Core Gallery Interviews 01 by Chantelle Purcell

INTERVIEWS 01 FEATURING:

ANDREW BRYANT, PETER DAVIS, ENVER GURSEV, GRAHAM CROWLEY, JAMES WRIGHT, PATRICK MORRISSEY & HANZ, RACHEL PRICE, NICK KAPLONY, JANE BOYER & ROSALIND DAVIS

2010-2011

2010 Issue 01 Core Gallery Interviews ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTS

FOREWORD Nick Kaplony: Asking The Right Questions

INTRODUCTION Chantelle Purcell: Extending the Exhibition Model

INTERVIEWS Andrew Bryant 09 Peter Davis 18 Enver Gursev 24 Graham Crowley 31 James Wright 40 Patrick Morrissey & Hanz 45 Rachel Price 51 Nick Kaplony 62 Jane Boyer 69 Rosalind Davis 77

For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.coregallerydeptford.blogspot.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Foreword Nick Kaplony Asking the Right Questions

This publication gathers interviews of the artists and curators who have contributed to the Gallery’s diverse year of exhibitions. Originally these interviews appeared on the gallery website, promoting the shows and generating interest. I’ve had the pleasure of being one of these contributors, (I curated Core Gallery’s opening exhibition, Exquisite Corpse and others since) so found myself in the role of interviewee formulating responses to some of the insightful and benevolent interrogation that is consistent throughout the following pages. A good interview needs to ask right questions, and these interviews certainly do. They are astute, well researched and perceptive. Identifying and drilling into relevant issues. There are questions about the exhibitions, providing behind-the-scenes insight into the shows; Questions about approaches to curating, highlighting differences and overlaps in how artist and curator realised their projects; Questions about the interviewees work and interests beyond the show and questions about wider aspects of contemporary practice which all contextualise the programme within the current arts landscape in Deptford and beyond. This publication then acts not only as a record, of the exhibitions that Core has hosted, but they also reveal current concerns and aspects of artistic practice. It highlights areas for further debate and, as with many good interviews leads to further questions. Questions can reveal as much about the interviewer as the interviewed and I think it’s telling that Core chose to conduct and collate these interactions.

Foreword Nick Kaplony Asking the Right Questions (Continued)

An interview is a conversation driven by interest, and these show Core to be an ‘interested’ and engaged space, connecting with artists and its context in collaboration and debate. These interviews articulate the gallery’s programme through many voices rather than one which seems to indicate something about an artist led space operating as a community, one where ownership of the space and its output is shared between its members and collaborators. The sources of these voices reveal the relationships and movement of the artists involved in Core. Some reoccur, some remain, some pass through just the once. In any case the range of interviewees, experiences and perspectives make this a rich and varied volume of ideas opinions and experiences.

Introduction Chantelle Purcell Extending the Exhibition Model

In recent years the exhibition models for galleries, artists and curators has shifted, and there are increasing possibilities for new ways of interacting. The evolution of technology has created new social spheres and alternative platforms. We have started to reconsider the possibilities of an exhibition, and the documentation that surrounds the physical show has changed. The ‘set up the show’, its preservation, the exchange of ideas and the networks that are built are valued more than ever. I was inspired by Rosalind Davis, fellow member and founder of Core Gallery. Alongside managing the gallery Davis keeps a blog ‘Becoming Part of Something’ (http://rosalinddavis. blogspot.com); through this Davis offers an insight into the set up of each exhibition and has followed the highs and lows of Core Gallery since its conception. Her posts are witty, provocative and incredibly warming and have given the reader a deeper understanding of the gallery’s intentions and a chance to feel more connected to her as an author. Whilst working as Core Gallery’s press officer I was able to foster new ideas in a nurturing and supportive environment, to develop my understanding of marketing and its potential in an innovative and free way and the result was the conception of ‘Core Gallery Interviews’ a series of in-depth interviews with the programmed artists and curators. The ephemera that exist around the exhibition and ‘what is left behind’ should be engaging, accessible and critical and offer many perspectives. The interviews provide the ‘artist’s voice’ and open a further dialogue, acting as a marketing tool but also a strong educational resource. Offering an extension to what constitutes the exhibition, as Nick Kaplony states in the foreword the interviews provide “a rich and varied volume of ideas opinions and experiences.”

Introduction Chantelle Purcell Extending the Exhibition Model (Continued)

The exhibition should be thought of as more than the ‘physical staging’ it is also the dialogue and exchange of ideas that happens alongside and how this is archived is hugely important. I would like to continue to explore how exhibitions are archived and how they can be used to educate, promote interaction and build networks. In the catalogue of the exhibition ‘Again for Tomorrow’, organized by MA curatorial students at Royal College of Art in London, 2006, Claudia Fontes talks of the potential of archival systems and how they can act as a survival mechanism. “When an archive’s latent content is organised and distributed through a network-like structure, a powerful potential is unleashed. Transparency and a willingness to share information gives rise to trust, and trust is known to be the basic condition that keeps any network alive.” 1 Trust and curiosity have been driving forces in the continued support for Core Gallery, and the artists, curators and viewers have been loyal and willing to share in the learning process. I hope this relationship will continue to create new dialogues and further curiosity. I would like to extend a huge thanks to all of the interviewed artists and curators that have contributed to the following pages. They have been incredibly open, intelligent and insightful and true to the work they are making.

1. Claudia Fontes Cited in e-flux journal # 13 ‘Innovative Forms of Archives, Part One: Exhibitions, Events, Books, Museums, and Lia Perjovschi’s Contemporary Art Archive’ Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, February 2010,

INTERVIEWS

ANDREW BRYANT Andrew Bryant is a visual artist, online editor of Artists talking and a freelance editor at Tate. Andrew also writes for a-n Magazine and contributes reviews regularly to www.a-n.co.uk/interface. His passion for arts extends beyond his own visual practice. Andrew has held various teaching posts in London, where he also participated in talks and events at the Royal College of Art and University of the Arts. I talk to him to find out about the forthcoming show at Core Gallery The Eighteenth Emergency, an exhibition that brings together the work of international artists; Andrew Bryant, Frauke Dannert, Chas Higginbottom, Stefan Sulzer, Burcu Yagciogul and Daniel Lichtman.

August 2010 >>

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24/08/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 01 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: You have an upcoming show with Core Gallery ‘The Eighteenth Emegency’ what can we expect from this show? AB: Six artists whose work, when looked at in the context of gender, might enable us to think about a relatioship between masculinity, aggression and violence within social, ethical, politcal, linguistic and aesthetic fields. CP: What was your reason for bringing together the artists within this show? And how do you think each artist individually approaches the theme of masculinity? AB: Stefan’s piece and Burcu’s piece, I think, overtly speak about masclinity and aggression, but the other works in the show have a less intentioned and articulated relationship to the theme.

Despite this – or because of it – I wanted to include them in the show in an attempt to push the theme of masculinity into places it might not necessarily be expected to reside.

“We immediately construct a narrative of violence – what has happened here?”

Stefan’s is the most direct piece and seamlessly reflects my interpretation of Betsy Byers’ novel. Consisting of a double self-portrait in which the artist has bloody knuckles, we immediately construct a narrative of violence – what has happened here? The title You should’ve seen the other guy alludes to a fight, but what is signifcant I think is the form of the address this statement takes: who is speaking here, about whom, and to whom? The speaker, the ‘other guy’ and the listener, all presumably men, have their masculinity defined through their inclusion in this socially coded exchange. The utterance is a kind of shibboleth that reveals the tacit agreement amongst men that masculine identity is born of violence.

Stefan Sulzer, You should’ve seen the other guy For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.coregallerydeptford.blogspot.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Burcu’s video is the most overtly political work in the show as it points directly to the covering of women in Muslim societies. Here though the woman’s own hair becomes the veil, as she ‘styles’ it to resemble a headscarf. This action articulates Judith Butler’s observation that there is “no I that can fully stand apart from the social conditions of its emergence…”. 1 This assertion of Butler’s, and Burcu’s video, both point to the complex relationship between history and the subject.

Burcu Yagciogul

1 Butler, J., Giving an Account of Oneself, 2005, p7 For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.coregallerydeptford.blogspot.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chas Higginbottom

24/08/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 01 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chas has made two sculptures from a mixture of found and made objects. One is masculine, the other feminine. The pieces operate as a playful comment on the way fetishised details come to represent gender identity, and Chas pays close attention to surface quality and colour in this respect. The works are complex though, weaving cheeky art-historical references in with the cliché’s of sexuality represented in Hollywood movies. He is particularly interested in masculinity and femininity in pre-industrial Mexico and the American West, a time when perhaps gender was more clearly defined. Though the sculptures work well alone what I find interesting is that when they are brought together their dependency upon one another for recognition becomes delightfully clear: this is the idea that what makes a man a man is a woman and vice versa. But far from using this relationship to accentuate gender difference, an activity that can only result in misunderstanding, why not recognise the debt we owe one another and see this as the very thing that binds us together. In short, we all lack, and it is in the place of lack, where we need another to give form to our being, that difference gets broken down.

Dan’s work, a series of texts apparently drawn from the diary of an adolescent boy, poignantly reflects the dissecting action of language when we attempt to put ourselves into words. As the boy tries to make sense of the death of his Grandmother and his early relationships with the opposite sex, we become aware of the inadequacies of empirical language when it comes to matters of the soul. But beyond an exploration of the limitations of language, what is alluded to here is the necessity, or the perceived demand, that we must give an account of ourselves, and that only through this ‘accounting for’ will recognition of the self be achieved. That the narrator is a boy is not, I think, insignificant, since masculinity is particularly concerned with recognition, with definitions, and with the certainties that language seems to offer. Queer theory offers an explanation for this gender bias, describing masculinity as an unstable cluster of fears about effeminacy and repressed homosexual or homosocial desires...” 2 If this is the case it is little wonder that masculinity wishes to bolster itself through the apparently hermetic action of language.

Frauke Dannert, Altar

Frauke’s collages reinscribe the visual language of modernity – flat surfaces, hard edges, clean lines – into the overt violence of high-tech military design. It is a process that, through the transformation of brutalist architecture into machines of war, articulates the barely hidden masculine aggression in the modernist aesthetic, or at least the logical progression of this aesthetic towards the fulfilment of its promise. Paradoxically, the flatness of Frauke’s collages, and the insubstantiality of their material reality – they are made of paper photocopies – simultaneously inject her images with a sense of vulnerability, but one which the subject itself cannot see. In fact it is this very vulnerability, this precarity, and its opacity to itself, that generates the paranoid attempt at mastery through aggression.

Daniel Lichtman

Macey, D. (2000), The Dictionary of Critical Theory, Penguin, p321

Andrew Bryant, Black Ball

My piece, a ball made entirely of black plasticine, attempts to articulate the idea that our identities are constituted through an encounter with the other that leaves us partially opaque too ourselves. This opacity is experienced as loss, or trauma, and it is the way we respond to this trauma at the heart of identity that defines how we emerge as subjects. The cliché of the loan masculine figure destined to a life of broken relationships is one way of performing ones masculinity in the site of this injury.

There are highly trained, highly knowledgeable people out there who are curators and I’m not one of them. With this in mind, curating is a lot like making work for me because it is the coming together of an obsession, an unresolved question, with an object or location, or in the case of an exhibition, with a series of works.

Maybe if I were a curator I might be trying to make sense of what the new trends are or where art is going (if there is anywhere to get). The difference is that for me it’s more like I have my The black ball appears as an enigma, obsessions and I look for other artists a shadowy, brooding figure, who’s work I think might touch upon anonymous, mute and potentially the same things. For a long time I violent: this is masculinity in embryonic have been trying to gain some form. understanding – and this is as much through reading and studying other artists as making my own work – of the CP: Where do you get your inspiration relationship between history and the for curatorial projects and does your individual. own practise inform your approach? I am interested in questions about AB: First off I want to make it clear that identity, subjectivity, agency, desire, I am not a curator, I am an artist, and responsibility – in other words questions I approach curating from the perabout how best to live. spective of an artist.

And this exhibition, I hope, in some roundabout, modest way, brings up, at least a tiny bit, those kinds of questions. CP: The work that you are exhibiting for ‘The Eighteenth Emergency’, (Black ball) is said to be inspired by an unconscious response to a personal tragedy. How important is the context of personal narrative and the everyday within artwork? And can art help to make sense of the world around us? AB: Personal narrative can be important as the starting point for a work and I think it is unavoidable. People operate in the register of meaning and things acquire meaning because they resonate with us personally. It doesn’t matter whether or not the personal is articulated in the work but it can be used as a way in for the viewer, as something to identify with. As for making sense of the world, I think this is what art is for, and if it can’t do that then what’s the point?

24/08/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 01 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: What artists have influenced your practice? AB: Right now Francis Alys, Santiago Sierra and Jeremy Deller are the artists I am most indebted to; I only make work because they do.

CP: You carried out an internship in 2008 with Tate Media. Can you describe how useful this was to you in your career? AB: I am now a paid freelance editor at Tate so it was well worth it. Plus I can get into shows free. And I have made some good contacts.

CP: ‘Mouse and Ezzie’ in Betsy Byers novel equip themselves with fail-safe strategies for unexpected events. What emergencies do you think artists might face and how might they avoid these?

CP: And finally, do you have any upcoming projects or plans you would like to divulge?

AB: I have no idea what emergencies other artists face. Life is the emergency. Art is just one strategy for dealing with it.

AB: I am about to embark on a collaborative process with a group of over 60s at Claremont Hall In Islington, I am developing various video, photographic and performance pieces and I am planning to make a documentary film about contemporary psychoanalysis.

CP: You are writer and editor of Artists talking at a-n. co.uk, which has become an integral part of many artists’ practices. Kirstie Beaven (exhibitions editor at Tate online) stated that: ‘Artists talking is like a continuous open studios visit’. How can artists entering the world of ‘blogging’ make full use of this site?

CP: Thank you Andrew Bryant! AB: You are welcome. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to put on this exhibition.

AB: A blog can be an integral part of your practice, a space to reflect, to step back from your output and locate yourself in the wider world of art production. As a community and a networking tool a blog can broaden your contacts, provide you with support and encouragement and introduce you to many inspiring discussions. A blog is not the answer to all your problems, it wont suddenly result in curators and commissioners beating a path to your website, but if done well and signposted well, it can be an extremely useful part of your profile. CP: With the rising phenomenon of the artist voice, what are the risks associated with having access to such a public audience through blogs? How can artists avoid being misinterpreted? AB: I think doing a blog is the way to avoid it since you are wholly in control of what you say there. CP: One debate on Artist talking was: The pros and cons of a MA. Could you outline some of these? AB: An MA can speed up the development of your practice, widen your network, enhance your prospects and give you more confidence.

INTERVIEWS PETER DAVIS

I am pleased to interview Peter Davis, a renowned Sculptor who has a long track record of group and solo shows in UK (RA and Barbican). He has been successfully working since 1966 and collectors include the National Gallery of South Africa. I want to find out; how he embraces sensuality through the bodily form, more about the upcoming show ‘The Pleasure Parlour’ and the sustainability of his art practice.

Assyrian Wolf © Peter Davis

September 2010 >>

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06/09/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 02 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: In South Africa you worked as a furniture maker and Interior/furniture designer, why did you move into sculpture? PD: My friend, Beryl Jensen, a sculptor in copper, saw my furniture and said I should be a sculptor. I made a piece and showed it to her and she said, “That’s rubbish, try again” until I finally produced a piece she said was “Ok, not good but ok”. Three years later I sold my first publicly exhibited piece ‘Assyrian Wolf’ to another sculptor. CP: Pleasure Parlour at Core Gallery is an Art Festival, celebrating the exotic, the erotic and sensuality within the physical form. How do accentuate and embrace sensuality?

Torso © Peter Davis

PD: Every woman has her very best parts and draws attention to them blatantly or discreetly. Men tend to defend on their reputation as athletes or warriors. I treat each sex as they would wish CP: Can you tell us about the sculptures you are exhibiting in the upcoming show at Core Gallery? PD: ‘Shoulder Fragment’ – Some women have beautiful shoulders! ‘Crouching Form’ – made from alabaster. Hipbones and back, hidden legs, breast and face! ‘Seated Form In Contemplation’ – made from stone. This lush form in repose shows no flabbiness and has dramatic hair. A serene knowledge of her attributes. ‘Hidden Face Beautiful Hair’ – It’s all in the title.

Mother © Peter Davis

‘Pregnant Woman’ – Obviously an attractive exercise in French curves. ‘Pregnant Torso’ – made from Portland stone. You never know what she’s on (unless you look).

Persephone © Peter Davis

Tiger © Peter Davis

CP: In Greek mythology, ‘Pygmalion’ 1 from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, X was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved of a woman. How significant is the masculine gaze in sculpting the female form?

and Jean Arp. I have no idea where my inspiration comes from.

CP: You stated that you work mainly with wood. Is this because there is a higher degree of autonomy over the PD: The artist can devote his whole outcome of the sculpture through the attention to contemplating women direct approach of carving? and their ways over a long period without focusing censure and is often PD: The greatest autonomy is in favoured in a way not readily carving stone as it holds few surprises available to most people. and mysteries. The same for plastics, but wood which is in a sawn up state can hold surprises. Free form wood CP: As a sculptor do you have a strong is the greatest intellectual challenge visualisation of the end result or is it an and requires the very utmost vision intuitive approach? and skill with tools. PD: I always have a strong visualisation and make the piece over and over in my head before starting the actual physical work is pleasurable but not mentally demanding. CP: Where do you draw your inspiration and what artists have influenced your work? PD: I love Michelangelo, Brancusi

Free form wood is the greatest intellectual challenge and requires the very utmost vision and skill with tools. CP: How do keep a harmonious balance between the material and form, and how do you let the characteristics of the material hold resonance? PD: By acute and constant visualisation until you are ready to tackle the piece from all 360 degrees before you even pick up a pencil or other tool.

CP: You stated that you work mainly with wood. Is this because there is a higher degree of autonomy over the outcome of the sculpture through the direct approach of carving? PD: The greatest autonomy is in carving stone as it holds few surprises and mysteries. The same for plastics, but wood which is in a sawn up state can hold surprises.

Ovid, Publius Ovidius Naso. (1850) Metamorphoses Book X: 243-297

Birth © Peter Davis

CP: How important is the accompanying space around the sculptures and is this something you take into account prior to making the work? PD: Since I have a storage problem I tend to make intricate pieces which are happy in a home an invite handling and close observation. This question has more relevance to monumental sculpture of which I have done none. CP: You have been fortunate enough to sell a vast amount of your work, with over 95 pieces of your sculpture sold. How does the art market compare to when you was first starting out? And what advice would you offer to other artists in creating a sustainable livelihood?

PD: I started in South Africa where the population is very well educated and informed and skill is highly regarded. In comparison in England skill is lowly regarded, something a ‘workman’ needs but a ‘gentle man’ doesn’t. He can get by in intellectual banter. CP: And finally, have you got any upcoming projects or plans to reveal? PD: I am close to 80 years old. I never know what I will be doing tomorrow. Thank you Peter Davis!

INTERVIEWS

ENVER GURSEV It is a pleasure to interview our very own Cor Blimey(ite) Enver Gürsev! He is a painter and sculptor, who studied his BA (Hons) Visual Arts and Sculpture at Camberwell College of Arts in London (2000). Gürsev has a broad experience of working in the arts and has worked on projects such as; ‘The Way We Are’, which brought together the work of displaced and re-located children and young people living in the north and the south of Cyprus. At present he is an associate lecturer at the University of the Arts London and is an integral member of Cor Blimey Arts Studio Space. I take the time to find out about his upcoming exhibition, his motivations as an artist and his role within Core Gallery. September 2010 >>

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06/09/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 03 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: You have been with Cor Blimey Studios for a considerable amount of time, Can you tell us about the development over the years? EG: I joined the studios that are now ‘Cor Blimey Arts’ several years ago. I saw it emerge from a bankrupt space under a different name, run by a ghastly thief of a man (who took all our rent and never paid the landlord) and who almost managed to get us all evicted, to getting swooped up by Cor Blimey Arts and turned into a serious working studios. We have maintained a collective co- operative atmosphere, with an active role in mainly localised arts events and in the last year, there has been a massive surge of energy in the space, with the arrival of new members, bringing new ideas and pushing for the creation of projects such as Core Gallery, our very own prolific exhibition space within. I feel that Cor Blimey are really on the map now, more than ever before. CP: Pleasure Parlour at Core Gallery is an Art Festival, celebrating the exotic, the erotic and sensuality within the physical form. How does your work represent this?

Pera © Enver Gürsev

EG: The work I am submitting, is true to the elements of seduction with integral statements about what erotica embodies. I employ what might be deemed as traditional erotic figurative imagery, with a personal take on seductive ‘pulp art’. It leans rather nostalgically on my memories of illustrated magazine and comic covers from the 60’s and 70’s for reference. Stark and vivid, with sexy mysterious figures and a spurious longing in their eyes. I think that fits the bill.

Red Nude © Enver Gürsev For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.coregallerydeptford.blogspot.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CP: How was this exhibition conceived, and can you tell us how you have worked collaboratively with the other artists involved? EG: This show began life at an after party in Kelda’s place. We were discussing what we have been working on respectively and we soon found that we had accumulated a similar body of work, which in its essence was very much a celebration of sensuality. Kelda suggested I meet her friend Holly, who has a very interesting way of working with erotica and I in turn suggested we invite Peter Davis, my partner’s father and an astounding sculptor, who happens to also have beautiful sensual forms in his work, to show with us. Our collaboration has been a very relaxed and remote one, with only a few meetings and very limited contact, mostly via email. This doesn’t mean to say that our meetings have not been intense in the least; they have been concise and very productive with many ideas being presented almost mechanically. I think that when everyone knows what they are doing, things fall into place with minimal effort. CP: You have been actively involved within ‘Core Gallery’ can you tell us what role you have played?

I am responsible for organising the performances, parties and events, organising live music, as well as the general dogs body, putting up work, making good etc. But I like to think I’m a well oiled cog of an exiting and committed group, and a vital contribution for the smooth running of the gallery. CP: What is your most memorable experience as an artist? EG: That’s a really loaded question, as my experience as an artist is very much ingrained into my experience as a person. I guess, if I think about it in terms of creative experience, it’s got to be my entry into the ghost town of Varosia, Famagusta in Cyprus, which is an entire city on the coast that has been uninhabited since 1974. It’s miles of coastline with abandoned flats and empty grand hotels have haunted me since childhood. I had been researching this place for a number of years, but entry is forbidden as it’s a military occupied zone, which made it all the more mysterious. I gained access, got many photo’s (which are strictly forbidden), nearly got arrested and even had a gun at my head. I went on to create a series of work, of immense importance to me.

EG: From the outset, my role with Core Gallery has not digressed much from the one I had previously in Cor Blimey.

Famagusta © Enver Gürsev

CP: Previous work that has featured in the show ‘Wilderness’ focused on the abandoned landscape and ghost town of Famagusta- (in the wake of the Greek-Turkish Cyprus war). Would you say your cultural background is imperative to your work? Can you tell us how this has influenced you as artist? EG: Yes, my cultural heritage has a lot to do with who I am and I think that even if unintentional, it rears it’s little tanned Cypriot head sometimes to have a poke at my very British self. I wouldn’t say it’s imperative in my work, but somehow it is present, especially in my assemblages and installations, made of toys and knick knacks. CP: What artists are you inspired by? EG: Victor Brauner, Max Ernst, Wilfredo Lam, Louise Nevelson, Emil Nolde, Eduardo Paolozzi, Austin Osman Spare, Jan Svankmajer, and many Outsider Artists....

a good mix of very different styles, many of the old masters and... oh and that guy that painted that massive swan that’s embracing that naked guy and chick on the beach at moonrise....(nah, just kidding!)

I consider it to be a very poignant statement that by including someone else’s marks and memories, within my own work, I can literally build on someone else’s abandoned thoughts.

CP: You ‘recycle’ unwanted and discarded paintings to use within your work. How does this emphasise your work aesthetically and conceptually? And would you say you are responding to the current economical climate?

Re-using someone else’s half finished statements to complete my own in whole. I find this profoundly exciting.

EG: There certainly is something to be said in terms of responding to the economic climate, albeit, unconsciously, as by reusing discarded material, there is no doubt one is saving on material and money; imperative for every impoverished artist. However, truth be told, this is not the only reason I use discarded material. It is simply because my work relies heavily on memory and abandoned spaces and objects.

CP: And finally, have you got any upcoming projects or news to reveal? EG: Yeah, this time next year I’ll be in Hollywood!!! Thank you Chantelle! CP: Thank you Enver!

INTERVIEWS

GRAHAM CROWLEY

It is a pleasure to interview Graham Crowley, one of the most distinguished living painters in the UK today. Born in 1950, Graham Crowley studied at St. Martin’s School of Art London 1968-72 and Royal College of Art London 1972-75, and has held significant teaching posts including Professor of Painting at the RCA (1998- 2006). His paintings span a vast variance in style from the appropriationist art of the 70s to his brilliantly luminous landscapes of the present day, tracking a fundmental narrative with political, cultural and personal histories within them. Crowley is one of the guest judges for the forthcoming ‘Open Competition at Core Gallery for Deptford X 2010’, where eighteen artists have been selected from an outstanding pool of entries from across the world. I speak to him to find out; his views on the education system, modern art and what it was like to be a student in the revolutionary 60’s.

Graham Crowley on a 1950 Vincent | pictured on the TT Course (Isle of Mann) | 2007

September 2010 >>

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15/09/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 04 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: How did you and the other judges arrive at a selection for Core Gallery’s Deptford X 2010 Open Competition? GC: I can’t speak for the other judges, but If you’re asking me how I chose work. I chose work by my assessment of it’s intentions, it’s sense of context, execution and insight. I did not choose it because I liked it. As I’ve come to understand that I don’t like art. I think of painting as a discourse and not merely as an activity, and I don’t regard it as shopping, either. CP: What is the significance of ‘independent’ competitions such as the Core Gallery’s Open Competition? GC: Independent competitions are vital in providing a platform for work that isn’t being shown by commercial or public galleries. This becomes more important as the market seems to exert an increasing influence on public galleries. Peer group approval isn’t the same thing as commodification. I’ve said elsewhere that I think projects like The John Moores/Liverpool Exhibition provide a more comprehensive survey of British painting than just about anything else.

CP: In April 2008 you had a letter published in Art Monthly ‘Can’t get No Satisfaction’ where you expressed concerns about the state of art education in London. You stated ‘We now certificate, rather than educate’. How can the focus of ‘educating’ be restored? GC: There’s no easy fix, and I suggest anybody who hasn’t already read my letter in the April 2008 edition of Art Monthly and (some of) the very extensive correspondence it provoked, to do so. Also view – ‘Angry students meet Sandra Kemp’ on You Tube. But, I suggest we go back to the ‘drawing board’. I come at this problem as a parent, a tax payer, an ex-academic (I was Professor of Painting at the RCA 1998-2006) and a painter. Art schools should never have become universities. The primary reason that they became universities was political. We need a serious rethink. The imposition of what is called Taylorism (an American form of management efficiency) in higher education has been a disaster. It is blind to the social value of education. It acknowledges only certification. At what is currently foundation and undergraduate level I think one answer would be to look at some kind of re-invented ‘atelier’ model. A studio based ‘apprenticeship’ that promotes theory through practice, taught by practicing artists. I’m not suggesting we maintain the rather discredited teaching methods of approval and emulation. I imagine this to take place in artists’ studios or collectives, rather like The Core studios or similar.

Selected Artists | Open Submission Competition for Deptford X | 2010

CP: What will you take into consideration when curating the show for ‘Core Gallery’s Deptford X 2010 Competition’? GC: Bearing in mind that I’ll be one of 3 or 4 people involved in the curating. My immediate response is the audience. I’ll also attempt to hang the work in way that creates correspondence and dialogue between works. I’m also in the (now familiar, but problematic) position of not having (yet) seen the 18 finalists, except as digital images. I’m fully aware of the shortcomings of this method of selection. But this project and others like it wouldn’t have seen the light of day, as the cost of insurance, handling, transport and warehousing would have been prohibitive.

CP: You studied at St. Martin’s School of Art, in 1968 a time where radical thinking and innovation was emerging. Can you tell us about your experience as a student then? GC: Yes. I was caught up in a ‘cultural revolution’. The driving force behind the education that I received was an inexhaustible curiosity about life and society, fueled by scepticism and affirmed by dissent. To ask intelligent questions, requires an education. That was why the Tories abolished the ILEA, (Inner London Education Authority). They couldn’t bear the idea of quality mass education. That’s why, still today, the police behave in an intolerant, violent and abusive manner when confronted by well organised and legitimate demonstrators, whether they be trade unionists or environmentalists. Education is seen by the establishment as enabling social unrest. So now the state has a monopoly; selling useless pieces of paper at an exorbitant price and calling them degrees.

For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.grahamcrowley.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spider with Mushroom Soup | 1982 | Oil on canvas |122 x 92 cm

Education is a human right not a commodity. As a post-graduate I had to deal with the crisis in modernism. I realised that the two principal doctrines of modernism; originality and self expression, were now hollow rhetoric. The ‘dominant discourse’ was conceptualism. As a student at St Martins I got involved in performance and wrote ‘plays about plays’. But I’d always had this love-hate relationship with painting. So when painting became almost demonised in the early 1970’s; I thought “That’s for me”. I had now learnt not to seek approval. As a painter I cherish the legacy of a ‘conceptual’ education. My generation received, what some regard as the apotheosis of a ‘liberal education’.

Head (2) | 1977 | Acrylic on canvas | 153 x 92 cm

Blue Drift |2010 | oil on canvas | 114 x 137 cm

CP: What are you currently working on within your practice?

There are some images of recent paintings on my website;

GC: I’ve recently moved back to London. Since I left the RCA in 2006 I’ve been living and working in West Cork. Some years ago I learnt that the artist I ‘wanted’ to be was not the same as the artist I ‘needed’ to be. So now I make paintings about where I am, what I think, what I’ve read and most importantly what I’ve seen. Seeing is a very underrated activity.

www.GrahamCrowley.com

I’m currently making landscape paintings that I regard as synthetic. Synthetic paintings exist simultaneously as object (the thing itself) and illusion (window on the world); the legacy of Manet.

GC: Yes. I abhor the convention of the artist as slacker – the ‘I meant it to be like that’ tendency. Whilst I was at the RCA I abandoned acrylics and started to use oil paint. At that point I had no option, but to learn how to paint.

My paintings also refer to modernist painting, particularly cubism and early American modernists like Stuart Davis. I’m becoming more concerned with illusion and apprehension. I want to make paintings that acknowledge both the human and the historic. I’m also very suspicious of the academic orthodoxy that insists on contemporary landscape painting being acceptable providing it’s uncanny, sublime or abject. I want to make landscapes that celebrate sight and life, before I die.

CP: What is so captivating about your work is your intense involvement and assurance with the medium of paint. Could you describe some of the techniques you employ?

This doesn’t sound that remarkable until you realise that I spent 7 years in full-time higher education and not one of my tutors knew how to teach students painting as a skill. As a student one dared not to ask, for fear of being regarded as reactionary, or worse. The situation is no better today. The teaching of painting technique still has the stigma of the amateur. The ‘romantic’ notion of the artist as ‘free spirit’ staggers on.

Red Drift | 2009 | Oil on canvas |114 x 137 cm

Red Drift 3| 2010 | Oil on canvas |114 x 137 cm

Farm on the Sheep’s Head | 2007 | Oil on canvas | 114 x 137 cm

Over the last 30 years I’ve employed a variety of methods including grisaille, impasto but most importantly glazing. Glazing has shown me why colours such as Payne’s Gray, Davy’s Gray, Indian Yellow, Transparent Golden Ochre and Rose Dore exist. Glazing is to painting what ‘ambient’ is to music. I’ve always been fascinated in ‘how things work’. I think it’s my ‘diet’ of Meccano, The Eagle and The Boys’ Own Paper in the 1950’s and 60’s. I have the sensibility of a ‘rodder’ 1 rather than a poet. I think contemporary practice is becoming increasingly located in the vernacular. It’s important to study every aspect of painting, if only because knowledge presents choice; historical, theoretical and practical. I also consider carefully, the composition of my paintings, as every aspect of a painting carries meaning. Flower Arranging (6) | 1998 | Oil on canvas |178 x 152 cm

rodder - as in Hot Rod. Someone immersed in the aesthetics of custom car and bike culture. Someone who values the vernacular. See David Hickey ‘Air Guitar – Essays on Art & Democracy’ and the work of Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth. Also check out Matthew Crawford’s ‘The Case for Working with Your Hands or Why Office Work is Bad for Us and Fixing Things Feels Good.’

Flower Arranging (1) | 1988/92 | Oil on canvas |178 x 152 cm For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.grahamcrowley.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15/09/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 04 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: In a society where ‘modern art’ is increasingly institutionalized and administered, how important are places such as Deptford that have a growing community of artists? GC: Vital. In the current dismal climate. It’s clearly a cause for celebration and a matter of great pride. Here’s something that reflects the ‘health’ and vibrancy of a community. Its projects like this that define Deptford. It’s a matter of recorded fact that ‘modern art’ has been institutionalised, commodified and is about as edgy as a j-cloth. It should come as no surprise that the rhetoric of modernism has found its place in tabloid journalism. Contemporary art is a different matter. It’s a moveable feast - it’s what’s happening now, by definition. Contemporary art doesn’t even look like ‘Modern art’. Modern art is a manifestation of an historical movement that has long been in decline. It doesn’t speak to me any longer. It has always been an instrument of capital, celebrity and the media. Only now it’s also an instrument of ‘pikey’2 culture. As far as I’m concerned Sky, The Daily Mail (et al), Heat, Simon Cowell and Charles Saatchi can have it. Popular culture was once a celebration of working class creativity. It’s now a tool of oppression, and no amount of irony can redeem it.

CP: In your most recent works, do you feel you have revitalised landscape painting through your use of colour? GC: Yes. CP: Do you have any forthcoming projects or news to divulge?

pikey. Once used as a derogatory term to describe Irish itinerants. But now a derogatory term to describe the aspirations of the ignorant, materialistic wealthy and the ignorant, materialistic poor, which are the same.

CP: Thank you Graham Crowley, it has been a fascinating interview!

GC: I’m currently in a group show of past John Moores Prizewinners in Korea. I have a one man show at Churchill College in March next year and I’ll be giving a lecture about my painting whilst the exhibition is on. I’ve plans for a graphic project; a mix of artist’s book and a semi-fictionalised graphic autobiography. (About 13 years ago I collaborated with Stuart Hood and Richard Appignanesi on a graphic book about the Marquis de Sade). I’m also starting work on some new paintings about South London with reference to The Ash Can School. For some years now, I’ve been fascinated by The Ash Can School (Sloan, Davis, Luks, etc) and their leftist publication The Masses. They were written out of American art history during the McCarthy years; Post-Second World War. They remain almost unknown in Europe and the UK. I’ve also been influenced by the Canadian David Milne.

INTERVIEWS

JAMES WRIGHT It is a pleasure to interview James Wright a selected artist in Core Gallery’s Open Exhibition for Deptford X 2010. Wright is one of Eighteen artists who were selected from an outstanding pool of entries from across the world by Graham Crowley, one of the UK’s most distinguished living painters, Matt Roberts of Matt Roberts Art and Kate Jones, Marketing Director of John Jones. Wright graduated from the Royal College of Art. His work uses a vocabulary of symbols and motifs, often from historical painting but many of his own making, to denote the themes of original works which the artist revisits. James Wright was singled out by Kay Saatchi in the 2008 Selfridges Art Exhibition: Anticipation as well as Jerwood painting and drawing prizes as well as being shortlisted for John Moores 25. James recently completed a residency at Gloucester Cathedral, culminating in two solo shows: ‘As It Was In the Beginning’ and ‘Memento Mori’. I speak to Wright to find out about; his motivations for applying to the Open Competition, the work he submitted, how significant the residency at Gloucester Cathedral was in the development of his work and the possibilities of his current practice. September 2010 >>

----------------------------------------------------------------For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.coregallerydeptford.blogspot.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sacrifice, 2010

The Shrouding, 2010 For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / http://www.jameswrightartist.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

22/09/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 05 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: What attracted you to apply to the Core Gallery’s Open submission Competition at Deptford X 2010? JW: I was excited by Mark Titchner’s statement of intent and felt that my work bore a direct relationship. This along with wanting to be part of a much larger exhibition is what attracted me to apply. I also thought that the calibre of the selectors helped to ensure an exciting and stimulating show. CP: Can you tell us about the work that you submitted? JW: I submitted three drawing’s that each appropriate particular works from the annals of art history. The Sacrifice traces the composition of Caravaggio’s Crucifixion of St Peter, The Shrouding is informed by the work of Gerard David and his lamentation paintings in particular, and The Entombment is after Rogier Van Der Weyden’s The Entombment of Christ. Each drawing displays a reflected image which, along with the subject, reminds us of the fragility of life and the subsequent passing of time. CP: Your work is informed by religious iconography. How significant was the artist in residence program at Gloucester Cathedral in the development of your work?

The Waster, 2010, Acrylic on oak, 30 x 21cm

JW: For some time now, works of art from the Early Renaissance, with their particular idiosyncrasies and peculiar inaccuracies have informed my practice. The residency at Gloucester Cathedral afforded me the time to fully immerse myself within the work. I think that people naturally assume that I am religious person, but that is not the case, and it is certainly not a pre-requisite of the residency program. The fact that my work often addresses Christian beliefs, visualised in an apparent secular narrative, allowed for interesting dialogues to evolve. Attending the cathedrals many services certainly informed my practice and made for a stimulating and thought provoking period of research and study, much of which I continues to feel. CP: Your painting technique is highly informed by traditional methods used by artists from High Renaissance and Flemish schools. Could you describe the techniques you employ? JW: A lot of it is actually quite dumb. Simple techniques employed to give believable, realistic painterly and visual effects. What may appear at first to be laboured and heavily worked, can be born from relatively simple means. The biggest challenge often comes from trying to get the paint to do something that it inherently does not want to do.

The Tomb, 2010, Acrylic on oak, 30 x 21 cm

For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / http://www.jameswrightartist.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

22/09/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 05 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The urban landscape, and more definitively the gutter subject that I choose to represent, are simply my props, my models and a source of continuous inspiration. I’ve grown up and lived in and around cities and large towns all my life, and the familiarity of these scenes helps inform the narrative. I think that at its heart, there is something really curious about introducing low-fi subjects to high-art supports on a scale usually preserved for icon or miniature type works. CP: The viewer is presented with intimate, vignette shaped paintings that have been described in a recent article on the BBC as “small and jewel-like”. Is this a way of re-attaching sentiment back to these unwanted and abandoned landscapes? JW: It is certainly about giving life to objects, and in many circumstances a new or even hidden life. The vignette aids this transformative process because of its relationship to portraiture and allows the viewer to attach human attributes to otherwise inanimate objects. The paintings themselves are actually rectangular in format and the vignette is archived by a simple framing device that has it origins in the generic school photograph with it faux gilded cardboard oval mount. Much of the work, because of it relationship to religion, has sentiment attached to it that is subsequently thrust upon the depicted object. The Burial, 2010, Acrylic on oak, 30 x 21 cm

CP: Do you have any forthcoming projects or news to divulge? CP: What artists are you inspired by? JW: It is difficult to say. I am certainly inspired by many artists work and quite often a postcard hanging on my studio wall will provide a ‘light bulb’ moment. I think that somewhat unsurprisingly, most people would assume that I am inspired by works of art and artists whose practice is close to my own. However, this is not always the case. Sure, I like to see how certain artists achieve a particular painterly and visual language, but this is usually so that I can employ similar methods within my own work, I’m a kind of magpie in that respect. But, in a contemporary context, I really enjoy seeing works by Nicholas Byrne, Ryan Mosley and Paul Housley for example, and it’s also fair to say that I have a real soft spot for the work of Jane Harris.

JW: I do, I am planning an exhibition in a major public space outside of London, but it is perhaps too early to divulge in greater detail. CP: Thank you James Wright

CP: Your paintings are loaded with symbols and motifs that revisit art painting history. By situating the contemporary with the historic, how has this transformed these urban landscapes? JW: Much of my work remains esoteric and certainly relies on a knowledge of art history and symbolism. For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / http://www.jameswrightartist.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERVIEWS PATRICK MORRISSEY & HANZ It is a pleasure to interview Patrick Morrissey and Clive Hancock (Hanz). In this interview I find out about the forthcoming show ‘Monochrome Set’ at Core gallery. Which is a collaborative project between Patrick, Hanz and ceramicist Leyla Folwell. The title of this show is intended to bind the works together under a theme which may evoke any number of associations with Pop culture and kinetiscism. Morrissey’s work represents a development of ideas initiated whilst taking his degree at Goldsmiths College. Morrissey utilizes geometric and numeric systems to create a visual field or ground which contradicts and simultaneously informs the audience’s perception of each piece. Hanz has evolved his method as an outsider artist. He started to produce art in the late 1970s, very much influenced by the punk art and music scene. He uses ‘discarded’ material in his work. September 2010 >>

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For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.patrickmorrisseyhanz.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Two People in a Room' 2010 © Patrick Morrissey

CP: Can you tell us about your forthcoming exhibition ‘Monochrome Set’ at Core Gallery?

CP: Given the title, how do you selectively choose colour within your works?

Patrick: Hanz did a piece of work some years ago; unusually for him it was in black and white instead of his highly colourful boxes.

Patrick: For ‘Monochrome Set’ the choice was easy, all the emphasis has been placed on the structures / language of the pieces. I usually work with colours that vibrate.

Hanz: It was my Millennium box, obviously done in the year 2000 and is shown here in the ‘Monochrome Set’. Patrick: So we decided at that time to create black and white work at some point for a future exhibition. When Leyla joined Cor Blimey Arts, we both found something about her strong sculptural forms that appealed to us. We invited her to contribute some of her work to ‘Monochrome Set’, we were pleased that she accepted and she produced the work you see before you now.

Hanz: ‘Monochrome Set’ has given me the freedom to experiment with the language of my work also. In my colour boxes I choose a set of colours from the environment around me, then use a numerical system to place them on the tubes and cones. Patrick: This is our first exhibition where we have created a body of work with a specific theme allowing us to go back to the very basics of our constructivist / concrete work and has re-affirmed our original direction.

29/09/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 06 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: Hanz and Patrick, you have shared a studio space together since 2008. Can you tell us how your work has developed? How important is the studio practice? Patrick: We have worked and developed in parallel for many years but since sharing a studio we have been very free with our ideas. We are both happy to have an open Hanz: We both work in very different media and can share a way of working in the studio but the work still retains its individuality. The work always seems to hang well together. Patrick: Studio practice is all everything is about the work. CP: What artists are you inspired by? Millenium Box, 2000 19"' x 19" © Hanz

Patrick: Jose Patricio, Kenneth Martin, Francois Morellet, Sol Le Witt, Bridget Riley. Hanz: Victor Vasarely. Mathew Frere-Smith, Fernand Leger. CP: Hanz, can you tell us how your abstracted relief constructions are formed and the materials you use? Hanz: I use 1” long pieces of electrical conduit and the cones are made of paper, in my random boxes anything goes. CP: Why do you choose discarded materials?

Howeldrehevel, 8" x 8 " © Hanz

Hanz: Discarded materials / found objects can be used to great effect; the colours and textures can create amazing patterns, initially I created collages using packaging and cut up magazines, it was very anarchic. I found an off cut of conduit and started to place textures and colours in the tube and the work just seemed to develop from there. Patrick encouraged me to look at the constructivist’s work; which was a revelation to me. In my random boxes there is still an element of that anarchy but the tubes contain and order it.

Cornish for sunrise 8" x 8 " © Hanz For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.patrickmorrisseyhanz.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pernambuco, 2009, Acrylic on board, 4” x 4’” © Patrick Morrissey

CP: Patrick, you utilise geometric and numeric systems to create a visual field. Can you describe this process and how do you begin to create your paintings? Patrick: I usually prepare for a piece of work by having an idea of a form literally in my ‘minds eye’. I try this out on paper, producing and working through several drawings until I feel I have achieved my original intention. The ideas are fundamentally instinctive, but are reigned in or structured according to the geometric / numeric development of each piece. All the work has a developmental progression contained within a framework, but there can be deliberate variation or adjustment; which will contradict the progressive order of the elements concerned.

The results, by the paintings very nature, will be to automatically create a field or mid-ground between it and the viewer, so that perspective becomes irrelevant and the relationship (hopefully) between work and viewer will be totally direct or physiological, i.e., the experience of looking will become the initial reaction, perhaps followed by associations within the viewer’s own experience.

CP: Do you have any forthcoming projects / news to divulge? Patrick: We have both started a series of new works and are currently in negotiation with other established artists in the U.S.A, Europe and London with a view to holding a group exhibition in the New Year. CP: Thank you very much!

CP: How do you both incorporate kinetic techniques within your art? Patrick: The kinetic aspect of the work is a bi-product of the process. Hanz: As my work has a depth to it, all of the surfaces cannot be seen at the same time. As the viewer interacts with the work its innate qualities are revealed.

INTERVIEWS RACHEL PRICE

I am pleased to interview Rachel Price an Independent Curator and Artist. In this interview I gain insight into the possibilities of sculpture, art’s political potential through contemporary curating and I find out about the highly anticipated exhibition ‘Sisyphus: The Absurd Hero’. Price draws together the work of 7 exciting UK artists presenting new sculpture and video responding to the Greek Myth of Sisyphus. The exhibiting artists all explore notions of the absurd, futility and circularity in their practice whilst simultaneously displaying an immersion in the process, be it material or conceptual. Price’s sculptural practice examines the often frustrating relationship between image and form, working on the assumption that our physical experience of the world helps inform our conceptual formation of it. Alongside her studio practice Price works as an independent curator providing opportunities for emerging and established artists to produce new works in response to challenging curatorial themes. Price graduated from the University of Reading in 2006 and has exhibited throughout the UK.

October 2010 >> ------------------------------------------------------------For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.rachelpricesculpture.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.rachelpricesculpture.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still from ‘Daedalus’ © Rodney Dee

CP: Can you tell us more about the forthcoming exhibition at Core Gallery ‘Sisyphus: The Absurd Hero’? RP: It was a case of a number of elements coming together at the same time and an attempt to articulate a general air of impotence and repetition in the art world. I was simultaneously researching the work of some absurdist writers, and revisited the works of Albert Camus and specifically ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ which seemed particularly apt. As a sculptor the intense physicality of Sisyphus’s unrelenting toil to absolutely no end was such a bittersweet image, I had to investigate it further. Most notably I recall the line: “[ ] …..his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him the unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing”. The sentence carries such a weight, something I wanted to try to embody.I had also just come across the work of Nick Bailey, a sculptor recently graduated from Wimbledon College of Art, whose work seemed to articulate this impotence and disappointment so well. From there I recruited the other artists, using the imagery of the Myth of Sisyphus as a springboard. CP: Could you describe in detail how each of the artists respond to the Greek mythology of Sisyphus? RP: Pleasantly surprised by the breath of interpretation the artists presented in relation to the myth, I came to view the notion of the absurd in a new light. But also how relevant they all believed the myth to be at this point time, the commitment and depth each artist had invested in their works and research was evident. Starting with Nick Bailey, who was already dealing with a realm of mild disappointment and temptation in his work. However I should highlight the distinction between the tension in works like ‘magic missile’ where we are presented with the promise of release and the utter impotence of works like ‘The End and the Finish’ which seemed more appropriate in this context. Bailey’s works presented me with the biggest challenge editorially.

‘Life Pencil’ © Alexander Bates

My interest in Alexander Bates’ practice was his recent investigations into what defines something as an artwork. Rooted in previous laborious and repetitive works (‘No chewing in class’) and his rebelling what he identifies as a ‘very human compulsion to create order out of disorder’. Interestingly Camus purports that the absurd lies in the conflict between what we want (meaning/reasons) and what we are supplied with (formless chaos). Bates’ work ‘The Life of a Pencil’ is a drawing of a pencil, made using a pencil until the pencil runs out: A succinctly pointless, labour intensive and humourous work to the tune of some 60 metres.

19/10/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 07 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jim Bond’s kinetic work lends itself particularly well to the theme. The piece he is showing ‘Dust’ was made a couple of years ago and Bond presented it for Sisyphus. Bond uses the human condition as a springboard for his mechanical works, reductive and subtly humourous these works highlight the circular nature of the everyday. The disparity between the mechanical aesthetic and very human content of the work seems particularly relevant here.

Joo Hee Hwang’s questioning of the idea of territory results from personal experience of finding herself in unfamiliar surrounds. She explores what she terms as ‘subjectivity of space’ through her vast sculptural installations. Hwang’s specific interest in the myth lies in the notion of a world within a world, the realities we create for ourselves. For Sisyphus, the mountain became a world within itself, a new reality.

‘Dust’ © Jim Bond

Rodney Dee‘s interest in Sisyphus lies in the perpetual nature of the act in relation to some higher purpose: “For wherein most rituals offer the allusion of transcendence; Sisyphus’ own efforts at pushing the rock are a testament to his absurdity – continually reinforced with every failed attempt. As a result his description as an ‘absurd hero’ is well deserved, for whilst he never reaches the apex of the hill, he is never fully released from the cycle either and therein lies the opportunity to try again”. Dee refers to the fabled architect Daedalus in his video work in which the story underpins mans innate desire to escape from the human condition whilst elevating himself to a celestial vantage point.

‘Continuous Space’ © Joo Hee Hwang

‘You’ve Carried Your Ashes Now Carry Your Fire’ © Matthew Kay

Matthew Kay’s work ‘After This all has Passed’ was a result of Kay’s resistance to the idea of futility and nihilism in relation to the myth of Sisyphus. “What may appear to be a blank screen is in fact animated from hundreds of laboriously made black felt tip drawings. Challenging the notion of nihilism, that anything is futile, it questions the existence of impotent art objects or an empty gesture; are there really such things? My personal interest in the myth lies in the physicality of the task without reward or meaning the action is for it’s own sake and Sisyphus his own master - this is an extension of my interest in the interplay between ourphysical and conceptual worlds, and that a work of art should strike a balance between the two. The work ‘Labour the Point (Water Torture)’ is essentially tautologuous, going to

unnecessary, repetitive lengths to little conceptual gain. The work literally outweighs itself. CP: What can we expect from Part 2 of Sisyphus: The Absurd Hero? RP: Originally I split the works of the 12 artists into two parts as there was a huge distinction between: ‘resistance’ (retained hope in face of absurd) and ‘acceptance’ (almost celebrated futility, labour intensive) works. I later decided to present a more balanced view of these interpretations within both shows. For example: presenting Matthew Kay’s resistance of the notion of nihilism alongside Nick Bailey’s casual acceptance of it. I think in Part II this disparity is more pronounced. I think there’s a humour about this show. A device perhaps we employ in the face of the absurd.

CP: Would you say that this exhibition is a response to the continual ‘circular’ nature of an artist’s practice? RP: It’s part of it, but more so a feeling of lack of progress or inventiveness in general, that we are recycling ideas. The circularity of art practice is inevitable, the more you work the more problems you face. No line of enquiry is ever concluded, it’s about feeding your own curiosity.

19/10/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 07 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: You recently had a solo show with ‘Squid and Tabernacle’ that was held in a shipping container. What were the considerations and challenges of working site specifically? And how will you and the other artists utilise the space at Core Gallery? RP: Squid and Tabernacle approached me at a good time with the challenge of this space. As a nomadic gallery they select their artists in response to a site, an extremely novel approach to curatorial practice. Artists should be able to contextualise their practice temporally, geographically and conceptually, this project forced me to do this. The Hartwell site was literally a hole in the ground when I arrived in April, the sea container empty and ready for me to do as I pleased. The final installation ‘Planning Permission’ utilised reclaimed materials from the immediate area to recreate ‘unfeasible architectural models’ by means of both reflecting; the state of flux of the area, but also the boundaries we should push when re-thinking our urban environment. As part of the installation I tipped the container at an angle and filled a corner with concrete as to utilise the maximum potential of the space, something I never could have achieved in a gallery. The work of projects like Squid & Tabernacle that get contemporary art out in the public realm are integral in rethinking the way we present and view art. In terms of Core, there’s an energy which I think comes from being slap bang in the middle of two rows of studios. The shows I’ve seen there so far have had a painting bias, but I relish a challenge to rethink the established conventions of a space. ‘Planning Permission’ Installation View, 2010 © Rachel Price

CP: As an ‘artist working curatorially’ can you tell us how the collaborative process of working with the artists is enhanced? Do you feel that by working collectively in this way provides the artists with a greater autonomy? RP: As an artist my concerns aren’t going to be that far detached from any other artist working now, so to provide a platform to voice those concerns is important. For instance I was struck by the response I received for my call for artists for Sisyphus, what I believed to be a fairly specific line of enquiry within my own practice was actually reflecting the feeling of quite a few artists at this time.

Installation View ‘Skinflint’ 2009 © Rachel Price

Exhibition View: SkinFlint, 2009 © Ralph Dorey

I think I decided to approach other artists with opportunities to show in response to quite restrictive themes to force the reassessment of the relevance of our practice. Something I think curators are failing to provide at the moment.

To this day I still can’t understand where he was coming from with that work. So it was not so much about the dire situation of the economy at large more so the role of the artist in reaction to it. Hirst was case in point.

Moreover because of the dire economic climate, especially with the further cuts to arts funding, the stance of individual artists and institutions can go one of two ways: The individual artist tries to make their practice more financially viable and ‘plays it safe’ or will look for ways of independently funding curatorial projects, free of the constraints of funding applications will have uncensored reign over their content, and that’s quite exciting.

For me the role of an artist is as an inventor, and when means are restricted we are forced to invent, to rethink. The artists I included in this show were artists I admired for their unique utilisation of materials.

CP: Previously you curated an exhibition at Lewisham Arthouse titled ‘Skinflint’. The artists deliberately used ‘lo-fi materials’ at a time where there was a ‘trend for an outlandish decadence in approaches to art-making’. This exhibition seemed to be a reaction to consumerism & the art market, but also highlighted a change in how we consider art-making. Can you talk about arts political potential through exhibition making?

In addition I think the work of an artist is always inextricably linked to the environment it is being made in, either consciously or unconsciously. The job of the curator is to pick up on these trends artist to artist and make them relevant to the now. Individual artists tend to be so engrossed in their practice that they don’t see the immediate relevance or urgency of the work they are making. Exhibition making, in turn, is an excellent platform for the ‘feel’ of a time to be projected back out into the public sphere.

RP: For me it was completely reactionary, I do believe it was the revelation of Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull in the middle of an economic downturn that did it for me. For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.rachelpricesculpture.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19/10/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 07 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: What are you currently working on within your practice? And what is important to you as sculptor? RP: My work on Sisyphus has been very research heavy, and has lead me down some disparate lines of enquiry. I continue to research the absurd but am also very interested in the nature of creativity itself in psychological enquiry, namely the work of Mendick who identified the creative object as ‘the union of two distinct and disparate nodes’. In this respect the work of comedians like Stewert Lee and Mitch Hedberg are as important as any fine artist. I am taking this idea quite literally in my studio investigations and applying it to my image/form studies. As a sculptor this element of experimentation is hugely important, both in material and conceptual investigations. I’m concerned that sculpture is becoming too language dependent, that the role of instinct and material investigation is becoming obsolete. A balance between head and body is important. ‘Nervous Wreck 002’ 2010 © Rachel Price

I recently revisited the work of Hermann Obrist at the Leeds institute and remember thinking ‘this is scupture’. Obrist invented form, new ways of negotiating and viewing our physical world – that is what a sculptor should do. The dance between abstraction and representation, somewhere between physical truth and subjective experience, but made with an empathy for the human condition. A sculptor should favour experience over representation, this is particularly relevant now in the digital age and presents all sculptors with a dilemma. I myself am a self confessed luddite and worry about the implications of over over-reliance on images and digital reproduction and how it will effect learning and progress, especially at a developmental level in children

‘Delusions of Grandeur’ 2006 © Rachel Price

19/10/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 07 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: You reach new possibilities within your work by your liberal use of materials. Can you talk about how your choice of materials adds to the physicality of form and to the conceptual narrative? RP: I use a lot of reclaimed materials that tend to be laden with their own preconceptions and assumed uses. I find it interesting how materials are often assigned a gender as a result of the above. In addition I find images hugely seductive, but misleading, in pairing image with form I attempt to highlight the disparity between representation and the reality of the physical world. There’s a lot of destruction in the process – bending, impaling, snapping, and this is hugely important in the way I approach and rethink the use of materials. As I’ve mentioned before, the physical presence of the work should serve as a tool to affirm the conceptual narrative. They should be interdependent. CP: Do you have any forthcoming projects / news to divulge? RP: ‘Sisyphus: part deux’ is in the offing. At the moment my curatorial projects are taking precedence over my own studio practice. I’m also working on a research proposal for the upcoming residencies at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds. CP: You are based at ASC studios in New Cross, situated within a growing community of artists. How important has this been to you in the development within your work as both a curator and an artist? RP: The New Cross/ Deptford areas are a great place to be for an artist. I find the freedom of the artist led studios and galleries highly conducive to an experimental and risk taking approach as an artist and curator,

‘Sweet Enough’ © Rachel Price

projects like Deptford X reflect the needs of the artist but are also sensitive to the area in which the art is shown. Conversely I also think that it is important, in a growing community of artists, not to become isolated from movements in the rest of London and the UK, and indeed internationally that a dialogue should be encouraged both within the community and with the wider sphere. CP: Thank you Rachel Price!

INTERVIEWS

NICK KAPLONY It is a pleasure to interview Nick Kaplony, a freelance curator, practicing artist and education officer at Batterseaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pump House Gallery. He is also the programme coordinator of Artquest. Kaplony is curator of the forthcoming exhibition Psychometry, an exhibition of works by 12 contemporary artists that channel and manifest the intangible and invisible through their work. The exhibition takes its title from a practice employed by psychics and mediums, whereby past events and personal histories are divined through physical contact with an object.

Psychometry Exhibition ÂŠ Debbie Lawson

I talk to him to find out his motivations on contemporary curating, more about the forthcoming show, and his recent developments within his work.

November 2010 > >

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For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.nickkaplony.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To give you a flavour of some of

the sort of thing to expect: Debbie Lawson’s carpet sculptures and furniture installations which take gallery visitors on a psychological journey through domestic space, where everyday things are eerily animated and the very fabric of the interior comes to life. Peter Jones’s paints meticulous portraits of old toy monkeys. The wear and tear of their history animates their features and imbues them with character and life.

CP: Can you tell us about the forthcoming show at Core Gallery ‘Psychometry’?

Richard Paul immaculately photographs seemingly disparate objects. The photographs are at once detached, poetic and evocative, the pairing of objects suggests not only a relationship between them but an overarching significance that is greater than the sum of its parts.

NK: Psychometry is a group show that takes its title from a practice undertaken by spiritualists and psychics that allows them to ‘read’ the intangible attributes of an object by touching it, such as its history, or the history and emotions of the previous owner. It’s looking at artists who can be said to do a similar thing with their practice: Making intangible and invisible ideas associated with their subject and the materials they’re working with manifest and visible. There are twelve artists including myself involved in this show Claire Haddon, Peter Jones, Sean Langton, Debbie Lawson, Sophie Molins, Michaela Nettell and Tom Simmons, Richard Paul, Helen Pynor, Melanie Stidolph, Karen Stripp. All with very different approaches.

CP: You were recently involved in the judging panel of London Art Award 2010 that was part of the London Fringe Festival? You said: ‘I see it as the Fringe Festival’s role to help discover hidden gems.’ What did the festival unearth and what were the highlights of the selected works?

CP: The collaborative process has become a growing interest within contemporary curating, with exhibitions such as ‘Indian Highway’ at Serpentine Gallery, 2008 and Subversive Practices at Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, 2009. What is that excites you about the polyphonic voice within the exhibition process?

NK: Well it’s the first year of the festival, so it’s really just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s already showed up the vast diversity of practice being undertaken. There are some impressive developments in painting particularly this year.

NK: One thing to say is that I think curating is (ideally) a collaborative process even with only one curator involved, where the curator is collaborating with the artists they are working with. When a group takes on the task of curating much of what excites me about it can be said to be true of collaboration in any process: If it goes well several points of view bringing unexpected results, greater than the sum of its parts. There’s also a relinquishing of control which is liberating.

CP: You were involved in the Slowfall projects, an artistled collective that held the aim of ‘creating local and international exhibitions of art in unconventional venues’. How important is the ‘space’ when considering the curation of a show? NK: There are many different approaches to curating and putting an exhibition together. I enjoy working on exhibitions where the work has some kind of relationship to the space it’s being shown in, particularly when exhibitions are put on in locations or buildings with a rich history of strong identity of their own. It’s a wasted opportunity to ignore that I think.

CP: What are the challenges and uncertainties, involved with putting a show together, such as: Exquisite Corpse, Core Gallery, 2010 which brought together 11 artists and curators. How did you effectively manage the collaborative process? NK: It’s funny because Exquisite Corpse, though it was most certainly a collaborative exhibition, in that contributions came of several artists and curators,

01/11/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 08 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------there was very little collaborative process in making it happen, no negation and no compromises that often play a part on collaboration. I set up a system, and a set of rules whereby curators/ artists could make contributions to the show without having an overall vision of the exhibition. A chain of curators was created. Each curator then made a selection of work based on that of the previous curator in the chain. The work was placed in the space in the order that it was chosen. CP: ‘Exquisite Corpse’ was an experimental approach to curating that presented the viewer with an insight into the selective processes involved. Was it your intent to demythologize the notion of the ‘exhibition’? Will this exhibition influence future projects?

NK: I was interested in how artwork is interpreted, and how people make connections between individual pieces. I thought that setting up this chain of selectors visitors would get a flavour of the processes and thinking involved in putting an exhibition together. I’m sure it will have an influence on future projects but I’m not quite sure how yet. It’s bubbling away at the moment CP: Where do you get your inspiration for curatorial projects and does your own practice inform your approach? NK: Definitely, the sort of themes and ideas that I’m interested in my practice are also the things that I’m excited by as a curator (though not exclusively). In terms of what can lead me to develop ideas as a curator, it can be anything from a space, or sometimes I see an artist who’s work I particularly like, and then, gradually, as I come across other artists in my work, I can’t help but see connections and slowly the idea for a show is formed. This is very much what happened with Psychometry, the next exhibition I’m working on at Core gallery.

01/11/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 08 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: As the programme coordinator of Artquest, the London-based service provider for visual artists. Would you have any advice to offer graduates, in preparing their degree shows, approaching gallery spaces and the continuation of their careers? NK: In a nutshell read the Artquest website! No, seriously everything that you need to know is on there and it’s an invaluable resource. But in terms of bite sized advice: Treat your degree show as it’s the beginning of your career as a professional artist, not as the end of your studies and with regards to approaching galleries, unless they specifically say they accept unsolicited proposals, don’t approach them cold! Build a relationship gradually. CP: Do you think the economic downturn offers the possibility to cultivate a new landscape for the art world? What impact do you think this has on artists and institutions? NK: I would use the word necessity rather than possibility. It’s going to make it harder for everyone, but it will be interesting to see what direction practice takes when there is less money / funding leading the way. CP: And finally, if you could curate any show, with any artist/s and in any space what would it be? Breath, 2010 © Nick Kaplony

CP: What are you currently working on within your own practice? NK: I’m working on a new video work called “Breath” which is an exciting departure for me. I haven’t worked with moving image before (well, barely). It’s leading me down an interesting path, looking at ideas around faith and medicine.

NK: That’s tough. I’d love to do something in huge

country manor, with a maze and sprawling grounds. As to the specifics of the artists it would depend on the location but something with a mix of young and more established practitioners.

Thank you Nick Kaplony!

CP: How do you resignify artworks in order to create a fresh perspective that has a strong curatorial authorship? NK: I think (hope!) that creating a sense of curatorial authorship isn’t my concern. In getting a body of work together inevitably the relationship between individual pieces in an exhibition colours the reading of the works, they resonate and effect each other, and I guess you try to create connection which highlight relationships that you have observed as a curator and also offer the possibility of new interpretations.

Psychometry Talk, 2010 ÂŠ Core Gallery

INTERVIEWS JANE BOYER

I am pleased to interview Jane Boyer, our new associate member. Boyer joined the ‘Core Gallery Collective’ in October. Since then she has been involved in the development and sustainability of the gallery. In this interview I gain insight into her practice, I get a preview of the work she is exhibiting for the forthcoming show ‘Relay’ and find out how she supports the gallery as an associate member. Boyer states in a recent blog: ‘’I am delighted to be a new member of Cor Blimey Arts. We’re already busy at work and it is such a pleasure working with an energetic group of like-minded people.’’

It is in this context that the self exists and is also obliterated. She is currently living and working in France.

November >> ----------------------------------------------------------------

Boyer studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1986. Since then she has participated in several exhibitions in the Western United States including California, Oregon and Utah. She was an exhibiting artist in the 1988 Nuclear Visions exhibition organized by the Oregon Coast Arts Council which explored the condition of living in a nuclear age, which toured the United States and Canada for two years. In 1998 Boyer changed her medium to painting, with discipline and diligence she taught herself to paint. Boyer’s current work reinterprets gesture not as a renewal of Modernist theory but she uses gesture to recall the body in time. Placing the body in time, places it in relation to everything else happening at that same moment.

For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.jlbfineart.com or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15/11/2010 Core Gallery Interviews / 09 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: Can you tell us about the collaborative work “Extreme Narrative” that you are exhibiting for the forthcoming ‘Relay Exhibition’? JB: It is a work based in identity and ‘the other’. What I mean by that is the identity represented in Extreme Narrative is in relation to some other person or situation. It is this context which places identity in relief. Extreme Narrative looks at how an identity is interrupted by context, by ‘the other’.

I think the pairing of our work presents a broad view of interrupted identity in that my 6 obliterations offer a psychological balast to Annabel’s 64 Fritzl’s and her Fritzl’s give a tangible sense of reality to my 6 obliterations. The moment I saw the work together I could see the meanings of both bodies of work merge to create meaning in 360° - meaning became sort of three dimensional, encompassing abstraction and reality. Annabel’s work is based on an actual news story and my work is based in the conception of the psychology and emotion within these 6 subjects - I find this dimensional meaning compelling.

I was struggling to understand why ‘innocence’ was an obliteration. I could see it as a disarming force, sort of an opposition to negative influence, but that wasn’t a fully satisfying rendering. I did a little research into Josef Fritzl and found the meaning that I knew intuitively but couldn’t pinpoint. His claims of ‘innocence’ in saying, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘you don’t have children with someone if you don’t want children,’ were utterly destructive to the humanity of his daughter and the children of this forced union - even beyond the other horrendous crimes he had committed against all of them.

CP: Why did you choose to invite guest artist ‘Annabel Tilley’ to show work alongside yours? What revelations do you think will arise from this collaboration? And how will it re-contextualise the meaning of your ‘6 obliterations’?

CP: You have recently become an associate member of the Core Gallery arts collective, can you tell us what attributes you bring, and the vital role you play?

JB: I had been thinking of how I could work with Annabel for some time, even before I joined Cor Blimey, so I had some ideas outlined in my notes about what our work shared in common. When the opportunity arose, I re-read my notes and contacted Annabel straight away.

JB: I was self employed with my husband for over 16 years as a craft jeweller in The States, so I have a background in business, learned the hard way - by doing. All of the organizational skills, marketing skills and general professionalism that I developed come with me. I see my role as one of supportive propulsion. I hope to help move things forward in the paths already laid out.

CP: Since joining Core Gallery you have gained access to an extended community of artists. How do you think this will impact the “moment of creation” within your practice? JB: Well, every stimulus goes in and comes back out. For me, that process manifests in that moment of creation. I’ve worked hard to learn to trust that moment because it is the ultimate unknown. Not only are your movements unpredicted, but the reasons for them are also unknown. And there is no knowing where you’re headed. But that is why I said in my blog, ‘I never face the white unarmed.’ Every time I go to work all the stimuli I’ve accumulated goes with me, that will no doubt include the stimuli from my colleagues in Cor Blimey. I’ve learned to trust the moment that stimuli comes back out and listen to it. CP: What do you think the key is to creating a sustainable artist-run space? JB: Cooperation. It assumes everything else that is vital to success - honesty, integrity, trust, sharing, responsibility, communication. If there is a basic agreement to cooperation among members, then I truly believe obstacles can be overcome, or at least those obstacles become defined and separation can take place, if needed.

It’s like any partnership, it takes work, but if the will is there the partnership can thrive. CP: You have a blog (Working in Isolation: a dialog with history) on Artists Talking. Can you tell us what discussions and dialogues have arisen as a consequence? And how this has been useful to profiling yourself as an artist? JB: I am so grateful to a-n for the Artists Talking platform. So many discussions have come from my blog it’s hard to know where to start. A big discussion of identity has come about with David Minton. He is very exacting and he has demanded some keen explanations from me about how context defines and obliterates the self. I’ve had wonderful discussions with Rob Turner about technology and nature. I have several dialogues with other artists which happen privately via email but were initiated by Artists Talking. They detail practice, theory, our ‘gods’ in art, etc. Without question, all this writing and dialogue has helped me to clarify my ideas. It’s damn hard, but I love to be challenged for an explanation of my work or concepts.

Vif! - solo exhibition August 2010, La Galerie d'art Ă la campagne Charente-Maritime France

alight, type C print, ÂŠ 2010, image courtesy of the artist

CP: Within your paintings we get a fleeting glimpse of ‘gesture’ and the presence of the ‘artist’. There is a Deleuzian sense of becoming and an unresolved quality within the work. Can you talk about the importance of transience within your paintings?

you talk about what direction this has taken? And how the two mediums inform one another?

JB: My photography has always been abstract, I feel that is an important thing and makes the transition practically seamless. Essentially, I can JB: We live in a universe of flux, every- do different things with abstraction thing moves. Transience is what is real according to each medium. Photogfor me. We all carry our histories to raphy allows me to work with what I each present moment, so what was, ‘see’, painting allows me to work with is becoming and what is, was. There is what I ‘feel’ in a sensory, tactile sense. no beginning or end, just moments of I think the precision of seeing, via awareness. photography guides my painting and the imperfection of my movements in I see ‘presence’ and ‘gesture’, for me painting animates my photography. the indicator of presence, as being fleeting, momentary. The world has changed so much and so rapidly I CP: Do you have any forthcoming think the only hope we can have to projects / news to divulge? state our presence is in a flash, as an inscription rather than an expression, JB: I’m going to be co-curating an exto borrow an idea from Sean Burke, hibit with Rosalind Davis in the spring Jacques Derrida et al. and I’m really looking forward to that. I want to develop a curating practice CP: Your practice is heavily engaged as well. I know it’s a hip thing now to within the painting medium. However be an artist/curator, but I’ve been recently you mentioned that you interested in curating for years and have started to work with the the opportunity for me to explore that photographic image again, can is now with Core Gallery.

CP: What achievements would you like to reach in the coming year both professionally and as an artist?

JB: I suppose, at the moment, the

two go hand-in-hand for me. I would like to do more work with sculpture, and this would require the space to make and present it. I’m thinking a lot about history right now and I’m noticing other references to history as I read. In my mind I’m dismantling the notion of history as linear and I want to explore that.

CP: Thank you very much Jane! JB: Thank you Chantelle. I’m delighted to be a member of Cor Blimey, it’s really exciting!

INTERVIEWS

ROSALIND DAVIS I am delighted to interview Rosalind Davis a practicing artist, writer, lecturer, elective member of AIR Artists Advisory Group, and co-director of Core Gallery. Core Gallery launched in April 2010 with the experimental curatorial exhibition 'Exquisite Corpse' since then it has continued to thrive into a dynamic and innovative space for contemporary arts and has worked with around 100 emerging and established, international and UK artists and curators. In this interview we look to the past and survey Core Gallery’s 2010 highlights, we find out the commitment and work that goes into sustaining a gallery. I get a peek into this year’s exciting programme and discuss the cultural relevance of artist run spaces. Rosalind Davis is a graduate from the RCA (2005) and Chelsea College of Art (2003) She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Davis also has a blog on Artist’s talking on visual arts directory a-n (www.a-n.co.uk) which has received much acclaim, winning one of 2009’s blog of the year. It was also selected by Matt Roberts (Matt Roberts Arts) as a choice blog of the month in July 2009.

February 2011>> For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.rosalinddavis.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Working with Core Gallery is an energising and inspiring experience for me as a curator.”

CP: Can you tell us about Core Gallery’s ethos and how this is unique within Deptford’s art community? RD: Core Gallery invites curators into the space to explore their practices, they are free to develop ideas and bring in artists that they feel will fit; they work without limitations as much as possible. We in return do our utmost to promote and facilitate their shows, connecting them with other artists, spaces and opportunities wherever possible. The Deptford Arts community is a very exciting one and each space has its uniqueness and our colleagues here have been very warm and inviting, if it had not been for such a rich artistic landscape here then it is unlikely we would have set up the gallery – we felt we would like to contribute somehow and in turn create something exciting in an underused space which would also feed into our studio artist’s practice and nurture networks. Here are two very good quotes from 2 curators we worked with at Core in 2010 which does better than I in expressing what Core is about:

“One of the few truly eclectic contemporary art spaces in London”

“One of the few truly eclectic contemporary art spaces in London, Core Gallery's first year of exhibitions and events has been diverse, thought provoking and substantial. As a writer/curator Core Gallery has provided me with the space, the support and the network to develop my ideas, try out new things and showcase new and emerging artists. Core Gallery is proving to be a vital addition to the South East London art community.” Andrew Bryant “Working with Core Gallery is an energising and inspiring experience for me as a curator. It embodies many of the most positive aspects of artist led spaces, acting as a platform for risk taking, experimentation and diversity of practice with real commitment to and engagement with the development of the local arts ecology” Nick Kaplony

For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.rosalinddavis.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CP: William Morris declared in his 1884 lecture ‘Art & Socialism’ that: “Association instead of competition, social order instead of individualist anarchy” were the ways to free creativity and return it to the working man. How pertinent would you say that this statement is today? What associations have arisen from the conception of Core Gallery? RD: I believe through sharing knowledge and working together we can only strengthen artists roles and improve our situations. Association is better than competition, that way you can build a community from which you can nurture and sustain yourself, your career and others. At Core we have also set something of a new precedent in terms of our associate members, who are not actually in the studio space itself but contribute significantly to the space such as Jane Boyer and yourself and the artists who contribute to the space or education programme. I spent 5 years pursuing my own career (and still do) after leaving RCA and it was time to expand myself through the expansion of my own practice through the gallery and it is something I find very fulfilling and rewards me tenfold. Running the gallery and the hard work we do inspires generosity from others in a mutually beneficial way. CP: The programme last year promoted an experimental approach to exhibition-making and

placed a strong focus on curatorial concepts. How do you plan to maintain that this year? RD: This year our exhibition programme is going to continue to be experimental, focusing a little closer to home with myself, Elizabeth Murton and Jane Boyer all curating exhibitions rather than just having guest curators. Two shows I shall be curating this year: one with Jane Boyer of our DX winners ‘Extra-Ordinary’ in April and an exhibition called ‘Home’ with Annabel Tilley in October. With home, we are exploring this theme in the widest sense of the word- a place of fragility, transition and identity from a cross generation of artists. Artists so far for this project include Graham Crowley, Delaine Le Bas, Rich White, Freddie Robins, Peter Davis, Kate Murdoch, Rose Wylie, Lucy Austin, Emily Speed myself and Annabel Tilley. I am finding the process of curating a very interesting, analytical, critical and exploratory role. I am testing new muscles and learning an awful lot. Also working in partnership is something I very much enjoy, the debate, the conversations which lead you to interesting new paths. It is a delight. We are also delighted to invite back Nicholas Kaplony and Andrew Bryant and we are very excited to be working with Coexist, a dynamic artist led space in Southend in a collaborative project with our studio members that will tour from Coexist to Core at the end of 2011.

31/01/2011 Core Gallery Interviews / 10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: In Jane Boyer’s interview I asked; “What do you think the key is to creating a sustainable artist-run space?” Jane answered, “co-operation… honesty, integrity, trust, sharing, responsibility, communication.” What other strategies are also key to a gallery’s survival and what will you be implementing this year?

very important. I value my interns highly and seek to harness their strengths and push them to learn and follow projects that they are passionate about. I have three interns at the moment- Jo who has been with us for about 6 months and helps deal with audience development, Jasvinder who has been sorting and jazzing up our website and creating some fantastic graphics for printed RD: I concur with Jane, she has pretty materials. much nailed it: Strong shows, an awareness of the need to be acces- Charlie Norwood is also joining the sible, to be good at promotion and gallery team (previously at Goldsmiths) marketing. and is going to be undertaking some art writing for the space- critiquing shows or Last year we had 11 shows, 3x open possibly writing essays to accompany studios, 1 community workshop, loads the exhibitions which will be a wonderful of art talks and it was rather overaddition. whelming and not exactly sustainable (somehow we managed it) so this Without them, our studio artists and our year we are having less shows and associate members, core gallery would already have our 2011 programme not exist. They in turn are great supportsorted and so it is more manageable ers of the space. I am very pleased to for me – so I would say also that bal- say that one of our interns has gone ance is also key. onto do a curatorial internship at the Tate. I would conclude in saying that generosity is part of the backbone of I think part of the role of the gallery is what we are doing here, to artists and about good practice and we pass this curators who work with the space and onto our interns. Core, at every level, they are equally generous and supgives people room to manage their portive of us so I think that is part of own projects – such as these wonderful the success of artist led spaces. I think Core Gallery interviews which again inartists like the freedom of not working creases our profile, is a fantastic educawith a commercial gallery- it’s a very tional tool and also contributes to your nurturing way of working, you don’t own career. just feel like a commodity and that is essential and empowering for artists to feel their integrity is being respect- CP: Core Gallery’s is re-launching this ed and uncompromised. year with a show in February curated by Andrew Bryant? What can we expect from this show? CP: In an AIR interview with Jack Hutchinson you stated that: “In art RD: This is the second time Core shall education there should be be working with Andrew Bryant: his first compulsory professional practice for show the Eighteenth Emergency was a artists, which is essential if new very intelligent experimental show which graduates wish to survive in the art I really enjoyed and learned from and I world and even get a sense of their know we can expect something similar newly qualified direction. It is a this year. wilderness out there and you need to do your research.” How important are I cannot divulge too much more than internships for new graduates? Can that about the exhibition at this stage you describe the internship except that the show is going to be programme you have established exploring the use of technology and and how it has added to the dynam- within art. ics of the gallery? The artists are: Jim Prevett, Niklas Tafra, RD: I think the internship programme is Chad Burt, Daniel Lichtman, Ciarán Ó

Dochartaigh and Adrianna Palazzolo all of whom studied or are studying at Goldsmiths. The work I have heard about so far has sounded compelling, amusing, strong in concept and execution.

Deptford X Open competition winners Alyson Helyer, Marion Michell, Tom Butler

CP: A question that is frequently recurrent and is the title of a recent symposium held at Whitechapel is: Art: what is the use? Speaking on behalf of an active artist and gallery director, in your opinion what is art’s use? Any why more than ever is this question crucial? RD: Artists are incredible. What the general public don’t understand about artists is that they are talented, not just at the art bit. Practising artists know that this is not the only thing we have to do: out of necessity one has to do your own marketing, research and development, manage people, projects, understand law and legal frameworks, create business plans, business development, marketing strategies, organize and manage finance, pr, network endlessly, be adept at negotiation and writing funding applications, leading and managing people, audience development, collector development, education, teaching, professional practice, social engagement and politics. Surviving rejection, funding cuts, knockbacks to name but a few things..... Out of the desire to survive and sustain and to nurture we learn countless skills: we are analytical, thoughtful, empathetic, compassionate, passionate, philosophical and aware of countless issues.

CP: Can you tell us about the much anticipated show that is with 2010’s Deptford X Open competition winners; Alyson Helyer, Marion Michell and Tom Butler? RD: The exhibition is called Extra-Ordinary and will be at the end of April. Jane Boyer and I shall be curating this exhibition and the three artist’s works are going to create a very intelligent show exploring the transformation, subversion and distortion of the normal and everyday into something Extra Ordinary. The title of the show also reflects the fact that these artists were selected ultimately from over 250 artists and have great promise. At the moment we are pulling together the curatorial themes and the next thing shall be to visit the artists studios and select works for the show / discuss new possibilities. Tom who lives and works in America at present is coming to London to be here during the exhibition which is a great bonus too.

We draw on a range of skills, experiences, cultures. We are endlessly creative. We are endlessly self educating, self critical, self directive. We challenge ourselves endlessly, we adapt and we try over and over. That takes courage, it all does. The creative sector works damn hard at being everything we need to be to survive and you know what, we are pretty talented at all this plus the actual making. We need to be recognised and valued further for our contributions to this world. Don’t forget artists are needed, and should be appreciated. For more information, please visit: www.coregallery.co.uk / www.rosalinddavis.co.uk or www.coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CP: You have a blog Becoming Part of Something’. That followed the emergence and development of Core Gallery. Can you tell us how this has been useful to profiling the gallery and gaining a larger audience? RD: Extremely useful! A blog opens up opportunities for dialogue with artists, curators and many others. The blog is quite unique in the sense that there aren’t many blogs about running a gallery space. It is often about ones own practice so it gives an interesting insight into the amount of work a gallery can do and demonstrates the integrity of our space which then also brings in supporters amongst the artistic and wider community who are now contributing to the space in one way or another. I had not quite expected such a thing, such generosity! I am as well as others very grateful about the artists talking platform on a-n, it is such a fantastic platform for critical engagement. One of the most important developments through the blog was the involvement of Jane Boyer as an associate member of Core who has been incredible in the helping of the running of the gallery since Autumn last year. To expand as well: the support we get from other artists due to the blog is down to the honesty of it I think. The practical challenges. I have a genuine passion for artists and I am constantly fascinated by their practices- I celebrate those things through my blog. At times as

well I demonstrate my sheer exhaustion! I think it’s important to be realistic about the challenges artists face and the difficulties of juggling my own practice and my many different roles as artist, teacher, writer, gallery manager, project coordinator and now AIR advisory member. I also had a letter published in a-n about the workings of an open submission as it is fairly controversial issue amongst artists- (where does the money go to, how is this justified etc) explaining how much work open submissions can take. We have a huge responsibility to the artists we work with to get things right and to change the way artists are treated for the better. We shall actually be discussing the usefulness of blogs at a future Nuts and Bolts Workshop as part of DIY Educate partnered with a-n. CP: You were recently elected to the AIR Artists Advisory Group, how do you plan on fulfilling this role and representing and campaigning for artist’s causes? RD: It was an incredible accolade to be nominated to AIR, to be part of a group that shall contribute an insightful, balanced, representative view on current issues faced by the creative sector, to engage others in a proactive manner with the aim of helping and tackling challenges to achieve the goals faced within the creative sector.

31/01/2011 Core Gallery Interviews / 10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I think that we need to collectively create change in current Government policies, public opinion, employment, galleries etc. Education as well is a hugely important issue for me. Part of my election agenda was as follows and so I hope in the 4 years that I shall be on the AIR council that I shall have been able to contribute towards these goals I have set myself. Helping artists directly by providing them with tools which can enable them to navigate and maximise their impact on the art world while avoiding the pitfalls. Facilitating the development of its members by growing the artist community and representation of artists within cultural institutions. Air Event, 2010 © Core Gallery

Creating a structured educational programme of artists’ talks to educate others from our own experiences and giving beneficial advice to advance artist’s careers. Promoting the interests of AIR members by effectively building key relationships and ensuring the interests and views of artists are understood and acted upon. Developing the arts by building networks of artists and institutions either directly or indirectly facilitating creative partnerships and arts events. Increase our visibility and emphasising our strengths as a culturally important sector to the public so that we can gain more support for our issues.

Helping to Empower Artists as a group not only within the commercial world of galleries but also the wider cultural strata, to be considered as important as any other social commentator working for example alongside government. CP: Core Gallery has already received a considerable amount of support from its Cor Blimey studio members, associate members, invited artists and curators, but how can people become more involved in supporting the gallery? RD: We are looking for patrons, sponsors, supporters on every level! We definitely need more financial support as we have no funding to run the gallery and there is an opportunity for people to contribute with a donation, or to purchase a core gallery chair which is giving an important resource to the space and is a very manageable £10.

31/01/2011 Core Gallery Interviews / 10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In addition we are very open to people being involved in the space whether it be; helping mount or take down a show, invigilating, flyering etc! A little help can go a long way! Just get in touch, see our support pages or buy a chair! We are also happy to have the joining of a new associate gallery member Becky Hunter, an artist, art critic and writer who is going to be looking after our press side of things. Basically the door is always open and people can contribute by just coming and enjoying the shows and passing our info onto others. All our DIY educators are supporting the space which enables us to provide something even more to our audience and community. CP: As well maintaining a full exhibition programme Core Gallery facilitates and runs an education programme: DIY Educate. Can you outline what this entails? RD: DIY Educate is a contemporary education programme run by artists, curators and other art professionals to encourage artistic development for those seeking to further their career in art. From peer-led and one to one critiques, professional practice workshops as well as a number of artist’s and curator lectures, DIY Educate provides opportunities to learn, network, share ideas and knowledge, providing impetus for artists to develop their practice. DIY Educate also gives practical guides and resources to help artists survive in an unstable and competitive climate, making the most of their skills. How to get work, how to get paid, how to maintain your career- artists have to do it all for themselves constantly and it is a lot to navigate. It is also the real stuff about surviving, the nitty gritty, that we can all feel disappointed and rejected at times but having worked with many artists and students and the last year at Core we saw there was a real need for artists at all levels (and not just when you first graduate) people can get isolated in their practice, be unaware of how best to push themselves whether creatively or even publicly. Another thing is that the London Art scene is huge, we are creating a nurturing pocket for those who may have just moved to London, giving them an opportunity to tap into a rather huge network.

CP: In your recent blog you give a rundown of the highs and lows of 2010. Can you describe briefly the highlights and the challenges you have faced. Also what can we look forward to in 2011’s exhibition programme? RD: I think everything to do with the gallery has been a challenge but a rewarding one. I have been stretched– particularly intellectually. The skills I have gained, the amazing artists and curators I have met, that is beyond measure. Having never run a gallery before I am proud of all that we collectively achieved and this year we have more support structures in place and even more support than we started out, so I feel very positive about 2011. The challenges I think will often be the same challenges: trying to find a balance, trying to do everything I can in the time I have, finances…… but we will just get better at this more.

31/01/2011 Core Gallery Interviews / 10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CP: If you could write a Core Gallery manifesto for 2011, on behalf of the arts collective, what would it entail? RD: Really simple things which is not exactly a manifesto but is how I hope that we can all be: -Be generous -Maintain your integrity -Be respectful and generous to others -Nurture art and artists -Pull your weight -Explore ideas -Do not limit yourself or others- be open, seek to understand, to educate yourselves and others. -Professionalism -Say thank you (and please) -Remember that people are not perfect so try not to throw stones. CP: Is there any news or projects that we havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t discussed that you would like to divulge? RD: I have just started working with Matt Roberts as his exhibition manager which is very exciting. I shall be assisting specifically with the Salon photo prize, the Salon video Prize and Julie Cockburns solo show at Matt Roberts as well as working on the catalogues. Matt is an example of someone who is extremely professional, friendly and extremely generous and a very intelligent curator. He has been a great mentor to me and Core Gallery and I am really thrilled about learning more from him and being involved in another fantastic space. I have also been asked to be on the judging panel for the University of the Arts, Xhibit 2011, which is UALâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most prestigious annual student exhibition, now in its 14th year. The central aim of Xhibit is to showcase high quality student work from across the numerous colleges of the university, ranging from painting and photography to film, fashion, sculpture, and beyond. The exhibition is expected to reflect the diversity of talent within the university. It is an unexpected honour to be asked. CP: Thankyou very much Rosalind