Much excitement in Zeitgeist Art world. We had word from Phoebe Unwin , British Art Show Star that she would return to do a Show&Tell in 2012 which we are thrilled about.
Dates for Show and Tell are on our temporary website www.diyeducate.blogspot.com
Superstar Michaela Nettell is building a beautiful website and logo for us and we are getting ready to launch in February with an exhibition planned in April for Zeitgeist artists.
But, not only that…..in an unexpected turn of last week, Graham Crowley , eminent painter and mentor to me ( and many other artists) has decided to take a studio space in the Zeitgeist Project Space. How incredibly amazing is that?! Everytime I speak to Graham I am more enlightened about paint, painters, art. He is a walking encyclopedia of critical knowledge. He shall also be holding tutorials in our new space.
In the spirit of painting, I wrote an article for an arts magazine which is yet to be published ( with extracts from a blogger interview which I did for a-n) so am publishing it here and in advance of my exhibition opening on the 20th Jan: EastwingX at the Courtauld Institute www.eastwingx.co.uk with Rachel Whiteread, Damian Hirst, Paula Rego, Tom Hunter and Howard Hodgkin amongst the 55 artists selected. 2012 looks pretty fabulous….
Material World
Painting is a medium artists feel they will never conquer.
Every time I begin work I go back into the cycle of questioning, exploring – embroiled and intrigued – doubting and persevering. I think it may be the same for every artist. Always trying to be freer, experimenting with techniques, breaking down rules we create for ourselves to seek out new ideas.
I began as a sleuthing painter, sneaking away from the textiles dept at RCA to learn about paint and to drive me forward from the limitations of craft, its politics and perceptions. I chose to no longer care about the hierarchy of mediums, instead, I chose the best way to express my concepts.
In the years after I graduated I realised that instead of being an outsider, what had happened in straddling two paths was that something emerged a little unique and that strengthened my voice: the fascination with utopia and dystopia melded between sensuality of oil and embroidery against vintage and claustrophobic prints of the 1900’s; balancing between realism and naivety, over-perfection and the meshing of paint and embroidery, the subtlety of colour, its softness and shine. Through creating a tension between ‘embellishments and depiction, sensuality and awkwardness’[1] people are drawn in to the intimacy of the surface and look closely at the artworks and the subjects within them.
The compulsion that society and the individual have to sometimes self-destruct, yet reinvent, is a constant. Sometimes through this destruction we can come to a better understanding of ourselves. To push ourselves: to survive and develop. That is the nature of being an artist.
As for painting, we love its mellifluous qualities, its challenges and ability to transform a surface, its physicality is endlessly seductive.
[1] Graham Crowley
