Arts Editor: Christopher George The creative industry has progressed drastically over recent years, however despite this growth it appears that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic artists still have low visibility in the arts. Seemingly, this lack of racial diversity reflects an incredibly poignant issue as progress appears to be somewhat stagnant. Data released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport revealed that 286,000 people were working in the performing arts, music and visual arts in 2015. Yet, in the same year, just 19,000 creatives employed in music and the performing and visual arts were BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) workers. Evidently, BAME employees make up just 6.6% of people working in the creative industries; whilst the arts might appear to be entirely inclusive, this highlights a persistent lack of diversity within a supposedly all-accepting area of show business. More needs to be done if the performing arts are to flourish in a more inclusive manner. To help discuss the importance of this matter, offering insight into a topic that must be addressed, performer, choreographer and the owner of international talent agency ‘RnD Creatives’, Royston, has expressed with honesty and sincerity why BAME creatives need better representation in creative industries. Grass roots “For me personally, we need to bring it back to the grass roots when it comes to performing arts. Diversity has to be encouraged and this happens when the opportunity to explore the performing arts is made accessible to children of all races, backgrounds and cultures, so that being scouted can actually become a reality. If we focus on promoting and increasing representation early on, giving all of those within the BAME community an equal chance, we can increase representation overall. As the statistics have shown, if there’s just 11% of Black, Asian or Ethnic artists in the whole working industry, it would be safe to say the percentage in schools is even lower. This needs to change if we’re going to see a difference within more experienced performers.” Equal Opportunities
“Much like in any industry, the more culture and overall representation we have, the more creative and diverse we become. This is particularly important within the creative arts community, whether it’s through the performance of hip-hop, street dance, singing, acting, the list goes on. Our inspiration and creativity can only be improved with the introduction of different cultures and backgrounds, bringing a new lease of life to our performances. Certain races shouldn’t be pigeon-holed to particular arts. For example, ballet notoriously lacks diversity and appears to still have a certain elitist culture. Training is often expensive and usually only accessible to the upper-middle classes. It is down to schools and companies to provide support for young dancers of colour and ensure there are role models for aspiring dancers to look up to.” Support from within the industry “The arts should be a collaborative and supportive community for creatives where individuality and being progressive is championed. For the BAME community that have worked hard to forge their path in this space, a continued lack of diversity can be isolating, demotivating and disheartening despite being more than capable of making a name for themselves. The community should work hard to ensure that setbacks or limitations based on colour are a thing of the past!” Royston is a singer, dancer, choreographer to the stars, and owner of talent agency ‘RnD Creatives’.
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By Sara Darling Head to Chianti this summer and you can enjoy art, along with your wine. A new initiative is set to take place in the Chianti region of Italy, will transport art lovers through vineyards and Tuscan landscapes, to soak up the sculptures of French artist, Nathalie Decoster. Celebrating spirituality, freedom, human rights and the environment, sculptures and artwork will be set out on a trail for guests to soak up and enjoy. A proud beacon of spiritual values since the Renaissance, the sleepy village of Panzano has retained a connection with nature and the universe and is the perfect location to celebrate an artist who explores serenity and modern humanism in her works. From 22 June – 18 September 2019, this open-air exhibition will unveil ethnological sculptures by Decoster, across four vineyards, which will be open to visitors during the event; Her works will also be shown in public spaces of the village of Panzano. This also coincides with Organic Wine Festival which takes place on 12 – 15 September, and is a reminder of our connection with nature. The project is the brainchild of local art lover, TV personality and businessman Dario Cecchini, who is pioneering the village of Panzano as a destination.
Along with its organic vineyards and sustainable agriculture, there is plenty to bring international tourists to appreciate art in the stunning surroundings. HOW QUANT MADE THE SIXTIES
By Sara Darling If the Sixties represented the fashion revolution, it was in part led by teenagers who wanted to shake off their parents gloomy past, and reinvent themselves as bright young things with a bright future.. New fabrics, bold prints and shorter hemlines gave a fresh new look to the spending generation, and fashion became more attainable to the masses, which was the first generation to express themselves after the stuffy styles available during WWII. Synonymous with youth culture, one of the most prominent icons of the decade is Mary Quant, who wanted to make clothes she would wear. Partly, the key to her success was making normally exclusive, designer fashion accessible on the high street; By creating short runs of highly desirable clothes, everyone wanted the next release, and her popularity grew phenomenally as she expanded from a small boutique to international label. With London firing on all cylinders, the Sixties was filled with optimism, freedom and hope, and was a melting pot for creatives, so Quant wanted to design clothes that were colourful and experimental. Freed from any rules, this fashion revolution challenged gender rules of women being submissive, and was the beginning of affordable and fun fashion for independent women, in a city where anything and everything was possible The summer exhibition at the V&A is a retrospective of Quant’s work from 1955 and 1975 and highlights how important her social relevance was to the youth during this period. Opening her store, ‘Bazaar’ on King’s Road, just a year after rationing ending, was the beginning of an era for women to express themselves, and not have to dress like their mums. The V&A put out a call for #WeWantQuant last year, asking the British public to lend or donate their Quant garments, and a selection is on display at the heart of the exhibit, along with the accompanying story and photographs of the lenders wearing the pieces. But Quant herself was an icon, and with her five point Vidal Sassoon haircut, she became a tastemaker of a generation. So it was no wonder that she expanded her empire to create makeup, lingerie, bright tights and homewares; Her clothing could be copied with Butterick sewing patterns, and she even inspired the next generation with ‘the best dressed doll in the world’ Daisy Doll. So its no wonder that Brand Quant was the choice of women across nearly three decades, and is still influential today. The upstairs exhibition space at the V&A has been laid out to represent its five petals of Quant's eye catching daisy logo, and visitors can admire everything from PVC macs, to tote bags, hot pants, brightly-coloured shift dresses and her trailblazing pinafore style dress, which summarised an era for young working women. Although Quant became famous for popularising the mini skirt which became the epitome of 1960s fashion and gave women a new kind of femininity and liberation, often her designs were based on or masculine tailoring. The exhibition streamlines her most popular looks, and the playful styles which allowed young women to rebel. This exhibition is a vital reference for anyone interested in history or fashion, as it dictates that Quant was a firm believer in feminism, which has set the scene for today. Visit the exhibition at the V&A from now until 16th February 2020 Book your tickets here BY SARA DARLING Tim Walker: Wonderful Things is coming the V & A in September Legendary fashion photographer Tim Walker has been creating images for four decades and has worked with some of the most influential names in fashion, including Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Comme des Garçons, Gap, and Yohji Yamamoto. Famous for creating surreal and larger than life images, the retrospective at the V&A promises photographs, films, installations and set designs in an immersive journey into Walker’s fantastical worlds. Tim Walker: Wonderful Things runs from September 21 until March 8 2020. Tickets go on sale June 13 2019
https://www.vam.ac.uk/ Arts Editor: Christopher George For our third and final interview with artists exhibiting at this year’s Talented Art Fair (1-3 March at the Old Truman Brewery), we caught up with Italian painter Irene Raspollini who tells us about her work and her love of kitsch. In just a few words, who are you and what do you do? I'm Irene Raspollini. I am an Italian painter. I live in a small village called Scalvaia, near Siena in the beautiful Tuscan hills. I love art, culture, nature, food and good wine. What is your background? I'm a self taught artist. While I have been drawing and painting since I was a kid, I only became a full time artist a few years ago. I began to sell my work online in 2015 and I have since exhibited in 8 countries, including China and the USA. Last year I was invited to Mexico for my first solo show abroad and was one of the finalists of International Artists Grand Prize at ART Revolution Taipei, in Taiwan. How would you describe your work? If I had to choose one single word to describe my work, it would be “narrative”. I developed a personal style of narrative portraiture, with which I always try to suggest stories and concepts behind my characters. My rosy-cheeked people are often surrounded by colours and surreal situations, and bright colours are always present in what I do. Talk us through your creative process. I tend to organise my work in projects, so the first thing I do is think about a concept to develop in a consistent series of paintings. Once the theme is settled, I start on my works with acrylic paint on canvas as long as there is something to say about the chosen concept, and as long as the inspiration flows. The inspiration for my characters comes from vintage ephemeras and family photos, as well as old films and videoclips. Who and what are your biggest influences?
I have been highly influenced by European medieval art since I went to Siena as a child. I also owe much of my inspiration to all the great self taught artists like Frida Kahlo, and also to art brut artists, such as Antonio Ligabue, Aloïse Corbaz, Wolfli and Seraphine de Senlis. I love folk art and anything “kitsch”, because it's never boring and brings a playful dimension to everything. Kitsch is where you can find saints and glitters in the same place. Who would you say are your favourite contemporary artists? I absolutely adore Hockney and Botero. It's impressive how these octogenarian artists are still making such fresh and wonderful work at their age, after an entire life of creativity. I love Olafur Eliasson and Ai Wei Wei installations, because they make me feel a strong connection with their art: I love the concepts behind their works. I'm also very interested in contemporary African art, in particular the work of Congolese painter Jean-Paul Nsimba Mika and Senegalese photographer Omar Viktor Diop: it's pretty clear that the next big things in art will come from this amazing continent. What makes you get up and create art? Well, it's my job! Apart from that, I deeply love what I do and art comes natural to me. I love every aspect of my artist life, from painting and creating, to the marketing and public relations part. I like to manage my website and promote my works on social networks, engage with my followers and receive feedback from them. I also like the challenge of finding new venues and galleries for my works, and exchange opinions with people of the art world, at any level. I'm definitely doing what I love most, so I stay deeply focused on it with no efforts at all. What will you be showing at Talented Art Fair? I will show some of my most recent works, mostly from my Chroma Key Project. This series of paintings is inspired by chroma key composing, a post production technique which allows the layering of two images or video streams together using a colour hue. One of the most used colours for this technique is the so called Chroma green: green areas in the foreground image are made transparent in post production so that the image or video in the background is visible through them. This technique is widely used in TV and cinema, but for me the best (and most kitsch) things ever made with it were the Italo disco video clips from the 1980s. So the series is a sort of tribute to that period. TALENTED ART FAIR runs from 1-3 March at Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch, London E1 Entry is free on Saturday and Sunday (12-6.30pm) Private View on Friday (6-9pm) is ticketed For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.talentedartfair.com/ Review: Christopher George Known for his creative brilliance, Johny Dar and his new innovative lifestyle product designed to enhance natural intelligence and creativity through the art of colouring! All IQ-ME figures are created from a combination of simple geometric shapes. Colouring these shapes helps calm the mind and balance the brain, bringing peace and relaxation to children and adults alike. IQ-ME is designed to bring individuals empowerment, emotional stability, and easier access to their own creative ideas and potential. Johny created IQ-ME as answer to the question he is often asked which is ‘How do you do what you do?’ He wanted to share his ‘secret’ with others, and empower everybody to tap into their natural intelligence and creativity abilities. So he created IQ-ME as a direct experience and easy methodology to assist individuals to balance the two hemispheres of the brain and harmonise their modes of perception. This is achieved simply through colouring the geometric figures in the IQ-Me books, so it’s a relatively effortless technique, but the impact is powerful! Johny Dar
Editer: Christopher George Choreography for an Exhibition organized by the museum of contemporary art Madre, in collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York, brings a body of work to Naples in an innovative show and a performative program starring international choreographers. The exhibition features over 160 works, displayed alongside archaeological, ancient and modern pieces, in addition to a site-specific dance program commissioned to celebrate the performative and physical aspects of Mapplethorpe’s photography. The exhibition – curated by Laura Valente and Andrea Viliani – develops into three separate sections, each looking closely at different phases of his work. It opens with "Ouverture", where portraits of Patti Smith and Samuel Wagstaff Jr, the two muses of his life, are facing each other. In 1969 Mapplethorpe dropped out from art school to live with his girlfriend, the future musician, performer and poet, Patti Smith (her award-winning memoir, “Just Kids,” is the story of their young lives together in NY). Samuel Wagstaff Jr, 25 years his senior, was his mentor and lover. He was also one of the first art collectors to start buying photographs as early as on 1973, assembling one of the most important private collections of photographs in the world. A program of site-specific performances draws from the artist’s work and develops in a Choreography for an Exhibition, including pieces of Olivier Dubois (FR) Vadim Stein (UKR ) Matteo Stella Dance Arts ( IT). All the subjects, including the most controversial or shocking ones, reveal themselves in curated images of harmony and balance, where the symmetry of the composition echoes from ancient statuary to Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Robert Mapplethorpe Choreography for an Exhibition December 15, 2018 April 8, 2019 Editor: Christopher George Our current series of interviews with artists exhibiting at this year’s Talented Art Fair – at the Old Truman Brewery from 1 to 3 March - we talked to Alexa Harris about her work and influences. In a few words, who are you and what do you do? I am Alexa Harris, a mixed media artist. I work from my studio based in West London in the creative hub known as Kindred Studios. I work across several mediums constantly exploring the language of what I do. I am currently painting in oils and always drawing. What is your background? I was born and bred in Leeds, went to Jacob Kramer School of Art, then studied Fine art at Nottingham Trent University. In the early years I trained in theatre design at The National Youth Theatre. My professional career has spanned across television, theatre and film, which has brought me to where I am creatively today. How would you describe your work? Talk us through your creative process, My work has rawness, which is both abstracted and deconstructed. l love an unfinished edge; an unfilled area in a landscape or a headless figure. This keeps my interest to full immersion. I am excited by colour and form and playing with light. I am obsessed by the three-dimensionality of the line and how one can literally cut space. My work is multi-layered, in colour, form and meaning. Surfaces are always important to me. From layering, making and preparing new quality surfaces, using handcrafted hand stained and ripped collage. These stages are often experimental and an exciting part of my process. Knowing when to stop, keeping a freshness and clarity of the mark is important. I know when something is overworked it’s gone too far, I have to strip it back down again. I try to reveal the subject’s strength and fragility simultaneously, which is hard. Who and what are your biggest influences? My late father, who was an artist, is a particular influence. When I had to clear his studio I discovered unseen works and a plethora of exciting found objects. More than simply objects, for me they were jolts of memory filled with nostalgia and aroma that I have the privilege to protect and reinvent. Growing up, I have always loved going to the ballet and the magic created on stage stayed with me. When I draw and paint the nude it’s the fascination of the human form in space that is mirrored. Playing with light and weight is what I try to do in my work to capture an essence of a moment and of space. Bill Viola’s video works about life, religion and death, and Nam June Paik’s video art and installations have always inspired me. So have Man Ray’s Photography and conceptual works and friendship with Marcel Duchamp. Frank Auerbach and the London School have definitely shaped how I work today and my constant excitement of mark making, oils and finding beauty in the banal everyday and distortions of form. Who would you say are your favourite contemporary artists? The list is long but would have to include Robert Rauschenberg, Marlene Dumas, Jenny Saville, Francis Bacon, Michael Andrews, Gavin Turk, Bob and Roberta Smith, Sean Scully and, of course, Bill Viola. What makes you get up and create art? My studio is the place I need to be. In my old - and sometimes cold - Victorian studio in Queens Park, I am surrounded by my mysterious found objects; some suspended overhead like my Dad’s smoking pipe, or his black hat or an old casino dice, which sit on my Danish cheese board worktable, all in the need to be transformed into something that speaks to me. Finding a language for my work to come to life is what drives me. Be it through painting abstracted landscapes on corrugated board, which has become an obsession. My work is a visual conversation, pushing and pulling and constantly challenging me. What will you be showing at Talented Art Fair? I’ll be showing a series of new landscapes as well as nudes Also, if ready,‘ Dad’s chair’ which is a new part from my recent installation, ‘Does that mean you’re not coming to dinner?’ TALENTED ART FAIR runs from 1-3 March at Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch, London E1 Entry is free on Saturday and Sunday (12-6.30pm) Private View on Friday (6-9pm) is ticketed For more information and tickets, visit: https://www.talentedartfair.com/ Editor: Christopher George The Talented Art Fair is back at the Old Truman Brewery for its third edition from 1 to 3 March 2019. As part of a series of interviews with some of the exhibiting artists, we caught up with landscape artist John Ball ahead of the fair to find out more about him and his work. In just a few words, who are you and what do you do? My name is John Ball and I make paintings. What is your background? I studied at the London Metropolitan University in Whitechapel and lived in East London for many years before moving out to the suburbs. How would you describe your work? A bleak, atmospheric interpretation of the modern landscape, a study of socio-economic decline and regeneration Talk us through your creative process, I work from my own photographs which I process in photoshop before rendering in oils. Who and what are your biggest influences? I Love a bit of Edward Hopper and early Hockney and am Inspired by the photorealistic painting style of artists like John Baeder, Ralph Goings, John Salt, and Robert Bechtle. More recently, Banksy’s Dismaland played a big part in renewing my interest in painting; it was inspiring to see such an eclectic mix of contemporary artists collaborating on such an innovative project. In my opinion it was a totally unique and unpretentious approach to an art exhibition with such a good balance of dark humour and political satire that really captured the imagination of the general public. I’d say I am influenced as much by film and video games as I am by photography and painting. Movies by David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, George A Romero, Stanley Kubrick,and Quentin Tarantino have played a big part in influencing my practice. I don’t get much time to play video games these days but am still a big fan of the GTA series and more recently have been dipping into Red Dead Redemption 2 which is absolutely incredible! You were a finalist on the Sky Arts Landscape Painter of the Year. How would you describe the experience? It was a great experience, I hadn’t really been painting very much by the time I applied and was pretty much thrown in at the deep end! I was up against full time professional artists so it was a real boost to my confidence when I got through to the semi finals. It certainly had a positive effect on my productivity and has generated a lot of interest. Who would you say are your favourite contemporary artists? There are some really great landscape artists out there at the moment. I really like the work of Andy Cropper, Paul Regan, Jonathan Stockley, Alex Selkowitz, and Timothy Horn to name but a few. What makes you get up and create art? I guess there is just something in the back of my brain ticking away that drives me to create. People say to me I see the world differently and see beauty in the mundane. I suppose I am just trying to make people see the way I see if only for a minute. I hope that doesn’t sound too pretentious; I think I would paint these things whether anyone was looking or not. What will you be showing at Talented Art Fair? I will be exhibiting a selection of my contemporary landscape paintings alongside some original pencil studies and limited edition prints. TALENTED ART FAIR runs from 1-3 March at the Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch, London E1 Entry is free on Saturday and Sunday (12-6.30pm) Tickets for the Private View on Friday (6-9pm) are available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talented-art-fair-2019-tickets-52362324121 Editor: Christopher George Tate Britain major retrospective of the legendary British photographer Sir Don McCullin. Renowned as one of Britain’s greatest living photographers, McCullin has captured images of conflict from around the world including Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Biafra. Often taken at great personal risk, these unforgettable photographs will be shown alongside McCullin’s work in documentary photography, his travel assignments and his long term engagement with landscape and still life. With over 250 photographs, all printed by the artist himself in his own darkroom, this exhibition is a unique opportunity to see the scope and achievements of McCullin’s career. Don McCullin began taking photographs in the 1950s, documenting his surroundings and local community in his native Finsbury Park, London. In 1958 his photograph The Guvnors, a portrait of a notorious local gang, was published in The Observer, launching his career as a photojournalist. Working first for The Observer and then The Sunday Times Magazine, McCullin went on to capture major conflicts around the world from Vietnam and the Congo to Cyprus and Beirut. The exhibition includes some of McCullin’s most iconic photographs including Shell- shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue 1968, Starving Twenty Four Year Old Mother with Child, Biafra 1968 and Northern Ireland, The Bogside, Londonderry 1971. Alongside McCullin’s hand-printed silver gelatin prints, the exhibition also includes the photographer’s magazine spreads, contact sheets, his helmet and the Nikon camera which took a bullet for him in Cambodia. While McCullin has been best known as a photojournalist and war correspondent, he has also consistently engaged in documentary photography in Britain, depicting scenes of poverty and working class life in London’s East End and the north of England. From the homeless and disenfranchised population of Whitechapel in the 1970s to the industrial landscapes of Bradford, Liverpool and Durham, McCullin has exposed changing social conditions in the UK. These works are shown alongside other photographs taken around the country, including character studies of people at the seaside and at Ascot. McCullin’s most recent photographs for his ongoing project ‘Southern Frontiers’ connects the two key strands of his work: conflict and landscape. For years, McCullin has been documenting the physical remains of the Roman Empire in the north African and Levantine landscapes, including the ancient site of Palmyra. He returned to Syria last year to document the deliberate destruction and demolitions undertaken by the so called Islamic State. The exhibition ends with these powerful works including The theatre on the Roman city of Palmyra, partly destroyed by Islamic State fighters 2017.
Don McCullin is curated by Simon Baker, Director of The Maison Européene de la Photographie, Paris, with Shoair Mavlian, Director of Photoworks, assisted by Aïcha Mehrez, Assistant Curator of Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue and a programme of talks and events in the gallery. 5 February – 6 May 2019 Tate Britain, Level 2 Galleries Supported by the Don McCullin Exhibition Supporters Circle and Tate Patrons Open daily 10.00 – 18.00 For public information call +44(0)20 7887 8888, visit tate.org.uk or follow @Tate |
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