revision COMPLETE scheduled for publication
Julia Riddiough
Julia Riddiough Something for the Weekend, Sir? An Artist Statement A Brooks Art is delighted to present an exhi-
bition that brings together solo exhibitions by two artists in conversation, Sadie Hennessy and Julia Riddiough. While the exhibitions are to be viewed and understood as
contradictory state this project explores masculinity from a range of perspectives. Sadie Hennessy presents both existing work and new pieces and continues to deliver her humorous, wry feminist manifesto. Her hybrid collages create unsettlingly surreal combinations, delivered with a wicked sense of humour aiming to unsettle its audience, whilst eliciting a jolt of recognition in them. Hennessy explores themes of identity and personal representation investigating the role of men in society and how this is reflected in our every day. The work shows male themes of hierarchy, strength and competition in our culture – men trapped operating under the constant weight of political guilt trying to find a balance that works. Julia Riddiough creates vivid film & photographic essays that combine fact & fiction using found imagery. Encompassing photography, video and printed material Clip Cut Gel includes the exhibition of three works that address male grooming, masculinity, the gaze and the painful compulsions of male sexuality. These include: the photographic series; Toy Boy, Rough Trade & Play Boy; the artist film Clip Cut Gel and the limited edition artist book Barber Shop. Clip Cut Gel reveals amplified masculine characteristics; drawn from male stereotypes that we see in the visual language and plays with the way the male is looked at and builds this into a spectacle itself. Something for the Weekend, Sir? (left) Sadie Hennessy 'Are We Not Men Series?' (Roses) (right) Julia Riddiough 'Clip Cut Gel' (Rough Trade)
separate entities, they also interweave and are in dialogue with one another. Something for the Weekend, Sir? considers what it means to be a man today; caught in an undefined and
An interview with
Julia Riddiough In Clip Cut Gel you explore the way the male is looked at, deconstructing male stereotypes. Could you tell us a particular episode that has helped this project? The Clip Cut Gel project includes four works: the photographic series; 'Toy Boy', 'Rough Trade' & 'Play Boy': the artist film 'Clip Cut Gel' and the artist’s book ‘Barber Shop’. These new works consider what it means to be a man today; often caught in an undefined and contradictory state the work investigates masculinity from a range of perspectives. For this project I also participated in informal artist residencies in high street barber shops screening the film where I had the opportunity to encounter camaraderie and banter in what has been seen to date as a male space; catching up with men as they were groomed, transformed and socialised together. Here the project expanded and informed my understanding of the reality that some men face everyday. When asked ‘’what are the pleasures of being a man today?’’ an emphatic reply came across ‘’not being a woman!” or another question “if you ruled the world what would it look like?” the quiet response from the gentleman in the corner was ‘Fluffy’! We find that your art is rich of references; in particular your late works reminds us of Cindy Sherman's imagery. Can you tell us your biggest influences in art and how they have affected your work? My heart belongs to photography and film but really I am an omnivore and relish all art disciplines. - I suppose any one who tears up the rulebook and explodes what we might have been thinking before. I find inspiration daily in the world all around us and how we respond to it. Also going to the theatre for a direct visceral experience and favourites are David Mamet, Beckett and Pinter. Visual artists might include filmmaker Sarah Morris, photographer Thomas Demand, sculptor Sarah Lucas, and Barbara
Julia Riddiough Artist and Founder of A Brooks Art
Kruger the list is endless! Somehow all these filters permeate my work whether conscious or subconscious. There is always something new to see, try and learn that informs my practice. In Clip Cut Gel you have used images from magazines of the 80s. Why have you used found images for this project? Is there a particular reason linked to the ephemeral qualities of these old-fashioned images today? I use a lot of found imagery in my practice, looking to find new ways and narratives to reframe the image. I try to layer the work from different perspectives so that there are many entry levels. The images must have ‘legs’ in the first place so that they can be considered. The images in Clip Cut Gel although from the 80’s seemed to me to be stereotypes that we see the visual language that surrounds us everyday and I wanted to reflect that back. Plus ça Change! More than 50 years have passed since the International "Situationist" pamphlet by Guy Debord: the manipulation of
Julia Riddiough Artist Logo in Neon
Julia Riddiough 'Clip Cut Gel' (Toy Boy)
Julia Riddiough 'Clip Cut Gel' (Play Boy)
mainstream moving-images and photos had a remarkable political aim for the French philosopher, while nowadays artists seem to be attracted by found footage manipulation in order to explore deep psychological issues, whether the footage has a "private" source (old super8 home movies) or not (fragments from mainstream films). In Clip Cut Gel, you succeed in mixing these two aspects, creating a sort of "Micro Politics of desire". How do you achieve this balance between "political" and "private"? One of my aims was to present the males in Clip Cut Gel as passive to the active male/female gaze referencing Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” whilst exploring the gendered hierarchy of looking. The male portraits in the film reveal amplified masculine characteristics; drawn from male stereotypes; 'Clip Cut Gel' plays with the way the male is looked at and builds it into a spectacle itself by utilising close up and panning with a script that draws us into intimate and confessional moments. The image of the man is seen as compliant and raw material for the active gaze of the spectator presenting an alternative structure of representation. The work hopefully suggests male identity as role-play and how we subsume ourselves from the world of images we are fed. Our engagement with culture is often rendered as a form of mirroring and that transaction can be read as metamorphosis: when we identify with an idea or character, we often adopt their vocabulary or physical characteristics becoming the spectacle and then the object of desire itself. In Clip Cut Gel we can see that the media forms whilst forming meanwhile we consume and reflect these images back. This world of male poses and self-as-image is explored in a continual circle of transference and transformation and can be mapped back to the ‘Society of the Spectacle’ "The spectacle is not a collection of images," Debord writes, "rather, it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images” You are a multidisciplinary artist: in what manner your work as photographer influences your video making? I mainly use stills in making my videos creating an illusion of movement with various different techniques so the starting point is always the still image and the context and frame it has
been derived from. It is from that context the narrative and meaning starts to develop helping the work unfold and make the final work. Watching your video art we had the impression that your subtle irony is a fundamental component of your creative practice: in your opinion is this just an impression? It’s a definite creative decision to infuse irony into this film. It was my intention to invert male anxiety by injecting humour and anecdote. Humour is a way of connecting and communicating and can help get your ideas easily across and is one of entry levels that most people could identify and feel confortable with. It can create an emotional pull that might lead someone in deeper. Irony adds an unexpected viewpoint that in turn offers another dimension to work. Thanks for sharing your time and thoughts, Julia. What's next for Julia Riddiough? Are there any film projects on the horizon? Two new exciting events in London and New York participating in October in Art Licks Weekend and Exchange Rates festival 2014 in Bushwick Brooklyn. The Clip Cut Gel Project and film will be shown alongside another British artist Sadie Hennessy creating a dialogue between the two artists. The project is called ‘Something for The Weekend, Sir?’ and explores the lives of men in society today. I also have a film project in the can and this work will explore the borders of art, gender, voyeurism and photography and it has a working title ‘Techniques of Photographing Girls’ due in 2015. http://abrooksart.com/portfolio/clip-cutgel-julia-riddiough/ http://abrooksart.com/portfolio/something-forthe-weekend-sir/
Julia Riddiough 'Clip Cut Gel' (Rough Trade)