painting

Amelia’s Magazine | Royal Academy of Arts: Summer Exhibition

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Thumbnail Kendal Calling

For a festival that is just five years old, rx Kendal Calling has already amassed a kudos rating that belies its youth; (Annie Nightingale remarked simply, “It’s how festivals should be”). Savvy enough to realise that it is all about keeping the punter happy; the organisers of Kendal have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide an enjoyable and hassle free weekend for all attending 2010′s festivities. In a few aspects, they got lucky. Take the setting for example; situated in Lowther Deer Park inside the Lake District in Cumbria, Kendal gets to take advantage of the stunningly breathtaking and unspoilt location; nestled between the dramatic landscape of craggy mountains, Lowther Deer Park makes up 1,000 acres of lush greenery. But with everything else, Kendal has worked hard on its own volition to provide a sound weekend.

The eclectic and diverse line-up will mix up bigger acts such as Doves, The Coral, Calvin Harris and The Futureheads with indie darlings Wild Beasts (whom several of our contributors have professed undying love to recently), OKGo and Erland & the Carnival, while the Calling Out Stage – dedicated to cherry picking the most exciting new music – and the Kaylied Stage (featuring a blend of local and folk music) has the kind of line-up that makes our mouths water. Like some kind of Tom Robinson/BBC Radio 6 airplay fantasy, the buzz around First Aid Kit, The Parlotones, Goldheart Assembly, Good Shoes, These New Puritans and Kirsty Almeida will mean that anyone catching their sets will be a good six months ahead of the curve (which you all are anyway; but extra brownie points can never go amiss)

There are now only a few hundred tickets left for Kendal Calling. Tickets can be found on their website, along with details on additional Thursday night entertainment and camping.

Barry Flanagan’s Nijinski Hare, buy information pills illustrated by Naomi Law

I recently stepped out of London’s unusually baking sun to enjoy an afternoon visit to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. On reaching the courtyard, medical the whole place seemed to be in high spirits with Barry Flanagan’s bronze hares prancing around and the ordinarily stern permanent statue sporting a floral sash.


Photograph by Naomi Law

During the largest open exhibition in the UK, viagra the labyrinthine rooms of Burlington House play host to a swarm of artists, from the unknown to the infamous, waiting to surprise visitors around every corner. Everyone is welcome to submit work to the exhibition each year, resulting in a diverse collection ranging from painting to architecture, and sculpture to film. The majority of the works on display are for sale, and although the prices predictably reach the astronomical, there are several pieces accessible to those with more modest purse strings if you take a closer look.

This year’s theme is Raw, which according to David Chipperfield, co-ordinator of the architecture room, signifies ‘vitality, risk taking and a necessary sense of adventure.’ Stephen Chambers, the main co-ordinator of this year’s show, states that raw art is ‘fresh, new, visceral and affirmative. Some of it is fairly scary too’.

Perhaps one of the most talked about pieces in the show is David Mach’s Silver Streak, a ferocious larger-than-life gorilla made entirely from wire coat hangers. These are surprisingly effective in creating a sense of weight and movement – he’s an imposing figure!


David Mach’s Silver Streak, illustrated by Paul Shinn

Mach appears again just behind the gorilla with Babel Towers, a huge and complex collage of an outlandish seaside town with the mountainous ‘tower’ ascending into the clouds.

On entering many of the rooms, your eye is dutifully drawn to plenty of bold and large-scale works. Somehow the flamboyance of these pieces drew my attention to the smaller or less immediately-noticeable pieces, and this is what I have largely chosen to focus on.

My childhood fascination with anything miniature (and consequent hours spent creating minute little things from Fimo) was happily indulged by the collection of architects’ models and drawings in the Lecture Room.

Visitors are treated to views of buildings in their ‘raw’ forms, as seen through the eyes of the architect. The methods of construction and presentation of these models is as fascinating as the designs themselves.

It will come as no surprise that I spent the longest time in the Small Weston Room, which is filled with over two hundred smaller paintings, some no larger than a postcard.

Several otherwise everyday scenes are beautified in oils: Francis Matthews’ The Coombe depicts a Dublin street corner whilst Josephine Greenman uses the familiar blue and white of a traditional dinner service to render miniscule domestic settings in Silence I & II.

Amazing craftsmanship can also be seen in Claire Moynihan’s Moth Balls, 2010; dozens of moths are intricately embroidered onto their own Alpaca wool felt ball.

In the Large Weston Room, David Borrington predicts the state of the high street in 2020 if a certain supermarket is allowed to continue its invasion of our neighbourhoods. Globull Internashll Tescgoows 2020 is a stark reminder of the need to find an alternative.


David Borrington’s Globull Internashll Tescgoows, courtesy of the artist’s website

Just around the corner Oran O’Reilly’s beautifully comic Rizla, after Hokusai shows the famous Great Wave surging from a pack of cigarette papers. Maybe not such an odd pairing considering the prevalence of Hokusai’s wave in poster form in student accommodation up and down the country (admittedly including my own not so long ago).

Also currently on display at the Royal Academy, and well worth seeing, is a collection of work by academicians who have passed away over the last year. I was particularly taken with Michael Kidner’s painstakingly drawn geometric forms in No Thing Nothing.

If you can’t make it to the Royal Academy, you can see work from A-level students selected for the online exhibition here.

All photographs courtesy of the Royal Academy, unless otherwise stated.

Written by Naomi Law on Monday July 5th, 2010 2:39 pm

Categories ,architecture, ,Babel Towers, ,Barry Flanagan, ,Bronze hares, ,Burlington House, ,Claire Moynihan, ,David Borrington, ,David Chipperfield, ,David Mach, ,Dublin, ,film, ,Fimo, ,Francis Matthews, ,Globull Internashll Tescgoows 2020, ,Great Wave, ,Josephine Greenman, ,Large Weston Room, ,Lecture Room, ,london, ,Michael Kidner, ,Moth Balls 2010, ,Naomi Law, ,No Thing Nothing, ,Oran O’Reilly, ,painting, ,Paul Shinn, ,Raw, ,Rizla after Hokusai, ,Royal Academy, ,sculpture, ,Silence I & II, ,Silver Streak, ,Small Weston Room, ,Stephen Chambers, ,Student Bedrooms, ,Summer Exhibition, ,The Coombe

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Amelia’s Magazine | Royal Academy of Arts: Summer Exhibition

by

Thumbnail Kendal Calling

For a festival that is just five years old, rx Kendal Calling has already amassed a kudos rating that belies its youth; (Annie Nightingale remarked simply, “It’s how festivals should be”). Savvy enough to realise that it is all about keeping the punter happy; the organisers of Kendal have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide an enjoyable and hassle free weekend for all attending 2010′s festivities. In a few aspects, they got lucky. Take the setting for example; situated in Lowther Deer Park inside the Lake District in Cumbria, Kendal gets to take advantage of the stunningly breathtaking and unspoilt location; nestled between the dramatic landscape of craggy mountains, Lowther Deer Park makes up 1,000 acres of lush greenery. But with everything else, Kendal has worked hard on its own volition to provide a sound weekend.

The eclectic and diverse line-up will mix up bigger acts such as Doves, The Coral, Calvin Harris and The Futureheads with indie darlings Wild Beasts (whom several of our contributors have professed undying love to recently), OKGo and Erland & the Carnival, while the Calling Out Stage – dedicated to cherry picking the most exciting new music – and the Kaylied Stage (featuring a blend of local and folk music) has the kind of line-up that makes our mouths water. Like some kind of Tom Robinson/BBC Radio 6 airplay fantasy, the buzz around First Aid Kit, The Parlotones, Goldheart Assembly, Good Shoes, These New Puritans and Kirsty Almeida will mean that anyone catching their sets will be a good six months ahead of the curve (which you all are anyway; but extra brownie points can never go amiss)

There are now only a few hundred tickets left for Kendal Calling. Tickets can be found on their website, along with details on additional Thursday night entertainment and camping.

Barry Flanagan’s Nijinski Hare, buy information pills illustrated by Naomi Law

I recently stepped out of London’s unusually baking sun to enjoy an afternoon visit to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. On reaching the courtyard, medical the whole place seemed to be in high spirits with Barry Flanagan’s bronze hares prancing around and the ordinarily stern permanent statue sporting a floral sash.


Photograph by Naomi Law

During the largest open exhibition in the UK, viagra the labyrinthine rooms of Burlington House play host to a swarm of artists, from the unknown to the infamous, waiting to surprise visitors around every corner. Everyone is welcome to submit work to the exhibition each year, resulting in a diverse collection ranging from painting to architecture, and sculpture to film. The majority of the works on display are for sale, and although the prices predictably reach the astronomical, there are several pieces accessible to those with more modest purse strings if you take a closer look.

This year’s theme is Raw, which according to David Chipperfield, co-ordinator of the architecture room, signifies ‘vitality, risk taking and a necessary sense of adventure.’ Stephen Chambers, the main co-ordinator of this year’s show, states that raw art is ‘fresh, new, visceral and affirmative. Some of it is fairly scary too’.

Perhaps one of the most talked about pieces in the show is David Mach’s Silver Streak, a ferocious larger-than-life gorilla made entirely from wire coat hangers. These are surprisingly effective in creating a sense of weight and movement – he’s an imposing figure!


David Mach’s Silver Streak, illustrated by Paul Shinn

Mach appears again just behind the gorilla with Babel Towers, a huge and complex collage of an outlandish seaside town with the mountainous ‘tower’ ascending into the clouds.

On entering many of the rooms, your eye is dutifully drawn to plenty of bold and large-scale works. Somehow the flamboyance of these pieces drew my attention to the smaller or less immediately-noticeable pieces, and this is what I have largely chosen to focus on.

My childhood fascination with anything miniature (and consequent hours spent creating minute little things from Fimo) was happily indulged by the collection of architects’ models and drawings in the Lecture Room.

Visitors are treated to views of buildings in their ‘raw’ forms, as seen through the eyes of the architect. The methods of construction and presentation of these models is as fascinating as the designs themselves.

It will come as no surprise that I spent the longest time in the Small Weston Room, which is filled with over two hundred smaller paintings, some no larger than a postcard.

Several otherwise everyday scenes are beautified in oils: Francis Matthews’ The Coombe depicts a Dublin street corner whilst Josephine Greenman uses the familiar blue and white of a traditional dinner service to render miniscule domestic settings in Silence I & II.

Amazing craftsmanship can also be seen in Claire Moynihan’s Moth Balls, 2010; dozens of moths are intricately embroidered onto their own Alpaca wool felt ball.

In the Large Weston Room, David Borrington predicts the state of the high street in 2020 if a certain supermarket is allowed to continue its invasion of our neighbourhoods. Globull Internashll Tescgoows 2020 is a stark reminder of the need to find an alternative.


David Borrington’s Globull Internashll Tescgoows, courtesy of the artist’s website

Just around the corner Oran O’Reilly’s beautifully comic Rizla, after Hokusai shows the famous Great Wave surging from a pack of cigarette papers. Maybe not such an odd pairing considering the prevalence of Hokusai’s wave in poster form in student accommodation up and down the country (admittedly including my own not so long ago).

Also currently on display at the Royal Academy, and well worth seeing, is a collection of work by academicians who have passed away over the last year. I was particularly taken with Michael Kidner’s painstakingly drawn geometric forms in No Thing Nothing.

If you can’t make it to the Royal Academy, you can see work from A-level students selected for the online exhibition here.

All photographs courtesy of the Royal Academy, unless otherwise stated.

Written by Naomi Law on Monday July 5th, 2010 2:39 pm

Categories ,architecture, ,Babel Towers, ,Barry Flanagan, ,Bronze hares, ,Burlington House, ,Claire Moynihan, ,David Borrington, ,David Chipperfield, ,David Mach, ,Dublin, ,film, ,Fimo, ,Francis Matthews, ,Globull Internashll Tescgoows 2020, ,Great Wave, ,Josephine Greenman, ,Large Weston Room, ,Lecture Room, ,london, ,Michael Kidner, ,Moth Balls 2010, ,Naomi Law, ,No Thing Nothing, ,Oran O’Reilly, ,painting, ,Paul Shinn, ,Raw, ,Rizla after Hokusai, ,Royal Academy, ,sculpture, ,Silence I & II, ,Silver Streak, ,Small Weston Room, ,Stephen Chambers, ,Student Bedrooms, ,Summer Exhibition, ,The Coombe

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Amelia’s Magazine | Russian Vengeance & Japanese Farts.

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Arriving at the Gagosian on the outskirts of Mayfair feels a bit of a three-way clash. I’m a little scruffy and philosophical-looking today, the gallery’s doorman is impeccably dressed with one hammerhead eye out the window looking for any limousined celebs he might open the door to… and then there is the work. Approaching a Haruki Murakami is always a bracing experience. You can never have chewed enough bubblegum, played enough video games or collected enough Pokemon cards that you might feel you belong in front of a work like Lots, Lots of KaiKai and Kiki. Yet, aieeeee!!!!: Here I am.

TakashiMurakami.jpg

The first thing that strikes me about this is that it’s an all-over painting, similar in size and shape to a Pollock. It’s as if Pollock’s paint-stick ejaculations had each germinated into a Kiki or a KaiKai (Murakami’s two principal anime-style protagonists – a cute bunny-eared thing and a kooky tri-clops bundle of mischief). Lavender Mist gone Manga, there are well over a hundred faces here. Not one of them is merely here, however. Each is vying for my attention. Either throwing a cuddly grin at me, pulling a smug smile at me, lunging a bewildered face at me, snorting at me, shouting, screaming and going la-de-da-de-da at me. Always, intensely, insanely at me, at me, at me. The smiley flowers in the background are a little less so, but not much.

There’s either too much or not enough purity in this. Sure, it’s a haribo-overdose headache, a million cartoons at once and, of course, Murakami is a canny capitalist industry now, with a marketing department that would make Benetton long for the golden years. But it’s nice, too. You can really just melt into the superficiality of it all. For a while, I wondered if some of the grimaces on Kiki’s face were chastising the toon-world for it’s bondage, forcing innocent toon-babies to be sugar-buzzingly hyper-kerrazy all the time, but I don’t think so. If Murakami’s embrace of the Hello Kitty and Pikachu universe was ever partly sarcastic, it’s not easy to see that anymore. Especially in the show’s animated video piece. Aside from one character declaring that the city in the sky is “a little clichéd”, some remarks about Yin and Yang and the big monster’s crescendo of farting and pooping, this could be on any of the more ADHD kid’s TV channels right now. In fact, even with those things, it would get on Toonami I suspect. Oh, and the animation is just as slick as the painting, i.e. very, very, eyes-glazed-over slick.

Which is when I decide to get down to The Hayward, to try and re-elevate my IQ. The Russian Linesman is a pretty cerebral show about, so says the subtitle, Frontiers, Borders and Thresholds, curated by Mark Wallinger. Now, here’s a chap hitherto obsessed with class division and racehorses. Also, it seems, a chap who doesn’t like to be pigeonholed. Not a sign of class warfare anywhere. And there’s even a drawing by George “I draw horses” Stubbs – and it’s of a human skeleton. What a tease! So, if the subtitle doesn’t allude to class barriers and finishing lines, then what?

Whatever the answer, it must be a sign of a healthy art culture when artists don’t feel forever bound to their established gimmicks. Oh, the nailbiting back when Gary Hume gave up painting doors. There’s none of that fear here, and eclecticism is happily the show’s most obvious feature. A Durer engraving faces three stretches of conceptual twine by Fred Sandback, James Joyce’s disembodied voice recites part of Finnegan’s Wake next to a Blake, while a ballerina dances on a projected video loop round the corner. In my favourite leg of the show hangs a masterful 17th Century painting of a dead soldier, thought once to be a Velázquez. The wall on which it hangs forms part of Monika Sosnowska’s Corridor, one of those rare conceptual pieces which will have you laugh out loud and have a conversation with the laugher behind you. I really must resist spoiling the joke for you, simple as it is, but Escher would have loved it.

The centrepiece is Wallinger’s own Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, which is a full-sized polished-steel mirror replica of Dr. Who’s T.A.R.D.I.S, from which it gets the profound-sounding title. This is a thing of stunning beauty.

wallinger.jpg

Part of the gag, by the way, is that as you try to look “into” it, you see an art gallery, yourself, artworks, people, thus it’s… you’ve guessed it kids, “bigger on the inside than on the outside”. Sort of. There’s something about the way the geometry of the room continues through it, that makes it kind of invisible, as though halfway through a sci-fi disappearance special effect (after all, it brings no colours of its own to the room, or geometric discontinuities or bends) but it”s also garishly, chunkily, heavily there. And the punters flock to this one. Wallinger has wisely not put anything too attention-grabbing near it, and it’s the magnet of the show. It’s also just after halfway through, so if you’ve been scratching your head a lot, wondering what’s going on, you can check that your hair’s not too badly messed up on the Tardis. Dead handy.

History creeps into the show quite a bit. Anglo-Germanic relations are central to the show’s title (the Russian linesman being the chap who decided that England’s dodgy 1966 World Cup-winning goal against West Germany was legit, allegedly admitting later that Hitler’s bloody march on Stalingrad in 1943 helped him decide). And a wall full of stereoscopic viewfinder images (how fun!) presents us firstly with the Nazi War Effort (oh…), and ends up with our own Teutonic Queen, greeting Nigerian subjects in the 1950s. Plenty of loose ends there. More impressive, however, is Ronald Searle’s set of drawings showing his experiences in Burma in the Second World War. It’s a bit of a jar perhaps, to have these painful and violent images so close to the fun of Corridor or the Tardis, but maybe that’s just another threshold to cross?

There are many ways that borders, etc come into the show. Political borders that divide people and send them to war, between reality and illusion, lines drawn between species, and poetics-of-space type boundaries, but I don’t think it’s necessary to try and see this as a coherent body of work. It’s a bric-a-brac feast, and better for it. It’s Wallinger the artist-as-curator, but, as the gallery makes clear from the outset, also curator-as-artist. The Russian Linesman is his scrapbook, providing a good deal of fresh insight into his ideas and interests. It may not all fit inside the boundaries imposed but it looks like a decent goal to me.

Murakami is at the Gagosian Davies St, 17-19 Davies St, London, W1K 3DE. The Russian Linesman is at The Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. Don’t forget your bubblegum.

Written by Gareth Ackland on Monday March 2nd, 2009 3:01 pm

Categories ,Gallery, ,Haywood, ,Painting, ,Takashi Murakmi

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Amelia’s Magazine | Satoshi Date: London Fashion Week A/W 2012 Exhibition Review

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Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Claire Kearns

Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Claire Kearns

Satoshi Date, an ethical fashion designer featured in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, returned to an archway space on Holyrood Street near London Bridge to exhibit his A/W 2012 Lines 1 and 2 during London Fashion Week. He presented his S/S 2011 collection in the same gallery and in quite a similar way, having his designs hung from the ceiling along with other fabric elements so that the whole formed an installation.

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

The exhibition had the fascinating subject of Alchemy woven into it. Satoshi Date had named it Alchemist’s Mind, Re-Fashioning Masterclass as in truth it was not just an exhibition, but also a drop-in workshop whith special areas and sewing machines at the ready where someone could bring old clothes and turn them into somehting special they would love to wear again. I liked the fact that upon entering the space I was given a ‘Menu’ with what I could do during my time there, which humorously included ‘Talk to Satoshi Date about: how to manipulate your vintage fabric, how to make redundant objects reborn again, how to heal your current problems, how to deal with your love relationships, how to modify the items you brought’. In the same vein, I also enjoyed that one of the films projected somehow suggested that this process of up-cycling material objects could help us look at past experiences, traumas or relationships in the same way and be creative with them rather than carry them as baggage – what great advice.

Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Love Amelia

Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Love Amelia

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

As in previous collections Satoshi Date included a lot of intricately woven found bits of fabric into his shawls, dresses or hats as well as recycled, felted and hand-dyed wool.

Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Kristina Vasiljeva

Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Kristina Vasiljeva

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Some of my favorite pieces were white cotton shirts with little printed illustrations in unexpected places. It has to be noted here that Satoashi Date is an artist/designer who apart from making clothes, also draws, paints, makes films, music and photographs.

Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Jo Ley

Satoshi Date AW 2012 by Jo Ley

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

It also, and most definitely, has to be noted that Satoshi Date was a lovely young man with a friendly, welcoming, involved and funny attitude, which made him a pleasure to meet.

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Satoshi Date AW 2012 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

All photography by Maria Papadimitriou

Written by Maria Papadimitriou on Tuesday March 6th, 2012 11:00 am

Categories ,Alchemist’s Mind, ,alchemy, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Antique Wooden Buttons, ,Claire Kearns, ,Customise, ,Embroidered, ,embroidery, ,Exhibition Review, ,Fashion Film, ,Felted Wool, ,Felting, ,film, ,Hand-dyed, ,Hand-made, ,illustration, ,illustrator, ,installation, ,jersey, ,Jo Ley, ,Kristina Vasiljeva, ,London Bridge, ,London Fashion Week, ,Love Amelia, ,Maria Papadimitriou, ,Masterclass, ,musician, ,Organic Cotton, ,painting, ,photography, ,Re-Fashioning, ,Recycled Wool, ,Satoshi Date

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Amelia’s Magazine | Sheila Wallis wins Threadneedle Prize – atypical nude scoops 25k prize

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the%20slits.jpg

I’ll put up my hands and admit that as a girl, health medications not yet a quarter of a century old, remedy talking about music is utterly intimidating. Yet I try. At some point in my life I’ll make a concerted effort to dance about architecture too. There is an endless wealth of information on bands that have already been, that I am never, ever going to be able to catch up on. Yet I try. As a music fan (enough to write about it), I’m embarrassed to admit that I only really discovered my, now, all time favourite band, Talking Heads within the last five years. I know, shoot me down. My convoluted point is that, as much as I try and piece it together, I can only imagine what The Slits releasing ‘Cut’ meant to the females and general youth and music fans of 1979. Yes there was a sex bomb fronted Blondie, intriguingly androgynous Patti Smith and unconventional Kate Bush, but an all female, punk rock band that posed naked on their album sleeve and generally didn’t give a f***. No one saw that coming and their influence has reverberated ever since.

the-slits-cut.jpg

Fast forward then 30 years and their new album, Trapped Animal, has been unleashed to a society that is certainly far from sorted. But can the music still have the same punch? The garage approach of Cut has inevitably given way to a slicker product all round. That same mixture of reggae rhythms, scratchy guitars, anger and mischief abounds. Rather than sounding like a band thirty years past their prime, as could be said of many a reunion album, there is a freshness that means you could be mistaken for thinking you’re hearing the latest South London council estate collective. This could be explained by the new multi-generational line-up that features Sex Pistol Paul Cook’s daughter, Hollie. You also get the impression that frontwoman Ari Up has as much energy as her fourteen year old self that met original member, Palmolive, at a Patti Smith gig.

the%20slits%202.jpg

Lyrically, the album doesn’t stretch the boundaries of the concept of rhyming but you wouldn’t hear Girls Aloud bemoaning of “Men who want us to be their mother/Men who hate us because of their mother.” Where the Pop Idol-ers are concerned with their “cappuccinos to go-o”, Up and her girls are hollering about ‘Peer Pressure’, “issues with child abuse” and eschewing the shackles of a nine to five: “We don’t pay rent with a passion, and we don’t wanna follow fashion.”

The fact that foul-mouthed Lily Allen launched her career on the wave of reggae-tinged pop is no accident. The Slits invented the model for anti-establishment, men-bashing, unselfconscious pop and even though this new offering will never live up to Cut standards, it’s a welcome return of punk’s finest.

Helping to keep the pressure on governments across the world, health activists in Australia held a mass action last week against Hazelwood Coal Power Station, erectile one of the dirtiest in the world. The climate camp held a day of planning and workshops, nurse followed by the day of action where a group of over 500 people placed a ‘Community Decommission Order’ on Hazelwood to switch on the renewable energy transition.

HW5.jpg
Images from Hazelwood Flickr

Twenty-two people were arrested on the day and, with the Governments lack of conviction, it seems many more are ready for the same sacrifice. As one secondary school teacher put it, “not such a big sacrifice in the scheme of things.” Looking at pictures and reports as well as listening to the radio report, it looks like a well planned day of disobedience. Affinity groups such as the Wombat Warriors, Radical Cheerleaders and Climate Clowns show great initiative. Apparently the police wouldn’t let “bikezilla”, a massive 8-person bike, join the protest though. Shame.

HW9.jpg

I caught up with Louise Morris, one of the organisers of the action to get her account of the action and see what’s in store for climate action in Australia.

How long have you been involved in the protest movement in Australia and was there a catalyst for getting involved?

I’ve been involved in campaigning in Australia for over a decade, starting off with the campaign to stop the Jabiluka Uranium mine in Kakadu National park and spending many years as a forest activist and blockader in Tasmania (as a result now one of the Gunns 20) and Western Australia.

I decided to devote my time to climate campaigning in 2006, as the realisation set in that no matter how many pieces of forest we saved through campaigning and blockades etc – if climate change is not dealt with, the climatic conditions forecast will spell the end for all the places we have campaigned for and protected over the years.

HW1.jpg

I grew up in mining towns in Western Australia, so am very aware of the sort of environmental and social scars the mining and logging industry inflict. My decision to work on climate issues has been heavily based on the mitigation angle. I am a strong believer in trying to solve a problem, rather than trying cope with the problem as best we can through adaptation measures. This has led me to focus strongly on coal issues and to work within the grassroots realm of climate campaigning. I really do think it’s in the grassroots community movement that we have the most power.

What was your personal experience on last weeks action?

I was one of the key organisers of the Switch off Hazelwood – Switch on Renewables weekend. My experience ranged from having to deal with the police in the lead up to the event and during the event with their complete over-reaction to the whole affair, talking with people who were prepared to be arrested and acting as media spokesperson for the group.

My experience of the action and watching other peoples reaction to the day was extremely positive.

This action was the first of it’s type for the Victorian Climate Movement. For the past few years people have lobbied, rallied in cities etc but never actually taken action at the site of the pollution and been prepared to be arrested.

HW8.jpg

We had 500-plus people from all possible walks of life turn up. A lot of families, older folk and a massive representation from the quite mainstream ‘Climate Action Group’ demographic that is strong in Australia. We had 22 people manage to scale the security fences and police lines that were put up prior to our action. In that list of arrestees are doctors, teachers, electricians, stay at home mums… the list goes on.

Our state government tried to label us as eco-terrorists in the lead up to the event. This failed dismally, as our lead up media campaign was very solutions focused (just transition to renewable energy) and we were very open in our aim of civil disobedience… this combined with images of the people who were at the action, got out to the wider world of so many kids, families, professionals and respected members of the community were taking action. We have had a lot of support from the public and arms of the mainstream media.

The feeling post this action is that people are ready for more peaceful community driven direct action, and more people are prepared to get arrested to push the government into some real action on climate change.

How did the mainstream media and the public react?

There has been a noticeable shift in public and media attitudes to people taking action on climate change, post our federal Government’s pathetic announcement of 5% emission reduction by 2020.

In the lead up to this event we put a lot of thought and energy into talking about our message of switching on a transition to renewable energy and switching off coal. Part of this outreach included a public meeting at the town of Morwell, which is the heart of coal country in our state. This was a ‘robust’ meeting but we got great feedback from everyone who came about the transition message and we were supported by unions representing coal workers that we were pushing for a just transition to renewable energy.

HW6.jpg

In terms of media – we ran a pretty tight messaging strategy around the fact that this is a community driven event that is calling for a switch from renewable energy and this requires that we switch off coal.

At first we got very little interest, but as the word that people were going to partake in peaceful mass civil disobedience got out, the interest grew. On the whole, we got a pretty fair run in the media in the lead up to the event. A lot of time was spent explaining what civil disobedience was, as Australia has not had a strong activist culture in recent years. Once again the core message that we were calling for a switch from coal to renewables, with a just transition was central in a lot of the willingness of commercial media to hear us out.

Obviously on the day of the action some of the conservative media ran the ‘rowdy protester’ line and showed the fence shaking but considering the sort of coverage we usually get in the mainstream Australian press, I think we have seen a shift in how community protest and civil disobedience is being covered. That said, the large representation of families and ‘ordinary looking folk’ really did help that.

Do you think Australia is ready for a broader movement relating to climate change and what do you think the comparison is to movements across the world?

Yes. We had our first climate camp last year in Newcastle [NSW] and from this it was decided that in 2009 we would have state based events, of which the Switch off Hazelwood event was one. The reasons for this were many, including the fact that Australia is so geographically large that it’s not feasible (financially or environmentally) for people to trek across the country to come to a single climate camp.

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For the next 3 months there will be Climate Camp style events across the country from South Australia, New South Wales to Western Australia. The interest and willingness is there for a movement that is prepared to take action at the site of the big polluters and put some targeted pressure on government and the big polluters who are shaping the climate policy.

In terms of the broader movement relating to climate change there is definitely a lot more scope for more varied forms of action and campaigning. We are currently organising a bunch of movement building events and workshops using the lessons learnt from many countries and campaigns, including elements of the Obama community mobilisation strategy.

Comparisons are hard to make as we live in a massive continent with quite a sparse population, in comparison to many other countries who have strong climate movements. We also have a populace that has been alienated from the concepts of protest, civil disobedience and strong social movements from previous (and still current) governments who have demonised such things as ‘Anti-Australian.’

As one of the organisers of the action, what have you learnt from the process?

Honestly, the importance of networks, community and talking to people face-to-face to get them involved and part of creating the event they want to be a part of. Another lesson we always learn from these events is that people need to have fun organising and being part of events like this – best way to keep them coming back and get more people involved.

The Affinity Group and Working Group model was central in making a lot of elements of this event work. From the public meeting, the promotions, independent media to the action itself.

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What’s next for Climate Camp in Australia?

There are still a number of state based Climate Camps to come in the next few months across Australia after the ‘Switch off Hazelwood – Switch on Renewables’ event. The next immediate one is in South Australia and after that is the one at the Helensbugh coal mine in NSW. So much more Climate Camp action is on the cards. And here in Victoria we are looking ahead to what is next in the lead up to Copenhagen as a national climate event.

Looks like a lot going on in Australia, shame it would have to be a carbon intensive flight away, that or a 6 month cycle mission, hmmm.. now thats an idea.
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MATT AND KIM are a destructive dance duo hailing from Brooklyn, pilule NYC. There are very few bands that can always guarantee you a real good time with one single push of a button, but Matt & Kim never let me down. Ever. We caught this Brooklyn duo live back in June and they knocked our socks off.

Yeah, there are tons of happy-go-lucky bands with that high-energy, high-on-life exuberance, throwing shapes and keeping their toothy smiles fixed, verging on the robotic and the slightly scary. But there’s always the inevitable grating after a few listens as the cheer morphs into a cheesy mess of slobbery, over-enthusiastic group hugs and high-fives that leave you backing away into the safety of Morrissey‘s comforting drones, vowing never to venture away again. Promise.

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The weird thing is, Matt & Kim are super cheesy, but they seem so genuinely fun and unaffected that it’s tough not to abandon any self-concious hang-ups and just leap along with their carefree charm. And if their new tracks are anything to go by, they show no sign of quietening down and getting all mature on us.

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As the jaunty keys and sharp, tapping sticks that start ‘Daylight”s introduction trip and pop, the call and response of “We cut the legs off of our pants/Threw our shoes into the ocean/Sit back and wave through the daylight/Sit back and wave through the daylight” gets louder and fuller, there an immediate hit of teenage nostalgia. It’s a reminder to never grow up too much and when that alarm rings to get you out of bed in the morning – it’s time to wake up.

Watch the duo having fun in their DIY-esque video here:

‘Daylight’ is out on 28th September on Fader Label/Nettwerk.
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Obstinately avoiding the typical artistic “nude” and the potential sexist connotations of the form, medicine Sheila Wallis’s Threadneedle Prize-winning “Self-portrait” does feature the artist without clothes, medical but avoids rendering herself as a sexual object. Instead the artist describes herself as appearing to be a “small, look naked creature” rather than a coquette.

The painting feels very real as opposed to a being a fantasy of female sexiness. She gazes back at the onlooker with a slightly knotted brow but, despite being aware of the attention, doesn’t seem either to play up to it or to be exploited by it. She is vulnerable but remains in control through the action of painting herself. Perhaps a deciding factor in seeing the painting without sexual connotations as a female viewer is knowledge of the gender of the artist and that she is also the subject of the painting; it’s easier to enjoy a nude for what it is without the overtones of an artist/muse relationship.

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The prize is voted for online by visitors to the exhibition, at the Mall Galleries. This year’s exhibition was strong and there was a theme of interaction between man-made structures and nature. For example, Jennifer Godlieb’s eerie “Lurker” (below) seems to depict a gasometer set in a future time when cities are devoid of people and all is overgrown and transformed into a spookily beautiful Scandinavian forest. The message could be an environmentalist one: despite the messages about “saving our world” from climate change, eventually Mother Nature will reclaim all our efforts.

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In contrast to the fairy-castle appearance of Godlieb’s post-human architecture, Zachary Peirce’s painting of “Pripyat, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone 1” bleaches the colours out of the natural landscape, leaving washed-out pinks, bruise purples and a colour the same yellow tone as human skin. A slight touch of green appears murky and poisonous. In the background there is a building that appears to be melting: the black outlines drip down the canvas into the overgrowth. Here the impact of humanity’s failings on nature has created a dirty, deserted area without any of the peace of Godlieb’s twilight scene.

Peter Wylie’s brutalist tower block “Goldfinger four (with Le Corbusier flaking paint from Villa La Roche)” is actually still occupied but the exterior of the worn old concrete monster offers little comfort. The golden windows that presumably inspired the title do seem to imply little pockets of cosy humanity lurking within.

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Dotted across the image are pieces of flaking paint taken from a Le Corbusier building – perhaps the remains of a previous, shining image, gradually chipped away to reveal the reality of high-rise communal living? Le Corbusier’s use of concrete has led to some grim surroundings for those living there and it has been noted that as a material it wears much worse in the wet conditions of Britain compared to the sunnier climes of the South of France.

The buildings in “Goldfinger” block out any glimpse of sky and look like they belong in the pages of “1984”; but it’s unclear what commentary Wylie is making beyond the appearance of the building. How do these designs impact of the lifestyle of those who live in them? As in the other works, people are invisible but here they are not absent. I didn’t feel comfortable making assumptions about whether this represented a dystopian future or present because of the possibly classist assumptions – these buildings are usually destined for lower-income people. Can high-density urban estates ever live up to the utopian dreams of those who design them?

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The exhibition overall was extremely thought-provoking and varied, from the landscapes to the portraiture. A large-scale religious painting of the crucifixion of Saint Peter, by Louis Smith, was among the most physically imposing of the works on display along with a knitted bear and a huge photo-real “forensic examination” of a bespectacled man, painted in minute gory detail by Oliver Jones.

Written by Satu Fox on Thursday September 17th, 2009 5:26 pm

Categories ,Jennifer Godlieb, ,Louis Smith, ,Mall Galleries, ,painting, ,Peter Wylie, ,Sheila Wallis, ,Threadneedle Prize, ,Zachary Peirce

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Amelia’s Magazine | Peek-a-Boo! Boo Saville: Trolley Gallery

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All artworks courtesy of Boo Saville. Indefinate series, clinic Oil on canvas, no rx 2008

Boo Saville’s show at the Trolley Gallery on Redchurch Street isn’t the kind of thing that tomes and volumes can be written about. But I’ll see how far I get. This is certainly her most confident work yet.

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How do we feel?, Bleach on black cotton, 2010

The white backgrounds are gone, so has the ball-point pen. Instead we have richly dark spaces that exert magnetic and religious forces on the viewer. Where once we were separated from the subjects by a very stark distancing, we are now fully empathetic.

5Bog man, Biro on paper, 2006

Subject has become self for Saville. But there’s more than just one idea here. The imagery that might zip through your mind ranges from the intensity of being buried alive to the irreverent madcap guffaws of Noel Fielding. Sometimes it’s like finding a number and jet Francis Bacon in an archaeological dig. But that’s really about it for wordy analysis; this is simply work you have to look at (unlike most of Redchurch Street at the moment).

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Ghost, Monoprint, 2009

It’s great to see Saville’s CV getting better and better. Boo Saville studied at the Slade School of Art, London. From 2003 she formed part of the WOWOW! collective in south London with the artist Matthew Stone. In 2007 she was a nominee for the Sovereign Painting Prize, and in the summer of 2008 she worked on a residency in Paris at the Cite des Arts. Her first solo show was at Martin Summers Fine Art in 2008.

lr_boo_saville_3_1The Explorer, Bleach on black cotton, 2009

Her work has recently been acquired by the forthcoming Museum of New and Old Art, Tazmania. She was recently featured in Francesca Gavin’s book ‘Hell Bound: New Gothic Art’ and her forthcoming book on British artist under 35 years old. In January 2010 she was featured in Vogue’s ‘British talent’ special, ES Magazine, The Times and The Independent. After Trolley her next solo show will be at Studio Visconti, Milan in September 2010. She lives and works in London. Definitely tipped for the top. Three of these six canvases are stunning. Go see. For a virtual tour, visit here.

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Shi, Biro on paper, 2008

The Boo Saville exhibition runs from Fri 05 Feb 2010 – Sat 13 Mar 2010

The address is Trolley Books, 73a Redchurch Street, London E2 7DJ  tel +44(0)20 7729 6591   fax +44(0)20 7739 5948

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Written by Gareth David on Tuesday February 16th, 2010 3:04 pm

Categories ,Boo Saville, ,contemporary art, ,exhibition, ,Exhibition Review, ,Francis Bacon, ,london, ,Monoprint, ,painting, ,print, ,Saatchi Gallery, ,Slade School Of Fine Art, ,Trolley Gallery

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Amelia’s Magazine | Like when you were five: Persona Arts Festival and painting workshop

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Cyrus Iravani

It was with some trepidation that I signed up for a painting workshop at the Persona Arts Festival, treatment because my talents for painting and drawing are pretty rubbish. I look at the works of artists, photographers and graphic designers with awe, as I have no idea how they do it. But all skill levels were welcome at the workshop, I was assured, as I accepted the challenge.

L-R: Lara Sophie Benjamin, Robert West, James Hillman

Persona Arts Festival took place last weekend on the far side of the crowds celebrating the Bangla newyear on Brick Lane. At the Rag Factory, curators Anitra Pelekanou and Zia Fernandez had brought together an eclectic mix, ranging from painters, sculptors, photographers and multi-media artists. My favourite was probably painter Cyrus Iravani, with his blue-drenched, blurry style. I also liked photographer Lena Aliper, a photographer who had created a book of images and text. The photographs made the London streets look extra bleak with the lack of contrast in the images, as Aliper laments: “The only thing I’ve ever really desired is to be permanently fascinated.”

Lena Aliper L-R: James Hillman, Ricki L Klages

The workshop was called To Get There, a reference to how our finished canvases were to be sewn together to make one finished piece. We all sat down around a big table, tentatively eyeing up the tools in front of us as we waited for the go-ahead from teacher Avalele. ‘I want you to pretend like you’re a child again and use your imagination,’ she said – not entirely unrealistic as most people’s painting skills have probably been dormant since primary school. Using paper plates as palettes, we reached for the watercolours or acrylic paints. After the initial couple of minutes of doubts, people grew silent as they concentrated on the task at hand.


I ended up painting my bicycle, Lola – thus named for the Kinks song as she’s pretty butch for a girl bike. This was the first time I’ve tried painting since I was a teenager, which saw a short-lived, yet prolific, phase of moody, dark oil painting. The workshop reminded of me why I used to love painting– it’s really good fun – but I always find it frustrating that I can’t be any better at it. But at the Persona Arts Festival we all got points for participation.

The workshop and my contribution

Read more about the participants of the Persona Arts Festival here.

Written by Jessica Furseth on Thursday May 12th, 2011 9:45 am

Categories ,Anitra Pelekanou, ,Avalele, ,Bangla newyear, ,Brick Lane, ,Cyrus Iravani, ,James Hillman, ,Lara Sophie Benjamin, ,Lena Aliper, ,Lola, ,london, ,painting, ,Persona Arts Festival, ,Ricki L Klages, ,Robert West, ,the kinks, ,workshop, ,Zia Fernandez

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Amelia’s Magazine | Review: London College of Communication Green Week, 6th-10th February 2012

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LCC Green Week 'Urban Farming Installation' by Deborah Moon

Urban Farming Installation by second year Interaction & Moving Image students as part of LCC Green Week illustrated by Deborah Moon

Within an atmosphere of playfulness and improvisation the London College of Communication organised a Green Week between the 6th and 10th of February – part of the nation wide People and Planet Green Week. It was packed with workshops, pop-up installations, film screenings and talks aiming to encourage students to share ideas for improving sustainability in their creative practice and at home. Under the motivational general title ‘You Can Make a Difference‘ the week explored the themes of ‘found’, ‘upcycle’, ‘change’, ‘waste’ and ‘activism’. Every day of the week the upper galleries of the college hosted both student led initiatives and the work of invited creatives.

LCC Green Week Sarah Bagner from Supermarket Sarah with plastic bags quilt photo by Maria Papadimitriou

As the designer of Plastic Seconds – a jewellery line that uses recycled plastic and other found materials – I was invited by Sarah Bagner from Supermarket Sarah to make a wall on the first day of the event and talk to the students about the usage of ‘rubbish’ we do not often think to use anew in design… Sarah, even though still jet-lagged from a trip to Tokyo photographing local ‘walls’ for her upcoming book, played a major part in the event making installations and collaborating with the students throughout. On the third day of the week she teamed up with Tiziana Callari and created a quilt made out of discarded plastic bags – seen above.

Supermarket Sarah for London College of Communication Green Week by Jo Ley

Supermarket Sarah for London College of Communication’s Green Week by Jo Ley

Plastic Seconds wall installation at LCC green week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Plastic Seconds display

LCC Green Week Skip Sisters

Sarah Bagner had also invited the super fun Skip Sisters – Julia Burnett, Edori Fertig, Liz Honeybone, Pia Randall-Goddard and Helen Turner who search the skips of South London for raw materilas and then turn them into sculptural objects, clocks, jewellery and textiles. Apart from the installation above the Skip Sisters also rummaged through the college’s printing studios for discarded paper which they transformed into beads for jewellery making.

LCC Green Week Veja Shoes photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Veja was another sustainable brand Sarah Bagner had invited to the event.

LCC Green Week Face Shields by Jody Boehnert at EcoLabs

Some of the most striking – and possibly emotionally charged – objects on show were these ‘Face Shields‘ from Climate Camp 2007, designed by Jody Boehnert at EcoLabs, which were used as part of a mass action at Heathrow against the proposed third runway.

'Face Shields' Time2Act Climate Camp 2007 Green Week LCC by Lizzy Holbrook

Face Shields by Lizzy Holbrook

Wooden Objects by Gregor Garber LCC Green Weekphoto by Maria Papadimitriou

I was quite taken by these really well made and well presented reclaimed wood toy kits made by the college’s 3D technician Gregor Garber, who salvages good quality wood from shelving or broken easels. He thinks it a shame that maquettes by interior design students can look rather samey because of the standard materials they use, so during his workshops he encourages students to use all sorts of more interesting and varied looking reclaimed materials – as in the examples below.

reclaimed wood interior design models by Gregor Garber LCC green week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

LCC Green Week pop-up bicycle powered cinema by Maria Papadimitriou aka Slowly The Eggs

LCC Green Week pop-up bicycle powered cinema by Maria Papadimitriou aka Slowly The Eggs

The collective Magnificent Revolution brought into the college their bicycle powered cinema!

London College of Communication Takeaway LCC Green Week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

During my visit on the last day of the events I was happy to see LCC students’ Azra Bhagat and Laura Carless ‘Green Takeaway’ stall where they displayed tons of reclaimed takeaway coffee cups – along with these ceramic mugs and glasses – which they had turned into tiny city flower pots by adding seeds.

LCC Green Week Furniture Upcycling 1 photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Also on the last day unused and ignored furniture from around the college was given pretty make-overs by the students and the resulting pieces will be auctioned on the Supermarket Sarah website!

Book Swishing at LCC Green Week photo by Maria Papadimitriou

Throughout the week there was a book swishing point, accompannied by this lovely hanging books display, where students could bring a book in and take one away.

LCC Green Week 'my apple is jetlagged' wall painting photo by Maria Papadimitriou

In terms of more student led events this wall painting highlighting the issue of food miles was created by a team of them as the week unfolded.

Other highlights were Garudio Studiage creating a ‘Lucky Skip’ interactive installation where all those unattractive Christmas presents could be put to good use or passed on to someone else, and Food for Good, an initiative by three graphic and media design students who pick up left over food from restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets and trasnport it to charities. Finally there was a lot of extra cycling related activity in the middlele of the week, which I unfortunately missed, including letterpress artist, poet and cyclist Dennis Gould exhibiting his work as featured in Boneshaker Magazine and talking about his love of cycling.

All photography by Maria Papadimitriou.
Skip Sisters photo by London College of Communication.

Written by Maria Papadimitriou on Tuesday February 14th, 2012 2:44 pm

Categories ,activism, ,bicycle powered cinema, ,books, ,Charities, ,cinema, ,Climate Activism, ,Climate Camp, ,Deborah Moon, ,ecolabs, ,Film Screening, ,Food for Good, ,Food Miles, ,Found, ,Furniture, ,Garudio Studiage, ,Green Week, ,Gregor Garber, ,Heathrow Airport, ,Heathrow third runway, ,installation, ,Interior Design, ,Jet-Lagged, ,jewellery, ,Jo Ley, ,Jody Boehnert, ,LCC, ,Leftovers, ,Lizzy Holbrook, ,London College of Communication, ,Magnificent Revolution, ,Maquettes, ,Maria Papadimitriou, ,painting, ,people and planet, ,People and Planet Week, ,plastic bags, ,Plastic Seconds, ,recycling, ,Sarah Bagner, ,Skip Siters, ,Slowly the Eggs, ,Supermarket Sarah, ,Swishing, ,talks, ,Tiziana Callari, ,Toys, ,Upcycling, ,Urban Farming, ,Veja, ,Walls, ,Waste, ,wood, ,workshops

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Amelia’s Magazine | Luciano Scherer: Portrait of a Young Man

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22 year old Luciano Scherer is truly dedicated to his cause. Working 8-10 hours a day, more about 7 days week, he produces paintings, sculptures and animation until his back hurts too much to carry on. The Brazilian self-taught artist works alone as well as with a collective called ‘Upgrade do Macaco’, and has collaborated with Bruno 9li and Emerson Pingarilho. I found him to be much older than his years, with some very insightful and philosophical things to say about everything from art to life and the internet.

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When did you realise you had creative talent?

When I was 8 years old my school had a drawing challenge for a children’s book, the teachers read the book to us and we should drew parts of it. My drawing was chosen, it was not the best, but it was the craziest, and the teachers said to me that I was very creative. I started to draw again when I was 15, and only seriously when I was 18.

Which artists or illustrators do you most admire?

From the past: Bosch, Brueghel, Jan van Eyck, Crivelli, Albrecht Altdorfer, gothic art in general. I also like alchemical drawings, illuminated manuscripts, and popular art from my country. But my real influences are my artist friends, they helped me to transform my spirit, not just my art, modifying my inside shell, something that still happens everyday. They are: Carla Barth, Carlos Dias, Bruno 9li, Emerson Pingarilho, Talita Hoffmann, Upgrade do Macaco collective. My current master is Jaca, he is genius.

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Who or what is your nemesis?

My nemesis is somebody with lot of dedication and creativity to create evil things, like guns, bombs, wars, murders, lies.

If you could time travel back or forward to any era, where would you go?

I would go to the late-gothic era, in the end of the 15th century and early 16th century, just to understand or comprehend a little better how artists can do those masterpieces. I want to know about the places, the woods, the people’s clothes, the churches, the religions and the spirituality of this time. It is my all time golden age of painting. They all invested years of dedication to each piece, the result of it is bigger than our current comprehension.

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If we visited you in your home town, where would you take us?

My hometown is a very small city in the extreme south of Brazil, almost Uruguay. There’s no galleries, no museums, no cinema, no nothing! But there are very beautiful natural places, like mystery fog woods, beautiful beaches with nobody, lakes, fields, lots of different animals; I will take you to all these places.

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To what extent is your work influenced by your religion or spirituality?

I’m a son of a catholic father who takes me to the church every Sunday, and a mystic mother who is deeply connected with questions of spirituality. All my life I’ve been in catholic schools, and the people that I know there appear to be dedicated to God with tons of saints in sculptures, bracelets, necklaces, flyers, but the rest of their lives they spend being so petty, earthly, extremely connected with just the image of faith, and the concepts of guilty, suffering and impotencies. This contradiction makes me feel revolted, and at the same time I too have been into spiritualism, a Christian based doctrine, but much more metaphysical. This time the metaphysical seems to me so curious, respectable and scary, very scary. So when I started to paint, the images of Catholicism caused a strange fusion of respect, fear, nostalgia, and anger. I felt I needed to work over them, to learn about them and get more intimate, question the images and dogmas and lose the fear. It was a period of destruction like a renaissance. For a year now I’ve found myself distant from the doctrines, but between all of them, mainly the oriental ones like Buddhism and Hinduism, I’m feeling more spiritualized than religious. But this is just the start; I have much more to learn and I’m trying to not answer all the questions but instead learning to live together with them. All of this reflects in my artwork.

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If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

An artist’s assistant, or a curator, or a collector; art aside, I’d be a garden sculptor.

Where would you like to be in 10 years time?

Living in a self-sustainable vegetarian community, with all my friends and family, in a place not too hot and not too cold, with as many animals as possible, all of them free.

What advice would you give up and coming artists?

Over and over I’ve heard people say “art doesn’t make any money” or “what do you want to be an artist for, it’s so useless”. I’ve stopped listening to the cynics now though.

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What was the last book you read?

I read the David Lynch book about transcendental meditation “Into Deep Water” (This is the name in Brazil), and the Krishnamurthy’s “Freedom from the Known”- it’s like a bible to me, I read it over and over. I’ve been reading H. P. Blavatsky “Voice of the Silence” and “Isis Unveiled” too. Now I’m reading Nietzsche’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, it’s awesome.

What piece of modern technology can you not live without?

The Internet. It’s my mail, my books, my telephone, my all time world museum 24-7.

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What is your guilty pleasure?

The excesses, in food, drink, work, sleep. Anytime I get too much of these things I feel so regretful, but I’m working on it.

Tell us something about Luciano Scherer that we didn’t know already.

I have a post-rap band, named Casiotron. And I’m working on my first individual exhibition, at Thomas Cohn Gallery next year.

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This is certainly a young man full of promise.

Written by Alice Watson on Tuesday August 11th, 2009 4:39 pm

Categories ,Animation, ,Brazil, ,Interview, ,Luciano Scherer, ,Painting, ,Sculpture

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Amelia’s Magazine | Lucy Barlow: Home is where the Art is.

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sea of bees julie
Happy Bank Holiday Amelia’s Magazine readers! If, drugs like me, you’re nursing some pretty horrific sunburn, whack on some aloe vera and retreat to the shady and cool gig venues of London for this week’s pick of the best!

Monday 25th May

First on today’s menu are Canada’s tastiest export since poutine; Women, they play their jingly-jangly post-rock tunes (imagine maypole dancing in the sunshine with Sonic Youth) at the Lexington with support from Dag För Dag and Forest.

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Tuesday 26th May

We featured them in our magazine aaggggeeess ago-Amelia’s Magazine’s whimsical favourites Slow Club bring their dulcet tones to Scala, perfect music for long warm spring nights.

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Wednesday 27th May

I might just wet my pants with excitement- Wavves are playing Old Blue Last! San Diego’s finest will be playing their anarchic melodies and distorted surf punk. Keep your eyes peeled for our interview (probably a page of me gushing “why are you so awesome?”) with Wavves coming this week.

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Thursday 28th May

Owen Pallett is one cool dude, not only was he in the epic Arcade Fire, he broke off and created Final Fanatsy, a deliciously structured cacophony of strings and loop pedals; like being lost in a wonderland of beautiful sound at Union Chapel.

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Friday 29th May

Upset the Rhythm never fail to disappoint, this Friday they’re putting on something fun; Syrian legend Omar Souleyman with support from Saharan Group Doueh

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Saturday 30th May

20 bands are playing 2009 Brainlove Festival at Brixton Windmill, including performances from Kid Carpet, the excellent Internet Forever (keep eyes peeled for an interview), Napoleon IIIrd, The Duloks, gwEm, Pagan Wanderer Lu and a bundle load of exciting new bands from across the musical spectrum.

Then we’ll be heading to the Luminaire to catch our French crushes Nelson and asking them to be our pen-pals…

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I’m off to play croquet, have a good music-filled week dear readers! Be sure to comment and let me know how you enjoyed this week’s gigs

Just because you are a brave suffragette doesn’t mean that you don’t want to scrub up nicely.

As our readers know, site Amelia’s Magazine is passionate about the role of the arts in inspiring discussions and action over Climate Change, viagra buy and always wishes to share these discoveries with you. While the message of Climate Change is a serious one, the way in which the message is conveyed need not be, and sometimes, a large dose of playfulness is needed to spread the word. This is why we are so excited about the newest venture between Lush and Climate Rush entitled Trains Not Planes. I’m sure that you all know about the loveliness of Lush, but you may not know about the actions of Climate Rush.

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This is a group of people (which includes our Publisher and Editor, the eponymous Amelia, one of Climate Rush’s key members) who are deeply concerned about the issue of Climate Change, and even more concerned about the Governments “efforts” (or lack of) to tackle this emergency. Understanding that occasionally, direct and public action is needed in order to make the law makers sit up and take notice, they draw inspiration from the Suffragettes of almost one hundred years ago and show that peaceful civil disobedience can lead to positive change. Like suffragettes too, they make their protests in style; picnic blankets are laid out and tea and cake is served. Lush have evidently been inspired, because this week they too will be wearing their sashes with pride and putting on the kettle and best of all, you are invited!

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The occasion is all to celebrate the aforementioned collaboration and the happy result of this union is Lush’s Chox Away soap. (£2.89 for 100g) As you may have guessed from the title, Chox Away is made up of a blend of chocolate (and smells like chocolate too), vanilla absolute, peppermint oil and sweet orange oil. I was fortunate enough to get to try some last week and I have been whipping myself up into a lather over it ever since. Anyone who has shopped at Lush will know that every one of their products are creamy delights that leaves your skin soft and smooth and this soap is no exception. I might be biased, because I get ravenous over chocolatey flavoured soaps, but this one is seriously good enough to gobble up. From this week, you can also buy it when you pop into Lush, (but try not to drive there). If you want to be treated to the spectacle of Lush Cosmetics staff dressed as Climate Suffragettes and holding picnics then go to your nearest Lush on Thursday 28th May at 12pm sharp where a tea party will be under way. As they are such a friendly bunch, feel free to sit down on the blankets that Lush will have across the floors (which will be emblazoned with the message CLIMATE CHANGE IS NO PICNIC), and while you munch on your free vegan cake, wearing a “Trains Not Planes” sash, you can find out more about the cause behind this collaboration. If you live in the London area, then Liverpool Street branch are putting an extra twist on the festivities – they will be giving out free Chox Away’s! As they have been informed that they can’t hand them out on the station concourse (because of the association with Climate Rush, which is apparently considered ‘too controversial’!) they will be on Bishopsgate concourse instead. So if you want a freebie (and who doesn’t?) then make sure that you are down there at 12pm sharp!

As you can see, the events will be lighthearted, but the underlying message is a serious one, and needs to be shared. ‘Trains Not Planes‘ is the ethos which Climate Rush and Lush are in firm agreement with. As you all know, flying is doing untold damage towards the earth. Flying releases a lot of CO2 – which is even more destructive to our environment when released at high altitudes than on the ground and this is contributing to more droughts, flooding and other catastrophic changes to our climate all over the globe, including right here in the UK.

So Lush and Climate Rush are aiming to remind the public of the benefits of train travel, especially for business, or when travelling up and down the country. As Lush says, ” The world looks better from the window of a train than it does at 30,000 feet, and if we are going to take control of run-away climate change, we need fewer runways and more use of train tracks. ” Lush subscribe to the brilliantly titled phrase “My Karma is Your Dogma“, which basically translates as take the train, cycle or walk to work! They understand Climate Rush’s grave concerns over the amount of flying that occurs around the world (and specifically in Britain; were you aware that per person, Britons emit more CO2 emissions from flying than any other people on the planet -603 kg per person per year, compared to 434 kg for Irish and 275 kg for Americans? ). So if you buy a bar of Chox Away between May 25th and May 31st, Lush will be donating all of the proceeds from the sale towards the efforts of Climate Rush in tackling this environmental emergency. Lush themselves have a policy against flying domestically and all Lush staff take the train when travelling in Britain. This is something that they would like to see other businesses implimenting.

Speaking to the Climate Rushers as they donned their sashes, I asked what they made of Chox Away, and all agreed that it gets a vote of confidence. As they explained; “Not every luxury need be a vice. Here at Climate Rush HQ we’re inordinately proud of LUSH and their commitment to Trains Not Planes. Like spending time on travel, the Chox Away experience is a fabulously indulgent way to take Climate Change seriously.” One of Climate Rush’s newest recruits, Hana Cogings declared; “Chocolate soap? Who’d have thought…..but then again, who’d have thought not so long ago that trains were the future, not planes! I’m gonna lie back and indulge!” So if you want to feel refreshed and ready to Rush, then lather up!

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Meanwhile, Climate Rush will be spreading the word in the way that they know best; pedal power! If you want to come along – and all are welcome, they will be tucking their knickerbockers into their trousers and getting on their bikes in St James Square, London at 5pm on June 1st. The event is to draw attention to what will be the first night of a two day coal conference and Climate Rush will be assembling outside Chatham House where the conference will be held. It will also mark the first night of the pre-Copenhagen climate talks in Bonn, and what better way to mark this occasion than a gentle bike ride around town (where Climate Rush will be your tour guides, pointing out climate crime scenes and buildings that may be housing climate criminals). Afterwards, they too will be ending the excursion with a picnic. So see you there? We will be the ones smelling yummy, hope you will be too!
Lucy Barlow: Delicate Boundaries
First Floor Projects Gallery
5 Redcliffe Gardens, prescription London SW10 9BG

Thursday to Saturday 12pm – 6 pm
All other times by appointment
To 30th May

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This week is the last chance to catch the wonderfully playful exhibition at the new First Floor Projects gallery. Containing both Lucy Barlow’s previous drawings and sketches and her transition into paint on canvas, viagra the space is the living room of James Tregaskes; a unique, relaxed, cosy environment which compliments Barlow’s artwork perfectly. Stop by, have a cup of tea, and say Hi from me. Watch out for a review of this exhibition this week.

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On The Line
Shane Bradford, Oliver Clegg, Cédric Lefebvre, Ian Monroe
Ben Newton, Ayman Ramadan, Gavin Turk
Crimes Town Gallery
1 Yoakley Road
London N16 0JX

Friday-Sunday 12-6pm
Opens 29th May until 28th June

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Shane Bradford

Crimes Town Gallery, an artist’s run space presents six artists (working in various media) who are each freely interpreting the title in relation to our contemporary environment. The exhibition aims to discuss and open the debate on the possible effects of the current economical downturn on the art world, and whether we are heading for a reinvention of creativity or a starvation of possibility.

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Sherrie Levine
Simon Lee Gallery
12 Berkeley Street
London W1J 8DT
Monday to Friday: 9.30am to 6.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am to 4.00pm
29th May – 31st July

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“I consider myself a still-life artist, with the bookplate as my subject. I want to make pictures that maintain their reference to the bookplates. And I want my pictures to have a material presence that is as interesting as, but quite different from, the originals.” Sherrie Levine.
American artist Levine showcasing new work including poetry and postcards.

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Tal R- Armes de Chine
Victoria Miro Gallery
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW

Tuesday – Saturday 10.00am-6.00pm
Monday by appointment.
until 25th July

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Danish artist Tal R explains “armes de chine refers to a classic manual about weapons from ancient China. These objects, which once had a very specific and practical purpose, now several hundred years later seem completely abstract. Like a long lost slang…” With not a single piece attached to a wall and instead all pieces suspended or installed across the floor of the gallery’s main space, this will prove to be a very unique exhibition indeed. Expect everything from lost scouts, wrong fruits, embarrassed old uncles and melted minimal ice cream., taking forms of sculptures, paintings and work on paper.

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Parades and Processions
Parasol Unit Gallery
14 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW

Tues – Sat, 10am – 6pm Sun, 12 – 5pm
Until 24 July

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Photo by: Jeremy Deller, Veterans Day Parade, 2002 Video installtion, Courtesy Art: Concept, Paris

Featuring: Francis Alÿs, Fiona Banner, Jeremy Deller, Thomas Hirschhorn, Rachel Hovnanian, Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler, William Kentridge, Michèle Magema, Annette Messager, Amy O’Neill and Hiraki Sawa.
A ‘parade’ is usually a festive occasion for which people dress up in extravagant costumes and create elaborate and highly structured artefacts, while a ‘procession’ is more often an organised group of people proceeding in a formal or ceremonial manner, often with a religious or political connotation. The exhibition will feature works by twelve UK-based and international artists who take their inspiration from the traditional meanings of ‘parades’ and ‘processions’, creating works that epitomise the social and political context of our time. The resulting works, ranging from sculpture to installation, films and videos, are powerful forms of expression that address issues of history, culture, identity and politics.

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Michael Raedecker
Camden Arts Centre
Arkwright Road
London NW3 6DG

Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm
Wednesday 10am-9pm
Closed Mondays & Bank Holidays
Until 28th June

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A solo exhibition by London-based Danish artist Michael Raedecker includes new paintings and a selection from the last 5 years. He uses a unique combination of thread and paint to create his atmospheric paintings. They derive from and also reinvent different genres from the history of art including still lifes, landscapes, ruins and flower paintings.
In the new work, Raedecker references flowers, washing, cakes, table-cloths, sheets, lace, food and houses. These domestic topics and the decorative associations of needlework create a friction with the fetishistic nature of these paintings.

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Stitch and Sock It Up
Stitch n Bitch London

The Royal Festival Hall
South Bank Centre
Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XX

Wednesday 27th May
From 6pm

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Photo from faithdarling

Struggling with your latest sock project? Not sure about how to turn that darned heel? Or are you simply mystified by all those little needles and simply wouldn’t know where to start? If so, this week’s sock surgery may be just what you need. The experienced sock knitters will be happy to share their sock expertise with anyone who needs it.
The act of shopping can be a divisive experience, check normally somewhere along gender lines, but I would be prepared to bet that most people have at least once been betrayed by the deceitful mythologisation of shopping as ‘retail therapy’. Shopping can be hardcore, hideous megabitch – when it makes that imperceptible shift it can morph into the seventh circle of hell of escalators, crowds, queues, bags and blisters.

Is it wrong to want a little romance and daydream in shopping? I don’t want to shunted in and spat out, I want to be nurtured and seduced until I buy lots of nice things I don’t really need. Hurwundeki on Commercial Street in Shoreditch seems to understand this. Quirky, stocked full of antiques and things like vintage clogs and bow ties, it totally eschews style over utility, has softly lit stone archways filled with clothes and changing rooms with tall heavy curtains and stone busts inside.

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Stocking vintage, new designers and their own label, it has become something of an empire for its Korean owner Ki, and Thursday sees the launch of a new venture at the bottom of Cambridge Heath Road. It’s a shop-cum-café-cum-playground, but this is no family Little Chef: featuring a beautifully crafted playground that manages to fuse function and fairytale, it’s a sanctuary for local families wishing to visit and enjoy it for its varying facets. It seems a hugely positive venture for the Hackney community, as well as building on the idea that shopping doesn’t have to be a stressy, hellish mess. I spoke to Ki ahead of its launch this Thursday.

At the beginning when you set up Hurwundeki what was your aim in terms of the shopping experience?

Actually I have always been a hairdresser, when I moved to England, I was working for Vidal Sassoon before opening my Hair Salon in Spitalfields. I began to cultivate my taste for vintage via the interior of the Salon. I started to sell vintage items within the space, and subsequently opened a vintage boutique; and later launched the Hurwundeki line of clothes. The aim was to provide a shopping experience that customers remember, providing clothes that are classic, yet have a twist, in beautiful settings made up of artefacts that may have once been frowned upon. This has generated our own unique clientele.

I always remembered it after the first time I visited as it was simply such a nice space to be in.

Why thank you.

In terms of designers you stock, what are you criterias? Who is your
customer?

In terms of the Huruwndeki label, the clothes have to be classic, which means that they’re versatile. They have to have a twist, like in the pattern of the construction has been slightly toyed to give an edgy look. The price has to be affordable. We have our own niche, and for fashion, we are actually fashionable.

In terms of the service, we offer our customers award winning coffee, at very reasonable prices. The settings are out of this world, somewhere quirky, yet mellow enough to relax in.

Generally our customers are not just one type, we appeal to a variety of clientele because different facets of our company attract more to different kinds of people.

With regard to your new venture in Hackney, what was it that inspired you to
set it up? Anything in particular? Were there any other similar places that you could use as a blueprint?

Well it was originally our headquarters. And before that it was used by the car lot next door. We relocated, offices, but I had a feeling about the space, and developed a vision for it.

I like the idea that you emphasised the functional aspect of it all too – where did you manage to pull all your playground pieces from? They’re definitely striking walking down Hackney Road.

Some of the pieces where from our Commercial St boutique and some from our warehouse, that had been sourced by myself.

What has the response been from the local community? Have you had particular
support or endorsement from anyone?

Everyone loves it. The local community think it’s about time something like this happened. We’re getting great feedback.

What are your plans beyond this?

To keep expanding, never being satisfied to standstill, if you’re not going forward, then you’re moving backwards.

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Ki seems to have maximised the shopping experience by tapping into people’s lifestyles; not just the lone shopper with only themselves to carry, but the family unit too. I think it’s a creative vision that really riffs off people’s needs, and that’s definitely on the money.

Hurwundeki Cafe launches this Thursday, May 28th.

Returning this year after a triumphant 2008 which saw it scoop ‘best small festival’ at the festival awards, link The Secret Garden Party once more stands out like a painted lady amongst the cabbage whites of this summer’s festival line-ups. For those not in the know, no rx the non-profit festival takes a distinct lest field approach to it’s competitors. This year’s main additions for example are the science and explorer camps, which are hosting science and human rights related talks and debates. Full marks have to be given for their decision to retain the capacity at a relatively small six and a half thousand, refusing to bow to commercial sponsorship. Rather then working to promote beer branding or mobile phones, the organisers instead look to promote ideas, creativity and having a good time that’s not to nature’s expense.

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Set amongst ten acres of landscaped garden, meandering around a river and surrounding a lake, there’s much more going on here then just music. Aside from the talks and discussions, I feel I can safely state without too much research that this is the only British festival that lists skinny dipping, bubble-wrap popping and twilight maypole dancing as activities. Also instead of the usual £4 burgers, festival goers have the likes of hog roast and home made falafel to choose from, amongst the other organic foods on offer. Then once the bands are finished, rather then attempting to drink as many cheap lagers as possible or sleep while all around you are doing so, you can instead go see a dj in a tree or go relax in a hot tub.

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As far as the music goes, one side of the lake consists of ‘the great stage’ and smaller stages for louder/dancier music, while the other side of the lake hosts stages devoted to more acoustic and chillax music. The line-up itself includes the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, VV Brown, DJ Food, Those Dancing Days, Golden Silvers, Evil Nine, Emmy The Great, Le Castle Vania, Fight Like Apes, Phoenix, Caribou, Bombay Bicycle Club and Dan Black.

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The Secret Garden Party. Cambridge. 23rd-26th July. £144 for weekend ticket (additional £75 for campervans/caravans).

Ever thought that purchasing art can be like purchasing new clothes? The way it looks on you in the shop’s plush changing rooms somehow can never be replicated once you get home and it becomes part of your own wardrobe. Art can be the same. The pristine white-washed walls of a gallery, cure the careful lighting, cialis 40mg the precision placing among other desirable pieces; it can all end in such disappointment and disillusion. Wouldn’t it make our lives a whole lot easier then if instead we browsed for art in its natural habitat – the home?

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And so the genius of First Floor Projects gallery is born. A lived-in home that spares its walls now and then for up and coming artists is the venture of south-west London flat owner and all round lovely chap James Tregaskes with help from art PA Hannah Magor. Their inaugural exhibition, sildenafil titled ‘Delicate Boundaries’ is of the darling Lucy Barlow, and in turn it’s her first solo show. When I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up into a woman just like Lucy Barlow; independent, beautiful, creative, working part time in a bookshop and a keen tea connoisseur.
And so I jumped at the chance to have tea with her at the homely gallery. The trademark ink and watercolour drawings that she is most recognised for grace the high ceilinged living room, side by side with newer larger more abstract pieces bursting out from the canvas with fresh bright bold hues and pigments.

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It was between delicious cupcakes and fan-meets-idol handshakes that I manage to ask Lucy about herself and her romantically fanciful work. We started off talking shop, and then got into Barlow-related Trivia.

Hello Lucy, how are you?
I’m great thanks. Before you got here I found a DVD of The Secret and had my lunch on a tray. I went for a stroll and saw an Agatha Christie blue plaque and I found a stone, which I decided would be the keepsake for this happy morning. In fact, in The Secret he talks about how important gratitude is and keeps a stone in his pocket as a reminder to give thanks. Which was a bizaare coincidence. So yeah! How are you?

I’m good thanks. Your newer work is quite a new direction, has there been a specific catalyst in it’s coming about?
Definitely. I’ve been going through a time of change in myself. Painting has always been a bit of a slow burner. Doing the drawings I felt like I wasn’t being honest with myself. They were easy, fun and I loved doing them. But there was something else. Over the last year I’ve been busy growing up, finding out about myself. I’ve been trying to break down walls. I don’t want to leave drawing behind; it’s part of who I am. I think previously I was scared to paint, and what I did paint I kept to myself. But my heart goes into my mouth when I look through a book of paintings and I love colour. I wanted to see what could happen if I embraced it and once I did it felt amazing. I can now allow myself to put down my pens and make a mess- use big brushes and oils, and have no agenda.
My work is about reflecting what was going on in my personal life. Letting go of control – it’s all part of the same thing. I’m done with saying ‘I am this’ and putting restrictions on myself. I know now that I can be brave and experiment.

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How has the experience of this exhibition differed to other shows you’ve had?
It has been incredible. I adore the home setting; this is where the heart is. Having things around that resonate with you. Galleries can be so scary.. ‘am I too close to the exhibit’? or ‘Am I over the security line’? It’s lovely to be with the work here, to sit down and have tea and take your time. Since I met James (Tregaskes, Gallery owner) at University he has talked about using his home as a gallery space, and insisted I be the first artist on the walls, and it’s happened! Home is where the Art is!
(I’m stealing that!)

What are you plans for the rest of the year?
In mid July I’m co-organising a group exhibition in Oxford with 4 others; Kim Norton, Sarah Brown, Sarah Boada and Richard Bishop.

A local artist thing?
We’re trying to get away from the ‘local thing’. We’re fed up with not enough great contemporary art in Oxford. There’s Modern Art Oxford, but that’s it. Contemporary art could thrive there. We are stiring the contemporary art pot, and causing a stir. Saying here we are! We aren’t just local- I have nothing against it, but it’s not the be all and end all.

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How is the work received?
I think my work is accessible, easy to talk with. It’s going to be interesting with the shift from drawings to paintings, as to how people will respond. The next show will be all canvasses, no drawings. Fans of abstraction and abstract expressionists will be catered for. It’s for anyone who loves colour really.

Ok, time to lower the tone a little and get to know more about you, Lucy. We loosely call this our ‘Lucky 13′ questions. Firstly, If you were taking Amelia’s magazine out in Oxford, where would we go?
There’s a secret weeping willow tree in the University Parks. I like to think its secret, but maybe everyone knows about it. It would have to be a hot evening in summer. That would be beautiful.

What would be your pub quiz specialist subject?
Oh gosh, I don’t know. It’s a shame I don’t eat meat anymore otherwise it would have been Hugh (Fernley-Whittingstall- man behind the River Cottage series and all-round God of the ‘waste not, want not’ ethic). Maybe veganism then?!

What advice would you give to young artists?
I wish I knew. Can someone tell me?! I’d say believe in yourself. Show your work wherever, to whoever. If you keep it to yourself it can’t talk to anyone. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. You must keep going and don’t give up. Lastly, don’t try and emulate anyone- of course, draw inspirations but don’t seek to become the people who inspire you. It’s about your unique originality.

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Which band past or present would provide the soundtrack to your life?
What good questions! Beth Orton would be right up there. I want to say the Beatles too.. But can I have one more?
Yep.
Thanks. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.. They would round it off nicely.

If you could travel forwards or backwards in time to any era, where would you go?
I’d love to go to the 1960s, though that’s too easy isn’t it? I’d go to Ancient Egypt and watch them build pyramids and all that jazz. And then I’d come back via the 60s please. Then I can meet the Beatles and be a groupie and wear amazing dresses…

If you hadn’t become an Artist, what would you be doing now?
I’d be a singer.
What kind of singer?
Folky, acousticy; a gentle singer who can break hearts and grow her hair long. I still want to try and fit being a singer in. I’d like to sing to whoever would listen.

Who or what is your nemesis?
Plastic.

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Tell us something that we may not already know about Lucy Barlow.
I do try and compost EVERYTHING.
How well does that go?
Good, when I’m in a good mood. But when I’m blue, not well at all. Which makes me more depressed.

Hey, Lucy Barlow, what makes you so awesome?
My foot massages. Whoever, whenever. Not in a fetish way though! I find it relaxing.

Which single piece of modern technology can’t you live without?
My radio. It’s a portable friend. Is that modern anymore? I’m tempted to say my computer.. but sometimes I hate it and actually a life without one would be bliss.

Which artists do you most admire?
Henri Matisse, Peter Blake.. there are so many. Peter Doig I love- his use of colour in particular. Mark Rothko and his colour fields. Howard Hodgkin is my recent find. And can I have another?
Yes.
David Hockney.
There are no women in that list Lucy..
Oh! I do have a female idol. Helen Frankenthaler is amazing. That’s a long list huh. Sorry!

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Who would be your top 5 dream dinner guests? Who would do the washing up?
Anais Nin, Henri Matisse if he could make it, George Harrison.. can I just bring everyone? I don’t want anyone to be excluded! Barefoot Contessa (pause) Oh, what am I doing?! Andy Warhol! And can I trade George Harrison? I’d love to meet Florence Nightingale. I’d wash up myself.

I say Falloumi, you say..?
Alluminate! I just thought of star filled sky all of a sudden. What’s Falloumi- sounds lovely! (It’s a falafel and halloumi cross breed, firm lunch favourite that we are more than a little ‘in to’ over here, and like to over mention.)

Anything you want to add?
I’m currently looking for representation, so anyone reading this and interested please get in touch. Thank you!

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I left First Floor Projects with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Miss Barlow has a unique way of looking at the world that couldn’t be more innocently wonderful, and her work is a window into that special outlook. Even now in my 20s, arguably an adult, I would still like to be Lucy Barlow when I grow up.

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

Written by Alice Watson on Tuesday May 26th, 2009 4:19 pm

Categories ,Drawing, ,First Floor Projects, ,London, ,Lucy Barlow, ,Painting

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