I Should Be In Charge? YOU Should Be In Charge!

Bob & Roberta Smith's new solo exhibition - You Should Be In Charge, launched last week at the new and independent WORK gallery in London's Kings Cross.

I steal a quick ten phone minutes with the Turner Prize Shortlisted artist to find out a little more.

You Should Be In Charge, controversially and sometimes humorously focuses on Esther's Law - inspired by Jacob Epstein's sculpture of his daughter Esther, the idea is based on proportional gender representation.

Having being raised by his mother and sisters Bob & Roberta Smith never understood why the world of politics was so dominated by middle class white men in suits and why weren't there more women in charge of running the country?
"Women are stewards of society and have a lot more power than we think, we have equality in the home, so why not in politics, we should not be pushed around, politics can be empowering", he adds with a serious yet lighthearted tone.

The politically fueled pieces include 'The New Magna Carta' - an interactive response to the cuts in arts earlier this year, 'Art Gallery Closed' - a rather comical response to private galleries and 'We Need A New Counter Culture' - suggesting the lack of a good 'under-ground' scene.

Accompanying the work, is a book that sparked off this conversation - I Should Be In Charge - "showing the full breadth of the colourful and explosive contribution of artists Bob and Roberta Smith to the contemporary art scene", to which the artist adds, is an "autobiographical monograph of over five years of investigations, photographs and works exploring Esther's Law", published by Black Dog Books.

Essentially art emancipates us and the key to the exhibition and the book is Esther's Law, when I looked at the sculpture of Esther (by Jacob Epstein), she did not look like she wanted to be interpreted by her father and seemed to stick a sharp pair of scissors into the male hegemonic world."

The exhibition quite literally spells out Bob & Roberta Smith's message - 'We/You/I Should Be In Charge' of the decisions made for us. Their brightly coloured sweet shop sign-writing pieces do make an impact, they are often comedic and bite-size, but unfortunately will never get you up off your comfortable sofa to start a revolution. Saying that, I hope that this friendly political approach continues, most of us would rather have the information and make up our own minds and as Bob puts it "I've never been good with people telling me what to do, I'd much rather find out for myself. My work is not preachy, and it's more of a signature than design. I'm not demonizing politics, I just feel we should all take interest".

Coming up at WORK will be a series of innovative and provocative exhibitions and talks, including Bob & Roberta Smith in conversation with Bidisha, journalist, feminist & broadcaster, asking who is really in charge and should 50% of parliament be women by statue?

Exhibition runs until 3rd June 2001.

For more information on Bob & Roberta Smith visit here.

WORK Gallery visit here.

I Should Be In Charge book is available through Black Dog Publishing here.

Flash Projects present: Street Fighting Man

“Ev’rywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
‘Cause summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy…“
(The Rolling Stones, Street Fighting Man, 1968)

The 1960′s was the decade of change, a decade of love, of the pill, the Rolling Stones, and of sweeping changes in hemlines. It was also a decade of activism, of protests and demonstrations, aimed at overthrowing old prejudices and promoting a new liberalism.

In 1968, Mick Jagger wrote his most political song, Street Fighting Man – influenced by the rallies in London and violence in Paris, he attended the anti-War demonstration outside London’s U.S. embassy during which the police attempted to control a crowd of 25,000. Sound familiar?

This April, Savile Row’s Flash Projects present Street Fighting Man, an exhibition of photographs demonstrating the power of rock and roll as a focus of rebellion, including extended series of photographs documenting riots at Rolling Stones concerts, as well as Caroline Coon‘s celebrated photographs of punks including The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Slits, and The Buzzcocks ; the exhibition also traces a wider sociological context of street protests that include CND marches, civil unrest in Ireland, inner city riots, and the Poll tax riots. As we saw over the weekend of 26th March (and the bright spark that threw the fire extinguisher from a roof during the student fees protests) almost fifty years on, the exhibition is as close to some of the most recent world affairs as we’ve seen in decades.

28th April - 4th June 2011 Flash Projects, 5 Savile Row, London, W1S 3PD

http://artwednesday.com/2011/03/30/street-fighting-man/
http://www.flash-projects.co.uk/index.php?location=home

Close Eyes To Exit – An exhibition and launch by LE GUN and Bare Bones

After some adventures in mainland Europe, LE GUN are back with the launch of Close Eyes To Exit, an exhibition at Red Gallery in London.
Including a collaboration with Rough Trade for a night of live bands (April 8th) and the launch of their eagerly awaited LE GUN 5 which is “set to grace lavatories, boutiques, bars and bookshelves far and wide.”

The main attraction, claim LE GUN, will be the Unknown Room, which will show life-size drawings of the bizarre based on the contents of George Melly’s Briefcase.

“Melly, the trout tickling, dada loving jazz pirate, provided the source of inspiration having purportedly left his briefcase in the basement closet of the LE GUN curiosity shop. Created by LE GUN’s core artists Neal Fox, Robert Rubbish, Chris Bianchi, Stephanie von Reiswitz and Bill Bragg, the black and white installation is filled with pictures showing scenes of the city of Legundon, James Ensor’s Belgium, an outlandish Interzone and an ancient lost civilization".

LE GUN 5 is set to include contributors such as the Polish graphic artist and long-time contributor Andrzej Klimowski. Nick Blinko the outsider art artist, writer and front-man of anarcho punk/Deathrock band Rudimentary Peni. Emma Rendel, the spearhead of Swedish surrealism, provides Aquiring Success in Your Professional Career Through the Science of Personal Achievement. James Unsworth presents his Ninja Turtle Sex Museum and watch out for camp taxidermy from Hernan Bas, more bizarre scenes from Charles Avery’s Imaginary Island, the macabre tableaus of Laurie Lipton and writing from Hunter S. Thompson of Hartlepool.

Imagine the weird and wonderful, including tarot interpretations, tattoos, haunting portraits, a lot of monochrome, and of course, limited edition prints and pulp.
Bare Bones “the promiscuous mutant sister of LE GUN” No.6 will also be out, independently published with paper funded entirely by it’s contributors. Distributed free – it is an outlet for artists and writers to say and do what they like.

Private view 1st April 2011, 6pm till late

Exhibition from 2nd April – 18 April 2011, Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, London, EC2 3JL

For more, visit Le Gun

Leif Podhajski Interview

Alicja McCarthy talks to Leif Podhajsky, the Melbourne based artist and creative director, about his imagination, favourite colour and Lykke Li.

Publicly, Leif’s work is known to explore connectedness, nature and altered experiences, but where do his ideas actually come from? Do I dare mention mind altering substances or can these dreamscapes really come from within?
Leif says he get this question a lot and explains that his ideas come from the collective consciousness of everyone and everything filtered through his own personal experiences and made almost tangible through his imagination. That it’s mostly a feeling and the exploration of things he feels are true but cannot see or touch. Such as the existence of intelligence on different frequencies or higher states of awareness, the feeling that nature is core to the balance of all things.

“I believe these things are true and through my imagination I try and put them into something which people can see, this in an attempt to justify, explain, gain wisdom from, or just marvel in the beauty of, firstly for myself and hopefully for others also. One doesn’t need drugs to experience these things, they can defiantly help facilitate your exposure to them, give you a taste. I am more interested in using other techniques such as meditation, music, yoga to get insight into these altered states and bring some of the knowledge I think we can gain back into the everyday”.

So what are the top three things that inspire you the most?

“Love, knowledge and creativity”.

Colour and tone appear to be of utmost importance in your work, so I have to ask, what’s your favourite colour?

“Colour and tone are central to capturing a certain mood or feeling in my work. Black is defiantly one of my favourite colours (tones). It’s like it has absorbed all the frequencies of light and therefore contains all colour and no colour. Other favourites are forest green, Burgundy and deep aqua”.

The record labels love your work, how important then is music to you when you create an artwork? Could you tell us what you do listen to when creating?

“Music plays a big part in how I create, and not just for record labels or bands, across everything I do. I find it helps me turn the part of my brain that over analyzes and makes things logical switch off. This helps as it lets me form compositions in a more natural and fluid way.
I listen to a very wide range of things when creating, I find it doesn’t matter so much what it is, just if I can lock into that feeling and be transported away”.

Interestingly adding,

“I have just finished two mixed tapes (which you can download on my site). One is a mixture of Psychedelic, Kraut-rock and progressive songs from bands like German Oak, Can, Brainticket, Sun Araw.
The other one called ‘The Solstice Mixtape’ was compiled with good friend Isaac from the band Young Magic whilst we where in Mexico over the new year and has a lot of old African/beats/psych and folk music we both where listening to at the time, I have been into a lot of this old Nigerian, Ghanian and Turkish music which just has the best flow for working. Plus a lot of the new beats coming out of the LA scene like Teebs and Fly Lo. So a bit of a mixed bag.”

You worked with Lykke Li on the artwork for her new album, Wounded Rhymes, how did that come about?

“Yeah I have just finished working with Lykke. It was sort of strange how it came about, kind of felt like it was meant to be. I actually randomly got into contact with her creative director which I didn’t know at the time, and was trying to get him to look at my work for a different reason, and he though I was getting in contact about the Lykke job which I was oblivious to. They both had a look at my work and thought it was perfect. Lykke and I where exploring a lot of the same ideas in our work and so I think it was natural that we worked together. I was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time”.

How well did you get on in terms of creativity?

“Creatively we got on great! She has great vision in all aspects of what she is doing, and was very open to pushing and exploring the limits of what we could achieve.
I went to New York and worked with her face to face which was so much better than over the internet and doesn’t happen as much these days.
I really think we captured the mood of the record and the concepts she was exploring on the album.”

So… what’s next?

“I really want to keep working with great musicians creating visuals for their music. I have a few exhibitions coming up this year which will keep me busy. I am also in the process of setting up an online shop to sell limited edition prints of my work which will be up very soon.
But mostly to try and enjoy life and have new experiences, lots of travel and sunshine”.

For more info about Leif, visit his site here.

Pick Me Up – Contemporary Graphic Arts fair at Somerset House.

This year’s Pick Me Up saw familiar artists & collectives like Print Club London, No Brow and Kate Morros, described as some of the best, most innovative and avant-garde graphic artists, collectives and galleries stand along-side a handful of international talent, including Victo Ngai, Revenge Is Sweet and Yoh Nagio.

Mostly inspiring, the fair is a bold, colourful and sometimes psychedelic experience. It’s also an excellent opportunity to buy some affordable art, limited books, post cards and more. There is a real sense of energy, the hand made and collectible about many of the exhibitors works.
Here are a few of my highlights.

Themlot presented ‘There City’, a model cluster of hand made colonies, a refuge, ‘a place for Them to be’ – inviting you to star in THERE city. With set up cameras and spotlights inviting the visitor to engage in their mini city.
For two evenings (17th & 24th March), Heavy Pencil, are presenting evenings of live music and live drawing by some of the best illustrators in the land, which is projected on a large screen for all to see. Artists include Jiggery Pokery, Andrew Rae and Luke Best.
The Hong Kong born artist/illustrator Victo Ngai prints stood out for me. I found it so difficult not to call the bank for an over-draft increase to but her joyful and beautifully coloured prints.
Revenge Is Sweet presented a series of graphic and tonal works, but also a mirrored art deco typographic piece, which again, I mostly wanted!
And if course Anthony Burrill & guests multi-media in house studio.

For a full list of artists, galleries + collectives visit The Somerset House website. Pick Me Up: Contemporary Graphic Art Fair will take place at Somerset House runs until 27th March 2011.

Latitude Contemporary Art Award Shortlist Announced

In 2010 Latitude Festival announced the launch of Latitude Contemporary Art (LCA) Exhibition and Award with the aim to “continue and expand Latitude’s enormous commitment and devotion to the arts” with a whopping £10,000 up for grabs to this year’s winner.

The LCA team comprises creator of Latitude and managing director of Festival Republic Melvin Benn, independent arts writer Louise Gray, Artes Mundi chief executive and curator Ben Borthwick, curator/deputy editor of The Wire Anne Hilde Neset, and managing director of Lavish, Ami Jade Cadillac.

The winning artist is set to receive the £10,000 LCA Award which is chosen by an independent panel of judges on site at Latitude Festival. The prize covers research, development, production costs and artist fees for a new piece for the LCA exhibition at the following year’s Latitude.

Here are the nominees…

Alice Anderson, an ex Ecole Des Beaux-Arts student she completed her studies with a fine art MA at Goldsmiths. For Latitude, she will present FOLLOW ME, a large site-specific sculpture made of dolls’ hair and wax. Visitors will be invited to follow a metamorphosing hair rope through the woods in order to discover what is at the other end.

When asked, what was the first this you did when you found out you was nominated, she replied “I imagined the wood and started to WORK straight away.”

Graham Dolphin, is yet to unveil his plans for LCA award, so we wait with anticipation. If his past work is anything to go by – appropriation of objects and icons in the fashion and music industries, reforming them to reveal the obsessive and formulas of mass culture, we’re in for a statement and a treat.
What was Graham’s reaction to being selected? “Ermm great, what the hell am I going to make!?”

Andy Harper is a UK based artist with RCA MA under his belt primarily working in painting. For LCA he will create An Orrery for Other Worlds, fabricating and painting an internally lit sphere that will be suspended in the woods.

Delaine Le Bas works primarily in painting, textiles and three-dimensional constructions. For Latitude she will create – The World Turned Upside Down In The Cathedral Of Erotic Misery (after Kurt Schwitters), a woodland installation which explores the witch hunts of Matthew Hopkins, best known as the 17th-century Witchfinder General. Her secret space, part relic, part hide-out, will offer a place to reflect and contemplate.

Maslen & Mehra, UK based duo, working in the medium-format of photography will present, Common Ground. Figures from different historical periods and cultures are juxtaposed in compositions, which have been painstakingly created using hand-made mirrored sculptures and drawing.

So what was the first this you both did when you found out when you were nominated? “We had dinner with the Aussie rock band Grinspoons guitarist, Pat Davern. We might have had a couple of very nice cocktails and told him their reps should look into Latitude. A Festival which is going from strength to strength“.

Last year’s winner, the theatre-maker, composer and artist Graeme Miller will be returning this year with a new specially commissioned piece unveiled at the festival.

Latitude Festival runs from 14th – 17th July, for more info on all five artists, the weekend’s events and music line-up visit the site here.

Alicja McCarthy

View it on FAD here.

Birds Eye View – Sound & Silents

One of the highlights to this year’s WOW – Women Of The World festival at the Southbank Centre, in association with International Women’s Day, was Birds Eye View’s Sound and Silents. Which included specially commissioned live scores by cutting-edge female musicians alongside seminal silent films by women pioneering gothic, surreal and horror cinema.

Lotte Reiniger’s 1955 ‘Hansel and Gretel’ animation was for me, one of the two Sound and Silents highlights. Beautifully cut silhouettes and shadows with creepy motion and movement were accompanied by Micachu’s even more disturbing sounds of screechy rubber and twisting notes giving the animation a much more intense feeling of the macabre, highlighting the grim tale. Those of you not familiar with Lotte Reiniger should definitely check out her work.

Maya Deren’s 1943 ‘Meshes of The Afternoon’ is one of her (and her husband Alexander Hammid) most experimental and dream-like films. Full of symbology, it was beautifully and rhythmically accompanied by Seaming. As a modern sound track to the the film, this is one of the most fitting scores to the nature of the film, varying in pace, responding to movement, the score ended intensely towards the end with Seaming’s vocals and sound clashes.

For the the 1913 ‘Suspense’ by Lois Weber we saw Tara Busch’s performance almost over shadow the one-reel silent thriller. Despite both being brilliant, one could only watch one or the other as Busch’s performance was so enigmatic and layered, you couldn’t take your eyes off her multi-instrumental handy work.

The final score and the second highlight was composed by Grammy award winner Imogen Heap. In the form of a capella sound track to Germaine Dulac’s 1928 ‘La Coquille et le Clergyman’, one of the first surrealist films ever made, it was boldly accompanied by beautiful and hugely haunting vocals lead by Heap and Holst Singers. The sad tale of a priest’s lusting hallucinations for a married woman were thoughtfully portrayed by the voices and harmonies. Heap’s score was brilliant, I even got goose bumps, revving up emotions of longing and forbidden thoughts.

Thanks to Birds Eye View, I became much more aware of the female film makers of the last century. Now a charity, co-founded by Rachel Millward in 2002, it aims to be a a positive response to the fact that only 7% of films are directed by women. It launched the first major UK festival of women film-makers in 2005 supporting and developing new talent as well as showcasing the female film makers throughout the decades.

Review by Alicja McCarthy

The Birds Eye View Festival runs until March 17th and for more information, visit www.birds-eye-view.co.uk
For more events at the Southbank Centre, visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk

More by me on FAD - http://www.fadwebsite.com/2011/03/15/birds-eye-view-sound-silents/

Photographs thanks to Sophia Schorr-Kon

WOW – Women of the World at Southbank Centre preview.

I preview Southbank Centre’s celebrations for the 100th International Women’s Day festival with music, comedy & debate.

In celebration of the creativity, achievement & innovation of women, the UK’s largest arts centre will host. From March 11th to 13th events all around the 21-acre cultural site of the South Bank will include live music, cinema, talks, free events, markets, comedy and mentoring.

Friday March 11th sees two main events, one is the awareness raising EQUALS Live concert with Annie Lennox, Paloma Faith & VV Brown a the Royal Festival Hall and over at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Birds Eye View Sound & Silents – Bloody Women: From Gothic To Horror, presenting seminal silent films by women pioneering gothic, horror & surrealist cinema, including specially commissioned scores from award winning Imogen Heap & experimental pop act Micachu.

Saturday 12th March (and throughout the three days) we can expect a whole day of WOW festival conferences, talks & workshops from some of the most influential women across all industries, speaking frankly and openly about the things that matter to them. Speakers & mentors include, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, opera director Penny Woolcock, then in the evening, Annie Nightingale, Radio 1’s first female presenter and longest serving one too, talks to Southbank Centre Artistic Director Jude Kelly about her life and work, concluding with a live set in The Clore Ballroom.

On the comedy and theatre side of things, on Sunday 13th March at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Sandi Toksvig & Sue Perkins will host an evening of comedy, stories & music inspired by the suffragette movement, which will also see Perkins conducting an all-female orchestra. (Now we really can do anything!)

For full listings check out :www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Pick Me up

Embankment Galleries at Somerset House open their doors to Pick Me Up: Contemporary Graphic Art Fair on March 17th.

In it’s second year, the UK’s first contemporary graphic art fair will feature some of the UK’s most cutting edge collectives and galleries, including Print Club London, NoBrow and It’s Nice That, with over fifty (known & unknown) artists and illustrators and an interactive programme of workshops running throughout the ten days.

One of this year’s Pick Me Up highlights is an open-studio with multi-media illustrator/designer Anthony Burrill who has invited a handful of long-time collaborators to join him in the studio. Including graphics and ceramics artist Emily Forgot, photographer Kevin Meredith, sculptural artist & illustrator Wilfrid Wood and video artists Paul Plowman & Zac Ella to name a few. Watch them create anything from music to posters in the studio which will also feature Burrill’s 20-year career retrospective.

Exhibitors will work on projects, show their latest work and sell a wide range of affordable artwork. In true ‘fair’ style, visitors from all walks of life are encouraged to engage, and if you can pick (me) up a limited edition print or a hand made book, it could make the experience a much more memorable.

Claire Catterall, curator of Pick Me Up says that “even with the more well known artists, it’s not always easy to find their work. You have to know your way around online galleries, Shoreditch galleries and shops which could all prove to be difficult if you are not familiar with the scene. Even if you do know your way around the right websites it’s still difficult to really appreciate the quality of a print when looking at it through a computer screen. There really isn’t anything like Pick Me Up in terms of being able to see and buy such a wide variety of top quality graphic art”

adding that “if things are for sale I think it changes the dynamics of an exhibition. It’s not about our insatiable appetite to consume but more about getting people to engage with the work on a different, often quite emotional, level. If you’re thinking, does this work appeal to me enough to take it home, hang it on my wall and live with it, then you’re looking at it with different eyes. Buying graphic art allows everyone the opportunity to purchase something that is beautiful and meaningful to them, which of course is not always an option when visiting fine art exhibitions”.

On returning for the second year running, Print Club London’s Director, Kate Newbold says, “like last year, we will be re-building our studio at Pick Me Up so we hope people will pop in, meet our artists, watch some printing and enjoy being part of what is usually a closed members studio – it should provide a great insight into our inky world in the depths of Dalston.”

Sam Arthur, founder of Nobrow added that, “we will be selling a huge selection of prints, hand made books and other products at the fair. The theme for the space is taken from our latest issue of Nobrow Magazine, to be released at the event: ‘A few of our favourite things’. We’re building a set entirely constructed from cardboard”.

So if last year’s fair is anything to go by, Pick Me Up 2011 looks to be one of the most interesting and engaging art fairs of the year. With tepees and pop-up stands, raffles and draw-offs, this fair is bound to excite anyone who has the slightest interest in graphic and contemporary art and give them the opportunity to discover new artists and pick up a unique bargain or two.

Alicja McCarthy

For a full list of artists, galleries + collectives visit The Somerset House website www.somersethouse.org.uk/pickmeup
Pick Me Up: Contemporary Graphic Art Fair will take place at Somerset House from 17th-27th March 2011.

Uniform Wares Interview

Every day watches intended for longevity, characterised with meticulous design details and insistent on everyday day performance that lasts.

Alicja McCarthy speaks to Patrick Bek and Oliver Fowles, founders & designers of the London-based studio Uniform Wares, about their time pieces, their influences and what makes them tick (ahem…)

What’s the idea behind the time pieces?

They are conceived by the idea that a watch should be legible and simple but with enough character for the user to connect with. We hope that our watches are able to slot in to very different lifestyles and social situations. They should be easily dressed up or down. At the heart of our timepieces are movements that we consider to be the best for the price point, the design is built around that. So what’s more important to you when considering a design, style or practicality?

I think as long as a watch is legible it is already going some way to being practical. We could design a watch that is the essence of everyday practicality but in doing so it would no doubt end up looking like many rubberised dive watches that the market is already flooded with. We have to balance the needs of everyday use with a product that connects with the user because of the texture / finish or material. This is one reason why we chose Italian Calf Leather for our straps, rubber would be more practical but it is less comfortable, less luxurious, these are things that are important when considering how a product will age with it’s user.

There is a definite sense of quality to the watches, how do you go about sourcing materials?

Each of our watches is around 6 / 7 months in the making. We’re proud that each part of the watch is designed by us, only the movement is sourced elsewhere this means that we have many models of each component piece being made / prototyped so we can find the right fit for the product. A lot of our material research and prototyping takes place here in the UK, once we have found what we need we can instruct the factory on every stage of the finishing process whether this be the PVD coatings of the cases or the vegetable tanning of the straps.

So what’s the best seller?

The black 100 Series is definately our staple model but we’re glad that this model is the backbone of the company and our other models are all informed in some way by the success of that watch.

So what’s ‘good’ design’?

Something that has relevance, whether that be commercial or emotional relevance.

Who, form past & present has influenced you the most?

In terms of watch making, Ludwig Oechslin developed the Automatic MIH Watch that has an annual calendar that is able to show the correct date at the end of each month without having to reset between 30th and 31st, and it’s a beautiful tool watch. In terms of design, Konstantin Grcic is always No1.

Anything else on the cards for Uniform Wares?

We have two new models that will be released later this year, the 150 Series and the 250 Series. They will be an interesting departure from our current collection.

Very interested to see what they produce next, ‘an interesting departure’ from their already (or soon to be) classic watch designs! Keep an eye on these guys, with their meticulous design considerations and lifestyle influences, Uniform Wares will no doubt be one of the lead design studios of this decade.

Website:www.uniformwares.com/

Bass Notes: The film posters of Saul Bass

Kemistry Gallery opens it's doors on Thursday 17th February to Bass Notes: The film posters of Saul Bass. The exhibition brings together a collection of his film posters, film titles and film festival posters from the Lloyd Northover donation to the British Film Institute. Kindly, the BFI’s Poster Archive loaned the exhibits to make this show possible. And we thank them for it. The king of the film poster, no graphic designer has made a greater impact on the world of film than Saul Bass. His simple yet dominant and compelling style has influenced many. Breaking conventions, Bass virtually invented titles as we now know them with a career spanning over forty years. Richard Graham, founder and curator of Kemistry, says that "although his work is well known and has stood the test of time, there is always a new generation who may not be so familiar with his work and we feel it's our duty to show them outstanding graphic work from a pre-digital age". www.kemistrygallery.co.uk Alicja McCarthy

FAD looks at Art in Ad Agencies, a series of behind the scenes interviews looking at the recent inspirations in ad land.

Starting with CHI & Partners, Alicja McCarthy speaks to Emma Modler & Dan Beckett (Art Buyer and Head of art at CHI & Partners)

Q1. What was the idea behind the CHI/CIA Chalk event?

The chalkboard in the CHI Bar was really not being put to any use so we approached CIA to see if any of their artists would be interested in coming in to have a bit of a doodle to see what they come up with. However, the Central Illustration Agency went a few steps further and put a proposal together. This was for 5 of their artists to come in for a bit of ‘chalk off’. Each artist was given one of Fitzrovia’s famous residents to study. They had 15 mins on their own board, after which they moved to their neighbours board and then after another 15 mins, they had a free for all. The result was an amazing looking artwork which definitely adds some interest and colour to the bar.

Q2. Do you think that having original art at the agency helps distinguish you from other agencies?

Other agencies do have art IN their building, but what we love about CIA/CHI Chalk is that it has has become part OF the building. When we designed our bar we realised we would have to have a wall where we hadn’t really wanted one. We added the blackboard thinking it would make the wall less stark, and we could figure out how to use it later. The artwork has finally made that wall complete somehow.

Q3. Does it reflect the creativity at the agency, or is it more for aesthetics, who benefits?

I think it’s a combination. Doing interesting things like the Chalk Event definitely gets talked about and although these things look great I like to think the creatives gather inspiration from it. If artists work is shown around the agency, creatives often remember them should an appropriate project come up so as much as it benefits an agency to have amazing artworks up, it also benefits the artist.

Powerpoint is a necessary evil, but it shouldn’t be the only way we tell people about the agency. As an agency we’re selling the notion that creativity will make our clients’ brands and messages more interesting, and I think sometimes we’re guilty of forgetting that ourselves.

Q5. If you could have one piece of any art at Chi & Partners, what would it be?

Emma – One of Chris Levine’s light instillations

Dan – I’d quite like Anish Kapoor’s C Curve, but I don’t think it’d fit in the lift.

Q6. What’s next?

We have a great window at CHI and CIA’s Simon Spilsbury is going to be doing a Christmas themed illustration on it.

End.

VIDEO:See the huge wall panel through the windows of the CHI offices, it’s an excellent mix of 5 totally different styles spontaneously worked together into one very distinctive wall piece, to see more.

www.chiandpartners.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qJPib9OJnU

Page Tsou

Page Tsou’s first solo exhibition opened last week at Badlambs & Sons Barbershop. Curated by Page Tsou & Chia-hua, Chiang.
In London’s smallest barbershop lays Page Tsou’s exploration of the rear view.

With 30 excellently crafted pencil drawings of the back of people’s heads, the installation invites the viewer to “contemplate on the poetics between the subject and the object, presence and absence.”
From an almost unfriendly subject matter, the curators, wearing barber shop jackets, welcome you with the amount of warmth you need on the cold winters day.

Which is very ironic, as the title of the song from the accompanying video installation by Juriaan Booij sings, You Don’t Know Me, you are asked the question, how friendly are we?

Tsou, originally from Taiwan, on completing his Masters in Communication Art & Design (RCA) wanted to explore this question & his assumptions of London culture by photographing thousands of individual’s (back of) heads.

Definitely worth a visit, Page Tsou’s show continues until 20th January, you’ll be left wishing the back of your head was on the wall next to Mickey Mouse.

Carnovsky

The recently talked about Milan duo Carnovsky, speak to Alicja McCarthy about their latest project RGB, their different creative disciplines & Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

If you haven’t already seen their RGB project, with striking overlapping anatomical colour works on paper, they are most certainly worth a look.

1. How did Carnovsky come about? Where did you meet?
Carnovsky started in 2007. Me and Silvia met at Domus Academy in Milan, where we both graduated in design.
The name Carnovsky came from the book “Zuckermann Unbound” by the great American writer Philip Roth, which is actually very important to us.

2. What are your influences?
Me and Silvia have different backgrounds: I’m an art historian and Silvia is an industrial designer, so Carnovsky is actually the result of these different backgrounds and biographies.

3. How did the idea for RGB come about?
We first came up with the idea of working with optical effects of colored lights to achieve the posibility to show or hide something that appears with regular white light. A “trick” which, of course, is not new, but at the same time we have always seen the application with just one color. The issue was to develop a style, a graphic language, or better, a visual universe rather than a specific application. The issue was working with filters, trying to hold all the “magic” and to be sure that the project had a visual interest. We were looking for something “great”.

4. For the wallpapers did you start out wanting to represent anatomical/scientific imagery?
We started thinking about the idea of metamorphosis, in particular we thought about Ovid’s Metamorphoses in which we found the idea of making history of the world as a series of things which transform into other things. We then thougt about the ancient frescos and how it could be possible to make stuff like that in the present time, and so we came up with the wallpapers. They for us, are not only home decoration but also refer to narratives and paintings, the natural kingdom, which also include human beings. We decided to concentrate on this series of wallpapers in very specific and consistently iconographic way.

5. You describe the project as chromatic stimulus – how important is colour to your work?
The “chromatic stimulus” is actually what is needed for the RGB images to change and reveal only one of the 3 layers. But in general terms, colour, especially the primary colours, are the key to our work.

6. You also created a bird cage handbag & a neon typographical radiator, what’s next?
Well, we are currently working on different projects, but in particular, we are focusing on RGB, designing new images and new applications for this project.

7. And lastly, are there any plans to exhibit in London?
That would be great! We have no plan as yet, but we hope that soon we can have an exhibition in London.

www.carnovsky.com/
RGB Photo credit: Alvise Vivenza

Robert Bradford

As soon as I saw one of Robert Bradford’s sculptures, I fell in love. Igniting that child hood desire to dismember barbie or to build a Lego robot with special powers. His sculptures most certainly evoke an element of play & discovery. Bradford uses anything from plastic clothes pegs to scalextrics parts, from Happy Meal toys to scourers, using anything that’s ‘everyday’ to recreate an even more familiar object. From a dog to a gun or an angel, with an element of the recycled, junk or discarded, what’s one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure.

Last night, at an opening of a group art show at a production company Hogarth Worldwide, I got the pleasure to meet the man… and incidentally bought one of the pieces… the Daschund which I shall call Donald.

His work, Nathans Fox’s & Jon Steed’s (among others) will be on display at 164 Shafesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8HL.

(see also FAD)

I Wonder.

Marian Banjes’ new book, I Wonder, is out now, packed full of decorative typographical delights.
The illustrator/typographer/maker/designer spent an entire year in hiding (somewhere in the mountains of Western Canada) to illustrate, write & design this little book of wonders.

Interestingly influenced by nature, Islamic art & Christmas ephemera, you can expect anything from pasta to pac-man. The work is mirrored by Bantjes’ words, her contemplations & observations of the world, sometimes bitter sweet, sometimes philosophical.

When frequently asked what her influences are, she replies, “Everything! Conversations, things I read, things I see around me, books, magazines, old stuff, new stuff, art, design, craft, film, music and garbage. I can be inspired at any moment by the strangest things. I am seldom bored.

I have more ideas than I will ever be able to produce in my lifetime—some of them are even good ideas.”
This book is most definitely about ideas, ecclectic, full of gold, silver & black, it is not only for those of the typographic pattern persuasion,
but those who seek energy & surprise on the printed page.

www.bantjes.com/

The piece was published on FAD Website