The Corner of (Y)our Eye An exhibition by T-Mo Bauer & Anastasia Belous 26th May - 12th June 2016 54 THE GALLERY 54 Shepherd Market Mayfair London W1J 7QX
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
CONTENTS
“The Corner of (Y)our Eye” – An Introduction T-Mo Bauer – Q&A T-Mo Bauer – CV Anastasia Belous – Q&A Anastasia Belous – CV Price list – T-Mo Bauer Price list – Anastasia Belous Contacts
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
The Corner of (Y)our Eye is a joint exhibition of recent work by multidisciplinary artist T-Mo Bauer and painter Anastasia Belous at 54 The Gallery, Mayfair. Including both separate and collaborative pieces, the show invites the viewer to explore the starkly opposed yet subtly compatible way in which the artists observe their worlds. Through their chosen media, they bring to life moments otherwise glimpsed fleetingly in the periphery. While Belous’ work describes the physical world, T-Mo’s imagery immortalises both the digital and ephemeral, Belous’ paintings lending a corporeal foil to T-Mo’s elusory flashes. While T-Mo’s work often seems to conjure galaxies far away, Belous’ fleshly figures illustrate the earthly plane. Ultimately, it is in their reflections on the theme of extra-bodily experience, and mankind’s place in both the tangible and metaphysical worlds, that the artists truly converge. Brought together, they present us with an alternate realm. A place best viewed out of the corner of one’s eye. Vienna-born artist T-Mo Bauer moved to London as a teenager, where he returned to make his home and studio here after over a decade in NYC. His process is one of continuous material experimentation, including digital photography, installation and abstract sculpture. An experienced pyrotechnician and accomplished photographer, T-Mo marries the two practises to create his own visual language. Although his works are highly technical, their presence is often organic and visceral. Anastasia Belous is a self-taught visual artist from Kiev, Ukraine. Following her studies of Art History at University College London, her practice as an artist is highly traditional, using oils and sitting at her old-fashioned easel in a quest to bring together the beautiful and the curious – successfully consolidating the two in her figurative paintings. Similarly to T-Mo’s work, Belous’ paintings are enigmatic, lending themselves to abstraction as well as straightforward representation.
Dive In, 2016 © T-Mo Bauer and Anastasia Belous
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Q&A WITH T-MO BAUER May 2016 Can you explain the concept behind the series in the show and some of the themes it explores? My purpose in these, as in most of my pictures, is to encourage people to stop, have another look, and think about what it is that they are seeing. They are meant as a visual diversion, one which appeals in its other-worldliness and lulls the viewer into a moment where they forget that everything they see in the picture comes from within themselves, not from the ink on the paper, or from me. It’s about introspection. I know what each image symbolises to me but this series is not about what I feel. It is about the different response and interpretation elicited from each individual. One of my criteria for hanging a piece of art on my wall is that it needs to reflect back something different on different occasions because of the time of day – or most importantly my mood. Some pictures are better barometers than others.
L: Untitled, 2016 © T-Mo Bauer R: Geheimniss der Liebe (German Secret of Love), 2016 © T-Mo Bauer
You mentioned that you had some pyrotechnic training while working with a gentleman licensed to take down bridges, buildings or to blast tunnels through mountains, as well as present fireworks. What was it in this that drove your inspiration – and, sometimes, to obsession with detail? The training in pyrotechnics was a result of the obsession with detail, not the other way around. I had a pretty good idea about what I wanted to capture and thought that I could gain better control over the images if I knew more about different effects, which metal powders produce what colour and at what altitude a given set of rockets or mortars will explode. I was right in that it helps a lot when you can calibrate to a reasonably expected set of outcomes.
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
In your still life works, too, although with very different effect, your desire to control every element of the subject and final image – from its positioning to lighting to the manipulations made after the shot is taken – is evident. How different is the experience of the shooting process when working in a silent room from, say, at a fireworks display on New Year’s Eve? Once you accept that it is impossible to actually fully control the outcome of any action (except to have no effect by not doing anything) you can focus on the controllable to achieve your desired goal. Then it becomes a matter of degree. Of course the ranges narrow considerably once you don’t have ephemeral split seconds events that you are trying to capture. Without elaborating on the obvious differences, I did many floral still life works where I would start with an idea of how I want it to look…and then choose the vase, buy and arrange the flowers, wait for them to open or wilt to exactly where I want them. I have even added ink to the water of tulips to get my colour and texture ‘right’.
In Vino Veritas, 2015 © T-Mo Bauer
Usually one has an appreciative (or not so appreciative) audience when setting pyrotechnics, and once you start, you have to get your shots. It is much easier on the one hand to take photos of someone else’s display than if I prepared the show, but it is much more difficult to know what is coming. Surprisingly, there are many similarities in preparation for the shoot, especially if I am the one with the finger on the remote trigger of the explosions. The biggest difference is that once you set off a set of pyrotechnic events, there is no going for cup of tea to pick up later! TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Does this make a difference to your relationship with the image and subject when later you are manipulating it? The postproduction work on still life images, for me, is much more straightforward, because if I can take my time and get everything set up right, and work in a light-controlled environment, there really isn’t much manipulation or filtering to do afterwards.
Speaking of your abstract works, you mentioned just now that, more than anything, the effect is one of introspection for the viewer – that ultimately the image they see comes from within themselves, rather than being something imposed by you. With your still life works, in which the subject is instantly recognisable for what it is – a bottle, a vase, a flower… - is this also the case? I tend to add or twist or highlight some aspect of each picture as a feature, not too obscure, to get that second look and hopefully provoke a question or two.
Still Life with wild flowers #1 and #2, 2015 © T-Mo Bauer
What have been your other career paths and how have each influenced the artwork you now create? I ran a hedge fund in NYC for 8 years and have since done property investments with the same investors. I became a single father four years ago when I won full custody of my two daughters, and, having cut back my workload to minimum found myself with time and motivation to pursue a path that I had always intended to walk down. I am entirely self-taught in digital photography, although I was very much into analog photography when I was a student. I don’t think that one activity has had much influence over the others, but I do think that my education and personality have influenced my approach to my previous careers in a similar way that it influences my images. I am drawn to the fringe of any system and attempt to make sense of it, understand it, control it...until I do.
How long have you known Anastasia, and what appealed to you in her work that made you want to collaborate in this exhibition? Tell us a bit more about the experience of making the collaborative works.
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
We met socially 6years ago but only connected when I fell for her blue gorillas. I admire (and slightly envy) Anastasia’s mastery of traditional fine art techniques and appreciated her ability to create atmospheres of emotional complexity. Her figure drawing is superb. It was when I saw her drawing of the diver that I immediately knew what he demanded to evolve into. Our collaborations are tempestuous when we actually try to work on something at the same time, but harmonious if we hand a project back and forth. We have a few more in the pipeline - the most recent one can be found on our show announcement.
How do you see your work developing further in the future? I have the next few series mapped out but will try and find time for a sculpture commission that I have been putting off. I am also collaborating with my partner, Michaela Frankova, to produce some more textiles for couture fashion, and to put together a ready to wear collection for Spring 2017.
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com Š TBurnsArts
Q&A WITH ANASTASIA BELOUS May 2016 Can you explain the concept behind the series in the show and some of the themes it explores? I’m a figurative painter and work a lot with human form. In the three nudes that are on show I used live models – through a number of sketches and studies I end with a certain angle and position that I want to portray, which is specific to the individual figure and which causes the most emotional response in the viewer. To deliver and promote this further I deliberately distort the proportions of my girls. For instance, one has incredibly large hips in comparison to her head. I always give lesser dimensions and importance to the arms and hands, while the feet of my models double in size as to ground them further in their animal side. They are hand drawn and take many hours to execute, yet in this scrupulous work I find incredible joy, and freedom for imagination.
L: Olga, 2014, Charcoal on paper, 120x90cm © Anastasia Belous R: Svetlana, 2014, Charcoal on paper, 120x90cm © Anastasia Belous
The largest series of work to date is the Pond series. These picture a human – boy or a girl – swimming or being in close proximity to water and to the fish. This theme has strong links with my adolescent years back in Ukraine. As 12-14 year olds, a group of friends and I were travelling outside of Kiev to the abandoned village called Buchak. Buchak was rich in natural resources including fields of rye, windmills, abandoned small houses, forest, river, and a beautiful lake with no people in the radius of few kilometres. As you were approaching the lake from the hillside down, one could see how clear the water was, and that the lake had one inhabitant – a very large catfish. We went swimming with the fish, creating a very unusual bond. Essentially we the kids became visitors to his lake, and in it became equals. This equality, peace, tranquillity that one finds with nature I attempt to portray in my late canvases. The desire to create art works was to give beauty to people, with late series I attempt to create that spot on the wall for the eye to rest, a memory of what is true, timeless and doesn’t require any further proof. Many of my latest work carry sense of nostalgia for the childhood, peace and nature. This perhaps could be considered in the context of the late geo-political events that are happening in my native Ukraine. In the despair of the two brotherly nations fighting in the war that is not theirs, one misses the days of peace and serenity. TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Special Bond, 2015, oil on canvas, 85x60cm © Anastasia Belous
You have said: “In my work I attempt to give special place to the skill and beauty, and spend many hours at the old fashioned easel striving for both.” How important do you think it is for artists to retain a sense of the old fashioned skill of previous generations of painters? Do you feel this is something lost in younger artists working now? I don’t think it’s important. For an artist working now it is important to identify their audience. I think that there is no Art World anymore but art worlds, and it’s the job of an artist to acknowledge which one he/she belongs to. Within those preferences vary, some like traditional, some like conceptual, some go with rebellious. It is GREAT to know the history of your trade well...and then go against the stream if you wish so.
The skill in your work is clear to see. But some may not necessarily be subjects of beauty (your gorillas, for example, or bruised faces). Is it in your role as an artist to find the beauty within the subject, or it is in the inherent beauty of the paint and the painterly act itself? Thank you. If to put definition to it, Beauty is something that delivers most pleasure within the shortest timeframe. From a beautiful woman to a sunset in Capri, the subject changes from viewer to viewer. To me beautiful is the omnipotent spirit that is enclosed in our bodies. Hence the icon with mirror in place of Christ’s face in which you can see your own reflection, hence the striped down to the flesh and bones portrait (of Thomas) with the eye left to explore the world. Hence the gorilla series – who share 98% DNA with us – who I portray with classical attributes of the artist (brush, palette), as if the apes painted themselves – entering typically human domain of art and self-portraiture.
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
L: Blue Gorilla, 90 x 70 cm, oil on canvas © Anastasia Belous R: The Ukraine, 2015, oil on board © Anastasia Belous
The self-portrait with a bruised face you refer to is a girl with a ribbon with the national flag colours in her hair, an allegory for The Ukraine at this moment of time. It directly references the annexation of the Crimea peninsula by Russian Federation last year, and the conflict that is still going on in the east parts of the country. These events are saddening to me, as although being born in the USSR I find my identity in being Ukrainian. Even if one doesn’t immediately recognises the allegorical figure through the Ukrainian flag colours, and sees perhaps the portrayal of domestic violence, the girl is still looking straight at you. As in her gaze she states her existence, power and negligence of violence as something inferior to her. I do take particular pride and joy in the physical skill that I have taught myself to acquire, and perfect further with each new piece. The physical is the key word. I like the fact that it’s my hands that do the job, I take great pleasure in the tactile qualities of my painted surfaces. One can touch them and feel another’s presence. I also like the utopian idea that should Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle come to live and I am to survive, I will still be able to paint with a little earth and oil :)
Tell us a bit more about your process. How, firstly, do you select your subjects? Well if I work directly with models, the person dictates the result, as I like to get “beyond the surface”, and to their soul. Painting for me is the way to express an idea, the feeling. The process involves dreaming up, researching, sketching, painting, and then many more changes to already existing work in search for that perfection. I think my greatest work so far was done ‘on a single breath’, even if it took longer to execute. I think all the best work is done ‘on a single breath’. There is something ruthless about it that I really like. Even if I don’t like the result. Like Basquiat, I don’t necessarily have a particular leaning towards his work – but I love with how he worked
When did you come to London from Kiev, and what perceivable differences, if any, do you notice in the creative scenes? I left Kiev in my late teens and don't have much professional experience from that part of the world to be able to compare to the scene in London. But London definitely offers many more opportunities in terms of exposure, connections and collaborations with other creatives. TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Moving on to this particular collaboration, how long have you known T-Mo? We met around 8 years ago and became closer friends around 2 years ago, and later – art collaborators. I am very happy to have found cross paths with him, as our work is so very different. I learn from T-mo new ways, I feel he helps me – the dinosaur – to progress.
What appealed to you in his work, which made you want to collaborate in this exhibition? Thomas has the ruthlessness that I mentioned above that I so admire. He just goes for it, and his new ways I find fascinating. Although I will never go into digital domain, I think that magic happens on the crossing of old and new, which I hope we will explore further than this exhibit.
Tell us a bit more about the experience of making the collaborative works? We fight all the time - but it fascinates me that the occasional disagreements also add to great results.
How do you see your work developing further in the future? We have already discussed a few ideas not to be disclosed just yet. It is funny that several of our visitors pointed towards the same direction. Maybe it’s a good idea. Maybe we will develop it
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
CV – ANASTASIA BELOUS Born 1987, Kiev, Ukraine
Education 2009 – 2011 2006 – 2009 2003 – 2005 1993 – 2001
MA Art History, UCL, London History of Art, Christies Education, London, University of Architecture, Kiev Art School for Youth No 2
Recent exhibitions 2015 – present Group exhibition, Hay Hill Gallery, London 2015 – 2016 PQR Financial Planning, London 2015 Secret Art Pop Up Group Exhibition at Library Club, London Group Pop-up Exhibition “Art in the Attic”, London 2014 “Master Of Art International” competition, selected entries, Great Yarmouth Race Course, Norfolk, England 2012 Group Show, Glasgow City Hall, Scotland 2001 New Art Youth Exhibition, Kiev’s Philharmonic, as part of the graduation show of Arts School for Children and Youth no 2
Collections Private collections in London, Milan, Paris, New York, Miami, Barcelona, Berlin, Hong Kong and Moscow.
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
PRICE LIST – T-MO BAUER IMAGE
TITLE Dive In, 2016 (collaboration between Anastasia Belous and T-Mo Bauer)
MEDIA & DIMENSIONS Crystal print mounted, framed 80cm x 80 cm Edition of 8
Memento vivere, 2016
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 Edition of 9
Omnia tempus haben, 2016
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 Edition of 9
Tempus Ignis 2016
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 Edition of 9
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
F major 2016
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 Edition of 9
Untitled, 2016
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 Edition of 9
Si vis pacem para bellum 2016
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 Edition of 9
Viribus unitis 2016
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 Edition of 9
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Guilt Conscience 2016
Lightjet High Gloss print 72cmx128cm (+2cm border) Edition of 9
Tempest Fug it
Crystal print 60 x 40 cm edition of 11
V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Crystal print 60 x 40 cm
Still Life with wild flowers #1, 2015
C-type Metallic Print 50x50cm Edition of 9 + AP
Still Life with wild flowers #3, 2015
C-type Metallic Print 50x50cm Edition of 9 + AP
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com Š TBurnsArts
Still Life with wild flowers #2, 2015
Burning question
C-type Metallic Print 50x50cm Edition of 9 + AP
C-Type on fuji flex, mounted on di-bond 72 x 72 cm Edition of 9
Almamia
Fine Art Print 98 x 78 cm Edition of 9
Geheimniss der Liebe (German Secret of Love), 2016
Fine Art Print. 90 x 63cm Edition of 9
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Insectoid 3, 2016
fine art print, framed under UV glass 42 x 59 cm
In Vino Veritas, 2015
C-Type print on Metallic paper, mounted 63.5x63.5 cm Edition of 9 + AP
Insectoid 5, 2016
fine art print, framed under UV glass 42 x 59 cm
colours surface, 2014
Fuji Crystal Print 109 x 72 Edition of 9
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com Š TBurnsArts
It tolls for thee, 2014
Fuji Crystal Print 84 x 59.4 with vintage magnifying glass Edition of 5 delivery subject to availability of glass
subconscious subjective
inkjet on rear lit film mounted on vintage x-ray viewer
Guilt Tulip, 2014
inkjet on brushed aluminium 63 x 63 cm
Gilt consciencee reprise (2014-2016)
fine art print in vintage gilded frame 50 x 60 cm edition of 5 size will vary depending on matched frame
Security device for Banknote 7, 2015
fine art print mounted framed 29 x 42 cm
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com Š TBurnsArts
Mardi Gras 2016
C - is for cat
Fine Art Print 60 x 40 cm
part of children’s alphabet book, Work in progress
Bespoke cocktail dress
Lace and digital print on silk Collaboration with Michaela Frankova
Bespoke cocktail dress “copper tulip”
Lace and digital print on silk Collaboration with Michaela Frankova
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
PRICE LIST – ANASTASIA BELOUS IMAGE
TITLE Dive In, 2016 (collaboration between Anastasia Belous and T-Mo Bauer)
MEDIA & DIMENSIONS Epoxy print 50x50cm Edition of 8
Olga, 2014
Charcoal on paper 120x90cm
Svetlana, 2014
Charcoal on paper 120x90cm
Alina, 2014
Charcoal on paper 80x60cm
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Oleg, 2014
Charcoal on paper 80x60cm
Tentacle Dialogue, 2016
Oil on board 80x60cm
Margarita and Margarita, 2016
Oil on board 80x60cm
War and Peace, 2016
Oil on canvas 120x90cm
Special Bond, 2015
Oil on canvas 85x60cm
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com Š TBurnsArts
Koi Diver, 2015
Oil on canvas 120x90cm
Big Rower, 2015
Oil on canvas, epoxy 150x120cm
Lake of Serenity, 2016
Oil on canvas 150x120cm
Frog Prince, 2016
Oil on canvas 70x70cm
Fish Rider, 2016
Graphite and watercolour on paper 59x84cm
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts
Arizona Dream, 2016
Graphite and watercolour on paper 59x84cm
The Ukraine, 2015
Oil on canvas
Schnobel from Chernobyl, 2015
Oil on canvas
The Inner Self, 2015
Oil on board
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com Š TBurnsArts
ENQUIRIES For sales enquiries or further information, interviews or images please contact Tani Burns: T: +44 (0)207 377 5665 M: +44 (0)7888 731 419 E: tani@tburnsarts.com W: www.tburnsarts.com FB: TBurnsArts on Facebook TW: @tburnsarts
LISTINGS INFORMATION Exhibition: Venue: Address: Dates: Times: Website:
The Corner of (Y)our Eye 54 The Gallery 54 Shepherd Market, London W1J 7QX, United Kingdom 26th May – 12th June 2016 Monday – Saturday 10:00 – 18:00 or by appointment http://www.54thegallery.co.uk/
TBurnsArts | 15 Bishops Court, 54 Folgate Street, London E1 6UN | tani@tburnsarts.com | www.tburnsarts.com © TBurnsArts