The Book Club

Amelia’s Magazine | Future Human Lectures: Fashion’s Microchic Shake-Up

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The latest in a series of events from Bad Idea Magazine, doctor approved ‘Future Human’ explores a new topic each month and hosts an evening of discussion and debate at The Book Club in Shoreditch.

This month’s topic ‘Fashion’s Microchic Shake-Up’ pondered on the impact of the internet on the global fashion market we see today. Prior to the invention of the internet, this origins of fashion trends could be pinpointed to say, a specific youth culture, a political movement, or a new music trend. Times have changed; the way we see fashion has changed. The serge of information made accessible to us via the internet has created a new breed of consumer, a fashionista in his or her own right. Hello Microchic. 

The term Microchic is used to describe fashion today – fashion derived from a variety of new, and inspirational sources. A style influenced by social networking sites, trend blogs and small cult labels adopted by highstreet clothing lines. A Microchic consumer knows about fashion and demands individuality, quality, innovation and fashion-forward appeal. 
Ben Beaumont-Thomas began the evening with ‘The Great Microchic Shake-Up: A Primer’, in which he defined microchic as a ‘hyper-personal multi-faceted look’. The internet allows us to cherry pick fashions, it’s no longer about subcultures showcasing specific looks but about a consumer being able to choose a look for that day without the commitment. London’s fashion-forward hubs like Shoreditch accommodate many a microchic fashionista and, it seems what used to be ironic now just ‘is’. In order to track cult fashion movements on the streets of London, Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo big brands subscribe to online global think tanks and trend forecasting services such as WGSN. These think tanks track fashion movements all over the world. Data is collected to give information on a global scale. Sales figures, market research, on-the-street trend spotters, and research into new manufacturing techniques all form a hub of information essential to any brand that wants to survive. It seems clear; the Internet has played a huge part in turning the way we think about fashion around.

So began the evenings debate; “Can the British High Street compete with Microchic?” The audience were able to upload thoughts in real-time via a live twitter feed which was displayed on stage for debate interaction. Guests Iris Ben David, CEO of Styleshake, Helen Brown, founder of Catwalk Genius and Ruth Marshall-Johnson, senior editor of WGSN Think Tank also shared their thoughts, prompting further debate. A particularly interesting point made by @cushefootwear via twitter was “Internet is to clothes what microwaves are to food”, prompting us to question the importance of ‘experience’ and ‘sensation’ when buying fashion. 
Alterations in consumer shopping patterns have led to many interesting technological developments. Innovative systems are being designed to meet new sets of consumer demands. 


www.styleshake.com

Styleshake allows a user to build a look within an online interface. The idea is, the user can create the garment they have in their head (you know, that absolutely perfect dress you wonder if you’ll ever find) through the selection of various characteristics, such as fabrics, necklines, and detailing. After you’ve designed the garment you can have it made at very reasonable prices.

Catwalk Genius is an innovative creative platform in which unestablished and up-and-coming fashion designers can sell their ranges. It’s a great resource for those looking for something ‘not on the High Street’. Users can also invest in emerging talent by buying shares in a designer’s next collection.

Perhaps a more extreme example of innovation is Augmented-Reality Shopping in which tools such as 3D scanners are used to replicate the body shape and look of a user, allowing him or her to see what they would look like in any chosen garment. 
Emerging trends are all about the involvement of the consumer. The consumer is part of the process. Innovative systems like these are designed to combat consumer frustrations such as differentiation in sizing between brands or inability to find a specific item or size, while offering an alternative consumer experience. Many consumers would be happy to do away with the days of long queues, sweaty changing rooms, rude salespeople and traipsing round shops all afternoon. By adopting an online shopping sphere, however, we lose out on the interactivity, the social nature and the tactility of shopping the High Street. Retail brands will need to facilitate technical developments such as 3D scanners (eliminating the need for changing rooms) to compete. 


H&M Garden Collection

The competitive nature of the High Street has resulted in a cycle of mass production of fast-fashion garments and large amounts of waste. In contributing to our throw-away society the highstreet fails to represent the ethical edge that can be found in Microchic. However the High Street favourites H&M’s Garden Collection made up of organic cotton and recycled polyester represents a change in attitudes from big brands.

So what does the future hold for the British High Street? Join the Debate!

Written by Ester Kneen on Tuesday March 30th, 2010 5:10 pm

Categories ,Bad Idea Magazine, ,Catwalk Genius, ,fashion, ,Garden Collection, ,H&M, ,High Street, ,internet, ,shoreditch, ,Styleshake, ,The Book Club, ,WGSN

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Amelia’s Magazine | Through the Lens: An Interview with Dean Chalkley

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Courtesy of The Book Club

Dean Chalkley has shot everyone. Not with a gun, obviously, although that would be quite an interesting story in itself. As one of the most respected photographers in Britain, Dean Chalkley has snapped a platter of well known faces from Scarlett Johansson to Simon Cowell.
In his new exhibition, The New Faces, which is currently exhibiting at The Book Club, Dean Chalkley returns the exploring mod culture. Having been at the forefront of the Mod explosion in 2006, when The Horrors burst onto the scene from Southend, I sit down with Dean Chalkley to discuss life, death and what makes a good photographer…

I know you started out with Dazed and Confused, but prior to that, how did you get involved with photography?
It depends how far you want to go back really! When I was a kid my dad had a big old Russian Zenith, which was a bit like a tank. Really solid. I don’t think he knew how to use it properly, and I certainly didn’t. But we played around with, experimenting with all kinds of filters; so I got into it from that context. As I got older I got much more into it. At school I was really into clothes and wanted to be a fashion designer, so photography took a backseat as I thought I was going to be the next Savile Row tailor to the stars! Then I got in car racing funnily enough. Only minis, but I raced at Brands Hatch and places like that. But before I did the racing, I went to Brands Hatch and ended up taking pictures of the cars. After that I decided I wanted to find out more about photography, so I did some evening classes at a local college, which was a bit of an odd experience. They’d get a model in, and you’d have to queue up to take a photo of her, a bit odd really. Then I decided to give up on motor racing and get into photography full time.

It’s interesting that you wanted to be a fashion designer when you were younger as a lot of your photographs, like the ones currently on display at The Book Club have a very strong fashion aesthetic.
When I was in school, I was a real strict mod character. Probably quite annoying, but I didn’t care! I grew up in Southend on Sea, and at that time there was a real strong hold on youth culture, it was very tribal. I was a mod and I loved the music, the clothes, the scooters, I was immersed in it. Conversely you got characters such as the skinheads, who were doing the same thing but they hated you. These were the times where if you wore a pink shirt and walked down South End High Street, you’d definitely get your head kicked in. No question of a doubt. Today it’s a lot more liberal. Back then it was very divided. You had a passion and a pride for your tribe.

All images Courtesy of PYMCA and copywrited by the artist

You returned to the Southend Scene later when you did a lot of photographs for Junk Club and The Horrors, who embraced that Mod Culture.
The Horrors weren’t The Horrors back then. I went back home and went to Junk Club one night, and it was amazing. Instantaneously you could tell there was something there that had been missing for a long time. The town had been homogenised, it was very dissatisfying with the bland all encompassing blanket of Smooth RnB and that kind of thing. It steamrollered out everything else, and then this group of kids started doing something different for no other reason than they felt a magnetism for it. It was an organic process. Rhys and some of those guys would come up to London and were quite big on the mod scene, but it would go back to Southend and transmogrify into something else and then influence other people. I found it fascinating. And if you find something fascinating, you’ve got to capture it then and there otherwise you might miss it. The last day of my exhibition ‘Southend’s Underground’ was the last day of Junk Club. A lot of characters moved on, some moved up to London. But the ripple effect of that scene can be found everywhere, from Dior to other bands. You could tell so many of those people were going to become something, they had the spark; they just needed something to ignite. And they did it because they loved it, not for any commercial interest.

You’ve shot a variety of people from a range of backgrounds and tribes. Is there a particular group you feel a particular bond with or have a preference to shoot?
Not really. One of the fascinating things about photography is that it enables you to look into the lives of others. It’s fabulous, I mean, like you. You’ve got heroes, I’ve got heroes, but with our jobs you can go into peoples lives and touch them…but not in a sexual way, for the record! For me, I idolised The Jam when I was younger, but recently I’ve been working with Paul Weller and it’s like ‘Jesus! This is amazing! Paul Weller!’ I believe in heroes, which sounds lame, but I want to have heroes. But at the same time, I want to celebrate real people. And Junk Club was exactly that. But sometimes you get a phone call asking if you want to photograph Scarlett Johansson, and that’s pretty amazing.

As a photographer do you consciously watch out for movements that happen like Junk club, or is it something that transpires naturally?
I don’t actively pursue things. I have no idea what’s happening on the metal scene because I have no interest in that. I’m a bit idealistic, but I do what I want to do, and what interests me. You have to be careful what you wish for, for example if you took a real interest in teapots, and spent your life photographing teapots then people are going to know you as the teapot photographer and there may not be a chance to expand from that niche. I like to move around. I had an interest in body builders, and I actually did a photography project for Amelia’s Magazine. Amelia came up with the title, which was brilliant, called ‘Physical culturists’. What inspired me to do that was a bodybuilder I knew. He was coming up for a competition and put so much energy into it, but people tend to mock bodybuilders a lot, but it takes real dedication to do that. So I wanted to portray them in a heroic kind of way. I showed the pictures to Amelia, and she liked them, so I took the project further for the magazine. It wasn’t ridiculing them; it was about showing that they are also really dedicated.
It’s a bit like this chap I know from Southend, and they call him the Bagpipe Man. He used to drive around on a massive tricycle motorbike, which had a car engine in it, playing bagpipe music. He had a Mohican and a kilt on. It turned out that he had his penis and tentacles pierced eighteen times. Whenever he went into a bar, he’d lift his kilt up and smash a beer glass. I thought to myself ‘that’s quite unusual’ for the same reason. He’s an outsider, but also kind of a hero. I entered a photograph of him into a competition with the same sentiment and some editor put a comment next to the entry ‘from some pea brained optimist’!
Well, I think it’s quite good to be a pea-brained optimist as a photographer. A lot of photography has become very sterile. What with how much we can manipulate photographs with computers, a lot of the beauty is gone. The dirt, the mistakes – that can make a great photograph.

Some artists I’ve spoken to lately talk about the loss of personality in art with the digital age. Do you work digitally or tend to use film?
I embrace digital culture, most of what I do is digital. But it should be viewed as a tool, it should enhance what you’re doing but not be the heart of it. However the notion of error is frowned upon in a digital context, whereas in film error is a part of photography.

There was a quote recently that I read that said ‘A camera does not make a photographer and Photoshop doesn’t make a designer.’ If you had to sum up what makes a good photographer, how would you define that?
Someone who likes what they do. The camera and Photoshop is the peripheral, it’s the thing inside that drives it. It’s your heart, your soul and your viewpoint. It’s like a meat mincer; you take all your life and your influences, bung it in the top – the cupcake you had from when you four, the music that changed your life – all that stuff. You take it all, put it in, crank it through and then out of it comes your art, and your outlook. That’s the most vital thing. And if you lose your sanity through it, that’s the most devastating thing. You can get another camera, another computer, but if you lose your mind then that’s a big problem. I guess being a good photographer is having a vision inside that you have to communicate.

For someone who has been so successful as photographer, do you ever think about the legacy you would like to leave behind?
That’s an interesting question that I’ve actually been thinking about. I’ve made a will and everything! I thoroughly recommend it too, great fun. You think about it as an artist, after you die, what happens to your work? I think everyone wants to leave behind something, which is a resonance to themselves. I’ve captured moments in time, for other people to look at in the future. And I think that’s enough.

With all the different work you’ve done, and the artists you’ve worked with, you must have some good stories. What’s the weirdest encounter you’ve had?
One time I was doing a photoshoot in Iceland with The Propellerheads, and after the shoot we’re going to this party. So we go around to someone’s house, knock on the door and this woman opens the door shouting ‘Come in!’, and it’s Bjork! It’s not particularly weird, but it’s one of those great strange things when you go to Iceland and find yourself in Bjork’s house. It’s a very weird life, but I tend to live in the now and not think ahead, aside from planning out my funeral. I stay grounded, I’m never going to run off and buy four houses.

Was there ever a point when you were pursuing photography where you felt like you wanted to pack it in and get a stable job?
Well, when I started I was living in a cheap house in Golder’s Green whilst doing internships. I had no money, signed on to the dole whilst I tried to make it as a photographer. But after a short period of time, they were like ‘Well, unless you get a job at Tesco’s, we’re going to take away your money’ which was horrible because I had worked so hard to get the point where I’d nearly made it to be told to work in Tesco’s! Thankfully soon after that, I became a full time assistant and began making enough money to live. A lot of it comes down to timing; you need to know when to push and when to pull. You never want to be blindly ambitious either, you don’t want to steamroll through anybody. You meet people like that, and it’s just not a good way of conducting yourself. It’s a long game, it’s not about getting to the top quickly, and it’s about making it but having longevity. Doing a job like this is like going up a ladder, if you knew how high it was you probably wouldn’t start in the first place! The trick is to only look two rungs ahead, and keep going.

My final question, is what advice would you give to young creative’s starting out?
Do what you want to do, and follow your instincts. Follow your heart and don’t compromise yourself.

Written by Amica Lane on Monday March 15th, 2010 4:41 pm

Categories ,amica lane, ,bjork, ,Dean Chalkley, ,Junk Club, ,Mod Culture, ,Paul Weller, ,photography, ,Scarlett Johansson, ,Sixties, ,Southend, ,The Book Club, ,the horrors, ,The Jam, ,The Propellerheads

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Amelia’s Magazine | Visual Music

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This work may not be reproduced without the permission of Matteo Patocchi, viagra order try info@matteopatocchi.com
All photography by Matteo Patocchi

When coming to chose a degree upon my emancipation from the grim steely hell that I refer to as ‘high school’ I had had intended to pursue Fine Art. But whilst browsing courses in the UCAS guide, pill I came across a course entitled ‘Live Art’ that struck my fancy, diagnosis due to it’s proclivity towards video art and installation, which I considered to be a very interesting and an undervalued aspect of art that was mostly overlooked in favour of more traditional art. Never one to turn away from the chance to do something weird and different, I launched into Live Art with all the necessary zest and fauna that such an establishment which heralds self mutilation as the curriculum can be given. It probably was an error in judgement. The course was a sham, filled up with luddites who had flunked getting into proper art courses and had been sectioned away onto this course for the financial gain of the university. Regardless of this, I enjoyed it, as it exposed me to the underbelly of the art world. Marina Abramovi?, Gina Pane, Vito Acconci – we studied them intently and they were my fast favourites. Although those names have been recognised and given a place in the ‘academy’ of modern art, most of the video artists, composers and performers that I dug up from the bowels of the library had been marginalised into nothingness.

Oskar Fischinger ‘Studie No. 7′

HST can sum up the majority of video art quite succinctly. ‘Too weird to live, too rare to die.’ They’re kicking about, in the crevices of galleries – quite literally in Acconci’s case, but in general, the media furore and deification is usually reserved for those artists who still can fit it with the status quo of the art community. Yet still, after graduation, moving image in art has always been close to my heart. There is something incredibly fresh and alternative about it, yet it’s never quite hit the same success, as it’s static predecessors. Which is precisely how ‘Visual Music’ at The Book Club came about. Alex Marshall has collected footage from avant-garde film-makers who have been pushed into anomie by not quite fitting the mould, then playing live original music to recontextualise the work. So I make the necessary steps to organise an interview with Alex Marshall at The Book Club, where Visual Music takes place. “Everything I say could well be bullshit.” He warns me prior to the interview. “Excellent. In that case, I’ll order a drink.” I reply, deciding that if one is going to be shrugging off the pompous ‘we are artistes’ shtick so early on, I may as well check my ‘I am ze journalist’ routine at the door and get drunk.

So maybe start off by telling me what you’re doing with Visual Music at The Book Club? I was asked to do something to do with film in a very arbitrary way. This freedom encouraged me to experiment with some ideas I’d been wrestling with for a while. I had become  very interested in the contiguity between text and image, but this phrase doesn’t mean very much to anyone, it didn’t mean very much to me at the time I came across it, but they mean a lot to me now.  Oskar Fischinger was the first person who sprung to mind when I began to conceptualise the night. I came across him by chance, as my flatmate had an old documentary about him. What I found fascinating about Fischinger was his background as a musician and how his work was an attempt to visualise what music is, what it feels like. And that fascinated me as it wasn’t a contrived analysis of musical form, or filmic form, it was more an attempt to show people what he felt about music, something that could be shared, but only through abstraction. And in order to show someone something, he wanted them to feel it, through this abstraction, rather than see it. I don’t think people see music, we don’t even see the words we say to each other, what we’re doing when we’re talking is exchanging visual references. This table is only a table because I tell you it’s a table.

Like Saussure? It’s not Saussure.

Lacan? It’s not Lacan! It’s not Wittgenstein either, it’s not labels; it’s that consciousness comes to us through a fictional fashioning. Our understanding of the world is created by the stories that we tell through our relationship to things. It’s a table because I’ve been told that this noise “table” signifies this thing that means all tables everywhere, their table-ness, which is a massive abstraction. The word abstraction is itself a massive abstraction from the meaning of abstraction.

Like Saussure. Fuck Saussure! I mean, this is all bullshit obviously…to anyone  with a real job, this is all bullshit, but it’s something we’re involved with all the time.

Did your paid work as a projectionist and cameraman influence your choices? Well, I’ve worked as a projectionist, and I’ve worked as a cameraman, I graduated in film, so I felt I was in a good position to try and understand why people come to the cinema. People tend to talk about films in term of their meanings and their symbols. It’s the age of psychoanalysis really, just reading into everything. But on a deeper level we’re constantly in the process of exchanging complete abstractions. I wouldn’t say we’re deluding each other, but we’re never truly questioning, or maybe we’re incapable of questioning, what it is that our consciousness is processing, what that process is. I chose Fischinger and I chose Norman McLaren for these reasons.

Neighbours by Norman McLaren

Tell me about Norman McLaren? He was a Scottish born Canadian art student with no money and no camera, all he had was film. So not only was he scribbling on the actual frame of a 35mm film, but he was also drawing the soundtrack. As a projectionist, this meant a lot to me; this physical touch that takes place. Which takes me back to contiguity, the physical inscription of the idea of language.

I take it that you have a real love of film. The 35mm type. I find its conservativism fascinating. From the moment we could, we’ve tried to ‘fix’ something and make it this permanent thing. However, all the substance of 35mm convinces you of, is that it isn’t a perfect material. The nature of it, is that it damages itself through it’s own reading. I find that really interesting.

Why did you chose Fischinger and Norman McLaren? I chose Fischinger because he was making music visual, and Norman McLaren for the second night because he saw Fischinger’s shorts in Glasgow. McLaren understood what Fischinger was doing and saw it as the perfect way to express visually how he felt about music. I think music is very important. It’s the one art form that can’t be explained away. People don’t know how to watch films in the way that we all listen to music. We all listen to music and don’t ask questions about it, we just accept its abstraction. A film should be viewed as a classical piece of music. How does it move you and why should be an afterthought. If you’re moved by something and you don’t understand it, that’s fine.

When doing these nights is there a particular theme that you want to convey to the audience, or is it very much inviting them into a creative process and allowing them to take from it what they will? Certainly both. I certainly have my viewpoint when I put something in front of someone. The next night is going to be very different and I hope people remain open. The Fischinger shorts were totally abstract and the music is abstract and I feel that it shouldn’t be a difficult thing to tap into. That’s my main drive, that you should be able to sit and experience these things. By watching it you should be asking questions to do with consciousness, and if you’re not then you should. That’s the only dogmatic point of view that I have, if you’re not questioning yourself as an audience you’re susceptible to real dangers.

Elaborate on real dangers. In the world of 24-hour news and the excess of information; you’re going to absorb it. Not necessarily as fact, people can differentiate between propaganda and fact. I mean, I’m fine with propaganda, I find it very honest – but to think of propaganda as negative spiel is very naïve. Anything anyone ever says to you is propaganda, as they’re reflecting their viewpoint onto you. It can be honest and true, but it’s still propaganda. The more we can expose it, the better. I think art should be asking questions to question people’s mode of questioning. Art should be the most powerful mirror in the world.

So you don’t try and create a singular message with any particular night? No. I try to keep it loose, so people can make from it what they will. And most of the audience isn’t even aware of these films and their creators. There’s a film maker that I would love to work with called Peter Watkins, I’d love to get him down but then it would be a Q and A type of thing and I’d fucking hate it, but I did three years of film studies and then years as a cameraman and I’d never heard of Peter Watkins, and I find that terrifying. I’m going to do a show with some of his work at some point. He’s the most marginalized filmmaker I’ve ever come across and his films are extraordinary. The point I’m trying to make is that with this night I wanted to expose filmmakers who had been marginalized by the popular media. Oskar Fischinger, for example. Everyone knows Fantasia. It wouldn’t have been made without him and Disney stole his ideas and shunned him. The work outside of that was vastly superior to anything that Disney ever made; although there are some great Disney movies.

What’s your favorite Disney movie? Fantasia by Oskar Fischinger.

I know you’re a creator yourself, as a filmmaker and photographer. Are you going to showcase your own work in the future? I have thought about that a lot, I did the first night and when I did the second night I talked to people who wanted me to showcase more of my work. It’s something in my mind but I’m quite self-effacing and it would also have to be the right piece of work. If I did it, it would be a surprise. I’m awful at promotion. I find the idea of showing my own work uncomfortable. It would no longer be subjective.

How did you find the musicians to work with you on this? For the first one it was totally by chance. I knew a guy called Jacob who was a friend of mine and plays in a band called Victoria and Jacob and they’re wonderful. So I asked him to contribute a live score. I can’t give a job over to someone if I don’t trust in what they’re doing. With Jacob, it was so easy and obvious. And we have very different viewpoints, which is great. I’m a pretentious academic, and he’s not. We got together to discuss it over a few beers, and I left it to him. I didn’t even know what he would play until the night. There was a two-minute rehearsal before the event, but I left to have a cigarette. So the first time I heard it was with everyone else.

(At this point, to conclude the interview I decide to switch tack probably based upon my blood alcohol levels.)

What is your favourite word? Skopos or Contiguity, I suppose. I don’t really have favourites. But I do like words.

What is your least favourite word? “Like, random”

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Contact

What turns you off? Self-importance.

What is your favourite curse word? Fuck

What sound or noise do you love? The HBO tag these days – excellence generally follows.

What sound or noise do you hate? The buzzer to my front door, especially when unexpected.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Er, what’s my profession?

What profession would you not like to do? Insurance salesman, because I’d have to kill myself in a painful and humiliating way.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Told you so.

And there you have it. Check out The Book Club’s website for details of the next ‘Visual Music’ night.

Written by Amica Lane on Thursday March 25th, 2010 1:20 am

Categories ,alex marshall, ,amica lane, ,animation, ,art bollocks, ,Disney, ,East London, ,fantasia, ,gina pane, ,Hunter S. Thompson, ,installation, ,marina abramovic, ,oskar fischinger, ,peter watkins, ,The Book Club, ,victoria and jacob, ,Video Art, ,visual music

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Amelia’s Magazine | THE NANCYBOY DECADE 1999-2009

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thumbemitbloch
Emit Bloch - Dictaphones Vol 1

Creaturemag’s Matt Witt and Emma Tucker recently spent the afternoon talking to lo-fi folk songwriter Emit Bloch. They were kindly invited to his house for a friendly chat about his new album, information pills his influences and his past.

Emit Bloch has recently released an album, viagra 60mg “Dictaphones Vol 1”. An endearing and off kilter selection of country songs recorded entirely on dictaphone cassette and released by One Little Indian. The album is raw, ampoule uncluttered and accessible, full of inventive lyrical content that contrasts the vintage sound produced by the dictaphone with more modern day references.

Emit grew up on a ranch in Utah before heading to Berkeley, California then more recently making his home in North London. The following interview includes discussion on, amongst other things, Emit’s Dictaphone mash-ups, (rough recordings of well known songs mashed together), his new album, his views on song writing, evolution and a little delve into his past.

That is enough from us, this wonderful encounter is to be discovered in the following videos.

View the rest of this interview on You tube using the following links:

Emit Bloch interview – pt2 – Dictaphones Vol1
Emit Bloch interview – pt3 – Emit on songwriting
Emit Bloch interview – pt4 – Emit on evolution
Emit Bloch interview – pt5 – Emit on his past

Or check it out on Creaturemag… www.creaturemag.com

We hope you enjoy the show!

I’ve never been to the Book Club before, information pills it’s a nice place you know; high ceilings, visit this exposed brickwork, viagra buy excitingly erratic cone shaped lampshades.
On your left as you come in there’s a load of pot plants stuck to the wall like they are hovering there. Opposite and tucked away behind the door currently is Nancyboy aka Stuart Semple’s self portrait bearing the legend:

CONCRETE FOR THE BOYS
PILLOWS FOR THE GIRLS
THIS IS THE REAL WORLD
NOTHING IS TRUE

Somewhere in the territory between Banksy and Basquiat, the Nancyboy paintings collected here say everything about nothing, or nothing about everything, depending on which way you prefer it.
The paintings are a mashup of cultural and personal references, littered with bittersweet cynical catchphrases and copywrite symbols; cartoon characters, collage, self deprecating and esoteric test. Also, a pair of wonder pants. In a perfect reflection of the high end cultural recycling aesthetic of the work, curator Liat Chen was wearing a fabulous dress previously owned by Lady Gaga.
The tagline to the exhibition is “a retrospective of early works by a leading cultural phenomenon” and I think that says it really, it’s the story behind these paintings that’s really on show. Klaus Bruecker, who I met at the Pop up Pirates launch last month (after Amelia went home) was one of the earliest collectors of Nancyboy paintings on ebay way back in the heady nineties. More recently imagine his surprise when he realised the artist was in fact living in the same building as him!

Stuart Semple has done a lot of things as an artist, in the real life artworld that is, like sneak a painting into Saatchi Gallery, and be a real artist who’s critically acclaimed and stuff. But I think this show is more about his presence in the less artworld world, if that makes sense. “He got me into collecting, he got a lot of different people from lots of different backgrounds collecting.” Says Klaus. Because in the early noughties everything seemed possible and local on the internet, we were more aware of the smallness of the new connected world. Nancyboy launched his e-art career in 2000, and went on to sell over 3000 works exclusively on ebay. His work attracted much attention, celebrity collectors and spawned many imitators, combining his pop and urban decay aesthetic to express their own cultural angst in what has been called a pre-emptive movement to ‘Urban Art’.

These days every sensible artist on the make works hard on their web presence, and anyone looking to buy some great value beautiful art barely has to stretch their mousclicking finger beyond the front page of websites like etsy and society6. But even now it’s still possible to make amazing connections and to grow chance encounters into new interests and audiences. Like in the real world I guess.

The paintings here are not that different from the blog output of a witty teenager. They remind me quite a lot of the work I used to love on www.themanwhofellasleep.com when I was doing my A-levels, and also of Athena posters. Those are my circular cultural references, real pop art should do that I think; remind us infinitely of ourselves. Being an institution is not easy though. It takes love and it takes A LOT of work. The works brought together at The Book Club by the Nancyboy community are obviously loved and valued. These are not the high-profile works that have been in the big shows. These are the ebay artworks, from the homes of real humans.
And I hope what it means is that high flying pop artists don’t have to lose their roots. That all the little little art communities all over the world in small towns and small webspaces that no-one else knows about matter, and are all a part of the bigger dialogue of art forever. And at the same time are nothing, and your life work is just your hobby. One of Nancyboy’s paintings calls his standing into question:
FRANKLY, I Question it’s Honesty + Doubt it’s Art.

In September I’m going back to school to qualify as an art teacher. I think I will tell my students about Nancyboy. Because it’s important, not that anyone can make it, because that’s obviously not true. And not that they can do the same, because they never can. Each artist makes their own new path. The Nancyboy
decade saw the world change forever, and he was there watching, and commenting, and selling his paintings on Ebay. That’s what’s important.

Written by Jenny Robins on Thursday June 17th, 2010 6:08 pm

Categories ,banksy, ,Basquiat, ,exhibition, ,Lady Gaga, ,nancyboy, ,Pop Up Pirates, ,Stuart Semple, ,The Book Club

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Amelia’s Magazine | THE NANCYBOY DECADE 1999-2009

by

I’ve never been to the Book Club before, it’s a nice place you know; high ceilings, exposed brickwork, excitingly erratic cone shaped lampshades.
On your left as you come in there’s a load of pot plants stuck to the wall like they are hovering there. Opposite and tucked away behind the door currently is Nancyboy aka Stuart Semple’s self portrait bearing the legend:

CONCRETE FOR THE BOYS
PILLOWS FOR THE GIRLS
THIS IS THE REAL WORLD
NOTHING IS TRUE

Somewhere in the territory between Banksy and Basquiat, the Nancyboy paintings collected here say everything about nothing, or nothing about everything, depending on which way you prefer it.
The paintings are a mashup of cultural and personal references, littered with bittersweet cynical catchphrases and copywrite symbols; cartoon characters, collage, self deprecating and esoteric test. Also, a pair of wonder pants. In a perfect reflection of the high end cultural recycling aesthetic of the work, curator Liat Chen was wearing a fabulous dress previously owned by Lady Gaga.
The tagline to the exhibition is “a retrospective of early works by a leading cultural phenomenon” and I think that says it really, it’s the story behind these paintings that’s really on show. Klaus Bruecker, who I met at the Pop up Pirates launch last month (after Amelia went home) was one of the earliest collectors of Nancyboy paintings on ebay way back in the heady nineties. More recently imagine his surprise when he realised the artist was in fact living in the same building as him!

Stuart Semple has done a lot of things as an artist, in the real life artworld that is, like sneak a painting into Saatchi Gallery, and be a real artist who’s critically acclaimed and stuff. But I think this show is more about his presence in the less artworld world, if that makes sense. “He got me into collecting, he got a lot of different people from lots of different backgrounds collecting.” Says Klaus. Because in the early noughties everything seemed possible and local on the internet, we were more aware of the smallness of the new connected world. Nancyboy launched his e-art career in 2000, and went on to sell over 3000 works exclusively on ebay. His work attracted much attention, celebrity collectors and spawned many imitators, combining his pop and urban decay aesthetic to express their own cultural angst in what has been called a pre-emptive movement to ‘Urban Art’.

These days every sensible artist on the make works hard on their web presence, and anyone looking to buy some great value beautiful art barely has to stretch their mousclicking finger beyond the front page of websites like etsy and society6. But even now it’s still possible to make amazing connections and to grow chance encounters into new interests and audiences. Like in the real world I guess.

The paintings here are not that different from the blog output of a witty teenager. They remind me quite a lot of the work I used to love on www.themanwhofellasleep.com when I was doing my A-levels, and also of Athena posters. Those are my circular cultural references, real pop art should do that I think; remind us infinitely of ourselves. Being an institution is not easy though. It takes love and it takes A LOT of work. The works brought together at The Book Club by the Nancyboy community are obviously loved and valued. These are not the high-profile works that have been in the big shows. These are the ebay artworks, from the homes of real humans.
And I hope what it means is that high flying pop artists don’t have to lose their roots. That all the little little art communities all over the world in small towns and small webspaces that no-one else knows about matter, and are all a part of the bigger dialogue of art forever. And at the same time are nothing, and your life work is just your hobby. One of Nancyboy’s paintings calls his standing into question:
FRANKLY, I Question it’s Honesty + Doubt it’s Art.

In September I’m going back to school to qualify as an art teacher. I think I will tell my students about Nancyboy. Because it’s important, not that anyone can make it, because that’s obviously not true. And not that they can do the same, because they never can. Each artist makes their own new path. The Nancyboy
decade saw the world change forever, and he was there watching, and commenting, and selling his paintings on Ebay. That’s what’s important.

Written by Jenny Robins on Thursday June 17th, 2010 6:08 pm

Categories ,banksy, ,Basquiat, ,exhibition, ,Lady Gaga, ,nancyboy, ,Pop Up Pirates, ,Stuart Semple, ,The Book Club

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Amelia’s Magazine | Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan – an illustrated report by Emma Block

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emma_block_tea_ceremony
Illustration by Emma Block.

In the wake of the tsunami that hit Japan in March, malady the online community rushed to find a way to help. Illustration Rally, run by Natsuki Otani, began the Ganbare Nippon Appeal, which translates as Don’t Give Up Japan.

emma_block_kimono Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
Illustration by Emma Block.

As part of this appeal, Illustration Rally held it’s first ever event, Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan, which I was lucky enough to attend. It was held in the super trendy The Book Club in Shoreditch, and was organised by a host of illustrators. As I walked in, I immediately saw a bunch of lovely ACOFI illustrators that I recognised, and sat down for a chat and green tea cup cake (first of many) with Jenny Robbins and June Sees.

Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan making cake
Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan making cake prints
Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan making
All photography by Emma Block.

Armed with paper, paint and pencils, these two talented ladies were offering live portraits of guests at the party. At the same time some painting was happening on a much larger scale as Mr Millerchip, Kristian Jones, Seb Burnett and Stephen Chan worked on a live drawing across one of the walls.

live drawing
june sees Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
June Sees with her artwork.

erica_and_natsuki Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
Erica Sharp and Natsuki Otani who were running the show looked beautiful in their traditional kimonos, and after a cake or four, I decided to try one on myself.

The process of putting a kimono on is more complicated that I could possibly have imagined. Things were expertly wrapped and tucked and tied and twisted around me for quite some time, in order to create the finished look.

Emma Block_in_a_kimono Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
If you were feeling creative there was origami-making with Erica Sharp, and zine-making with Lea Wade. There was also a fantastic raffle – with prizes including some lovely ToDryFor goodies – if you were feeling lucky.

origami Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan

One of the most special parts of the day for me was being involved in a traditional tea ceremony. Milk and two sugars it was not. We knelt as green tea was carefully prepared, and the first person to drink bowed as they received it. They placed the bowl on their hand and turned it two and half times before drinking it in three sips, then turned it back two and half times, and placed it down and bowed again.

emma_block_green_tea_cake Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
Illustration by Emma Block.

All in all it was a wonderful day, and I hope Illustration Rally have another event soon! You can find out more about the Gabare Nippon Appeal here, and visit the fundraising shop on Etsy. The resulting zine can now be bought online here for a £3 donation – go on, it’s for a great cause.

Written by Emma Block on Friday July 1st, 2011 9:22 am

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Biscuits, ,Cake, ,Don’t Give Up Japan, ,Emma Block, ,Erica Sharp, ,Fundraiser, ,Ganbare Nippon, ,Ganbare Nippon Appeal, ,Green Tea, ,illustration, ,Illustration Rally, ,japan, ,Jenny Robbins, ,Junes Sees, ,Kimono, ,Kristian Jones, ,Lea Wade, ,Mister Millerchip, ,Natsuki Otani, ,Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan, ,Sen Burnett, ,shoreditch, ,Stephen Chan, ,tea, ,The Book Club, ,ToDryFor, ,Tsunami

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Amelia’s Magazine | Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan – an illustrated report by Emma Block

by

emma_block_tea_ceremony
Illustration by Emma Block.

In the wake of the tsunami that hit Japan in March, malady the online community rushed to find a way to help. Illustration Rally, run by Natsuki Otani, began the Ganbare Nippon Appeal, which translates as Don’t Give Up Japan.

emma_block_kimono Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
Illustration by Emma Block.

As part of this appeal, Illustration Rally held it’s first ever event, Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan, which I was lucky enough to attend. It was held in the super trendy The Book Club in Shoreditch, and was organised by a host of illustrators. As I walked in, I immediately saw a bunch of lovely ACOFI illustrators that I recognised, and sat down for a chat and green tea cup cake (first of many) with Jenny Robbins and June Sees.

Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan making cake
Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan making cake prints
Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan making
All photography by Emma Block.

Armed with paper, paint and pencils, these two talented ladies were offering live portraits of guests at the party. At the same time some painting was happening on a much larger scale as Mr Millerchip, Kristian Jones, Seb Burnett and Stephen Chan worked on a live drawing across one of the walls.

live drawing
june sees Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
June Sees with her artwork.

erica_and_natsuki Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
Erica Sharp and Natsuki Otani who were running the show looked beautiful in their traditional kimonos, and after a cake or four, I decided to try one on myself.

The process of putting a kimono on is more complicated that I could possibly have imagined. Things were expertly wrapped and tucked and tied and twisted around me for quite some time, in order to create the finished look.

Emma Block_in_a_kimono Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
If you were feeling creative there was origami-making with Erica Sharp, and zine-making with Lea Wade. There was also a fantastic raffle – with prizes including some lovely ToDryFor goodies – if you were feeling lucky.

origami Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan

One of the most special parts of the day for me was being involved in a traditional tea ceremony. Milk and two sugars it was not. We knelt as green tea was carefully prepared, and the first person to drink bowed as they received it. They placed the bowl on their hand and turned it two and half times before drinking it in three sips, then turned it back two and half times, and placed it down and bowed again.

emma_block_green_tea_cake Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan
Illustration by Emma Block.

All in all it was a wonderful day, and I hope Illustration Rally have another event soon! You can find out more about the Gabare Nippon Appeal here, and visit the fundraising shop on Etsy. The resulting zine can now be bought online here for a £3 donation – go on, it’s for a great cause.

Written by Emma Block on Friday July 1st, 2011 9:22 am

Categories ,ACOFI, ,Biscuits, ,Cake, ,Don’t Give Up Japan, ,Emma Block, ,Erica Sharp, ,Fundraiser, ,Ganbare Nippon, ,Ganbare Nippon Appeal, ,Green Tea, ,illustration, ,Illustration Rally, ,japan, ,Jenny Robbins, ,Junes Sees, ,Kimono, ,Kristian Jones, ,Lea Wade, ,Mister Millerchip, ,Natsuki Otani, ,Paint it! Make it! Party for Japan, ,Sen Burnett, ,shoreditch, ,Stephen Chan, ,tea, ,The Book Club, ,ToDryFor, ,Tsunami

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Amelia’s Magazine | Inside The Book Club: How East London’s coolest new arts venue came to be

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Illustration by Rachel Lewis

I live in a state of perpetual disappointment that I was born in Hounslow in 1986, information pills see and not New York in 1943. In my dream life, I would be sitting in New York culture hotspots; watching The Velvet Underground one night, Ginsberg the next and have a general sense of anticipation about the evolution of the cultural revolution, which took place in small multifaceted venues mostly situated within Greenwich Village. Up until recently my ambitions to sit in such establishments, smoking cigarettes and experiencing ‘happenings’ looked as if they would continue to go by unactualised. That was until I stumbled across The Book Club, located in Leonard Street just off Old Street. The smoking is still out (damn you Patricia Hewitt, you wretched dream crushing hag) but the combination ‘drinking and thinking’ as The Book Club have put it, has finally been realised this side of the Nixon administration and the Atlantic. From the stylish exposed brickwork to the Ping Pong table, The Book Club manages to pull off the feat of being both effortlessly cool but without any trace of pretension. For those who want to experience a great night out without either running into a pack of slobbering drunken suits or the juxtaposing hipsters with their castrating drain pipes, The Book Club is the perfect inclusive venue for the patron who wishes to have a side order of intellectual stimulation with their excursions. As a journalist, I often worry about being a sop about things I really enjoy. If I’m nice about everything then I will never grab Walter Cronkite’s ghost by the balls and dismantle society as we know it, which is part of my vague and possibly ill-conceived master plan. But, once again, I am foiled by my own enthusiasm for how novel The Book Club is within a sea of mediocre venues and then once again by how lovely both of my interviewee’s are. It’s a nice thing when you find out that really awesome people run a really awesome venue. And there goes my future Pulitzer. Damn you, sentimental heart, damn you. Whatever your interest; be it life drawing, yoga classes, speed dating, Science lectures or film, The Book Club probably has something within it’s itinerary for you. Mightily impressed by all this venue represents, I sit down with the brains behind the operation, Liat Chen- the art producer and Heather Lawton – the creative director to talk about how The Book Club came into being.

I’d like to start by finding out how you conceptualised the idea of The Book Club: Heather: It was literally that I had come back from a trip in New York and I saw how different things were there, you could go to a café in the daytime and have a sandwich and go back in the evening and the lights are down, a DJ is playing and things are really kicking off. The venue hasn’t changed in anyway, it’s just finding a venue that can go through the different phases that you could go personally go through in the day; having coffee, having lunch, then partying in the evening. In the past, people have said that it couldn’t be done in one venue but I knew it could, and I think that’s what people want. You don’t necessarily want to bar hop all night, you just want to be somewhere and relax. This venue was originally a fine dining restaurant and then the recession hit the area. The corporate cards dried up, and there was no need for that type of restaurant in this area. So I had the idea that we could make a venue which brought people together who had similar interests, which is where the name The Book Club came along; somewhere that was quite inclusive and more than somewhere you go to drink. People want more now, with the recession, people want more from a night out than splashing the cash and getting wasted. They want to experience new events and meet likeminded people.

In terms of bringing on board the artists, how did that come about? Did you have a preconceived idea of what sort of artists and nights you wanted to host or did that come along later? Liat: For me it was quite clear, as I was coming from an area that specialised in subculture, which was when I was working for PYMCA for five years. PYMCA is a global research based company, which collects and archives youth culture imagery from all over the world and documents fashion, lifestyles, music and subculture movements dating back to the 50s. So I have been and continue to be inspired by them. I’m very passionate about these areas and that inspired the initial exhibitions we had. Dean Chalkley was the perfect match for those interests, whose exhibition is on currently, but in the future I’m interested in taking a different direction; currently I’m very interested in Pop Art.

The Book Club is very experimental in what you’ve chosen to do, it’s not just standard art, you have a whole range of activities. They all have an alternative appeal to those interested in subculture, but they are quite diverse. How did that work out? Heather: We’re always very open about the art that’s one the wall’s, the DJ’s that play and the promoters we bring on board. We wanted to be unconventional. London, let alone Shoreditch, is saturated with DJ’s banging out the same old thing every weekend. If you look at our weekend listings, there’s very unconventional things going on; like Swap-A-Rama Razzmatazz which is a swap night, you come along in whatever you’re wearing and be willing to give it all away in exchange for a completely new outfit at the end of the evening. We also have things like the Electro Swing night – it’s trying to bring different things into the area as Shoreditch got so rinsed with minimal techno nights and the area seemed to die a little bit, so we wanted to bring it back, and it worked. We have crazy queues every weekend now and it’s fun. Not everything has to be so serious.

Liat: For me, it’s not just about the art; it’s also about whom you’re working with. I want to work with people who have a really strong vision and…I guess a beautiful soul for lack of better words. I want to learn about what I’m doing, and create something really worthwhile. I don’t just want to put images on the wall; I want to bring the right people – from the creators to the audience – together. I want to make the space inviting and fresh. For the workshops, it was completely new to me. The life drawing is really popular. For something like that in most places you have to pay for a full course and it takes place in a sterile environment but here you can pay weekly and drink a glass of wine at the same time. Also the Science night which is a really interesting lecture. The lecturer invited all of us to Dover to search for crystals last time, so the venue is really open for every type of person with a wide range of interests, we’re not just a club or a bar, and there is everything here.

Illustration by Luke James

Is there any direction that you haven’t explored yet that you would like to try? Liat: Well I’m moving on more from subculture to Pop Art. For the next exhibition the whole space will change. It’s been black and white here for some time, and next we’re going to explode with different colours. The next show is City of Abacus, which will be done by the singer V V Brown and illustrator David Allain. It’s a graphic novel that will be released at the end of the year. After that we have the exhibition ‘The Nancyboy Decade’, which is the artwork of Nancyboy: very bright, very vibrant.

How have you found combining a bar and a gallery in one space? Liat: It was quite a shock for me, who was used to working in a gallery. It was the same theme, building a beautiful space and bringing work together cohesively. But I found that after the private view, not many people would come. Here it is the opposite; the amount of recognition that the artist receives is unbelievable. The audience is completely diverse, from young kids to families to the elderly; the work is exposed to a wide demographic. But when I walk by on Friday night and see the place so packed, I have to close my eyes! But the art is always fine; people are very respectful to the work.

Heather: Sometimes people who are going out for a drink here don’t know that they’re also going into a gallery, so they get a lot more than a standard night out.

There’s a great community feel here, it feels so relaxed and with a great energy that feels so inclusive. How did you foster that atmosphere? Heather: You can’t put your finger on it. We had a clear concept, but we targeted creative people. People are into similar things in these circles, so it works when you bring them together.

Liat: Well first of all, you have to put the right people together from the grass roots. Heather and I work exceptionally well together, supporting each and stimulating ideas.

Heather: Also we all really believe in what we’re doing. We know where we want to go out, so we built a place that we would want to come to, and that our friends would want to come to.

Liat: The people who come, and the people behind the scenes all believe in what we’re doing. We believe in the art, the music, and the atmosphere. If I feel the right energy, the right intuition, then I go for it. I have to have passion and belief in my projects.

Heather: We could just open somewhere and sit back thinking the work is all done but we don’t. Every day we sit down, and analysing every aspect of what’s going on. Did the DJ play the right songs? Was the tutor at a workshop giving a good class? It’s not sitting back and allowing things to happen, we continue to helm the direction that we want The Book Club to follow.

Liat: We aren’t trying to be edgy, we aren’t trying to be cool, we’re being authentic to ourselves and people respond well to it.

Heather: All of our staff have an interest in something we’re doing here, either art, music or film. A lot of them are in art school or fashion school. We don’t care if you’re a fashionista or anything like that, but we want our staff to be interested in what it is that we’re doing. Some of the bar stuff are interns, they help with the posters. We’re a community within ourselves, and that atmosphere spreads through the venue.

Next Thursday the 15th The Book Club will be throwing a party to celebrate Dean Chalkley’s exhibition, which will feature live music, dancing and another opportunity to absorb the exhibition. For further information on upcoming events, please check The Book Club’s Website and the listings section at Amelia’s Magazine.

Written by Amica Lane on Thursday April 8th, 2010 9:24 pm

Categories ,60s, ,art, ,City of Abacus, ,david allain, ,Dean Chalkley, ,exhibitions, ,galleries, ,ginsberg, ,heather lawton, ,liat chen, ,nancyboy, ,nights out, ,PYMCA, ,subculture, ,swap shop, ,The Book Club, ,the new faces, ,The Velvet Underground, ,venues, ,visual music, ,vv brown, ,youth

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Amelia’s Magazine | Animal Vegetable Mineral: an interview with food events entrepreneur Tasha Marks

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Animal Vegetable Mineral Edible Art Class - Photo Paul Singer
Animal Vegetable Mineral’s Edible Art Class. All photography unless otherwise stated by Paul Singer.

Animal Vegetable Mineral, also known as AVM Curiosities, was set up by young entrepreneur Tasha Marks, who left university with an insatiable appetite for combining food and art. Having interned at Bompas & Parr she was ideally placed to set up her own company, which now creates bespoke food based events such as the Edible Art Class taking place at The Book Club on Tuesday 9th April (full listing information here) I was fascinated to hear about the unique career that she has forged for herself so caught up for a quick Q&A. Read on…

Animal Vegetable Mineral Tasha Marks - Photo Paul Mitchell
Tasha Marks – Photo by Paul Mitchell.

You set up AVM shortly after leaving your degree. What first attracted you to first study food history and do you feel this is a much neglected area?
I was lucky enough to specialise in food history in the final year of my Art History degree at Sussex University, which is partnered with the V&A in London. I signed up to the 3rd year course not knowing what it was, as they had yet to confirm which curator would be available. I knew I wanted to study with the V&A so I took a risk. The year before it had been Chinese ceramics so I’m thrilled that I got silverware curator Ann Eatwell, who taught me the material culture of dining from 1300s to present. Although I had always been interested in food, my passion was ignited in those ten weeks, but I have no doubt it will last a lifetime. I think that food history is very much in vogue at the moment, but there are ‘food history superstars’ like Ivan Day and Peter Brears who constantly inspire new enthusiasts. Though it may have been neglected at one point in time, food is timeless, and we’ll always be interested in what we used to, are and will be eating in the future.

Animal Vegetable Mineral Edible Art Class - Photo Paul Singer (12)
You recently created some ‘Toxic Treats’, exploring not so edible confectionary: what did you make for this event and who was it for?
The event was an exploration of adulteration in 19th century foodstuffs; specifically sweets, which have a particularly sinister history. I felt that our prevailing image of the 1800s was a little one-dimensional, culminating in a Mrs Beeton-esque scene of copper jelly moulds and fancy cakes. But northing could have been further from the truth for the average London household. From children’s sweets dyed with copper, to wine sweetened with lead; we have a chronicle of counterfeit confectionary and falsified foodstuffs. Complimenting the lecture was a series of associated edibles; Fake Coffee Beans (made from chocolate and chicory), Milk Sherbet (with a Bakewell tart lolly), Toxic Tonic Sweets (which glowed in UV light) and an edible print of the Lozenge Maker. I could go on and on, but to understand the true nature of this horrible history you’ll have to come along to the next talk, happening later in the year…

Animal Vegetable Mineral Toxic Toffee (UV Sweets) - Photo Paul Singer
Animal Vegetable Mineral’s Toxic Toffee (UV Sweets).

Do you create all of the food that appears at your events (for instance at Eat Your Heart Out) or do you work with other people, and if so who?
I create all the AVM edibles myself, though I have a very supportive partner and a lovely younger brother (who is a chef) who will get involved to assist and execute events. Unfortunately I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I’m very bossy in the kitchen. I’ll regularly work to 2/3am on a project because I want it a certain way and I completely lose track of time. In the case of Eat Your Heart Out, however, the event was a collaboration between me and more than 20 other bakers and makers. We all worked on our separate creations under the wonderful theme of the ‘anatomically correct cake shop’.

Animal Vegetable Mineral Edible Art Class - Photo Paul Singer (4)
How does it work if you attend one of your classes as a guest?
Every event is wildly different but they all aim to create a curious experience: a moment of wonder and edible excitement… both silly and cerebral in equal measure.

What prompted you to set up your company so soon after graduating? What have been the highlights so far?
Well I wrote my dissertation on jelly, so naturally I went on to intern at Bompas & Parr after I graduated (us jelly experts like to stick together!). I had a wonderful three months there, but felt like I should get a “proper” job so went to work for a children’s publishing agency. This was a terrible decision, as after nine months in an office I felt like completely drained. I realized then that I was someone who learnt through trial and error, and the best way of doing that was to start my own company. Animal Vegetable Mineral had been on the to do list since it university but only as a vague idea. So I started by working on projects that I was interested in and the company organically evolved as I went on. Two years later and I feel like AVM has a really strong identity, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without the wonderful collaborators I met along the way. Working with Pertwee, Anderson & Gold Gallery, The Robin Collective and Rambling Restaurant have led to some of my favourite projects, however I think that accidentally using a 2500-year-old Etruscan bowl to serve popcorn at the Museum of Curiosity has to be one of the most memorable moments!

Animal Vegetable Mineral Christ - Photo Paul Singer (1)
What next for AVM?
In the near future I’ll be contributing to another exciting group show at St Bart’s Pathology Museum; Sacred Tarts. Celebrating the sweeter side of religion through this more ecclesiastical of emporiums, amongst other exciting edibles I’ll be preparing Christ Cameos (made with church wine) and an edible Shroud of Turin. I’m also preparing for a solo art exhibition at the Herrick Gallery later in the summer, which is top secret for now but check the website for details. Plus in the meantime there’s some good old-fashioned messy, arty fun in the form of the Edible Art Class at The Book Club in Shoreditch, where I’ll be holding workshops in Chocolate Model-Making, Lickable Lifedrawing and Edible Painting-By-Numbers.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday March 12th, 2013 10:46 pm

Categories ,Animal Vegetable Mineral, ,Ann Eatwell, ,AVM, ,AVM Curiosities, ,Bompas & Parr, ,Chocolate Model-Making, ,Christ Cameos, ,Eat Your Heart Out, ,Edible Art Class, ,Edible Painting-By-Numbers, ,Entrepreneur, ,Fake Coffee Beans, ,Food, ,Herrick Gallery, ,interview, ,Ivan Day, ,Jelly, ,Lickable Lifedrawing, ,Lozenge Maker, ,Milk Sherbet, ,Mrs Beeton, ,Museum of Curiosity, ,Paul Mitchell, ,Paul Singer, ,Pertwee Anderson & Gold Gallery, ,Peter Brears, ,Rambling Restaurant, ,Sacred Tarts, ,shoreditch, ,Shroud of Turin, ,St Bart’s Pathology Museum, ,Sussex University, ,Tasha Marks, ,The Book Club, ,The Robin Collective, ,Toxic Tonic Sweets, ,Toxic Treats, ,va

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Amelia’s Magazine | City of Abacus: An interview with VV Brown

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I’ve always been a fiend when it comes to graphic novels. It stems back down to a childhood as a bona fide geek, visit this whom attended comic book conventions religiously and kept my collection in cellophane envelopes. It was Joseph Campbell who said that “Throughout the inhabited world, diagnosis in all times and under every circumstance, sildenafil the myths of man have flourished; and they have been the living inspiration of whatever else may have appeared out of the activities of the human body and mind. It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation.” And in modern times, I’ve always seen the graphic novel as our primary manifestation of the modern myth.
So I get pretty worked up when I find out that Northampton born singer/songwriter VV Brown has collaborated with film-maker David Allain to produce a graphic novel ‘City of Abacus’ which will be released later in the year, and featured in an exhibition debuting at The Book Club this May.
Exiled in New York due to the volcanic debacle, I email interview VV Brown to get some insight into her new project.

How did you decide to transition from music into graphic novels? It was easy. I just did what I wanted to do. It was really fun to work with David Allain also and Emma Price.

What other graphic novels or artists have inspired you to explore this field?
I really love “A Jew in communist Prague” by Vittorio Giardino, “Tintin in Tibet” by Hergé, “Its a good life if you don’t weaken” by Seth,” Kingdom Come” by Mark Waid. There are so many. “Strangers in paradise: I dream of you” by Terry Moore and “The league of extraordinary men” by Alan Moore, who is from my home town Northampton

How did the collaboration with David Allain and Emma Price come about? Just friendships and creative juices flowing. David Allain is also a filmmaker and video director and he did my very first music video, Crying Blood.

Can you tell me a little bit about the concept behind ‘City of Abacus’? It’s about a city, which continues to suppress its people, and numbs down the minds of the individuals making them less creative. Its an epic tale of them being enlightened out of this quagmire.

Are you intending on expanding on stories outside of ‘City of Abacus’ or is this a one-off project? There will be 7 comics released each month between May and November and a graphic novel in December bringing all 7 comics together to read back to back as a novel. You can buy from www.thecityofabacus.com and an application for the iphone and ipad will be coming soon!

The City of Abacus opens at The Book Club on May 6th and runs until May 29th 2010.

Written by Amica Lane on Monday April 26th, 2010 2:49 pm

Categories ,allan moore, ,City of Abacus, ,david allain, ,graphic novels, ,herge, ,joseph campbell, ,mark waid, ,terry moore, ,The Book Club, ,Vittorio Giardino, ,vv brown

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