ARTISTS TALKING

# 13 [7 May 2011]

Alice interviews Bob

AB: DIY in art practice means different things to different people. How do you define the term?

BM: It is a label and I instinctively dislike labels. I think for some people it is a genuine calling, a real belief that making art on your own terms is good, that selling it or even having it seen by a lot of people really doesn’t matter. Doing it is the important thing. In that sense it is closely tied to another label ‘Outsider Art’. But, a lot of young designers and illustrators seem to jump on the ‘DIY’ bandwagon, adopt a ‘rough’ style or fabricate the look of work in order to have some of that supposed ‘kudos’ that goes with being poor or from outside of the mainstream art education system. I hate that. They’re the first to sell it to a tee-shirt company. They think they’re poor because they can barely keep up with their credit card repayments for weighty arty purchases. They take all the honesty out of true DIY art.

AB: How do you distinguish between your roles as artist and curator?

BM: When I’m an artist, another label I dislike, I’m making work. Or having an idea for some work. Curating is arranging stuff from other people in a space, hoping that it shows their work in the best way and doesn’t expose you as a cock. I see both as very immediate and visual but backed up with a solid amount of knowledge and thought. Being involved in curation doesn’t leave you with a good opinion of other artists. I don’t think it is a case of two different roles; when I’m curating I’m working for someone else, often people I’ve never met.

AB: What was your first art collaboration?

BM: I’m not sure when I became an ‘artist’ and that makes it hard to pinpoint my first collaboration. I think I’ve always had the art thing going on but never had to attach a label or any significance to it until I entered the art education system. So, that would make it my foundation course, back in 1990; I started the ‘Museum Dedicated to the Enhancement of Green and Red’ and invited other students to contribute work that was red or green or red and green. I have a book of photographs of the best contributions.

AB: What do you think the main advantages and pitfalls of DIY practice can be?

BM: There is no pitfall to following your desire to make work. Ego is the biggest problem. The only advantage is if people believe your bullshit and start paying you to be a ‘bit of rough’.

AB: Artists' opinions of public arts funding can often be complex and seemingly contradictory. What's your stance on the subject?

BM: It is more of an unfortunate gait. Erm, fund the big things that benefit lots of people, especially those who are not ‘artists’, like galleries and museums but do not give money to individual artists. If you can’t afford your project, don’t do it. Don’t ask for money. Work within your means. Sell stuff. Get a proper job. If it needs £5000 to realise your ‘vision’ it is probably a short-sighted one. Go to Specsavers. Either that or make ‘being an artist’ a state funded occupation.

AB: We both live in West Yorkshire and are prolific in the region as well as working nationally and internationally. Do you think West Yorkshire is home to any particular approach, commonalities and/or abundance of DIY practice?

BM: Nah, not really. We’re Northern, so better that most people. And funnier. And sexier.

AB: And finally, the obligatory plugs. What else are you currently working on?

BM: http://aliceandbobcurate.wordpress.com/ And, I am trying to bring contemporary art to Knaresborough. And I am hoping that I will be making some decent paintings in the next six months.

# 12 [7 May 2011]

Bob interviews Alice

BM: Does ‘art’ matter?

AB: Yes. And it shouldn't be a luxury for the privileged, it should be for everyone.

BM: People like labels and especially in the ‘art world’, for example, nonsense such as ‘emerging artist’. I was once called a ‘DIY’ artist and I winced. I can’t seem to find the right label for you, can you suggest what it would be and what wider context you see your work in?

AB:The labeling and classification thing is really problematic. “Artist” is often not specific enough and artist/curator is another set of problems. “Artist” can cover such a wide range of disciplines, so I tend towards describing what I do in processes, and that I work with everyday objects and materials. I sometimes say I have an object-based practice, although it's probably more encompassing to say my work deals with the everyday or the commonplace. In describing my practice to other people, they've sometimes said I'm a cross-disciplinary artist, which is probably true enough, but I tend to think most artists are, and that label is no more helpful than “artist.”

BM: All embracing terms like ‘DIY’ can be useful, so what does it mean to you?

AB: Wikipedia's definition of DIY (generic) is interesting; “people creating things for themselves without the aid of paid professionals.” There's a whole essay in that definition applied to art, or perhaps two! I think it's an attitude towards making things happen with an immediacy and autonomy whether that's individual or collective autonomy.

BM: Collaboration with other artists and curators on projects appears to be a crucial part of your practice. How did this develop and does it raise any issues that are particular to collaboration?

AB: I've found that I always curate collaboratively and it's a conversational process. I'm co-founding member of Contents May Vary which was formed by Manchester Metropolitan University Fine Art Sculpture students who had some common ideas about art. Working collaboratively on exhibitions started there and further on I've met other artists with similar ideas to me and we've collaborated on shows. Collaborating with different people becomes different processes and results and I'm interested in exploring ideas through these processes. There's also problems inherent in collaboration such as ownership and ego. At best it's when people's ideas converge and the whole becomes something greater than the sum of it's parts.

BM: I know one artist who will only ever show a piece of work three times. Do you have any self-imposed tricks or rules that keep the creative cogs whirring?

AB: For me, it's about making time for thinking and making, so not keeping too busy with the rest of the stuff surrounding practice like emails and applications and meetings and websites, and even research which is an important part of practice but is not making things. Going to exhibitions, conferences and lectures and reading is important to me and keeps cogs whirring, so it's not all about productivity. The studio is often the best place for productivity but I also really like train journeys for that fixed time and space for doing nothing but thinking, reading, writing or drawing.

BM: If you had to select one image or one piece of work to feature on the cover of a book of your work, a DIY production or otherwise, what would it be?

AB: Some Blah Blah Blah work filling the cover.

# 11 [7 May 2011]

Bob and I have interviewed each other for Jean McEwan's new zine for New Work Yorkshire: I Stood Up And I Said Yeah Issue 1: DIY which launched yesterday, Friday 6th May at the Compass Live Art event at Bloc Projects, Sheffield.

I Stood Up And I Said Yeah Issue 1 is a multi-format loose leaf zine with accompanying CD, presenting an eclectic variety of reflective, critical, satirical, oblique, irreverent  and personal responses to the theme of DIY, including interviews, performative writing video documentation, reviews, audio, photography, personal reflection and drawing from:

Alice Bradshaw and Bob Milner
Rachel Lois Clapham
Brian Gilson
Tim Ineaux
Sohail Khan
Nick Kilby
Dave Lynch
Milk Two Sugars
Christopher Mollon
popup
Jez Riley Smith
Sarah Spanton
Douglas Thompson
Nathan Walker

It's published in a limited edition of 100 and viewable online here: http://issuu.com/istoodupandisaidyeah/docs/istoodu...

# 10 [27 March 2011]

Matthew Smith

Matthew Smith makes projects in sculpture, drawing, photography and video, which deal with fictionalised and idealised representations of nature and place.

His work explores human kind’s relationship to and philosophical distance from the natural world, rejecting the idea of one all encompassing original ‘nature’ in favour of infinite interpretations, copies and inventions of the natural. We value nature for its health and integrity over the artificial works of man, seeing it as real or authentic. It is though a human construct who’s meaning is not fixed and permanent but is created, altered and re-imagined again and again by successive generations to many different ends. His practice reveals and navigates a way through these myriad natures.

http://www.matthewjsmith.co.uk


Kathy Toth

My recent work has been inspired by  Einstein's ideas on General Relativity which I have gathered information on from Leonard Susskind's lectures at Stanford university (available through youtube).

Train is a representation based on Einstein's example on how all movement is relative. A passenger in a train due to set off  from a platform is looking out the window of the train. The passenger will not be able to tell whether it is he/she starting to move or another train next to him/her.

The piece is a drawing animation consisting of a handmade charcoal drawing that has been photographed. Each frame has been photographed and then rubbed out, the next frame has then been drawn on top of the previous frame. The result is a drawing where all moving objects leave traces behind them. I have chosen to propose my piece Train in particular for the exhibition because it illustrates movement and travelling, two concepts which are often associated with temporality.

http://www.kathytoth.co.uk/



Steve White

White's wall drawings and writings in ink on the walls of the gallery depict his everyday experiences, thoughts and feelings. Subjects range from news stories to 'what's for tea?' and animal displacement theory consisting of animals in human situations with technology, laws and regulations enforced upon them which they find difficult to deal with in daily life. White's style is graphic and illustrative executed with urgency, passion and commitment.

‘I was told when I was younger that I could be anything I wanted to be. A fireman, policeman, even president it seemed. But like many kids growing up on a steady diet of wild west films; I wanted to be the loan cowboy roaming the west and fighting evil and corruption wherever I found it. And in my heart of hearts I still follow the remnants of that dream, wherever I go, into the setting sun.’ - Bill Hicks

White is a fine artist, author, poet, and curator, with a large body of work in various galleries, city walls, retail outlets, and filing cabinets not to mention cupboards in his studio.

http://www.idrinkcoffeeandraw.moonfruit.com/

# 9 [27 March 2011]

Milk, Two Sugars

Society is in a mess. Enjoy your fickle pursuits whilst you can. Nothing goes on forever. We are all dust. We ought to get the maximum thrill from everything we do because one day and not as far away as you’d like to think, you won’t even want to get out of bed, let alone leave the house. Until then, what could be more exhilarating than looking at a book and then eating it? Two of life’s great comforts combined. Outstanding! Visual stimulation followed by oral pleasure. Life is good.

www.milktwosugars.org
www.wordpress.com/bobmilner
peepart@twitter.com



Susan Mortimer

The photographs that make up this piece were taken over 3 day’s visits to Westgate Studios during February and March 2011.

The aim of the project was to document the Westgate Studio building. During the process keeping in mind the role of many empty buildings which are currently being used in a similar way: empty shops and offices used for arts and community projects, buildings which otherwise would remain empty and disintegrating.

http://www.susanmortimer.com/


Music For Installations

Music For Installations has always been observing the soundworld of daily live, whether it is out in the outback or in the center of downtown.

"The first things I remember are sounds. When I listen to people I don't hear words but melodies. When I stand in a room, I enjoy the way the music makes her way in the empty space around me."

It is this collision of vibrations that meet each other. They lead into soundscapes and drones which can be used in empty spaces, dark rooms, or to accompany installations. It's an impression sent out to catch a listeners ear. He/she can only experience and reflect on what he felt or saw.

http://www.musicforinstallations.com/


Georgie Park

Georgie Park is interested in the commitment that the process of acquiring skill demands and often take direction from properties and ideologies of production in traditional craft; the narrative (or reality) of the “master” that continually coaxes material in order to gain experiential knowledge of substance.

http://georgiepark.co.uk/

# 8 [27 March 2011]

Hondartza Fraga

Hondartza Fraga is interested in using souvenirs and domestic objects (‘Blank Globes’, ‘Mappa’) to force a dialogue between the domestic and the remote, suggesting narrative and contradictions between seemingly unconnected subjects. In this way, a drawing of a ship’s model shadow, evocative of travels to faraway lands, is exposed as the negation of that very journey (‘Never Arrived, Never Parted’). Beached whales are the starting point and main characters in the series ‘As it falls, either remembered or not seen’. Based on found images of beached whales, shipwrecks and other scenes at sea, the subjects float against the flatness of the blank paper as if incomplete fragments of a dream or a half remembered story. These characters stand for distance, dislocation, the meaning of being lost, of disappearing.

http://www.hondartzafraga.com/

Debi Holbrook

“The lure of the abandoned object is hard for me to ignore, curiosity and empathy compel me to question its story and reason for discard.”

Debi Holbrook transposes the human condition with inanimate and often domestic, found objects where distinction become blurred between autobiographical memory, imagination and evidence.

Duncan Lister & Bob Milner

For the next twelve months we will be adapting and evolving a constructed room within a studio situation, dedicating time and effort into creating the ideal drinking and exhibiting environment. This personal space will be opened to the public on six occasions during the year when strangers will be invited to become friends, if only for the moment. At other times, the room will remain by invitation only, a private drinking den; the perfect setting for a vigorous exchange of ideas. It will be a space in which to play, question and explore. And get drunk. And draw a bit.

Duncan_Lister@twitter.com
peepart@twitter.com

# 7 [27 March 2011]

Anna Beam & Lois MacDonald

The year is 3012. The Human race continues to thrive. Due to over population on Earth, Mars has been terra-formed, and now supports 30% of civilisation. The planets biggest export is Iron Ore. Soap Opera’s still exist. We are only Human, after all.

Anna and Lois present a visual hypothesis of the future of the Soap Opera genre. Over their two week residency they will build, film and edit a pilot for the first Martian Soap, Rugxa Limo. Looking at the way in which Soap's both reflect and question the ideals of the society they are set within, the work will reappropriate the scripts of iconic scenes from beloved British Soap Opera's. Finance, Love and Loss. Will the drama's of the daily grind and human relationships remain the same in 1000 years?

http://www.annabeam.com/  http://www.loismacdonald.com/

Georgia Boniface

The Republic of Georgia is a pseudo-ethnographic museum exhibit based on a study of identity where artist Georgia Boniface uses her name as an emblem through which to explore the constructs of identity in all contexts; personal, political, social and geographical.

http://web.mac.com/victorygarden.mac


Alice Bradshaw

Alice Bradshaw works with a wide range of media and processes involving the manipulation of everyday objects and materials. Mass-produced, anonymous objects are often rendered dysfunctional caricatures of themselves, addressing concepts of purpose and futility. Alice creates or accentuates subtleties, blurring distinctions between the absurd and the mundane.

http://www.alicebradshaw.co.uk/

Jenny Core

Art is a mimesis of reality; the reality being the everyday. This reality that we have become accustomed to has been appropriated. This alternate 'reality', which has been created, embraces humourous obscurities by acknowledging the mundane and the ludicrous. Te work is an investigation that explore where the alternate reality is present and where it ceases to exist.

As the study of these interpretations of the obscure commences through interdisciplinary means, what us asked of the viewer is their engagement. Te spectator should approach the works with an open mind to experience this alternate world with alternate rules.

There are playful notions present amongst these ambiguities displayed through simplistic aesthetics, which mimics that of Postmodernist views. I have “become a m,manipulator of signs rather than passive manipulator of the aesthetics.” (Osbourne and Sturgis, 2006).

# 6 [27 March 2011]

Temporary Art Show 3 Part 1

Wednesday 30th March 2011, 5-9pm

Westgate Studios Project Space

For the first installment of Temporary Art Show 3, selected artists and collectives present diverse works of sculpture, installation, intervention, performance, drawing, sound and video for one night only.

Anna Beam & Lois MacDonald, Georgia Boniface, Alice Bradshaw, Jenny Core, Hondartza Fraga, Debi Holbrook, Duncan Lister & Bob Milner, Milk Two Sugars, Susan Mortimer, Music For Installations, Georgie Park, Matthew Smith, Kathy Toth, Steve White.

Curated by Alice Bradshaw & Bob Milner, Curators in Residence, Westgate Studios Project Space.

Download pdf (935KB): http://bit.ly/TAS3part1

Temporary Art Show 3 Part 2 will be held on Wednesday 25th May 2011, 5-9pm.

Temporary Art Show 3 is sponsored in kind by Ossett Brewery http://www.ossett-brewery.co.uk/


Wednesday 30th March will also be a chance to see Open Studios at Westgate Studios and Wakefield Art Walk happening across the city.
http://westgatestudios.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Artwalk-Wakefield/180554171977074

# 5 [2 March 2011]

Yesterday was our move-in day to studio A6. Bob is making us some DIY tables from some rescued boards (pictured). I'm considering removing all the chips from the woodchip wallpaper. Or as wikipedia prefers, ingrain wallpaper; invented by German pharmacist Hugo Erfurt in 1864 and marketed by the company his grandfather founded, first used as a decoration for shop windows, but began seeing use as a wallpaper from the 1920s on as well.

Our studio overlooks Westgate, which is known locally as the Westgate Run on a weekend. The studios are above a nightclub and apparently you can hear and feel the output on a Friday / Saturday night 2, stories up. I am intrigued. I might do a studio weekend evening with some sound recording equipment experiments.

After studio, we went for a pint in The Hop http://www.thehop-wakefield.co.uk/ which is our nearest real ale pub and turned out to be halfway through their Tuesday night quiz. We're now keen to make studio plus pub quiz a regular Tuesday event (team members welcome). There seems to be already a super team who won and probably win every time but the mix of music, science and sci-fi is actually mostly in our range of knowledge and Bob knows some sport too. There is a gallon of ale to be won every Tuesday. And free sandwiches.

There's now less than a week to go of open submissions to Temporary Art Show 3. 5 days in fact. I feel there's already a strong show emerging from the longlist and wonder what the last final days will bring. We also have another show to plan as well which I'm very excited about and hopefully we can publish details soon!

Duncan Lister has kindly provided us with a snazzy autoCAD plan of the Project Space he made previously. The space is 4.7 x 4.7m and 2.8m high.

We also received an email from an art magazine offering 50% off for a listing in their lovely periodical. £295 may be some people's idea of good value for a listing seen by 10k but that's precisely £295 over our budget. Equivalent to 50k flyers. We'll get 1000 Project Space flyers done instead at a cost of about £20 each and hand distribute them to places we visit. So apologies in advance if I'm the one at a preview waving some cheap looking flyer about, telling you how exciting the project is and that you should really get involved. They will be cheap.

# 4 [20 February 2011]

Met with Bob today for a catch up in the Barge & Barrel in Elland, sampling Elland Best Bitter 4.0% ABV and Rooster Whisky Stout 4.7% ABV. Very tasty on both accounts. Jon Wakeman @eaststreetarts reminded me via twitter that artist Gordon McKiernan is head brewer at Elland Brewery http://bit.ly/entcEI Bar staff informed me that Elland Best was cloudy but not compromising on flavour. Rooster's Whisky Stout was how you'd imagine - stouty with significant peaty overtones - but somehow still surprising. Elland Best very smooth and nicely tangy.

Proposals are coming in well for Temporary Art Show 3. Today I compiled the longlist from submissions so far from all over including Belgium, Germany, Italy, US, Slovakia and Canada, and across the UK. Some very exciting proposals, and still 2 weeks left of open call! Really excited about the potential. Also warned Bob that I'm literally getting off the train from London show and coming straight to Temporary Art Show just in time for 5pm opening on 30th March, so we've planned curation, install and bar stocking in advance of Londoning. All a bit freakishly über-organised. Which is good, as there's bound to be something unexpected round the corner.

Had a lovely email from a former Temporary Art Space volunteer offering up some time towards the project. Looking forward to working with her more. Anyone wanting to get involved in projects on any level send us an email aliceandbobcurate@yahoo.co.uk

Bob & I made some vague plans for future shows and decided to also focus on some residencies in the intervals (details to follow). First residency we're facilitating is by Susan Mortimer, who is also a-n blogging: http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/sing... We're looking forward to her next visit next week.

Our studio move in date is 1st March. Although a busy month already, I'm looking forward to having an expanse of space to play with straight away. I have a studio at home in my tiny box room which is convenient and cheap but pretty small, so really looking forward to working on some larger scale ideas.