, he manages to capture images that go beyond the focus on sex, making them both arousing and scenically interesting at the same time.
To the people that think our generation of artists is deconstructing everything that has been built up for the last hundreds of years, I say so what. It was about time. Our society is in need for individuals like the ones above, so we can leave all those misconceptions about sex and sexuality behind us and work towards that one moment where we can finally all openly accept that women do masturbate, there is no one in this world that is 100 per cent straight, and sex is as opposed to what you have been watching in your bedroom with the door locked, more raw and real than anything you have ever been confronted with on the internet, rap song video clips or perfume adds.
West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song
The British Library celebrates West Africa: A region that spans 2,000 years, 1,000 languages and 17 different countries – the grass may indeed be greener in West Africa.
The British Library celebrates West Africa: A region that spans 2,000 years, 1,000 languages and 17 different countries – the grass may indeed be greener in West Africa.
Early illustrations by Ibrahim el Salahi.
Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther 1867
YOU might have heard of the 17 countries that make-up the West African region and that the region is plague by never-ending conflicts and hunger. Nevertheless, have we got news for you? West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song, a major new exhibition at the British Library is showcasing/celebrating the cultural vitality of the West African region – not warfare. Its thousand years of history, from centuries-old drum language, protest songs, informative religious manuscripts to the great manuscript libraries of the early Middle Ages, through to colonialism and independence. The exhibition likewise offers an insight into the centuries-old written heritage, as well as the ancient oral traditions of West Africa, both of which continue to influence and motivate in the present day.
West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song, is conveyed through rare texts, recordings and manuscripts of the time. This is an extraordinarily exhilarating exhibition, like no other you have ever read about or seen before. Hundreds of fascinating stories from the region’s 17 nations tell how West Africans have harnessed the power of words to build societies, drive political movements and human rights issues, and sustain religious belief and fight injustice. Furthermore, it shed light on the colonial era and the slave trade controversies including a generation of enslaved West Africans who advocated for the abolition of the slave trade in the 18th century. This is an exhibition with depth and feeling, in addition to the excitements and unusual objects the spectators would see. It explores in such detail the vibrant cultural history of this multifaceted and captivating region, even if they haven’t always been given their due by the rest of the world - until now.
There are many, many things to like about this display. Watch out for several key bits and pieces including, a poem from the 17th-century Islamic scholar Nana Asma’u, which illustrates women’s active public role in Islam; a room dedicated to the music and activism of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and a striking carnival multi-coloured regalia newly designed for the exhibition by Brixton-based artist Ray Mahabir. This retrospective will open you up to new things and to what you think you know, but in a different light. My only grievance is, you’ll need to see West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song, twice to get the full gist.
West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song
Fri 16 Oct 2015 - Tue 16 Feb 2016
PACCAR Gallery
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
Non-organic Life: Recycling to a level beyond imaginable
Visiting an exhibition about the creative experimentation with non-organic life might not seem something you would put on top of your bucket list. However, ‘Non-organic Life’ proves that the subject is as rare and unidentified as it is interesting.
Visiting an exhibition about the creative experimentation with non-organic life might not seem something you would put on top of your bucket list. However, ‘Non-organic Life’ proves that the subject is as rare and unidentified as it is interesting. Taking recycling to a level beyond imaginable, you might even say the exhibition showcases an art form that belongs in our (hopefully near) future.
‘Non-organic Life’ gathers artists addressing creative processes which denature the origin of the materials used or contradict the properties of its constituent references. Combining art, science and technology they allow non-organic masses of materials to be transformed, refiguring the perception you have from those materials, that are considered to be a deterioration of the environment, into something beautifully captivating.
Starting off by collecting clusters of non-recyclable and non-biological materials from urban environments, the clusters then get removed out of its context and taken apart, to be assembled again in a completely different way, creating new forms that make those clusters unrecognizable.
The distinctive aspect of this concept is something called: cite-specific intervention, meaning that the artwork is always linked to the site the materials were original found, opening up a dialogue between the non-organic materials and the procedures they are undergoing. This may all sound very mystifying but is in fact a unique and innovative way of recycling what we consider dirt, into striking works of art.
An inspiring exhibition needs an inspiring venue. The exhibition will take place in ‘PERMANENTE’, an artist-led initiative located in Bogota, Colombia, aiming to provide a space for experimentation and collaboration and transmitting knowledge and inspiration amongst their visitors. A perfect match if you ask me.
Artists:
Verónica Lehner
Carlos Bonil
Juan Melo
Federico Ovalles-Ar
Víctor David Garces
Laura Ceballos
Nicolás Cardenas
Luz Angela Lizarazo
Gabriel Zea + Camilo Martinez
Rafael Gómez Barros
Angélica Teuta
Andrés Matías Pinilla
Caroline Bray
Andrés Londoño
Curated by: John Angel Rodriguez
PERMANENTE | Bogota, Colombia
Solitary by Patrick Colhoun at the Ben Oakley Gallery
With exhibition ‘Solitary’, contemporary sculpture artist Patrick Colhoun introduces his new take on the dark nature his previous works dealt with, going from grievous to playful in an utterly unique way.
With exhibition ‘Solitary’, contemporary sculpture artist Patrick Colhoun introduces his new take on the dark nature his previous works dealt with, going from grievous to playful in an utterly unique way.
When an artist is capable of expressing himself through his works of art, transferring his feelings to objects and sculptures and translating even the darkest thoughts into every little physical detail; that is when art has reached its greatest version. The man that stands by this method and masters it simultaneously is contemporary sculpture artist Patrick Colhoun.
“I have a strong belief in myself and my work. I am confident that my work has the potential to stand out and as long as I can keep making that sort of work, I will keep progressing. How far though, in this game, is anyone’s guess.”
Patrick Colhoun’s art is known for treating dark subjects such as death, decay, sexual deviancy and aggression. Dealing with grief and difficult encounters he has experienced in the past, many say the work he produced in his previous years has been a way to express his emotions, portraying them in an extreme and mesmerizing way.
Today, 6 years after his last solo exhibition, Patrick’s creations have taken another turn, shedding a light upon his previous work and changing the atmosphere from grievous to playful. The exhibition: Solitary is the third part of a series of 3 exhibitions. Having taken place at Belfast and Dublin, it is now London’s turn to be wow-ed by the artist’s ability to move with sculpture. The exhibition still deals with memories from Colhoun’s past, however this time he highlights the parts he likes remembering. Solitary combines contemporary sculpture and mixed media to create something that Patrick calls ‘anti-ceramics’. Striving upon the idea of being unique, the artist surprises every time, may it be with unseen material combinations or objects that are as far removed from ceramics as possible.
“I want to do ceramics, but not as you know it. I started introducing other materials to the ceramic base, including latex, neon, hosiery, spikes and piercings, all things not usually associated with traditional ceramics.”
Solitary will take place at the Ben Oakley Gallery from the 13th until the 29th of November.
HUNDRED YEARS GALLERY presents: Editions
Celebrating its 4th anniversary, the Hundred Years Gallery presents ‘HYG Editions’, a collection of never-seen works from 8 artists that have collaborated with the gallery before.
Celebrating its 4th anniversary, the Hundred Years Gallery presents ‘HYG Editions’, a collection of works from 8 familiar faces that have collaborated with the gallery before. The exhibition runs parallel to our programmed exhibition ‘The Decline of Conscience’, a photo series of Nick JS Thompson displaying the inescapable problem of gentrification in London.
For this special occasion, the gallery is treating its visitors with limited edition prints, selected drawings and collage work from artists Yvonne Yiwen Feng, Helen Bermingham, Victoria Kovalenko, Maey Lemley, Nick JS Thompson, Lex Thomas, Jaime Valtierra and Rita Says, as a thank you for their interest in the gallery. They also see this exhibition as an opportunity to show they are extremely grateful towards the artists that have been more than supported for the last 4 years and to encourage new talent to engage with the project.
Helen Bermingham.'Untitled'. Edition of 5. Gicleè print on Hahnemühle paper 22 x 29.5 cm. 2013
If you grown a liking for any of the exhibited artists there will be a more than pleasant surprise awaiting at the gallery. Besides an exciting collection of exclusives as well as never-seen artwork, the Hundred Years Gallery will be hosting ‘Editions’ workshops for community groups and schools, giving possible up-and-coming artists the opportunity to get involved, learn, play and explore all there is to know about the mysteries of art. And here is your extra bonus: the artists showing their work at the exhibition will be your workshop teachers.
The exhibition will be running from November 19th until December 20th. However better go sooner than later, it will be over before you know it and this exciting and fruitful event is one you don’t want to be passing out on.
Editions launches with a private view November 19th 2015
The Decline of Conscience by Nick JS Thompson
The Hundred Years Gallery, 13 Pearson St, London E2 8JD
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.
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
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.
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..
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. Ahead of its launch, we caught up with Paul in his Manhattan home to discuss what this book represents for him and to reflects on ten years of recording life in his lens.
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.
Ten Years in Pictures Review
Slow – Co – Ruption by Dineo Seehee Bopape
An interview with the South African artist on her first UK solo exhibition at the Hayward’s Project Space, London.
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.
5 must-see exhibitions this month
With so much happening in London this season, we selected 5 art shows for your gallery crawl.
With so much happening in London this season, we selected 5 art shows for your gallery crawl.
With digital integration in every facet of life, will we be predisposed to the negative effects this can bring to our lifestyle?
Digital Disturbances goes back and forward in time, showing the strange effects advanced technology can have on the fashion Industry.
11 – 12 December 2015
The World Goes Pop
“The World Goes Pop!” examines the global story of pop art and reveals a side of it you have never seen before. Revealing the outcomes it had in cultures and countries, and insinuating a language of protest throughout the 60s and 70s.
17 September 2015 – 24 January 2016
States of Mind: Ann Veronica Janssens
In ‘States of Mind’, Ann Veronica Jannsens creates a sensory experience, reminding us of the richness of our interaction with the world. Filling the gallery with bright coloured mist, her work disorientates the viewer through the dissolution of normal perceptual boundaries.
15 October 2015 - 3 January 2016
The Fabric of India
One of the most exceptional highlights of the V&A India Festival, ‘The Fabric of India’ holds more than 200 pieces of pure Indian culture and beauty. Covering historic costumes, modern fashion, and unique textiles from an amazingly large time frame, this is an exhibition every creative with a weakness for history, culture and craftsmanship should visit.
03 October 2015 – 10 January 2016
Ryan Gander: Fieldwork
A kitchen sink, a dead pigeon, a chocolate bar, a pebble beach and a helium balloon. This and much more is awaiting for you at the ‘Fieldwork’ exhibition. Expect to be blown away in this amazing freak out, as Ryan Gander is serving his inspiration on a silver conveyor belt for you to observe in an impervious and mysterious way.
25 September to 31 October
‘Be Inspired’, an exhibition by Save Wild Tigers
Save Wild Tigers brings people with an appreciation for art and a love for animals together in exhibition ‘Be Inspired’.
Save Wild Tigers brings people with an appreciation for art and a love for animals together in exhibition ‘Be Inspired’. As this promising title states, the prestigious Hotel Café Royal is lavishly filled with inspiring artwork, highlighting the beauty of the wild tiger and raising money to give them a better habitat.
INAZUMA by Daisuke Sakaguchi
Painting legend Christian Furr is selected as curator for the event, as well as contributor to what probably is one of the most spectacular artworks of the exhibition. Together with friend and designer Chris Bracey, he created a 3D neon artwork with chrome tiger head sculpture. Internationally known artists Rose Corcoran, Dan Baldwin, Otto Schade, Daisuke Sakaguchi, Shauna Richardson,John Gledhill, Julia Wager, Claire Milner, Misha Masek, Jacky Tsai, Pandemonia and Lauren Baker also used their creative talent to contribute by interpreting and incorporating the wild tiger in their work. The results are astonishing and might just be the most exciting way to create consciousness around the distinction of this beautiful creature.
If this hasn’t convinced you to visit the event, the next piece of art will. Chosen to be the showstopper at ‘Be Inspired’ ‘INAZUMA’, Japanese for ‘Lightning’, empowers the qualities of the wild tiger: power, speed and impact. The artwork, meticulously painted by Daisuke Sakaguchi, captures the freedom of the majestic wild tiger in a modern way. Both ‘INAZUMA’ and all other artworks at the exhibition will be available for auction online, giving you the opportunity to take a reminder home and simultaneously support the good cause.
Another pinnacle of the event is the work of urban art talent Otto Schade. With "Butterfly Tiger" he takes the abstract layering he is known for to another level, intertwining creatures together and modifying the perspective on the wild tiger.
Butterfly Tiger by Otto Schade. 150x122 cm mixed media stencil spray
Time to bid! Please visit this link to view the "Be Inspired" art bidding which will be up on PADDLE 8 until the 8th October 2015:
Curated by Christian Furr
The Club at Café Royal, 22 September – 8 October 2015
By Appointment Only