Chloe mickelborough dada (1) (1)(1) by Chloe Mickelborough

EDITORS LETTER

Before, artists had a reputation for being lazily dressed with easy-care hairstyles and supportive and sensible (and often ugly) shoes because we expect that they’d be standing at an easel all day. They would be drowned in natural fibre garments like linen and wool in an array of neutral earth tones. But now, with the loving support of digital art and popular culture, artists are rapidly becoming, dare I say it, trendy. So, don’t worry, you’ll find no brown Birkenstocks in DADA magazine, we’re just trying to celebrate the cool, young faces that are uniting in collectives that are creating and recreating culture. We’ve interviewed many young and creative individuals, discussed what the future holds for GIFs, and have asked why some dickhead keeps taking photographs of women eating on tubes and uploading them to Facebook. Feminism is a reoccurring theme through the issue, though you don’t have to be a feminist to read it. We also chat about MDMA, though you don’t have to do that either. Enjoy. Your Editor, Chloe Mickelborough

CONTENTS Computer Curator

I Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Pop Molly

Trendy Kunst

The Escapades of Kojey Radical

Gif Us Gallery Space

All You Can Feel

Bad Taste

Girl-Y

The LA Kidd

Modern Day Dada

MOM

The Revolution of Menswear

Dear Fashion, From Jackson Pollock

Candy Coloured Carcass

Human Decay

COMPUTER CURATOR Let’s be cliché and ask; what is art? I know, it’s subjective and dependant on the different variables of the circumstance, etc but let’s walk a mile in the Russell and Bromley loafers of a middle aged, middle class art collectors and answer it. These would say that traditional art is a golden framed oil painting that provokes a spectrum of emotions as you stare at it from behind a red rope. Plonked next to a ‘Do Not Touch’ sign, the work of art has been hand-picked by educated curators and displayed in a specifically designed room, inside an established gallery, so you know it’s legit when they tell you this is art. However, with the rise of digital technology, it’s safe to say that The National Gallery isn’t the only go-to gallery anymore and now artists are able to broadcast themselves through a plethora of different mediums through a range of different online platforms. Over recent years we’ve seen the birth of self-made and self-published artists who have gone on to create new art movements and make cultural waves. Take Emma Arvida Bystrom. 5

Bystrom is something of a Tumblr celebrity. The multi-talented model first received attention from the World Wide Web four years ago because of her dolllike face and unashamedly overgrown pubic hairs, but she is also a talented artist and photographer. A talent that was nurtured through her religious use of Tumblr, monitoring trends and seeing what art gets re-blogged and what doesn’t. As a result of the time she spent online, her blog developed her polished photography style and feminist art, which is now sought after by the both the art and fashion industries.

These online collectives have made way for user generated content to find its place today and it’s now playing a huge role in what we call art. Another collective that is currently receiving traction to itself and its contributing artists is the @ rt B@by G@llery, which is an site that curated by Grace Micele and celebrates artists in the early stage of their career through monthly solo exhibitions. The collective focuses mainly on digital manipulative art that involves developing their own imagery through contemporary collage and using gifs; an art-form that goes against the tradition of, for example, an artist painting on a canvs. The artist doesn’t physically create their piece which therefore changes the relationships between the artist and their tool and their subject. Tumblr has provided a democratic platform for young artists to showcase their work. The site gives people like Emma – with strong ideas and a clear vision – the opportunity to build an online following before conquering the real world.

She represents a generation of artists raised by the www. Her art is part of a new aesthetic movement, built for the masses and led by the internet generation. The young artist’s work is showcased accessibly as a part of collective The Andorous on Tumblr, which is a platform curated by feminist artist Petra Collins – for female artists to post their current artistic projects to the world and is designed to be shared by as many people as possible.

I DONT POP MOLLY I POP CULTURE With the decrease of sub cultures, and everyone turning to drugs, is the art of snorting drugs a way of expressing ourselves in tough economic times? Evidence of past sub-cultures can be seen everywhere, but they are seen as diluted mimics of what once was. Today you can buy the exact same style of leather trousers that Debbie Harry wore back in the 80’s, but when you do, you’re seen as a product of consumerism rather than a protesting individual. Does this mean that subculture is dead or is youth culture just bored of making a stand? When you think of youth culture today, the chances are you think of snapbacks, cleavage displayed by both men and women and of course, MDMA. Good old MD, which even the likes of JayZ are talking about. We’re apparently a generation of culture vultures, who are unable to trigger their own movements, they just bottom-feed of those who came before them. So if we’re not wearing distressed denim and Doctor Martens as a protest against Maggie Thatcher then what are we doing to demonstrate how we feel about our current situation?... Queue our good friend Molly.

As humans, we have a natural urge to pursue ecstasy and until now, that was usually about people’s strife to achieve an undiluted joy and now it’s about the quest for the short term buzz you receive from MDMA. The drug that began its journey into the mainstream in the rave scenes in Western Europe, first corrupted pop music back in 2012 when Madonna inappropriately named her album MDNA, has now found its place in popular culture since being introduced to Miley Cyrus’ nostrils last year. Both the lyrics and music video to her hit ‘We Can’t Stop’ showed us that achieving a point of ecstasy is essential to a modern lifestyle. The lyrics to the song shamelessly reference being high, ‘turnt up’ and even state that she is ‘dancing with Molly’ – which is American slang for MDMA. She also sings that ‘Everyone in line at the bathroom, trying to get a line at the bathroom’, making no attempt to hide the substance abuse behind innuendos.

Mainstream popstars have been bringing us escapism through party anthems for decades but it’s the recent intense focus on the short-term, sugar rush, blink and you’ll miss it happiness that is reflecting our dismal economic circumstances. Take for example, pop princess Rihanna and her song ‘We Found Love’, where the lyrics then go on to say ‘…in a hopeless place’, in this music video we see the pop star glamorising the lifestyle of a poor, substance abused couple in a Belfast council estate. At one point we even see the singer’s pupils dilate, amongst the zealous dancing and trippy special effects. Does the fact that the video have over 340,000,000 views suggest that there is a mass of people feeling equally as helpless in the financial crisis that was leftover by late capitalism? There has also, unsurprisingly, been an up rise in depression as the economy has declined, so it’s expected that youths have turned to crystals to escape the harsh truth and just like that, just like the generation’s favourite mainstream icons, MDMA has become a force to be reckoned with.

Though pretty slow on the Molly-popping uptake, the video to Miley’s song reached out to the working class, underprivileged, by showing how the want for faux-frenzy is something that all youths can relate to. Furthermore, the aesthetics of the video could not be less similar to a scene from a teen show; written by late teens and aimed at late teens. In these kind of shows, the protagonists are post-modern and pan-sexual, lapping up any hedonistic opportunities thrown their way, looking good but behaving badly, and shorn of the earnest political identities of the baby boomers. 9

MDMA basically turns you into a soppy puppet: you love everyone and everything in the whole world, all you care about is being petted and you just pine after being loved by everyone. It’s a drug that makes even the toughest man sensitive and friendly; for example, rave culture was also huge in the soccer hooligan community briefly and produced the “Love Thug”, football goons who spent their weekends dancing and cuddling everyone, all caught in the joyous chemical rapture of MDMA. It makes music sound better, and you want to dance to any given sound – that might be why popular artists are feasting on the idea of nations of fans that are under the influence. So the current mainstreaming of MDMA in the context of the global financial crisis, and the so-called ‘lost generation’ it has created, should come as little surprise; pop culture cannot help but reflect the social zeitgeist.

TRENDY KUNST

In this issue, DADA has interviewed a selection of young artists who, through exploration of their own identities as young women, are making feminism fashionable.

GRACE MICELI Grace Miceli, is a girly girl from Chicago who doesn’t shy away from pretty flowers and overdosing on the colour pink when focusing on her oeuvre. The artist, who describes herself as being just like Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate about You - before she got loved up with Heath Ledger of course – has a creative output that she articulates through new multimedia. She is a talented photographer, video artist, poet and undeniably an eminent arbiter of the online world. With a composition that investigates the performance of identity across a landscape of pop culture in conjunction to internet trends. with a pinch of comedy, she explains her main aim is to entertain and evoke thought; “I want to make people laugh while hopefully making them think at the same time.” Miceli, now dominates a slice of the World Wide Web, and is constantly developing her self-aware online presence through pushing the notion of selfportraiture as an inherently feminist act. She is interested in empowering the results of a combination of the personal with pop culture and says that she wants to portray “the importance of traditionally understood trivial teen aesthetics and make them more than that.” Her obsession with the modern teenage stereotype inspired her to create her array of binder doodles, evocative videos and a photography collection that explores adolescent sexuality. However, she’s not just in it for herself as she actively encourages and unites other flourishing artists by managing online art exhibition @rt B@by Collective. The posse of online artists all demonstrate the social media savviness that is making way for a new breed of self-made feminist artists that are bouncing off each other to create momentum in the right direction. “We all inspire each other to be creative” she explains. “There’s a collective of young women from a variety of backgrounds, locations and ages coming together online and making art. There is a great energy there and I hope it continues.”

APRIL SHERGOLD

EMILY MILLER Emily Miller, a 21 year old from St Petersburg, isn’t afraid of tackling the issues of consumerism when she creates her pink and often fluffy sculptures that were inspired by her up-bringing in America. Her work challenges the way that woman are portrayed in the media and the way that girls are automatically categorised by their gender, she explains “I am interested in the way marketing and consumerism has created a certain type of femininity. Girls are branded pink from the moment they are born.”

“I’m a bit of tree-hugger, I like things to be economical,” says April Shergold, revealing an insight behind her work that sees the artist sculpting with human hair. The 22 year old, originally from Kingston, London, is currently studying for her final year at Winchester School of Art. Her pieces, comprising of only natural body casts and huge balls of human hair - despite first impression - only take around a month to create because she gets a lot of ‘contributions’. She says “Local hairdressers are always willing to help and sometimes I go into university and a student has anonymously donated a clump of hair, which is weird but really cool too.” The artist explains that the importance that people place on their hair is the context for her work, “I’m interested in the perversion that surrounds women’s bodies, apparently a woman is beautiful if they have long, beautiful hair, so I wanted to toy around with this stereotype.” The accomplished sculpture artist aims to question the attractiveness of human hair by 13

creating human constructions with trails of extensive hair from unconventional places. She explains “I also take inspiration from different religions and cultures and the views that they hold on hair. For example, in the western world, girls should have long luscious hair on their heads but then we’re expected to shave everywhere else. So we look like children again, it’s all just a bit perverted isn’t it?” Shergold’s work is not only influenced by the Western World but is takes inspiration from sexism from all over the world. “Other religions expect women to cover their hair, because if a man was to become attracted to her because she hadn’t, it would be seen as her fault and therefore a sin,” she explicates. And, despite the fact that her work may be - as she describes herself – ‘gross’, she insists that her work is supposed to shock and evoke thought, “Feminist art should be taken seriously and should make people think twice about how we think about women.”

Although, she’s not afraid to admit that when she was younger, she had also fallen victim to the enticing glamorisation of females in the spotlight: “As a little girl I was deeply influenced by marketing, namely the marketed product that was and continues to be Britney Spears. The late 90s were especially interesting because you begin to see not just the marketing products and ideas, but also people.” The accomplished young sculpture, by using capitalism as the context for her labour, explores the uncertain battlefield where consumerism and feminism collide. This is best seen in her work of two fuzzy X’s, that she created to represent the formation of female chromosomes, that epitomises what it means to be a young woman that has been exposed to the 21st century media. Her second piece however, ‘Feminist Nunchucks’ shows the same size and shaped sculptures but this time without the sugar-coating and sees them bare all as hard aluminium crosses.

THE ESCAPADES OF KOJEY RADICAL “Batman inspires me, I fuck with Batman,” Kojey says coyly smiling at the waiter as he brings him his hot chocolate, after collectively rolling in on his vibrantly decorated skateboard. I’m sat with the comic obsessed, London born artist Kojey Radical in #GuardianCoffee café in the heart of Shoreditch; surrounded by trendy hipsters debating current affairs and browsing through the public iPads. Kojey, best-known in “the ends” for his impeccable abilities in spoken word performance, is a multi-talented and accomplished Jack-of-all-Trades artist, studying illustration in his final year at London College of Fashion. The 21 year old poet, who doesn’t believe in segregating art-forms, starts by telling me how he accidentally became a lyricist. “The story is quite funny. At school in year five, some people came to my school and we were told we had to write a poem, and the best one got published and… mine got picked.” He tells me how he wrote a lovely five-lined poem in a bid to create one of those generic war poems that we all had to when we were younger, and somehow succeeded and was published at the age of ten. “Then a guy called Sonny Brakes came to my college and performed some poetry, and me being a cocky cunt thought; ‘I could do that’. So he told me, ‘Go ahead then, write a poem about feet.’ So I did.” Stirring his hot chocolate and gazing around the room, he confidently describes how

his peers immediately took a shine to his work. “I performed in the canteen and it went alright, people cared. But, I didn’t wanna be known as the feet guy so I started writing better stuff, other projects. And then I wrote Chapter Two.” His work is articulate and passionate, a talent which his time living in London has undoubtedly developed. By spending so much time doing what the artist describes as “just chillin”, he’s seen what works, and knows how to relate to his audience. As a result, the tone of work is immediately recognisable as it often orchestrates an emotional and vivid trip through London town. Kojey reflects a generation of young Londoner’s affected by debt, racial and societal issues. He writes about and uses concepts in his art that are largely influenced by the strong aesthetics of his hometown; to him, London is very special. “I would never denounce London, it’s me. I could write nice fancy poems and move about, but I’m from the blocks. I’d never forget London because that would be like forgetting me”. His home leaks into his art and his dress sense. When I meet him, he’s dressed like a dapper London bloke; in skinny jeans and trilby hat that he combines with a pair of Nike Roshe Runs that suggest there is something unashamedly urban about him.

He’s frank about his lifestyle and admits that he even tried his hand at graffiti but gave up because it never looked right and he always had embarrassing names that were inspired by B-Boy movies. “I had a horrific name back in the day, you know. My name was ‘Kojey Dorkyrock’ - all one word, basically I was watching old movies, and started giving myself nicknames, and then my mates called me Dorkyrock and unfortunately it stuck.” He also describes how he used to rebel in the name of art, stealing equipment from school to feed his painting addiction, “Fuck it. I’ve stopped buying utensils, nearly all of my equipment has been stolen from secondary school but I’m not there anymore they can’t come get me. Double jeopardy.” And despite the fact that he harbours a nonchalant “fuck it” mentality and appears as tough as old boots, there is something sentimental about every word Kojey says to me and with hesitation; he confesses that some of his best work has come from a dark place. “The deepest poems come from when I’m really emotional obviously, but I hate admitting that I have emotions. I just try to thug it out.” And even though, he will openly tell you that he puts on a front to seem detached from his feelings, there is something brutally honest about the content of his artwork. More recently, he has been focusing on gearing his art towards the music scene and finishing his EP that will be released this summer and managing his art collective ‘Push Crayons’. “I want to nurture people that have the same motivations and ideals that I do and focus on more of our creative people as Push is getting a lot of recognition”. However, he explains that concentrating mainly on his upcoming EP is proving difficult because he has purposely surrounded himself by people who inspire him but doesn’t want them to impact his own voice. “I’ve been trying not to listen to anyone because of my EP, I don’t wanna be influenced”. Kojey’s material is part of a new movement led by a circle of youth that through online collectives are supporting and fostering one another in a bid to solidify their place in the industry today.

GIF US GALLERY SPACE As collectors start eyeing up GIFs, is it time to ask if we can really own digital art? Words by Chloe Mickelborough Gifs are by no means a new online craze. For years, they’ve been used as little more than rib-tickling digs by trolls on social media; however, the rapidly increasing popularity of Graphic Interchange Format files has helped them establish a presence in mainstream culture and the art world. We took notice recently when photographer Fong Qi Wei presented Singapore in gif form, manipulating his images to present the city in a weird and wonderful new light. To create his piece, titled Time in Motion, Qi Wei took a series of panoramic skyline photographs over the course of the day. He captured different parts of the area, from the harsh ocean surface to daunting skylines and the cool, calm beaches of Changi. But it’s what the artist did with these that made it something special. Qi Wei, using the wonders of gif technology, captured the essence of Internet popular culture and turned it into something professional and artistic. By integrating his snap shots, he allows his audience to watch Singapore evolve.

His dimensional creations hold sizable artistic merit, influencing the way we think about moving images online— when we’re not laughing at the ones of Honey Boo Boo or Jesus dancing. I’m talking about the real art, the ones that bring a whole different element to an image; not a tidal wave of difference, but a subtle change that forces an inspiring vein to course through the original. And, as we celebrate the cementation of this digital movements place within the art industry, we want to know if it’s got the staying power to secure a place in our galleries. Art duo, A Current Sea, seem to think it does; nobody is protesting. The digital dream team, made up of accomplished graphic designers Sarah Zucker and Brian Griffith, plan to elevate the animated GIF and change the way we view them. Zucker explains, “A well-executed GIF gives you all the impact of a video that could be ten times its length.” She believes that GIFs are so much more than entertaining ways to show your followers on Tumblr highlights of your favourite sitcoms.

According to the creative pair, the gif—a medium that an immodest number of people seem to be passionate about—should be taking pride of place in our art galleries. When discussing the future of the new art form the couple are quick to recognise the GIF as the ultimate crest of our collectively slashed attention spans; Zucker says “You could say that’s a bad thing but to me it’s an indication that we’ve become so selective about what we’re willing to give our time to.” Griffith continues on his partner’s point, “We’ve seen time and again that when we show people a GIF on our phone, it’s not like a picture where you just look and go ‘oh that’s cool.’ It captivates the user for seconds or sometimes minutes at a time.” That’s quite an achievement considering that in the carnivorous age of technology, our attention spans have shrivelled to the size of kilobytes. Lilli Kielczelski, a fine art student at Wimbledon College of Art agrees that to keep art relevant as an industry, artists need to be openminded about new mediums. “As an artist, the importance of finding new ways to approach a subject or your materials is constant. I think digital art enables accessibility and also in an age where technology is at the forefront of everyday life, making it more accessible as an art form which is great!” She continues that she sees no reason why traditional art collectors should embrace new movements, “It should have space in traditional galleries, I love it when I see something unexpected in a gallery, and it’s always great to be exposed to different things.” It would seem that like other great artists, the duo has a serious obsession with regenerating culture to create their oeuvre. The pair is determined in their quest to take the GIF from the computer screen and into the physical world. Soon, we’ll see transformations of the digital everywhere: on the Internet, in galleries, in mainstream media and eventually, even in print.

ALL YOU CAN FEEL

Drugs and Art go hand in hand, but Sarah Schoenfeld shows us what happens when they go under the microscope. There is no denying that art has a long winded and erratic historical romance with substance abuse because; whether alcohol or absinthe, LSD or heroin, some of humanity’s creative geniuses produced their greatest work whilst altering their minds. While some will end up addicted; others just experimented – like Bryan Lewis Saunders. The American mixed media artist pushed himself to the limit when he embarked on different drugs trips every day for a few weeks, each time producing a self-portrait. Bryan painted under the influence of a dizzying amount of different highs and lows and the results were a kaleidoscopic range of work that included dark, sorrowful etchings to vibrant, trippy pieces. Whether you’ve tried it or not, one thing remains true: we all have an idea of what drugs feel like. And we’ve seen over the time the art that drugs can help produce. But German artist Sarah Schoenfeld used drugs in a creatively legal way to show the beauty of the elements when she converted her photography studio into a laboratory and exposed drug mixtures to film negatives. Inspired by the ever blossoming drug scene in Berlin; the artist diluted recreational drugs such as heroin, ketamine and meth to create her mesmerising prints that make her collection ‘All You Can Feel’. She was influenced with her own experience with mental illnesses, explaining “My father has always been, as long as I can remember, on medication because of his mental illness and then the question arises: How much does it influence the self, the personality, the psyche, and through which concepts do people build their self and experience the world?” This being ironic as the outcome of Schoenfelds experiments can be seen to bare a strong resemblance to the workings of the Rorschach inkblot test which famously engineered new ways in how psychoanalysis was orchestrated.

The series of pseudo-alchemist photographic images produced by the body itself on negatives also epitomise the psychedelic nature of Berlin’s party scene, and captures exactly what you expect to see when tripping on LSD in an German nightclub at 3am. Speaking about the nightlife Schoenfeld said, “I have been around a lot and involved in it, through my Berghain work. I would say that what I observe there, a basic human longing for unity is. The drugs offer an easily consumable access to a mystic experience. I like to call that instant mysticism.” And looking at the astonishing images, you can’t help but draw parallels between Schoenfeld’s photos and the perceived effects of various narcotics, be it the sharp, electrified ball of Ketamine or others look like the chaotic waveform display of one of Berlin’s resident house DJs.

BAD TASTE “Every where I go, I see women eating on tubes… Slowly, secretly, guiltily raising each bite-sized morsel to their salty lips in hope that no one’s watching. Well I’m watching.” This is the erotic martyr of modern day, selfproclaimed artist Tony Burke. However, though this decorative and seductive declaration is not one of expressionist painter or a flamboyant poet, it is one of an Internet troll. Tony Burke, the unhinged mastermind behind the social media phenomenon claims that by taking photographs of women without their consent whilst they’re chowing down whilst commuting, he is creating ‘high art’, but it’s safe to say that the reaction it’s received has been mixed. On the one hand you have all the HASHTAGlads and keyboard warriors that have swarmed to defend the site and praising its appreciation of it’ subjects. One avid follower Sergio Battener even faithfully typed that on the Facebook page that ‘WWEOT is observational not judgemental. It doesn’t intimidate nor bully. Women are embraced and cherished. We celebrate and encourage women eating food on tubes. We do not marginalise them. We always look for the story in the picture.’

And then, on the other hand, you have normal, civilised human beings that are sick and tired of unoriginal ‘artists’ dragging up the same old concept of a supposed love triangle between women, sex and food. The whole idea behind the website is almost as trashy and tedious as those adverts where you see beautiful plus size models biting into a burger seductively because you know, that’s all curvy women are good for, carbohydrates and dirty minds, right? Well according to our very own modern day Freud, Burke, it is socially acceptable to mock a woman for having an appetite, simply because she has a vagina and it warrants men publically humiliating women and likening vagina’s to hungry mouths like the theory of the ‘vagina dentata.’ Apparently, not only is it okay to point and laugh at a woman performing a perfectly natural process just because of her sex, it’s actually seen as an art form by some./ The real question seems to be, apart from the one surrounding the maturity of said Tony Burke, why, when you label something art does it then become acceptable? The definition of art has never really been truly defined and someone’s idea of art could be another man’s toilet. Take Duchamp’s

fountain for example, his porcelain piece, that has received appraisal from critics all over the world and has been exhibited in the Tate, is a replica of a New York urinal. However, in no way are Duchamp and Burke similar, it is just an example of how we perceive art differently. It’s as though there is an unwritten rule that if someone state’s that what they are doing is art, that it can’t be criticised and no matter how ridiculous it is, you have to smile and nod to avoid the risk of looking ignorant. So, are we supposed to just ignore the fact that there are real women who have been publicly shamed and insulted online for snacking on their way home from work on the train, and praise Burke for his so called creativity? Feminist blogger, Emily Hodgkin, says “Tony Burke’s defence of his work by simply calling it art is a device often used to any work dubious in its nature.”

She continues; “The exclusive and intellectual reputation of the art world causes people to worry their criticism will be considered humourless, prudish or ignorant. But art is created within the context of our society and any criticism, feminist or otherwise is valuable.” Also, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that Burke is simply a perverted chauvinist trying to disguise his immaturity with the label of art, when he defends his photography on his Facebook page by assuming that women’s lips are ‘salty’, even though they are pictured eating an orange. Fruit isn’t usually salty; semen is.

GIRL-Y The tale of a girl stuck in a lost generation and branded a Culture Vulture. Photography: Elise Rose

Elise Rose, a 22 year old from Coventry, besides being a quintessentially British girly-girl, is a promising fashion photographer. With the ability to draw dreamlike images from mundane everyday situations, Elise’s photographs are a quirk to lighten any dull day. There is no monotony in Elise’s vision, and her work emits vibrancy, with a palette of vivid and colourful tones. Though, her relationship with art and creativity has always gone further than girl and camera. Using her skills in drawing, painting, music and moving image to helped develop her second, photographic eye. The budding artist has the capacity to emulate everything she loves in the world through still shots and her work completely embodies her charmingly feminine persona. Dada talks to Elise about past decades, daydreaming and 2014.

As a relevant artist, what/who has inspired you? I withdraw inspiration from everything that takes me out of the cynicism of reality. Films by the likes of Wes Anderson & Park Chan Wook to animation and psychedelia. Haraijuku street style and British fashion - especially in recent year - has had a large influence on my work. There’s something that’s very unconventional and unique about it that’s consistently refreshing I terms of artists the likes of David lachapelle, Miles Aldridge, Jeregen Teller and Ellen Von Unwerth have always created fascinating imagery to me. The way they play with with femininity whist capturing a surreal take on the models persona. Describe the aesthetic of your work? A particular quote of David LaChapelle has always stuck with me “If you want reality, take the bus.” I always like there to be an element of bold colour, contrast or surrealism within my work. Whilst the aesthetic can vary depending on narrative, I would say that I never like things to be too minimal. I do see the beauty in simplicity but have always been drawn to the idea of something more. With my fashion reportage it’s all about capturing the details and special moments that can often be lost in the commotion. Has your work always been this way? In what ways does it align itself with your personality? I’ve always been interested in capturing the unusual even before I started to get into fashion based imagery. And I do think that has something to do with my personality. I’m a big daydreamer. Always imagining some kind of ridiculous alternate situation.

Do you change your creative process for different shoots/stories? The after process of my shoots is variable depending on the story I’m trying to portray and photographic method. I go from creating collages with prints to digital image manipulation. When I shoot images that have more of a heavy location or set, the creative process is general more before and during shooting. Getting everything in camera. Your work makes the ordinary, quite extraordinary, why do you think this is important? It’s just always been what I’ve been drawn to. The extraordinary has always excited me in a way that normality never could. You also tend to merge the old with the new, why is this appealing? I think there is something very dreamlike and fanciful about past decades, especially within female fashion and vintage imagery. Mixing this with the plastic fantastic nature of the modern age has always been something I enjoyed. Your shoots seem to fit comfortably within the new art aesthetic movement that has thrived recently online, would you say this purposeful? (I’m talking about gif’s and teen culture etc) I think it’s good to thrive off the inspiration around you, but I wouldn’t say this was purposeful. I’ve always been fascinated by youth and the popular culture that surrounds it.

Whats’s next for 2014? A number of exciting editorial commissions are in the pipeline! I’m progressing into moving imagery and videos to coincide with the stills; more of a cinematic experience for each story. As well as my fashion editorial & reportage work, I’m working with a lot more musicians & personalities. If you could work with anyone in coming years, who would it be? I terms of fashion I would love to work with Nicola Formachetti, but there’s a whole host of creative designers and musicians I’d love to photograph. To be honest, anyone who doesn’t mind playing a character, maybe doing something a little different. 36

THE LOS ANGELES KIDD In his short collection of personal essays ‘I Can’t Feel My Face’, Kris Kidd strips LA of all glamour and exposes its drug-addicted youth. Kris Kidd bears all in his latest compilation of essays, revealing the scarring truth of growing up in Los Angeles; a city that most could only dream about. The book strips Hollywood of its beauty and instead injects it with reckless adolescence, feelings of imperfections and vulnerability. He immediately drags the reader through his life of pool parties and substance abuse. The raw essays plough through his endless therapy sessions, where his therapist is always trying to leech out his feelings about his father’s suicide with a rhythm that makes you dizzy with intrigue and sympathy. The essays by the troubled, gangly young man appear as though he has scraped them from the grimy bedrock of his harrowing personal experiences and smeared them across the page without hesitation. He makes no excuses for his unabashed story-telling, describing the brutal situations he has faced without concern as to whether the reader is judging him. In his essay ‘Fruit Roll Ups’ he divulges an almost indigestible amount of information

about himself; he was a child actor who’s first gig was an advert for sweets, he’s addicted to drugs and alcohol, no one trusts nor likes him. However, it’s how he lays down this information without self-doubt, in this narcissistic fashion, that makes him a likeable protagonist. Disarmingly selfaware, the author acknowledges that there are reasons people keep him at arm’s length, and that he knows that a vice isn’t a good foundation for a connection with a person, yet he admits to driving around with thugs hoping to get a line. The self-absorbed monologue is centred entirely on Kidd’s selfimportance, his disorders and his perception of the world, but it still holds innocence and displays an insecurity that is perhaps an unavoidable idiosyncratic trait of his Y-generation peers. His way of earnestly carrying the reader through his experience with teenage angst, sexual debauchery and loneliness strongly evokes the form of Bret Easton Ellis and his insight into the world of the over-privileged.

MODERN DAY DADA Micosh Holland’s collages’ take on the mantle of German art, his graphic aesthetic a fresh re-interpretation of the great Dada, Constructivism and Surrealism movements of the early 20th century. At first when you notice that the artist recycles the same ultra-brief biography on several art sites and some critics have even had the audacity to call him ‘lazy’. But the fact of the matter is that he dedicates his time to creating art rather than talking about it. He deliberately shies away from lots of psycho-babble about his art and justifiably so, his strong body of work speaks for itself. He pairs vintage materials with digital tools to recreate Dada for the modern world. Influenced by the likes of Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters, his collage featured in the KidsOfDada UP&COMING exhibition layers abstract forms beneath sprinting soldiers. Entitled ‘Bank (Zuerich)’, the work tackles dangerous connections between money and war. With a graphic design background Holland has brought a clean, sharp style and love of text and image into a digital world in which his artistic freedom has given him the space to create wonderful juxtapositions that are influenced by famous German painters and performance artists including Kurt Schwitters and Joseph Beuys. Holland’s bold assemblage art is a bi-product of an intricate process of appropriating fragments until the compositions create their very own statements where ever they end up. He collects publications of diverse subject matters, and from various nations and eras. A good part of his raw material is vintage, another part is from today. The scraps are then composed on paper, retouched and sometimes combined with printing. The work then often receives light digital doctoring on the computer.

Like all collage artists, Holland lives off found images, scraps and fragments from time past, however it’s his treatment of the final image – which is often retouched and combined with various printing techniques – that sets him apart from his peers, gives his work an extra dimension, a means of going beyond the limits of the picture and into an unknown world of ephemera. The process of creating art from found objects is always a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stuffy art world. There is a lasting interest for assemblage art among collectors and artists alike. Today, the artist lives and works in Schondorf am Ammersee in Germany. He was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany in 1968 and since then a lot of water has run under the bridge. His journey towards his present work took him past the Academie Beeldende Kunsten. For the uninitiated it is an art academy in Maastricht. The latter is a place in the Netherlands – more precisely at a crossroads where you are in Belgium when you open the front door, and in Germany when you visit your neighbour. Then, he, like so many artists before him, chose to make a living as a graphic designer in Munich and Berlin. So far it has landed him awards for his art direction. Somewhere inbetween he seized the opportunity to mount a few group- and solo exhibitions. It paid off.

Why did you choose to photograph your mother? Molly Motalon: I started to photograph my mom because it felt right, she wasn’t a stranger, nor lover, nor model. Photographers have been working with family as a subject for years. It just felt like a conversation I wanted to be having.

What is it about her or her lifestyle that you find so intriguing? I’m interested in the kind of woman in 2014 that she represents and what it means to me a mother. I was brought up surrounded by the very specific lifestyle that resides in South Florida. Mostly made of artifice. My mom stands in as an archetype for other women in this lifestyle as well.

How do you feel about the contrast between your images and the traditional views of glamorous Florida lifestyles?

MOM Molly Matalon, a 20 year old photographer from sunny Florida who is currently studying to herself a BFA in photography at the School of Visual Arts in Brooklyn, New York. She has shown in New York already at the Ferro Strause Gallery but it’s the series of photographs that the young artist caught of her own mother that has really gained our attention. The body of work is a visual journal of her flamboyant mother’s lifestyle against a back drop of the tropical tones of South Florida. It is a documentary series of tender portraits and landscapes, with Molly’s mom providing an ample focus. Questioning the rules of beauty, 43

Molly portrays the regime of a traditional Florida wife who goes to great measures to achiever her splendour, including a photograph of her subject immediately after she has undergone eye-lifting surgery and is still nursing blackened eyes. By highlighting the faux aspects of her mother’s perfectly groomed with her immaculately styled hair and make-up eventuated features, Molly exposes a vulnerable side to her mother.

I’m not sure. Florida projects a very glamorous lifestyle in certain parts yes, but it also serves as a place of rest and retirement. I think my photographs speak about the quiet and perfected parts of Florida. They speak about the ideal and reality of the place at the same time.

The image of your mother sporting bruises on her eyes is a pretty strong image, what’s the story behind that? My mom had plastic surgery.

The effortless catalogue shows, through flawlessly raw photography, the relationship between her and her mother and how they represent their relationship to the rest of the world. 44

How has your relationship with your mother changed over time and through photographing her for the series? Our relationship has become less confrontational.

How did she feel about being photographed? From what I have gathered and from what I know about my mom, she has enjoyed being photographed and being a very important part of my work.

What has been the response to your images? Some people see my mom as a character (which she is very much) and they are excited about her, and find her to be funny and a meme of a mom trying to be young and hip. Some people think I am exploiting my mom. There are always going to be people who think work is exploitative. There is a spectrum to the word and work can live on different parts of the spectrum. This, along with your other work, especially the ‘Baby Girl’ series, gives off feminist vibes, is this something that you want to demonstrate in all your work? Of course my work speaks to feminism. If you are not a feminist, then what are you?

Any upcoming projects or plans? What are the next steps for you? I am working on making a book with the work of my mom and graduating with a BFA at the end of May that I’m really excited about.

THE REVOLUTION OF MENSWEAR While each season we are introduced to many creative and inspiring menswear collections, it would seem this year we’ve once again been given more than just tailored jackets to think about. It appears that menswear is finally making a stand and is screaming for us to notice it and the protests designers are making against prejudice through their experimentations with overt sexuality, racial politics and femininity. These courageous designs could possibly be menswear’s way of aligning itself with women’s fashion – which constantly flirts with the real issues and yo-yo’s between the androgynous and the girly. It’s safe to say that anything and everything goes on women’s catwalks so it would seem that now men want a piece of the controversy pie. In an industry that can be oppressive to some men, designers are starting to challenge these constraints and are creating pieces that question gender, sexuality and race. For example, London’s own J.W Anderson caused a stir during LC:M earlier this year by toying around the concept of gender creating unisex pieces and sending his models down the runway with leather purses, wearing his quickly becoming iconic brogue heels. Anderson famously expressed how he thought that gender in fashion was a ‘dated concept’, and recently showcased menswear designs that highlighted the femininity of power dressing and saw men essentially dressed as women in body revealing slinky tops, high waisted trousers and slick knee length ribbed coats.

Versace also played with power dressing for their AW ’14 show. Exploring gay sexuality (even more than usual), Versace’s show characterized ‘camp’ with a strong and fierce edge. Taking stereotypically homosexual symbols such as cowboys, codpieces and bondage, the collection actively displayed male sexuality with models walking in studded leather jackets, bottomless leather pants and skintight, ripped jeans. In doing so, despite the fact that it could be seen as a scene from an over-the-top glamorous scene from a Broadway version of Brokeback Mountain, is evidently pushing menswear even more into the spotlight. Tom Strangwick, a model for the Versace show told how the collection gave “the idea of being gay and proud of it, mocking the absurd situations going on in gay rights in countries such as Russia and Uganda.” Explaining that the western approach to what men are wearing is developing in conjunction to the growth of individuality and open-mindedness. “I think there’s quite a liberal view to men’s fashion,” says Strangwick, “more and more things seem to be acceptable which is great. I don’t think I’d be able to wear some of the things I wear now 10 or 15 years ago” Whether it appeals to the commercial market or not, fashion is a statement and a powerful voice which addresses issues in our society. Maybe womenswear will eventually become an archaic word as fashion becomes an acceptable form of experimentation and expression for both men and women? We can only hope.

DEAR FASHION, FROM JACKSON POLLOCK

Abstract expressionism is back in fashion again and while many designers used politics as a background for their collections, some designers turned to D-I-Y art atheistic as inspiration for their designs. A drip painting style print, reminiscent of the unique art technique devised by infamous American abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock in the late 1940s. Known as the father of “Action Painting”, Pollock’s graphic and energetic print has emerged as an iconic moment in art and has consistently been referenced by designers from the moment of its conception until now. In 1951 Cecil Beaton shot cocktail dresses for Vogue using Pollock’s paintings as his backdrops and the instantly recognisable style is still popular fashion inspiration today. Fledgling designer from Manchester Art School, Adam Jones, was ahead of the game when he featured painted leather jackets and dye splashed coats in his collection at Graduate Fashion Week in June 2013. Most recently the Pollock paint speckling could be found when Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons and Californian artist Ruby Sterling put their heads together to collaborate on Simon’s Autumn/Winter 14 collection, to create the archetypical artist’s wardrobe complete with baggy overalls, splattered with dyes. The artsy vibe continued at young, London-based brand Hunter Gather’s autumnal offering, where black denim jacket and jeans combos where splashed with red paint. And the trend didn’t stop at menswear, or at clothes. In Paris, at Vivienne Westwood’s Spring/Summer 14 show, make up was splattered haphazardly across the model’s skin, applied sporadically on the canvas of their bodies from head to toe.

CANDY COLOURED CARCASS

Shannon Rose Lane, a young artist living in East London, explores the psychology behind the need for human domination over the natural world. She leaves a sickly sweet taste in the mouth of anyone lucky enough to see her sculptures that ironically sugar-coat the blind consumerism of synthetic and artificial materials. Through many mediums the artist explores our ignorance, firstly by enticing the viewer with pale colours that emit peace and delicacy, but by also exposing a sense of destruction.

HUMAN DECAY Megan Mitchell, somehow depicts different types of human decay and damages in a most creative and interesting way, through the use of gory embellishment on skin. The artist bejewels her subject whether it be a human or a glossy magazine cut to audaciously critique the standard of beauty that is afflicted upon us by the media. By sewing glass and plastic beads onto scraps of pantyhose and adorning her work across glamorous imagery mocks the beauty industry and her photographs demand that we ask harder questions about our how we look at ourselves.

All rights reserved. For educational purposes only. SINK is a stage three BA (Hons) Fashion Journalism project and has no commercial value.ÂŠ No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission from the publishers. 2014 BA (Hons) Fashion Journalism, University of the Creative Arts Epsom. The views expressed in SINK are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the course, its staff or the University of the Creative Arts at Epsom. These parties cannot be held responsible for them. With a special thanks to Phil Batchelor for the graphics and Daryoush Njafi for his guidance throughout the project.