Poetic portraits by Polish photographer Kate Katies
Everyday is a new day and has its own opportunities which in many cases are unique. So patience, calm and assertiveness are skills that I have developed with the frequency of love and understanding to people around me.
My Name is Kate, I'm from Poland, yet I've been based in London for a few years now.
It’s here in London where I have found the key ingredient in my creativity. I'm grateful for how life has been in the last few years. Challenges and difficulties have made me look at my surroundings from a different perspective. At the beginning as a scape, yet with the time it has become a way to explore my emotions, connection with others and how the world moves around me. I’m a keen Yogi, and that also has an influence as it helped me to be more flexible, not only physically but at heart.
At the beginning I started just using a mobile phone camera as I couldn’t afford anything else and wasn’t sure of where photography was going to take me. Nowadays, I still work with my IPhone 13 Pro and a Fuji x-e4 which I really like as it’s a small frame and easy to carry and shoot without much time to prepare.
I started with street geometry, which I think is a must as it really gives you the school for perspective but not often tells a story, it’s the interaction that people have with their environment, nature, structures, and themselves what really sparks my creativity on my daily commute, walks, etc… Lately I’m focusing on portrait in the studio which throws a technical challenge, but anything and anyone under any circumstance could be my next shot.
Creativity is about having the freedom to do whatever I want, is good to have an influence at some point from other photographers but following other people’s work just keeps you in a static frame, experimentation has been in so many ways the key to finding my own style. Pleasing others might give you straight recognition but doesn’t mean good work, in fact, it could turn out to be the worst of your work.
instagram @kate_katies
Frieze 2023: The Pinnacle of Contemporary Art Arrives This October
Ibrahim Mahama, Bintu Abrasipu Sekondi, 2019. C-print on Dibond, 97.5 × 65 cm. Purchased from White Cube, London by the Contemporary Art Society through its Collections Fund at Frieze, October 2022; presented to Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, 2022/23. © Ibrahim Mahama, courtesy of the Contemporary Art Society
As October approaches, the international art scene is buzzing with anticipation for Frieze 2023. Celebrated as one of the world's leading art fairs, Frieze is an emblematic gathering that encapsulates the spirit, innovation, and diversity of contemporary art.
Set in the stunning location of London the Frieze Art Fair will run from Wed, 11 Oct 2023 – Sun, 15 Oct 2023 offering an extraordinary opportunity to immerse oneself in a world of artistic discovery.
The 2023 edition marks the 20th anniversary of Frieze London, Art enthusiasts, collectors, and even casual observers can expect an eclectic mix of works, from avant-garde installations to timeless masterpieces. Notable this year is the focus special initiative Artist-to-Artist, where eight world-renowned artists propose a counterpart for a solo exhibition at the fair.
Frieze 2023 isn't just a visual feast; it's a full-on sensory experience. Aside from the art, attendees can look forward to engaging dialogues in the Talks Programme, hands-on workshops, and even a sculptural park offering a tranquil escape from the indoor excitement.
Frieze 2023 is more than an art fair; it's a celebration of artistic dialogue and discovery. This October, be prepared to explore, engage, and most importantly, be enthralled.
For the latest updates on Frieze 2023, stay tuned to SMOOR Magazine. We’ll be on the ground, capturing every brushstroke and nuance.
See you there!
Marina Xenofontos, I don’t sleep, I dream, 2021. The Island Club, Limassol, Cyprus. Courtesy of the artist, Hot Wheels Athens and The Island Club
Rita Keegan, Homage to Frida Kahlo, 1987. Oil on canvas, 66 x 66 cm. Acquired from Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo © Tate Photography / Matt Greenwood
Baptiste Pauthe: Beach flavoured paintings with a street-art edge
Grew up with surfing in front of the ocean, in the Landes between Hossegor and Seignosse. After graduating as an architect in Bordeaux. After a few experiences in an architectural agency, he leaves time to deepen his creation and make his painting travel in Spain, France, Belgium and recently in California.
Visual art is his means of expression, he develops his creations from painting to drawing, from illustration to video. In an intimate and sincere quest, he expresses himself out of personal need. In a refuge full of love that he insults and full of sorrow that he praises, his brain is regenerated through colors and texts that tell his stories.
Michael McIlvaney: beautiful serendipity in street photography
Subordinate
The daily collisions between one's inner private self and the everyday reality of urban city living, form part of a project intended to explore the metaphors associated with this tension: vulnerability; alienation; subordination; fear; threat; isolation; infringement; intrusion, as well as the tripartite relationship between victim, perpetrator and image maker. The series calls into question the photographer's participation: whether as documentarian, witness, narrator, facilitator, voyeur, conspirator or a combination of these roles. Ultimately this project is about this threefold dynamic.
from mikemcstreet
Collision
The city encounters record temperatures. The glass and steel of the latest structures reflect the light and magnify the heat causing distress and anguish to the city's inhabitants. When the natural and created worlds collide things get uncomfortable. A passerby approaches: "Do you know the news today?" "No" "It's the same as yesterday! The world is careering toward a climate apocalypse. Didn't you know? And you just stand there. Taking photographs. Do something man. Something needs to be done!"
from mikemcstreet
Memoirs of a gaze, the portraits of Carole Pueo
Carole Puéo is a painter with a passion for literature and music. She nourishes her reflection and her painting with a double curriculum as a visual artist and an art historian. She has studied feminist art and gender studies.
Battersea Arts Centre & GOAT Music Present Borderless
Plus New Shows Added With… Sons Of Kemet, Andrew Ashong, Metá Metá, Family Atlantica & More
‘Since working at Battersea Arts Centre, I have often heard stories of legendary gigs in the Grand Hall three and four decades ago, including The Jam and Fleetwood Mac. It’s great to be working with Goat Music to bring live music back to Battersea Arts Centre, in the historic Council Chamber at the front of the building, starting out with a series of fresh musical talents for summer 2016.’ David Jubb, Artistic Director, Battersea Arts Centre.
Tickets are on sale now via: www.bac.org.uk/borderless
We have a limited number of press spots available for each show, please get in touch with katie@therestisnoise.co.uk as soon as possible to reserve your place.
BORDERLESS EVENT PROGRAMME
HACKNEY COLLIERY BAND
+ Support TBC
2nd Aug | 8pm | Tickets £15
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/hackneycolliery
In August & September 2016, Battersea Arts Centre and former Roundhouse music programmers GOAT Music will collaborate to present Borderless, a series of live music gigs bringing the festival feel straight to your doorstep.
Borderless is excited to announce the addition of 5 new artists to the forthcoming series at Battersea Arts Centre. The new additions bring 3 artists in August; widely acclaimed British-Ghanian soulman Andrew Ashong, Mobo award-winning jazz trio Sons of Kemet, and Dele Sosimi with his unique blend of danceable funk and traditional African music to grace the venue’s beautiful Council Chamber.
September additions also enhance the smorgasbord of global music at Borderless. Hailing from Sao Paolo, Metá Metá will showcase their Brazilian roots with their avant-garde take on Samba, jazz and Afro-punk influences, with inspiration from the chants of the ancient orixas shining through. Family Atlantica bring their multi-continental sound fusion to Battersea, following an array of intense live shows throughout the European festival circuit.
The Councli Chamber, Battersea Arts Centre – Photo Credit – Vikki Ellis
MONEY
+ Support TBC
3rd Aug | 8pm | Tickets £15
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/money
ANDREW ASHONG
+ Support TBC
9th Aug | 8pm | £15
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.co.uk/andrewashong
SONS OF KEMET
+ Support TBC
11th Aug | 8pm | £20
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/sonsofkemet
DELE SOSIMI
+ Support TBC
18th Aug | 8pm | £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.co.uk/delesosimi
NUBIYAN TWIST
+ Support TBC
24th Aug | 8pm | Tickets £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/nubiyantwist
HÆLOS
+ support TBC
25th Aug | 8pm | Tickets £15
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/haelos
KATH BLOOM
+ Support TBC
30th Aug | 8pm | Tickets £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/kathbloom
ELECTRIC JALABA
+ Support TBC
7th Sep | 8pm | Tickets £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/electricjalaba
METÁ METÁ
+ Support TBC
13th Sep | 8pm | Tickets £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/metameta
FAMILY ATLANTICA
+ Support TBC
14th Sept | 8pm | £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/familyatlantica
ROSEAU
+ Support TBC
20th Sept | 8pm | Tickets £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/roseau
MAMMAL HANDS
+ Support TBC
21st Sept | 8pm | Tickets £12.50
BOOKING LINK: www.bac.org.uk/mammalhands
FRANCESCA BELMONTE
+ Support TBC
29th Sept | 8pm | Tickets £12.50
BOOKING LINK:
www.bac.org.uk/francescabelmonte
Rinse | Born & Bred
Rinse | Born & Bred kick back to its home of Haggerston Park last weekend on June 4th and 5th. The festival is now a teamwork with Rinse FM - From grime to hip-hop, from house to drum ‘n’ bass, jungle, garage, techno plus much more, it remains firmly rooted within the sounds within and past the capital. Instead of attempting to chaotically cover all bases, it keeps its remit firmly, tightly centered on London talent.
Found again compiled leading lights of grime, garage, dubstep, drum & bass jungle and together with breakthrough acts to celebrate the present and future sounds of London. Saturday saw acts such as ILoveMakkonen, P Money, Slimzee, Wookie, CASisDEAD, Benga and Jammer entertain crowds across four stages including Lord Of The Mics, Livin' Proof and Heritage vs. London Some'ting. Mike Barnard was there for the Sunday.
This is an needed festival for the city and also provides a platform for both rising talents and pioneers in their respective scenes to showcase their sounds and we eagerly await the announcement of next year’s big draws.
Rinse | Born & Bred – Haggerston
On Saturday 4th June 2016 Found Presents: Born & Bred, two days festival event excellent true London sounds in East of London.
Born & Bred has slowly become one of east London’s very best music festivals, with a consistently excellent booking policy covering the world’s finest alternative acts. The bill regularly incorporates everything from grime, hip-hop and drum ’n’ bass to house, techno, garage and beyond.
Don't miss the fun!
ILOVEMACKONEN // WILEY + SLIMZEE // NOVELIST // CRAZY COUSINZ
A G Cook / AJ Tracey / Ant TC1 / Benga / Calibre / CASisDEAD / Congo Natty Ft. Congo Dubz + Iron Dread / dBridge / Dispatch Records / Emerald / Exit Records / Foundation (Scott Garcia & Sticky) / FWD>> / Heritage / Jammer / Josey Rebelle / Kahn + Neek / Kyla / Koreless / Lady Leshurr / Laurel Halo / Loefah b2b Fabio / Logan Sama / London Some’ting / Lord of the Mics / Lotic / Marcus Intalex / Marcus Nasty / Maya Jama / Newham Generals + J Cush / P Money / Ray BLK / Sir Spyro / Swamp 81 / The Square / Wookie
Avelino / Big Zuu / Brockie / Complexion / DJ Cartier / DJ Ron b2b Kenny Ken / DJ Spoony / DLR / Fusion / Hodge / Jammz /Lily Mercer / Livin’ Proof / MC Creed / MC Det / MC GQ / MC Visionobi / Mikill Pane / Motive b2b CWD / Mssingno / Murlo / PAP / Sam Supplier / Siobhan Bell / SK Vibemaker / SP:MC / Splurgeboys / Survival / The HeavyTrackerz / Vencha / YGG / Yinka / Youngsta
Gilded Chaos by Benjamin Murphy
Artist Rowan Newton interviews artist Benjamin Murphy ahead of his striking new body of work Gilded Chaos, showing at Beers London soon!
After The Day After
Artist Rowan Newton interviews artist Benjamin Murphy ahead of his striking new body of work Gilded Chaos, showing at Beers London soon!
Gilded Chaos
Preview: Thursday 14 January 6-9pm
Exhibition: 15 Jan.- 13 Feb 2016
Why have you chosen electrical tape as your medium? When did this begin, and do you feel restricted by it?
I did it after a few too many beers one night around 6 years ago whilst I was doing an MA in Contemporary Fine Art at The University of Salford. I like it because of its limitations I suppose. There are no books about ‘how to draw with electrical tape’, so any techniques or solutions I need I have to work out for myself.
Why do you always use black tape, as electrical tape comes in other colours too?
All of my work is black and white, even when I’m not using tape. It’s a much bolder and more striking aesthetic, the world is multicoloured and anything black and white stands out in contrast to it.
Your pieces have a confliction between life drawing and still life. Often a nude study is at the forefront but in a staged environment with many still life objects dotted around in the background. What do you prefer, the still life or the life, and what is it that interests you about the both of them?
I always have the ‘still life’ elements in the background, as a way of suggesting possible storylines for the main character of the artworks. They are both important but the background detail is only there as a way to add extra potential narritive for the subject.
What is your reason for so much pattern work within your pieces, is this because it looks pretty, or because it is a challenge to recreate such intricate pattern work; or is there something else to it?
It is partly just a way of challenging myself and pushing my limits, and partly because I decided to make this new body of work as detailed and lavish as possible to resonate with the show title. (Gilded Chaos).
“I want to leave the works ‘meaning’ up to the viewer to determine”
There is a strong narrative to your work, is the message a direct one you wish to tell, or is it for the viewer to interpret for themselves?
I’m always careful to suggest multiple possible meanings and messages, but in a way that their interpretations are multifarious. I believe in the pluralism of interpretation, as any viewer who looks at an image will see it in a different way. So for this reason I want to leave the works ‘meaning’ up to the viewer to determine. I like to hint at things, but ultimately I feel that most of the work should be done by the viewer.
Is there room for you in the art world for just pretty looking art, art work that is just there to be enjoyed for its attractiveness but not so much trying to convey a message?
There definitely is a place for it, but I find that it doesn’t hold my attention for as long as works with more substance to them than their surface aesthetic. Craftsmanship on its own isn’t really enough without something else.
Constanza
Within your narrative there are regular motifs that pop up, skulls, crucifixes but the one that stands out to me in the toilet roll, talk to me about toilet roll?
I thought that that particular work needed something that was almost plain white in the center to balance the image, and so my first idea was a skull. The vase of flowers and the urn obviously both already have strong death connotations so a skull would have been overkill. As it looks like it is in some kind of funeral parlor or something the toilet roll seems to fit in, also there’s something darkly comical about it, which I like.
Will we see toilet roll in this show?
Yes the toilet roll one is in the show, it’s called ‘In Praise Of Darkness’. It’s titled after a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, who has been a big inspiration for the show.
There is a play with perspective in your work, the angles of chairs not quite lining up with angle of the shelf or the bed or the table etc. What do these mean for you?
My use of perspective is quite important and people rarely pick up on it, so I’m glad you have.
Perspective is utilized by the artist to transform a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional space. This brings the viewer beyond the frame and into the artwork, as what is seen in the foreground is imagined (through the use of foreshortening etc.) to be at the front of the image. Perspective in a two-dimensional image is an illusion, and its immobile vanishing points is something that is never seen in nature. This already makes the artwork static and artificial, before the subject matter is even considered.
Perspective can be utilized to create feelings of unfamiliarity and otherness when used in the right way. When I draw the person in the artwork, they are seen from below, as if the viewer of the work is looking up at them. This is drawn in a contradictory way to the one in which I draw the background, as the background is seen as if the viewer were above it.
This imbalance in perspective is what creates the subtle but very real sense of unease in the viewer, as it is not immediately noticeable to be the source of the uneasiness. This difference in perspective creates two ‘artificial’ viewpoints that occur from every singular ‘real’ viewpoint.
“Like a pop-up book, the character in the artwork is forced out of the confines of the frame and into the real world”
The way that the subject and background are seen creates the illusion that the subject is in fact a giant in their surroundings, and is much closer to the viewer than they appear, and that they aren’t really situated in the background at all, but on the viewers side of the frame. By placing objects in between the viewer and subject, the subject is then forced back into the background slightly, back into the picture.
Like a pop-up book, the character in the artwork is forced out of the confines of the frame and into the real world. The person depicted in the artwork is brought into the real world, and not the viewer into the artwork as is created with the correct perspective.
These techniques with perspective deny the viewers eyes from properly feeling that they can enter and explore the artwork fully, which the perspective appears at first glance to invite.
Which artists have influenced/inspired you with there use of perspective in their work?
I’m a big fan of the expressionists, many of whom do their perspective a little off; especially Vincent Van Gogh.
There is a voyeuristic nature to your work, as if you’re looking into private moments, what intrigues you about these moments?
The work is voyeuristic in a sense, but it is intended in a totally non-sexual way. I am careful to make the subject non-sexualised and non-passive in her surroundings. It is more like the viewer is voyeuristically looking at someone going about their daily lives, but in no way are the subjects naked for the pleasure of the viewer. If anything seedy is going on it is the fault of the viewer and not the subject of the artwork.
I like the subtlety of how uneasy this makes the viewer feel.
Do you feel now that we as people are being observed in voyeuristic manner, as we expose ourselves almost daily on social media, especially Instagram?
I suppose we are, but we put ourselves out there to be looked at. No one can see anything you don’t first decide to post. Instagram and facebook are inherently narcissistic, but then being an artist requires you to be a bit of a narcissist to begin with.
Are you ok with that or do you feel you have to do it to help build your audience and try and connect with them on a more intimate level. If you did not have your artwork to expose, would you be on social media?
I think I probably would still be on it, but I wouldn’t take it anywhere near as seriously.
More often than not your subjects are naked, is this to do with vulnerability? There are also kinky aspects to your work, corsets, suspenders, knives, are you turned on by your work? Is there a sexual releases for you in your work? Who are these women and do these settings exist?
It is more to do with innocence than vulnerability in my mind. Lingerie and underwear tend to be sexy in a coquettish way, by suggesting that which they conceal. For me those items are more of a way in which to cover up something, which in turn is a way of making the work not so much about sex. I don’t like to draw fully naked character as its tough to have them still appear tasteful and non-sexualised.
What frustrates you about your art and the art world around you?
The only real times I get frustrated with my work is when I can’t find time to be drawing, or when I’ve been drawing for so long that I can’t tell what works and what doesn’t. In the art world in general I’m most frustrated by the continuous rehashings of pop art that are so ubiquitous these days, Pop Art ceased to be interesting a long time ago.
Face to face how do you find talking about your work, is it something you are comfortable with, or shy away from?
I don’t mind it so much, I find that I often talk too fast and go off on tangents for far too long though. I’m much more coherent when I’m writing it down.
You have a solo show at Beers Contemporary coming up. What is the theme of this show and have you approached it any differently to past shows?
I’m really excited about showing with Beers, they are a great gallery and have been amazing to work with this far. To be even listed as one of their artists is an honor.
There isn’t a theme as such, but all the works relate to one another in some way. There is a lot of detailed floral pattern running throughout the works, partially inspired by William Morris. These works have taken a lot longer to produce than the works for my previous shows, due to the level of detail et cetera. This in turn has meant that as I’m working for much longer, my inspirations are all the more myriad.
What was the biggest challenge to putting this show together?
The level of detail has been a big challenge, as the smaller you go the more difficult it is. It’s also hard to spend days drawing the same pattern over and over, it makes you go a little insane.
What do you want people to walk away with once seeing this show?
I want people receive so many different and contradictory thoughts and emotions that they don’t fully understand them until they go away and ruminate on them. I also want the show to have a lasting impact in some way, be it positive or negative. Anything as long as it isn’t ambivalent.
Body Honesty
How this era’s art is debunking body shamers.
How this era’s art is debunking body shamers.
With armpit hair censored on Instagram, Gigi Hadid called ‘too big’ for modeling and period adds being banned for ‘inappropriateness’, it appears that for us women, there is no place left for anything less than ‘perfection’ in this society. Being aware that beauty ideals go back to an untraceable time, it is safe to say we have reached the limit. As we are the Selfie obsessed, social media horny generation with a strong opinion and a reasonably big ego, it seems the fingers are all pointed at us; and so we left ourselves with a mess, where deviations of what we consider perfect are selectively disregarded and 80 per cent of the female population feels awkward about themselves. Isn’t it time for us to fight this weird situation we have found ourselves in before we lose the idea of what the reality actually is? Being bored of the traditional female body parading throughout the art scene, these next artists challenge the idea of beauty and provide us with a brutally honest representation of female diversity.
Exploring the struggles of ‘black’ hair through pastel coloured still lives, Nayeka Brown might be the perfect badass example of self-acceptance. Confronting us with the reality of our definition of beauty in the context of a black woman, the photographer dares to tackle the taboos surrounding body image, race and tradition in an undeviating way.
If there is one thing to admire this Finnish artist for, it’s her courage to approach her body in a humorous way. Shoving a broom under her boobs, putting on a hat with ‘bread hair’ while standing on a treadmill, nothing is too absurd for this upcoming photographer. However while she’s having the time of her life making these shots, she’s simultaneously teaching the world a lesson about body shaming, taking a piss with beauty ideals and questioning the fact that abnormal may be normal.
Although still finishing up her studies, illustrator Layla May Ehsan is already getting her voice out there, and I can assure you it is a powerful one. Highlighting a painful and these days rather shaming thing that goes on inside women’s bodies, Layla’s period drawings are aimed to start a conversation, pointing out the ridiculousness of the lengths the world goes to in order to avoid the ‘gross’ subject of menstruation.
As tolerance is hiding behind a world full of stereotypes and discriminating thoughts, there is a powerful counter reaction going on to actively help our society towards acceptance. From indie films dedicated to a love for chubbiness to a photography movement capturing body reality of our diverse society, it seems we are finally ready to be honest about our bodies and if body honesty is the theme of this era’s art, than at least there is something we are doing right.
Miami Art Week 2015 Highlights
At the center of what now is commonly referred to as Miami Art Week, is Art Basel Miami Beach, held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center. During the 14th edition, 267 galleries from 32 countries exhibited and sold works from world renowned artists like Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frank Stella, Yinka Shonibare, Kehinde Wiley, Anish Kapoor and Wangechi Mutu. The fair, spearheaded by Art Basel’s newly appointed Director Americas Noah Horowitz, was attended by 77,000 visitors over five days, including major private collectors as well as directors, curators, trustees and patrons of nearly 200 museum and institution groups. Collectors from over 110 countries attended the show, with first-time collectors coming from Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Romania, Togo and Zimbabwe.
The most engaging section at Art Basel Miami Beach tends to be the Positions sector, which allows curators, critics, and collectors to discover ambitious new talents from across the globe, by providing a platform for a single artist to present one major project.
Among the 16 exhibitors in Positions, 12 were first-time participants in the sector. Artists included Dan Bayles at François Ghebaly Gallery (Los Angeles), Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz at Marcelle Alix (Paris), Vittorio Brodmann at Galerie Gregor Staiger (Zurich), Henning Fehr and Philipp Rühr at Galerie Max Mayer (Dusseldorf), GCC at Project Native Informant (London), Jiieh G Hur at One and J. Gallery (Seoul), Fritzia Irizar at Arredondo \ Arozarena (Mexico City), Daniel Keller at Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler (Berlin), Andrei Koschmieder at Real Fine Art (New York), Jaromír Novotný at hunt kastner (Prague), Sean Paul at Thomas Duncan Gallery (Los Angeles), Romy Pocztaruk at SIM Galeria (Curitiba), B. Ingrid Olson at Simone Subal Gallery (New York), Villa Design Group at Mathew Gallery (Berlin, New York), Thomas Wachholz at RaebervonStenglin (Zurich) and He Xiangyu at White Space Beijing (Beijing).
Sales highlights in 2015 included a Francis Bacon oil on canvas, “Man in Blue,” from 1954, with an asking price of $15 million by Van de Weghe Fine Art, and Picasso’s “Buste au Chapeau” oil from 1971, with an asking price of $10.5 million, from the same gallery. Mazzoleni, a gallery in Turin and London, reported the sale of three works by Alberto Burri from the 1960s, including a “Plastica” which sold for $2 million.
Surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach is a number of satellite fairs in Miami Beach as well as Miami’s Midtown. Most prominently, the modern and contemporary art fair Art Miami, which has been a prime Miami art fair since its inception 26 years ago. As every year at Art Miami, 120 galleries presented works of the highest quality to international collectors. As the No. 1 ranked international art fair for attendance in the U.S. and second most attended globally, Art Miami attracted more than 85,000 new and established collectors, curators, museum professionals, press, art world luminaries and art enthusiasts to its 200,000-square-foot pavilions.
Art Miami sister fair CONTEXT was an absolute must-see this year. Featuring 95 international galleries and projects from 20 countries and 53 cities, CONTEXT presented promising cutting-edge, mid-career and established artists. Especially impressive and one of the most noteworthy stand-outs of Miami Art Week 2015, was the art presented by the Galleries Association of Korea, which included, amongst others, Nine Gallery and artists Lee Lee Nam and Son Bong Chae.
Another highlight of Art Week was the 2015 edition of UNTITLED., held in the fair’s fuchsia tent right on the sand of Miami Beach at Ocean Drive and flooded with natural light, boasting views of the ocean. UNTITLED. creates a distinct fair experience as it is expertly curated to offer a presentation unlike any other fair.
Founded by Jeff Lawson in New York in partnership with Alan G. Randolph in Miami, UNTITLED. welcomed back its curatorial team, led by Artistic Director Omar López-Chahoud, with curators Christophe Boutin and Melanie Scarciglia, co-founders of the distinguished publishing houses “onestar press” and “Three Star Books” in Paris.
Galleries that stood out were Taymour Grahne Gallery from New York, presenting works by Hassan Hajjaj, two galleries from Stuttgart, Germany: Thomas Fuchs and Michael Sturm, Luis de Jesus from Los Angeles, presenting paintings by Edith Beaucage, and Galerie Ron Mandos presenting the latest works by three international acclaimed artists: Isaac Julien, Krisstof Kintera and Inti Hernandez.
Other fairs on the beach were SCOPE Miami Beach, with a focus on emerging and mid-career contemporary and Miami Beach PULSE, where the Vietnamese multi-disciplinary artists, writer and curator Trong Gia Nguyen won the PULSE Prize.
NADA, a fair that to many collectors and art enthusiasts is a must-see, was held at the Fontainebleau Hotel this year. NADA is presented by the New Art Dealers Alliance, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to the cultivation, support, and advancement of new voices in contemporary at. For the 2015 edition, 87 galleries, art spaces and organizations, including Miami’s own Guccivuitton and Locust Projects as well as LA-based gallery Moran Bondaroff, which presented works by artists like Jacolby Satterwhite, Michael Genovese, Lucien Smith and Eric Mack, amongst others.
Besides the fairs, Miami Art Week offers a calendar packed with special exhibition like “Unrealism,” a collaboration between Jeffrey Deitch and Larry Gagosian at the Moore Building, gallery exhibitions, special installations, performances, and projects, public art, breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners and parties, parties and more parties. Whether Solange Knowles spinning at Fendi, the Urban Bush Babes celebrating with Bombay Sapphire, or Dev Hynes and Ryan McNamara presenting their latest project “Dimensions” at the Perez Art Museum Miami, there was no shortage of fun and stories to be told.
Also in town was rapper and producer Swizz Beatz, an avid art collector himself, who brought the No Commission Art Fair to Wynwood. The Dean Collection in collaboration with BACARDI presented an art fair . featuring artists like HoxxoH, Michael Vasquez, KAWS, Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas, Sue Tsai, Timothy Buwalda, SWOON, Shepard Fairey, Tomokazu Matsuyama, and a concert series featuring Alicia Keys, Pusha T, DMX and Whiz Khalifa.
What was different about Swizz Beatz approach? It was quite significant actually. There was no fee to exhibit at his fair and no commission was taken from the artists‘ sales. Additionally, the fair supported The Heliotrop Foundation, started by artist Swoon as a way to support and extend the values and vision of her long-term community-based projects , such as the core projects in Haiti as well as Pennsylvania and Louisiana in the US.
The most interesting project of the week was presented by Anthony Spinello of Spinello Projects - the Littlest Sister Art Fair. The gallery, which showed for the first time in the new space in Little Haiti, also simultaneously celebrated its 10th anniversary with the exhibition “Full Moon,” featuring artists Agustina Woodgate, Antonia Wright, Aramis Gutierrez, Farley Aguilar, Kris Knight, Manny Prieres, Naama Tsabar, Santiago Rubino, Sinisa Kukec, Typoe and special live performance by Psychic Youth Inc. and Franky Cruz.
Curated by Sofia Bastidas, the Littlest Sister Art Fair was a “faux” invitational art fair, commenting on the art fair as an entity that activated Miami’s contemporary arts scene. The fair, set up as a traditional fair space with 10 small white-walled booth featured works by Miami based female artists who work in painting, sculpture, design, installation, and new media. A project sector focused on video, sound, performance, and happenings.
NUN at the Littlest Sister Art Fair - photo by Robert Dempster
Running concurrently, Platform, a symposium bringing together Miami’s most influential women in the arts, invited panelists to engage in conversations and debate regarding current macro and local issues, from challenges in the field, the future of art fairs, real estate development and the arts, to gender and race inequality in the market. Programmed throughout Miami Art Week, Platform will create informal opportunities of exchange for real critical discourse.
The story of painting rascal Ide André
“Everyone can say what they want, but I do hope that my work comes across as fresh, dirty, firm, crispy, dirty, clean, fast, strong, smooth, messy, sleek and of course cocky.”
“Everyone can say what they want, but I do hope that my work comes across as fresh, dirty, firm, crispy, dirty, clean, fast, strong, smooth, messy, sleek and of course cocky.” – Ide André
Somewhere between the concrete walls of the Institute of the Arts in Arnhem, a talented kid with a big mouth and an urge to paint was bound to challenge perspectives. Years later, he found himself rumbling in his atelier, experimenting with ideas and creating things out of chaotic settings. With a determined attitude and an open mind, he managed to turn everything into a form of art. Some people liked his work, some people questioned it; either way it got attention. Right now, he’s working on several projects all exploring the relationship between painting and everyday life with the carpet (yes, the carpet, I told you this guy can turn anything into art piece) as main subject. His work is a reflection of his personality: bold, impulsive, fun and with a fair amount of attitude. He however likes to use a couple more words when describing his own work. This is the short version of his biography, the end of my version of his story. If you prefer a more authentic one here’s the story in the artist’s words:
I once saw a show of Elsworth Kelly when I was a child. The enormous series of two-toned monograms clearly made a big impression on me. I remember staring with my mouth wide open at the big coloured surfaces. I’m not that much of a romantic soul to say that it all started right there, but it did leave an impact on me. I actually developed my love for painting at ArtEZ. I started out working with installation art and printing techniques, but I was always drawn to the work of contemporary, mostly abstract painters, until I actually became fascinated about my fascination with abstract painting. Because, let’s be honest here, sometimes it seems quite bizarre to worry about some splotches of colour on a canvas. Even though painting has been declared dead many times over, loads of people carry on working with this medium no matter what; from a headstrong choice, commitment or just because they can’t help it. I am clearly one of those people, and that fact still manages to fascinate me.
At ArtEZ you talk so much to your fellow students, teachers and guest artists, little by little you kind of construct your own vision on art. And that’s a good thing! All this time you get bombarded with numerous opinions, ideas and assignments, some of them (as stubborn as we are) that seemed useless to us and weren’t easily put on top of our to-do-list. Until there is that moment you realise that you have to filter everything and twist and turn it in your own way. Then there is that epiphany moment. That moment you realize you can actually make everything your own. I think that’s the most important thing I’ve learned during University: giving everything your own twist and constantly questioning what you are doing, subsequently always struggling a little bit but still continue until the end. Like an everyday routine.
I’m not going to enounce myself about the definition of art. That would be the same thing as wondering what great music is or good food. I think it’s something everyone can determine for themselves. I do think it is interesting to ask myself how an artwork can function and what it can evoke. There is this exciting paradoxical element within art. On the one hand we pretend that art should be something that belongs to humanity, something that is from the people, for the people; on the other hand is the fact that art has its own world, its own domain where it can live safely, on its own autonomous rules, and it doesn’t have to be bothered by this cold, always speculating world. There are pros and cons about both sides, and I think it’s impossible to make a work of art that solely belongs to one of the two worlds. As Jan Verwoert, Dutch art critic and writer, words it: “Art as a cellophane curtain”. Without getting too much into it (otherwise I’m afraid I’ll never finish this story), there is this see-through curtain between the two worlds. The artist is looking at the outside world through his work, and the outside world looks at the artist through his work. That’s how I see art and how I approach it.
My work often comes about in various places, with my studio as a start and end point. I buy my fabric at the market and from there the creative process really starts. I print on them, light fireworks on them with my friends, or sew them together with my mother at the kitchen table in my childhood home. I try to treat all these actions as painting related actions. Like a runner that goes to the running track on his bike; we could ask ourselves: is he already exercising running? On an average atelier day, I toil with my stressed and unstressed fabrics, chaotically studded around the room. Usually I don’t have a fixed plan. My process is semi-impulsive and comes from an urge. Often this causes little and mostly unforeseen mistakes, these ‘mistakes’ often prove to be an asset in the next project.
As for the future, (Lucky for me) I don’t own a crystal ball, so I wouldn’t dare to make predictions. And quite frankly I wouldn’t want to know. Young collectives, initiatives and galleries keep popping up and I think we continue to grow more and more self-sufficient. Of course there is that itch of our generation to always learn more, do more; an urge that I believe will never disappear, also not within myself. I will stubbornly continue to work on the things I believe in. Not because it offers me some sort of security (most of the time it’s the opposite) but because I just can’t help it.
Alec Soth – Gathered Leaves
The Alec Soth retrospective at The Science Museum contains works from four of his most well known projects: Sleeping By The Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010), and Songbook (2014).
2008_02zL0189, from Broken Manual © Alec Soth
The Alec Soth retrospective at The Science Museum contains works from four of his most well known projects: Sleeping By The Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010), and Songbook (2014).
As well as being the first major exhibition of his work in the country, this is also the first ever UK exhibition of Songbook.
The first room contains his first and perhaps most well known collection, Sleeping By The Mississippi. A series taken all along the iconic American river, documenting the daily lives of the locals who live inside its wide basin.
Hailing from Minnesota, Soth has an intimate knowledge of this river that runs through his hometown of Minneapolis. In this way this series is partially self-referential, as he is documenting a society of which he is an inhabitant. This familiarity is evident through the photographs, and such closeness would be unimaginable were he not a part of what he documents.
His work shows us beauty in the most unexpected of places, and this series is especially good at showing to us that which we would have never found for ourselves. What is ordinary to these people is otherworldly and exotic for those who live away from it.
The simple lives of people living outside of traditional society are beautiful in their approach to nature, and in their honest simplicity. They live with the existing landscapes, rather than upon them. Their houses are simple and inoffensive to the nature that surrounds them, hermitlike and nomadic.
Two Towels, 2004, from Niagara © Alec Soth
The works in this series (and indeed most of his oeuvre) instill an unusual air of calm upon the viewer. There is an intense stillness in these works that seems at once both serene and frozen. The expressions and poses seem at first calm, but upon further discovery seem pained, even forced. This is something that Soth himself embraces, as the camera set-up and way he photographs takes longer than most contemporary cameras. This removes the initial pose that is automatic from the subject, and the one captured is of bewilderment and frustration at the process. In this way he is able to take un-posed photographs of posing subjects, and through this he shows us the real person beneath their instinctual façade.
These people have sought out freedom, and somewhere for them to disappear. They are contented with their lot, and all they seek is escape. Soth permeates this community with ease, and is accepted by the residents. Their need to disappear is lifted slightly, and he allows us to peek beneath. In a sense we are voyeurs when we look upon a Soth photograph, for they were always only posing for Soth, and never for us.
“When I think of the Falls as a metaphor, I think of a kind of intensified sexuality and unsustainable desire”
Soth’s love of the work of Diane Arbus is evident throughout, and the methodology of documenting those ‘on the fringes of society’ permeates the work of both artists. One obvious difference is that Soth is primarily a ‘book-photographer’, but in this show he proves that his work is as at home on a gallery wall as it is in a book.
Niagara is the series that fills room two, and in many ways feels like an extension of the Mississippi project. The work is presented slightly larger, but the themes of stillness, calm, and loneliness all appear throughout. Niagara itself appears still and calm, like a blanket of crushed blue velvet.
Two Towels, 2004 is a photograph of a pair of towels manipulated in such a way that they appear as if two swans are kissing, forming a heart in the negative space between them. Tragically comic, this arrangement is clearly shot in some budget motel, the type which is often stayed in alone, or with a guest who is paid by the hour.
The balance between tragedy and comedy is evident in all of his series; in Sleeping By The Mississippi a woman sits amid garish Valentine’s decorations, drinking alone. In Niagara a mirrorball is strung from a tree in a forest, the photograph hung on the adjacent wall is of a shirtless man with a swastika tattoo. This man is one of the subjects interviewed in the documentary Somewhere To Disappear, and despite his fascist opinions, seems timid and delicate.
These people have actively sought a life that is away from the conventional, living entirely as they please. They appear to crave their own freedom, and yet allow (and indeed enjoy) the attention that they receive from Soth and his camera. Isolation can bring freedom, but it can also create intense loneliness. This loneliness is visible in his subjects, through the look upon their faces to their willingness to welcome Soth into their insular existence. These people are escaping ‘traditional’ life for a reason unknown to us as the viewer, and in this they make us fantasize about our own escape, if but for a fleeting second. This is something that pervades most of his work, and in every series in this show there are elements of “American individualism and the urge to be united.”
Crazy Legs Saloon. Watertown, New York, from Songbook © Alec Soth
As a species we crave both freedom and unity, but sometimes we forego one to fully experience the other. Soth has found such people, and their desire to be one with humanity is reminded to them through his intervention. There is a certain delicateness in his work that is suggested by the simple connection between two people who just happen to be together. Sometimes it is nothing more than being in the same place as another person, but in the moment that two people inhabit the same space, they are connected. This connection between Soth and his subjects is profound in its simplicity. They are connected, but only for a short while, and then they are both alone again.
A collection of letters between some of the people he photographs is displayed, and this offers us further insight into these people’s lives. One such letter closes with “Take care and drop dead”.
The brilliant documentary Somewhere To Disappear is shown in its entirety at the exit to the show, and is an exquisite look at some of these subjects. It is quite long (57 minutes or so) and can be viewed at the below here if time is a concern.
Page No 2: “If there was a nice apartment and I have a descent job and you felt happy and thought there could be a nice history together, would you come home?”
Carnival Glass at Block 336
This December, artist-run gallery Block 336 is offering you a different view on art history, altering and mixing different cultures, times and movements with exhibition ‘Carnival Glass’.
Aiming to provide a platform for both established and emerging artists with an emphasis on collaboration, freedom and experiment, the project space combines the talent of seven artists in the UK art scene in one exhibition. Lewis Betts, Freya Douglas-Morris, Grant Foster, Brian Griffiths, Archie Franks, Lydia Hardwick, and Lana Locke will be taking on the challenge of combining numerous techniques such as sculpturing and painting to create beautiful entities, simultaneously exploring chaos to reach innovation. Art history connoisseurs will recognize references to Gothic, Baroque and Rococo aspects, while culture enthusiasts will be able to deepen themselves in the subtly integrated carnivalesque elements. Londoner and award wining contemporary painter Archie Franks is both displaying his artwork and curating the event.
As if there isn’t enough for your eyes the focus on, you can let them wander around in the remaining rooms of the building as there will be another exhibition going on at the same time. In his first solo show HOMEWARE_update, Corey Bartle-Sanderson displays the experimentation of combining objects that aren’t usually put together.
Both exhibitions will have their private view on the 4th of December.
Body Of Songs
Get ready to be overwhelmed by creative concept ‘Body Of Songs’, a series of 10 songs, bringing together Britain's most talented musicians to contribute a single about the mysteries of the body’s organs.
Get ready to be overwhelmed, better yet staggered by creative concept ‘Body Of Songs’, as this is going to be one of the craziest yet brilliant ideas you have encountered so far. Starting off with the somewhat dark visuals and simultaneously easy-going tunes of Raf (music) and Ben Wheele (video), the song ‘Ooh Ha (Carolina) ‘ about the appendix is just the start of a series of 10 songs, bringing together Britain's most talented musicians to contribute a single about the mysteries of the body’s organs.
With artist like Ghostpoet, Bat For Lashes, Mara Carlyle & Max De Wardener, Afrikan Boy, Dave Okumu, Scruffizer, Sam Lee & Llywelyn ap Myrddin, Andreya Triana and Goldie, this music and science experiment is bound to be a success. As the songs are based on experiences the artists have had in their own life, from illness to age, the combination of this personal given and the distinct interpretation of the amazing line-up makes for a variety of unique songs. The collaboration with multiple body specialists, from scientists to medics, results in songs that are as accurate as possible while still allowing for emotional stories and great tunes.
If you’re curious about this exciting concept, you can get yourself the album on November 27th!
ANDROGYNY: An inherent truth?
What can we learn from androgyny? The artist challenging gender fluid stereotypes and promoting a different kind of well-being: Nastasia Niedinger
What can we learn from androgyny? The artist challenging gender fluid stereotypes and promoting a different kind of well-being: Nastasia Niedinger
Nastasia Niedinger is a unique product of the millennial age. A contemporary creative on the outside looking in, she is a hungry observer and spokesperson for those equally curious about the modern human condition into which they were born. Fascinated by post-modern and generational trends, she utilises art direction to produce remarkable pieces with profound social messaging. Her primary mediums include writing, photography and experimentation with digital spheres, which she uses to highlight incumbent cultural mechanisms at play. Always aiming to help viewers understand better the world around them, Niedinger’s attitude seems ever forward-looking.
Universal androgyny. The concept may seem peculiar, but one photographic study suggests just that. Gender in Utero is an intimate study of androgyny with a strong ideological underbelly. Tired of just the “what?” and determined to ask “why?”, this collection and its critical rhetoric is bucking trends in the media’s recent coverage of gender fluidity - and in more ways than one.
Gender in Utero is unique in its duality, making clever use of art to support social commentary. The collection uses photography as a medium to document the phenomenon in its physical form: the artist iterates our physical inheritances - the appearances of both mother and father - and although this is often taken for granted, she has found it to be a profound and inspiring truth.
But the message at its core is the prevalence of androgyny in our behaviour and observed benefits for the psyche. The artist asks viewers to consider, “How do I feel? How do I think?”, encouraging them to evaluate the fluidity of their own behaviours and thoughts.
“I believe androgyny is not only natural but inherent. It occurs moment by moment, case by case, in each of us. Faced with a multitude of situations, we unconsciously flex between feminine or masculine behaviour.
Androgyny is tantamount to people’s ability to evaluate, objectivise, empathise, subjectivise, and so on.”
The project’s title, “Gender in Utero”, pays homage to the unique development of the human mind and advancement over time. “A component of human nature is our inherent adaptability, in the short and long-term.” And though Nastasia observes that action is constantly changing, more fundamental still is the understanding that consciousness itself is after all, genderless.
Its poignant insights are supported by classical writer Virginia Woolf and pioneering psychologist in creativity and “flow states”, M. Csikszentmihalyi, whose research claims, “A psychologically androgynous person in effect doubles his or her repertoire of responses.”
Execution of the collection has abided by strict principles, sourcing participants from outside of the modelling industry and rejecting androgyny as a means for fashion, which Nastasia claims to be constraining. “Often, designers encourage diversity for the sake of diversity, freedom for the sake of freedom, without explaining its value.” Examples include Selfridges’ recent Agender floor, which although publicised gender as a construct, for all its PR failed to explore the implications of the statement. The artist holds a critical outlook on the subject, stating that:
“Androgyny has been commodified by fashion, and hijacked by sex. Neither industry is exploring why aesthetic or sexual liberation does good for the well being - areas like self esteem, flexibility, and of course empathy”.
Gender in Utero was born out of a firmly collaborative effort between Nastasia, photographer Al Overdrive and makeup artist Sophie Yeff. The trio have utilised an acute sensitivity to human physiology to produce a gripping standard of portraiture. Its founders mark an expanding community, coordinating a larger production team to cater for its growing number of subjects.
These captivating pieces and rhetoric are a refreshing departure from ineffectual “gender fluid” posturing in the media, (many gaining views using provocative but unanswered questions). Instead, the project demonstrates the potential inclusiveness of androgyny, inviting individuals to celebrate the benefits of fluid thinking in everyday life. Gender in Utero boldly addresses the big “whys” which industries like fashion and sex overlook, and gives those who identify with the “genderless mind” a powerful visual means to reclaim androgyny.
Want to explore more? Interact here www.genderinutero.com
Alexandra Uhart – real stories through the power of image
With a mission to document real life, and an execution that is unique and compelling in every way possible, ROOMS' photographer Alexandra Uhart stole our hearts and will soon devour yours too.
Since the last month of my masters, I’ve transformed my home into my temporary studio. I live in a newly built flat with big white walls, two of which at the moment are covered in photographs, sketches, sticky notes and diverse research material that I have been gathering for my latest work “Someone here”. I’m sitting at what used to be the dinning table, and now transformed into a desk. I have a laptop, books, a couple of pens and a glass of water in front of me. From here I face the window. It’s raining heavily outside, I’m happy to be working in today. If I were to photograph this, I would set up my camera on a tripod and shoot the scene from behind me. The photograph would capture me facing the window from across the table, showing the artist behind the work and the process behind the photos. I would maintain a certain mystery by facing away from the camera, giving the viewer an opportunity in doing so to connect the dots and make up their own story about the scene.
ROOMS' long time photographer Alexandra Uhart has just completed her Photography Masters at the London College of Communication, and her series Someone Here is the Winner of the Photoworks Prize 2015. With a mission to document real life, and an execution that is unique and compelling in every way possible, Alexandra stole our hearts and will soon devour yours too.
When did you know you wanted to be a photographer?
Photography has always been a passion of mine. My first camera was given to me on my 9th birthday. It was a little Ninja Turtles themed film camera, which took photos that had a Ninja Turtle stamp in the right corner of every print. I remember photographing my toys with it; organizing them in groups and posing them amongst very elaborate settings. As I grew up and upgraded my photo equipment, I started photographing my friends. I would spend the afternoons borrowing make-up and clothing from my mom and styling photo shoots with them as models.
However it didn’t occur to me to study photography until years after I left college. I tried being traditional at first and went to law school for a couple of years, quickly realising that it was not for me. After that I decided to study Aesthetics. I really enjoyed it but I wasn’t sure where it would take me, since I felt like something was missing. It was not until I moved to Paris in 2009 that I decided to pursue photography, realising I wanted to be the one creating and not just theorising about other people’s creations.
Where do you go for inspiration?
I think everything can inspire me at a certain moment; inspiration can come from so many different places and I go and search for different things depending on the work that I am looking to produce. I would normally start by doing some research on an idea and moving forward from there. The truth is reality can be immensely inspiring.
When is a scene good enough to be captured?
I think every scene is good enough to be captured, depending on what you’re looking for. My work comes from a documentary and street photography tradition, from capturing the life around me and trying to understand it through images.
I’m motivated by humanity; how we interact with each other and with our environments. In my latest series “Someone Here” I’ve focused on different aspects of our current struggles with the environment. In this media-driven world that we live in, photography has the opportunity to be shared easier and faster than ever before, making photography an invaluable channel of communication in raising awareness. What we choose to photograph can actually make a difference in the world.
“What we choose to photograph can actually make a difference in the world.”
Your portraits have a very authentic feel to it. Tell me something about your process of shooting portraits. What is your goal, and how do you achieve it?
I really enjoy taking portraits. Most of the ones I shoot are set in people’s studios or houses, which helps give the photograph a more intimate feeling. However, the camera can be very invasive so it’s very important for me to make my subjects feel at ease quickly. My goal is to reveal something about them, to show an aspect of their personality. I have to say that the most important part of the process happens before taking the photo. I do my research, I prepare everything. Then I go to their homes or their working spaces. Once I get there I talk to them while setting up my equipment. I love getting to know people, having the opportunity to capture something special about them with my images.
I’m fascinated by your photo series 'mind trap'. It conveys however a very different style and feeling than the work you did in the beginning of your career. Can you tell me something about the concept?
‘Mind Trap’ was one of my first incursions into fine art photography. After years of working in more commercial areas of photography, I decided it was time to explore my personal interests and move to a setting that would allow me to freely express my views. I created this series when applying for the Photography MA at LCC. My inspiration came from a deep concern I have for our environment and its species. In the past years we hear of an increasing number of animals that are going extinct due to our careless appropriation and treatment of their ecosystems; with these images I aimed to mirror the way in which people have been confining them into man-made spaces where they don’t belong.
Any exciting projects in the future?
I just finished working on my new series “Someone Here” a documentary exploration of the Atacama Desert in Chile, where the rise of the mining industry has led to an alarming environmental detriment. As a Chilean artist, I think it is important for me to show the stories of my country and help raise awareness of its problems. I am currently exhibiting this work at LCC College as part of the MA Photography show. I’m thinking of creating a book with the body of work and some of the research that led to the creation of this project in the near future.
Since film is an area that I have also always been very interested in, I am eager to start working on a collaborated film project with Chilean-Swiss director Nicolas Bauer that will be shooting in Miami next year.
After that, I see myself continuing on the path I am now: combining fine art photography and film. However, as I evolve as an individual so will my way of looking at things and photographing them. It is essential to keep reinventing myself as an artist and photographer, but I hope to do this while still being faithful to what’s drawn me to photography in the first place: telling real stories through images, documenting life.
Sex in the art scene
How art is demolishing the misconceptions around sex and sexuality (and why this is a good thing).
SEX, SEX, SEX. Next to eating and sleeping it’s one of the most mundane and self-evident phenomenons in our human lives, however with constituted social norms telling us to oppress our sexuality and discard any exceptions on the ‘normal’ conceptions, thus treating it as a taboo subject, I bet that somehow some of you still feel the embarrassment creeping into your body when reading those three first words out loud in the office or during a family dinner.
Living in 2015, there is still so much wrong with the misconceptions formed around this broad subject. Yet luckily for us there is an active movement going on in the creative scene and the polished and one-sided approach we’re used to is gradually being substituted by an honest representation changing our narrow perspective on what sexuality really entails.
Describing themselves as a liberation from a culture of self-hate and impossible ideals, Ladybeard fights the reinforcement of a demeaning attitude towards sexuality. When we were all too busy flashing our boobs on the Internet with the hashtag #freethenipple hoping for a change, the team behind Ladybeard made an entire magazine!!! accessing real sexual experiences and voicing sexual diversity.
© Shan Huq SS16 - Photography Thomas McCarty - via dazedigital.com
Shan Huq
“These clothes are the essentials of your wardrobe, but also the essentials of your mind, the essentials of life and the essentials of your sexuality”. New to the fashion scene and already making statements, Shan Huq’s creations represent the reality of young Americans, tackling sexual taboos in a brilliantly cheeky way. Subtly touching the taboo subjects: gender, beauty and sex, the brand pushes the straightforward boundaries which the fashion industry continues to occupy.
Ren Hang
Having been arrested for “suspicion of sex”, Chinese photographer Ren Hang has experienced right handed how much of a taboo sexuality continues to be in this modern age. Yet instead of being discouraged by the extreme consequences of his work, Ren does not let this get in the way of his creative process. Showcasing the naked bodies of his friends in its purest form, he manages to capture images that go beyond the focus on sex, making them both arousing and scenically interesting at the same time.
To the people that think our generation of artists is deconstructing everything that has been built up for the last hundreds of years, I say so what. It was about time. Our society is in need for individuals like the ones above, so we can leave all those misconceptions about sex and sexuality behind us and work towards that one moment where we can finally all openly accept that women do masturbate, there is no one in this world that is 100 per cent straight, and sex is as opposed to what you have been watching in your bedroom with the door locked, more raw and real than anything you have ever been confronted with on the internet, rap song video clips or perfume adds.
Dele Sosimi
Dele Sosimi stands out as one of the most active musicians presently on the Afrobeat scene worldwide. Here he talks about duty to Afrobeat, relentless performances and his latest CD.
Dele Sosimi stands out as one of the most active musicians presently on the Afrobeat scene worldwide. Here he talks about duty to Afrobeat, relentless performances and his latest CD.
His tutor and guru was one of the world’s most feted and controversial music icon - Fela Kuti, also known as Fela Anikulapo Kuti or simply Fela - before his family, bandmates and friends and indeed the world was rocked by his passing on August 2, 1997, from Kaposi's sarcoma which was brought on by AIDS. Nonetheless, this loyalist, representative and artist - Bamidele Olatunbosun Sosimi, known as Dele Sosimi, from teenage keyboard player for Fela Kuti's Egypt 80 to bandleader for his son Femi Kuti's Positive ensemble, was tutored and raised in Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s shadow and worked and travel around extensively with Fela around the world at the pinnacle of early 70s Afrobeat fever. Picked by Fela to join his band at a somewhat tender age, he was still a young man when sharing Fela’s Glastonbury stage in 1984. But be that as it may, Dele Sosimi - born in Hackney, East London, raised in his native Nigeria from the age of four, refutes to slow down. He is here and now one of the leading forces/important voices of Afrobeat holding fort the Afrobeat music on the Afrobeat scene internationally.
After Fela’s passing in 1997, Dele went on to concentrate on his solo career and, with meticulous endurance, sliced out his own Afrobeat trophy in London, where he now dwells. Totally, this Nigerian-British boy is done admirably well. Sosimi has helped define the sound alongside some of its most iconic figures – he is an inspiration to many. Check this out: Vocalist? Tick. Keyboard player? Tick. Producer and Afrobeat giant? Tick. And the founder of his own orchestra? Tick. In addition more recently he was the Musical Director & Afrobeat Music Consultant for the award winning musical FELA! Currently on a global tour. And what’s more? Sosimi is an Afrobeat Composer, Producer, Musician, educator and instructor (via London School of Afrobeat) as a Visiting Lecturer at London Metropolitan University, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance - the UK's only conservatoire of music and contemporary dance and Cardiff University.
Once again an experience awaits with another marathon session (four-hour-non-stop) of keeping Afrobeat, the music, spirit & legacy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti alive in London at The Forge, Camden, UK
Saturday 28 November 2015. The Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra are a gang that must be seen live in all its astounding fierceness. Dele is returning to London for his third Album lunch gig ‘You No Fit Touch Am,’ a 7-track collection of compositions – his third solo album and his first for 10 years that is immersed in socio-political messages and showcase classic 1970s Lagos song writing. “You No Fit Touch Am” was recorded in London with a crew of long time players and producer Nostalgia 77 (Tru Thoughts) presenting a 21st century clarity to the mix. There's no silly compromises to the music here though, just a thoroughly modern sense of energy in the mix with an aptly heavyweight bass charisma.
Dele Sosimi: Afrobeat Vibration is my way of keeping Afrobeat music alive and accessible to Afrobeat music lovers and musicians in the UK bi-monthly, are creation of the spirit and ambiance of Fela's Afrika Shrine.
Why are you staging a four-hour-non-stop musical marathon? Why 4 hour non-stop and why the chosen venue? Can you really keep this up?
Dele Sosimi: I stage it because it is a duty that must be done by me as an ambassador of the genre and culture. It is an experience hence it is 4 hours nonstop as we take you on a journey based on the repertoire selection for the night. We initially used the New Empowering Church in Hackney till November 2014 when the lease expired. Since then we used the Forge in Camden once before moving to Shapes in Hackney Wick May 24th 2015. We chose Shapes because it had the ambience size and potential for a late license till 5am. The importance! People or musicians who did not have the opportunity to listen to live afrobeat now have a regular bi-monthly platform that we have kept going for 7 years - last Saturday of January, March, May, July, September and November which is usually the anniversary month. We cover a wide range of Felas Classics and original new compositions featuring a wide range of guests and young musicians who have either attended one of my Afrobeat masterclasses or workshops. This year we are celebrating the 7th year of keeping it going.
Could you reveal names of guest stars contributing to this extravaganza on Friday November 28th? And what should fans expect?
Dele Sosimi: We never know who will turn up until the night itself bit we have had Tony Allen, PA Fatai Rolling Dollar, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Afrikan Boy, Breis, Shingai, Byron Wallen, to name a few.
Fans should expect to be delightfully Afrobeaten up.
You have a new album out - third album -”You No Fit Touch Am”. Tell us more about this album - and why the title; "You No Fit Touch Am?"?
Dele Sosimi: Release earlier this year by WahWah45s on the 24th of May, the literal meaning is “You cannot touch it”. On a conceptual level "the thing is too cool", "too tasty to be messed with", "you can't even come close", "and it is beyond you". "The jam just baaad", "don't look at it with common eye" with regards to what I do, what we do, the experience we provide, the spirit of music. Identity my 2nd Album was released 10 years ago, and I had made up my mind the third Album would have to wait for the right conditions, right record label at the right time with an offering of a clear development of the Afrobeat idiom, an important restatement of what Afrobeat is about, in the current scene where the term is used quite indiscriminately (and unfortunately confused with the rather more superficial “Afrobeats”). I strongly believe this is now the case. Suffice to say its taken 10 years but once the record deal was in place from recording, production to release nine months as most of the songs had been written years ago.
What is your message here?
Dele Sosimi: It depends on which angle you look at it from. Spiritually be open, tolerant and aware, appreciative and humble. Musically, there is a jewel of infinity contained here that will most likely be missed by many, who lack the ability to see the greatness in small things. On the other hand, beauty will be discovered and found here by many. Mainly the message draws attention to the state of things worldwide today with songs like "Na My Turn" (Elections worldwide with special attention on so called democracy in Africa pre and post elections) ~ “E go betta” (Despite facing abject poverty the admirable spirit of resilience and resolve to carry on and soldier on with the song of hope for a better tomorrow)~ “We siddon we dey look” – (Ferguson incidents, Boko Haram, ISIS and most recently Xenophobia) “Where We Want Be” (The intolerance prevalent in world society with the message being bring love back BIG TIME!) “Sanctuary”- (In line with Fela’s “Music is the weapon of the future” message. In this case music being the Sanctuary where you recharge your batteries to keep on) and “You No Fit Touch Am” as earlier indicated.
What drives Dele Sosimi?
Dele Sosimi: Breath, life, love and family drives Dele.
Saturday 28 November 2015
Shapes, London, UK
Shapes, 117 Wallis rd. Hackney Wick E9 5LN
Cost of Tickets: £10 Adv. £12 Otd
Tuesday 09 February 2016
Kings Place, London, UK