We just finished a ‘spring cleaning’ in the office and stumbled upon a spare copy of Dan Baldwin’s latest book and guess what? We thought, we’ll give it away to you readers! What you only need to do is to fill out the form below. Easy!
The book is a visual retrospective of the artist’s career from art school through the struggle to become a full-time artist, to his current international career. Featuring a foreword and quotes from Baldwin, an essay by Dr. Ben Cranfield, an exclusive interview with the artist and over one hundred carefully selected images- including original paintings, ceramics, sculptures and prints.
Baldwin has worked closely with CCA to create this overview of his career so far; carefully selecting pieces for inclusion that best show his artistic progression. The book will include images of early works and studio photographs, as well as new pieces that will be seen for the first time as part of his 2013 solo show Fragile.
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Want to see art outside of the commercial galleries? Or maybe like me you have lofty dreams of starting your own art collection. This weekend take a trip to South West London from 25 November to the Wimbledon Art Studios, Winter Open Studios Art Show. The open show sees artists opening up their studio spaces this weekend, giving the public the chance to explore a treasure trove of new works. There’s an eclectic mix by up and coming, as well as established artists, photographers, ceramicists and textile designers.
Community and the artist
By Darryn Eggleton
The Wimbledon Studios aim to provide a spring board for working artists, which couldn’t be apt in today’s dire financial climate. The studios are the largest, single site art studio complex in London and Britain. This fantastic project is not merely about the singular artist and the creative community within, Wimbledon Art Studios aim to give local people the opportunity to view and appreciate contemporary art, whilst building links with the resident artists.
The opening night was bustling with proud parents, artist’s friends and locals. The last open show attracted over 5,000 visitors and I suspect they shall hit they figure or more this year.
On the preview night studio workers were happy to talk about the spaces and I was impressed by the colour map brochure produced for the show. Plenty of friendly guides and artists were on hand when I lost my bearings in the rabbit warren of corridors and stairways, so be warned you may loose yourself but find an interesting artwork in the process!
The entrance, which bridged the two buildings in a temporary structure, displayed some key pieces including Kate Kelleher’s eye catching painting, and a sculpture by Kevin Herlihy who uses found and recycled mediums. There were also some small board works for sale to raise money for the studios upkeep. At £55 a go, I decided to snap up a board byJayson Lilley. Other artists you should stop by at – Darryn Eggleton‘s amazing animal paintings and Alison Pearl‘s delicate and seemingly impossible objects made from paper.
Inside the spaces
As I tottered around with my new art work I explored the studios which are spread over 2 areas. The main Red Studio building, originally a paper warehouse, opened with just 6 artists renting spaces in 1993. Now, the original warehouse consists of over 100 studio spaces and in addition there are now 60 studio spaces in a newly, purpose built ‘Blue Studios’ building, on the same site. On 1st November 2011 an additional 55 brand new studios were opened in a reclaimed section of the warehouse. Now the site has over 200 artist tenants. The close proximity of the studios make it feel homely, it felt like I was stepping into a person’s private space, almost like their bedroom, a definite plus side away from the clinical commercial gallery spaces.
The artist and the studio
Is a studio site like the one in Wimbledon an ideal place for an artist to gain recognition though? And do the resident artists actually like the makeshift space in the built up industrial estate in Wandsworth? I asked Idun Eustace, an resident artist at the Wimbledon site who is displaying her pieces for the show.
Idun has been at the studios since 2007 and first exhibited during the autumn show. Idun lectures in life drawing and oil painting for EAL, Ealing, West London. Her works of semi-abstract still life evoke many influences from the Norwegian landscape where she was born and brought up.
By Alison Pearl
What do you think of the new studio space that opened in November 2011? So how does it compare to other, more formal, settings you’ve shown at? Such as gallery spaces/fairs?
The new space (as a whole) has got a nice feel to it & is much more spacious than the studios in the old Red Studio building – Although my new space has no natural light ,I feel this doesn’t matter so much, as I look upon it as a challenge to see how it changes my work. There are studios with natural light but I chose this one for the space as I want to run life drawing classes from there as well as paint.
Do you feel the studios are successful in terms of building a creative hub for emerging artists and also for artists to sell their work too? Or do the more traditional roots of art fairs and private galleries, like the Affordable Art Fair, work better?
I think it’s a little hit and miss sales wise – sometimes you sell and others not. The good thing about the studios is that they don’t take a commission on sales whereas fairs, such as AAF and other London Galleries take 50 %. It does give merging artists as well as more established artists a great platform to sell their work.
Where do get your ideas for pieces? Whilst travelling around London, or more abstractly?
I draw a lot and source ideas almost everywhere – e.g. If I go in to London on the train (with my sketchbook) I will look out of the window and take a mental picture and draw it immediately, or when I’m on holiday (usually to Norway), I always have my sketchbook (and camera) handy. I also sometimes draw and paint from memory so these may be more abstract – I look on the drawing process this way; if you’re an artist you ought to draw as its part of the process of painting. Painting is really drawing with your brush.
By Idun Eustace
You are trained in many different disciplines, painting, printmaking, life drawing, photography, graphics, illustration & textiles. Do you or would you ever incorporate these into you pieces?
I do use photography as reference only, whether it be a design ref or a colour reference – I have used printmaking in my art but not currently – I do however like the way Munch used print making as reference/addition in his art and have recently been looking into this. I’m quite interested in African tribal art textiles. I have also been toying with the idea of introducing burlap/hessian in my work but at present this is embryonic only. I am looking at the work of artists like Tapies and Sandra Blow for inspiration.
You are quite active on Twitter, do you feel artists have to embrace this more so now? Have you felt the need to use it more?
I feel the use of twitter is essential to reach out to a wider audience and think that one’s got to advertise oneself, no-one else will do it for you and hopefully one’s twitter followers will RT and thus reach more people – so it can only be a good thing. You have to grab opportunities as life is too short.
Idun’s works feature at the open show till 27 November and she is also planning to run classes that will be available to artists at the Studios as well as outsiders, contact her here for more information idun@blueyonder.co.uk. Follow her on Twitter @idunart
The Open Studios Art Show at the Wimbledon Art Studios is open to the public till 27 November Friday 2pm – 10pm
Saturday & Sunday 11am – 6pm. For more information about the show and the artists see click here.
This work is the result of an exploration into the area of masculinity and social stereotypes. As a documentary photographic essay the work opens the doors to a lesser-seen area of society in an attempt to challenge pre-existing British stereotypes surrounding male identity and firearms.
Our aim is to aim is to survive focuses on Blackpool Pistol and Rifle Club: it’s physicality as a space, the people who use it and the inter-relationship between the two. These images are bound together through their formal presentation yet each image contains a strong individual presence in many cases confirming expectations but in others, interestingly confounding and challenging both the preconceived ideas attached to firearms and Shooting Clubs.
The Blackpool Pistol and Rifle club as been running since 1948 and is a typical example of what you would find in many shooting clubs throughout the United Kingdom. After a 1997 firearms amendment outlawed all but muzzle loading and single shot pistols, the membership to these clubs dwindled. As with many things within contemporary society the unfashionable quickly becomes lost and the
traditions of old soon turn to nostalgia. The walls of this club speak of a time gone; the faux wooden panels and the photographs proudly displayed offer an insight into “the good old days”. However they spoke as much about an acceptance of their fate as it offered a reminder into the past. The unfashionable has already become nostalgic whilst still in existence. To emphasize the idea of ever shifting social opinions I have offered a critique on the normative opinions associated masculinity and firearms by mixing the past and present contained within each frame.
Throughout the work the viewer is encouraged to draw off there own pre-existing opinions before eventually having these opinions subverted. By using masculinity as a focal point, symbolic links are drawn between the continually changing view of masculinity and the decline in popularity of those things that
do not fit within today’s society.”
““an acceptance that photography at the least can capture the present and the visible, he (Coekin) adds an understanding that what we know of the present what we know, and don’t know, of the past and the future”
David Campany on Chris Coekin’s piece Knock Three Times.
On February 16, 1990, at age 31, Keith Haring’s life was cut short due to an AIDS-related illness. He would have been 54 today and as a homage, here are a few words and a tribute to his most iconic pieces of art.
I wonder what Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) would make of the global phenomenon that street art is now, art form very much confined to the street of New York City at the time when he decided to move there in 1978, aged 19.
Having studied commercial art and then Fine Arts, he took a keen interest in graffiti art, Haring would go out there and paste collages of fake New York Post headlines on lamposts or news stands. He explored the likes of SAMO (Jean-Michel Basquiat) or Fab Five Fred (Fred Brathwaite) graffiti art to quickly put in practice his own interpretation of this form of art and would develop his future vocabulary of primitive cartoon-like forms. The Haring’s chalk-drawn “radiant babies” and “barking dogs” were born (see pictures) and woud become familiar sights on the matt black surfaces used to cover the old advertisements in the subways.
These chalk drawings in the subways of New York got Haring in the public eye and he would go on from there to have his first exclusive exhibition in the Tony Shafrazi Gallery which put together a retrospective a few years ago about it – see picture. Willing to reach a larger public, he immersed himself in popular American culture and befriended individials such as Andy Warhol, Madonna or Grace Jones (whom he would body-paint).
Haring was also a keen social activist and as a result of his ever increasing political involvement; he designed a Free South Africa poster in 1985 (see picture) and painting a section of the Berlin Wall in 1986 (see picture). Other works include design for Swatch watches or the Absolut Vodka advertisement (see picture)
Keith Harring’s work are just simply one of the best examples of how consumerism, popular culture and fine art merged in the 1980s.
Recommended readings
Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography by John Gruen (1991) includes interviews with the artist and those closest to him and is an invaluable source for understanding the art and life of Haring.
The early work is illustrated in Art in Transit: The Subway Drawings (1984) and Keith Haring (Shafrazi Gallery, 1982). An enlightening interview by David Sheff appeared in Rolling Stone (August 10, 1989).
Elizabeth Aubert directed an insightful video entitled Drawing the Line: A Portrait of Keith Haring (Biografilm, 1989).
Later an attempt was made to place Haring within a broader art historical context in Keith Haring, edited by Germano Celant (1992). □
Inside Stolen Space and looking around Usugrow’s artwork and it is obvious to me: if you are into black and white with punk rock visuals such as skulls and roses, you may well forget the price tags and get the gallery staff to immediately stick up one of those red stickers next to your favorite piece. Continue reading Usugrow at Stolen Space: meet hasadu→
A mix of art comedy, street art and illustration. Featuring everyone’s favourite fried friend Dick Chicken; beautifully detailed and illustrated pieces by Showchicken and the neon craziness of Bortusk Leer.
Expect paintings by James Rueben Stephens exploring the darker side of humour; Playboy Jigsaw puzzles by Shuby; satirical prints designed by street art duo Static and a collaborative venture addressing the banality of gun usage by Holly-Anne Buck (Mink Engine) vs Metals vs Box Wars.
A Xmas Show @ The Brick Lane Gallery
Opening 22/12/2010 from 6pm
Open on selected days 23/12/2010-03/01/2011
Featured artists Bortusk Leer | Dick Chicken | Holly-Anne Buck (Mink Engine) vs Metals vs Box Wars | James Rueben Stephens | Showchicken | Shuby | Static
Lava Gallery has been cranking out quality shows on a week by week basis, this time, Co-founder and art director of the Lava Gallery Ashes57 presented her new body of work entitled “On the wild side”.
This show is simply good fun, the centre piece being a huge 3d installation featuring her trade mark line drawn city scape’s and characters like the sitting dog. Ashes’ line drawing style has a great flow and creates allot of depth, You will discover something different in her work every time you look at it.
The show features a collection of hand drawn city scape’s, hand painted canvases and limited run prints, a good mix of work and plenty to keep your attention.
There was a great vibe and good turn out on the night, plenty of drinks were had and a few tunes grooved to courtesy of live DJ’s.
See the rest of the pics from the opening night here:
We have recently partnered with ArtiLink, a young business who has created a social network dedicated to artists from all kind of artistic fields, creative professionals or cultural structures. Their website offers them one more visibility solution for free and it is also possible to buy a premium account to increase his visibility. Artists can put all the medium they want on their profiles and their actualities, and follow the people or structures they like to be informed of their projects.
From Charlotte Canario, artistic creation – “Our goal is to create links between arts, people and their different activities, that is why we organize meetings each month in Lyon since a year and a half where people can gather them, bring their books and share about their projects, in a convivial way !”
The meeting begins usually at 19 pm and ends around 23 pm. The first part of the meeting is for networking, then a second part is dedicated to a showcases, where 5 or 6 people (artists, associations, musicians…etc.) come to present their work to the gathering. It can take the form of a concert, a performance, a PowerPoint presentation, a dance show… We try to mix as most as possible the fields of intervention!
The first ArtLinki meet up of 2013 is this Thursday 21st February and is taking place at StrongRooms and what a program they have put together!
– ACME TV : Company of The Year Acme is an independent production company
– AND NOW WEE : Fashion Design Brand which draws it’s inspiration from the rich cultural heritage of East London.
– CYRUS MAHBOUBIAN is a London-based photographer working in analogue materials.
– MARK : graffiti artist for 26 years now and have life-long experience painting graffiti murals in the United Kingdom and abroad.
– Live Art by Street Artists from LSD Magazine
– KOMA JAZZ : Dj live set all Night long
WHERE – STRONGROOMS | 120-124 Curtain Road Shoreditch London EC2A 3SQ. WHEN – 21st February 2103 | 6 to 11pm
Despite the marked differences between their graphic and visual languages, long-time friends Paulo Arraiano (yup) and Diogo Machado (add fuel to the fire) have often collaborated on many projects. Over the years each has developed an extensive portfolio in the fields of graphic and visual arts, working in a variety of mediums. Each has also taken part in a great number of individual and collective exhibitions, in Portugal and abroad. This is the first time they are showcasing their work together in the UK.
Both grew up in and live in the seaside town of Cascais, outside Lisbon, Portugal, and in spite of their distinctive paths they share multiple references and interests. They have developed a high level of understanding and familiarity which often borders on the complicit, turning their fertile partnership into an ongoing intuitive collaboration. It is this convergence towards a mutual space where both their differences and similarities intersect that can be viewed here.
Spaces Within explores this point of contact where the two individual realms meet and overlap ≠ an area which both re˛ects and transcends the many inner spaces and territories their lives and work have created; a new multi-layered expanse composed of myriad emotions, characters, stories, landscapes, colours, shapes and details.
Words from Miguel Moore
Where: Pure Evil Gallery | 108 Leonard st London | EC2A 4RH London
When: Opening 16th February . 6pm – 9pm
Artists: Paulo Arraiano (yup) . Diogo Machado (add fuel to the fire)
This work is the result of an exploration into the area of masculinity and social stereotypes. As a documentary photographic essay the work opens the doors to a lesser-seen area of society in an attempt to challenge pre-existing British stereotypes surrounding male identity and firearms.
We have recently partnered with 
Despite the marked differences between their graphic and visual languages, long-time friends Paulo Arraiano (yup) and Diogo Machado (add fuel to the fire) have often collaborated on many projects. Over the years each has developed an extensive portfolio in the fields of graphic and visual arts, working in a variety of mediums. Each has also taken part in a great number of individual and collective exhibitions, in Portugal and abroad. This is the first time they are showcasing their work together in the UK.