FBA Futures 2018

FBA

Futures

FBA Futures 2018 9 to 20 January Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1

FBA Futures is proudly sponsored by

Prizes sponsored by

Catalogue sponsored by

With thanks to Nicholas Usherwood, Chair of the Selection Panel

FBA

Futures

FBA Futures explores the work of a new generation of artists offering new approaches to depicting the politics of representation in art today. This annual exhibition truly captures the spirit of the Federation of British Artists and Mall Galleries. The common threads between life in art school and being part of a creative community after graduating provide different parts of an invaluable support system for many creative professionals whatever their age or point in their career. In today’s constantly changing art market, artists are taking on more collective efforts, in order to share ideas and to continue to learn from their peers.

As an art graduates’ show, FBA Futures also poses questions about the place of art education in a highly visual society. With increased university fees comes an increased need for art education to help support artists negotiate their position in the art sector.

This year, we are particularly proud that FBA Futures has a bigger national reach than ever before, representing young talent from all over the UK. As a national charity with many of our member artists based outside of London, we are delighted that there is a flourish of creativity in the regions.

It is always tempting to look for trends and themes in art being created today, especially from a new generation of artists. Many of the works in this show possess a distinct feeling of isolation, whether it is through distorted figures, spaces devoid of human presence, or complex layers of patterns and objects echoing fragmented surroundings. But there is also a lot of exuberance in these works, through vibrant colour palettes, unexpected interpretations of familiar subject matters and seductive compositions. It is these juxtapositions in contemporary art that can help both artists and audiences construct valuable experiences through their cultural encounters.

Whatever the future might hold for art schools, in the current challenging times for culture, education and social reality, the art students and graduates of today are demonstrating that they can build up resilience and expertise, inspiring a more collaborative approach in the arts.

We’d like to record special thanks to our major sponsor, Minerva, who has supported FBA Futures since 2014. Their continued support means we’re able to engage with a new generation of artists and to promote the exhibition to a wider number of new visitors.

Events: Talks and Workshops

A word from our sponsor

We’ve got a series of events taking place during the exhibition aimed at practising Artists, aspiring Collectors and everyone in between.

We are delighted to be sponsoring FBA Futures for the fifth year.

Making the Most of Exhibitions Thursday 11 January, 2pm to 5pm Be Smart About Art Workshop with Susan Mumford Tickets: £15 Book: www.mallgalleries.org.uk Collectors Tour Saturday 13 January, 2pm to 3pm Art Consultant Anna Bromwich leads you on a tour of the exhibition.

Tickets: Free, but booking essential Book: www.mallgalleries.org.uk Artist-Gallery Relationships Today Tuesday 16 January, 3pm to 5pm Be Smart About Art Workshop Kristin Hjellegjerde in conversation with Susan Mumford Tickets: £15 Book: www.mallgalleries.org.uk Art School Futures Thursday 18 January, 3pm to 4pm Turps Banana Studio Programme Leader, Phil Allen, curator and writer, Rosalind Davis and Vice Chancellor of Norwich University of the Arts, John Last discuss the future of art schools.

Tickets: £7, £5 for students Book: www.mallgalleries.org.uk

At the heart of the exhibition is an ambition to bring forward the most exciting artists recently graduated from art schools and universities. In this proposition our commitment to it is a no-brainer: we are all about supporting creativity and developing talent, and spend much of our time with clients and candidates in universities around the UK and further afield.

Supporting diversity is a core focus for our business and we believe that it will become more and more of a theme across the UK in coming years.

By deliberate effort the exhibition is representative of the whole of the UK rather than just London. The selectors searched art schools, universities and alternative educational programmes the length and breadth of the UK to find the very best graduates with over half the exhibitors having been trained outside of the capital.

It has been a great pleasure to see the ambition and scale of the exhibition develop over the past years, and in it we see a parallel to the way our own business is developing in confidence and potential.

We hope you will enjoy engaging with this art as much as we do.

Ben Tucker and Kerry Shepherd

The Artists Renata Adela Heatherley School of Fine Art Raphael Barratt Camberwell College of Arts Izaak Brandt Camberwell College of Arts Molly Bythell Newcastle University Gemma Capocci Bath Spa University Terry Channell Plymouth College of Art Diane Chappalley Slade School of Fine Art Gabriel Choto Camberwell College of Arts Michael Clarence Gray’s School of Art James Cooper University of Suffolk Olivia Crane London Atelier of Representational Art Benjamin Glover Loughborough University Alice Grenier Nebout Central Saint Martins Rebecca Harper Turps Art School Ollie Hayward Falmouth University Willa Hilditch Chelsea College of Arts Beth Horner Wimbledon College of Arts Rihanah Hussain Bath Spa University Naoya Inose Chelsea College of Arts Anna Jung Seo Turps Art School Michael Kashora Slade School of Fine Art Grace Lee Goldsmiths, University of London Kris Lock Open School East Rose McMurray Leeds College of Art Leah Meredith University of Wales Trinity Saint David Liz Middleton City and Guilds Aiden Milligan Gray’s School of Art Hannah Mooney Glasgow School of Art Roisin O’Donnell Leeds College of Art David Rae Gray’s School of Art Maia Regis Chelsea College of Arts Phoebe Ridgway Leeds College of Art Sian Rycroft Leeds College of Art Jennifer Sendall University of Suffolk Gail Seres-Woolfson The Art Academy Isobel Smith Falmouth University Romily Alice Walden Leeds College of Art Frances Willoughby University of Bournemouth Fleur Yearsley Slade School of Fine Art

Renata Adela Babel is Burning Embroidery on canvas “I’m interested in exploring the panoply of human existence; fear, violence, shame, sexuality, duality, love and loss. These emotions and states, though experienced differently by individuals can also be seen as unifying aspects of our humanity. The importance of ritual and by extension myth and narrative also interest me greatly, in that I feel we are hard wired to find meaning; seeking mystery in the mundane and empathy through shared experience, often by means of symbols that help explain our existence. For this reason I attempt to leave space for the observer to create their own meaning.

I often use materials that are readily available; straw, clay, wax, cottons, paper etc, but also like to subvert their usual context and subsequently their meaning in order to add another layer of interpretation.”

Raphael Barratt Agony in the Garden Oil pastel on paper “Observational drawings form the root of this work. Often returning to the shifting landscape of the fruit farm where I spent my childhood, Agony in the Garden reflects a deeply personal union of observation and memory. Agony in the Garden is part of a body of work exploring this theme. These drawings and paintings trace the details and character of the landscape, its tensions, and the structures that traverse and interrupt it. From this the work twists aside into a stream of memory and intuitive responses to visual tensions and balance, through a degree of abstraction and colour structures.

Piero della Francesca’s use of familiar Tuscan hills as the landscape cradle for biblical narratives, and Dante’s ‘dark wood’, symbolic of a psychological state, are significant inspirations. Through the medium of oil and oil pastel on paper this piece spins out a dramatic dialogue between internal and external landscapes.”

Izaak Brandt Shoulder Freeze 3mm MDF, laser cut and reassembled by hand “Dance is at the heart of what I do and of the work I make. I have been a professional dancer for the last 10 years, working with the UK’s most prestigious Breakdance company Soul Mavericks. I am also the co-founder of Brkn’ Nest: A collaborative company working with artists from the UK and South Korea. I explore human performance in conversation with technologies that enhance, alter and degrade the performative elements.

Shoulder Freeze builds on a previous project, Fatigue, which came about as a response to a dance injury I incurred whilst competing in South Korea in 2016.

Fatigue explores human limits by choreographing performance against a sculptural representation of the same movement or position.”

Molly Bythell Social Ladder Oil on canvas “As a woman painting women, I manipulate the figure to allow it agency and joy, rather than being subject to male gaze. This is both enjoyable and liberating.

Though connected to the traditions of figurative painting, I absorb paint’s ability to abstract and reinvent recycled images, targeting an unorthodox representation of the body.

The awkward figures pull the rug out from under usual stereotypes. They sit in images I take from real life, that are distorted and exaggerated, to suggest an ambiguous narrative. I enjoy painting the female figure, exploring its physicality and subversive beauty. It is something I love to do.�

Gemma Capocci Hide Human hair, tights, stool, stuffed toys, dolls, wire “My practice is inspired by Surrealism and the Uncanny: a feeling that something is familiar yet irrational and beyond the normal. My aim is to demonstrate an exploration of skins represented through hybrid, nightmarish sculptures. I incorporate soft toys, dolls, human hair and other found objects to transform something protective, into something disturbing. The materials then become a metaphor for the use of animal skin and fur for aesthetic purposes, communicating themes of death, identity and consumerism.

The collection of soft toys and dolls from second hand shops is integral for the work to have a visceral impact on the viewers; they are pre-loved items that have been discarded, and with being sold again, they become less about nostalgia and more about material form. Cut-offs of human hair are collected from hairdressers, becoming a product containing multiple people’s identity.�

Terry Channell Yup’ik (Presence II) Oil on canvas “The two paintings exhibited represent Inuit dance masks. The masks were made with a high degree of craftmanship and embody animal and other-worldly spirits.

I seek to illustrate their formal qualities (notably composition and form), and to capture the sense of ‘presence’ that the original masks generated.

This interplay between the aesthetic and the hidden is a consistent theme in my practice. Whilst an undergraduate at Plymouth College of Art, I developed my working method; a process of producing a series of paintings, prints and drawings that evolve to reveal themes and motifs that lay beyond aesthetic representation.

My practice is underpinned by academic and philosophical research. For the mask paintings, I studied Inuit culture and the work of Martin Heidegger, leading to new thinking on the role of art in society (see Yup’ik Dance Masks: Heidegger’s Theory of Art in Practice).”

Diane Chappalley Three Oil on linen “It is from sensory experiences; the synthesis and stimulation of new and past perceptions that my painting arises. I see the act of painting as a vehicle for expression; and like a language, the words start making sense as the sentence takes shape. My practice is a constant search in the making. A search guided to reach a sense of the ‘known’, but one that is not quite possible to pin down.

I use oil paint for the properties of its materiality; its possibilities and what the paint can do. I play with reduction to allow the paint to exist simultaneously as paint and as representation.

The work meets in a singular language, in the feeling contained in its silence. I create landscapes where meaning lies beneath the surface, perception is disrupted and emotions are put in the foreground.”

Gabriel Choto The African in Me Oil “Painting for me is a unique way of communicating my deepest thoughts, it is simple and at the same time complicated. With ideas constructed and developed each painting evolves freely, though sometimes through challenge yet always independently.

What I have been painting is an idea of what I call an overwhelming colonial mentality. My approach to painting is best described as African stories involving themes such as colonialism, loss of African identity, pride and self-contradiction, painted in a European language - the language being the traditional classical approach, technique and the style of painting and the use of oil paint.�

Michael Clarence The Red Room Oil on canvas “Within the process of making, I play with the idea of permanency of material and memory as paint is applied and removed in equal measure. Figurative forms are drawn from different aspects of my life and discuss sexuality, gender, identity, history and sense of place. It is this interesting exchange between the fixedness of material and the moment of the image that I find most interesting. Working with old photographs, I like to explore the information that is not available, the formal qualities such as mark, colour and texture that must be generated to recreate a sense of place or event within the painting.

Consequently, these new narratives produce a series of assumptions or misunderstandings that explore the tension that exists between the painting and the image and in many ways, ask us to question the authenticity of memory or lived experience.�

James Cooper Untitled (detail) Breeze blocks, plasterboard, corrugated PVC, copper, hot wax “Identity, gender and desire are ever-present in what I do and in the things I make.

The physical attributes of my manipulated materials have chosen to appropriate one another, fuelling further forms whilst expanding my thinking. Drawing is integral to arriving at these material manifestations, both steering and jump-starting my making.

Minimalist and abstract work allow a broader and more accessible reading, yet still harbour an underlying need to be cruised and compared. This observation has brought about a collection of intimate-sized objects presented around a structure that hints at hierarchy, vulnerability and precariousness. Bodily references abound, the objects also cohabit in a world outside of human perception, where their function and capabilities are at once obsolete and endless.�

Olivia Crane Smoked Trout Oil on canvas “Following my degree in Art History I moved to Italy and enrolled at The Florence Academy of Art. In Florence I discovered the artistic practices of the past and studied the methods of nineteenth century ateliers.

I moved to Paris to work as a painting assistant for Nick Devereux on his project Flakturm, before returning to London a year later to join the London Atelier of Representational Art. I left to build a body of my own work and to undertake a number of commissions as well as hosting painting workshops.�

Benjamin Glover Green Acrylic on MDF finished with gloss glaze “My practice aims to challenge the alienation and notion of the artistic genius in contemporary art. Finding myself disaffected by the often convoluted nature of contemporary art I have strived to make work that can be experienced and enjoyed by anyone of any background, regardless of an art education.

Inspired by the minimalist reaction to abstract expressionism I have handmade works that aim to be a purely aesthetic experience for the viewer by focusing on the visual over the contextual. The work is a technical exploration, focusing on the intricate relationships and harmonies between colour, form and line to create pieces that are satisfying to the eye.

If the work is enjoyed or appreciated on a visual level, it has satisfied its purpose in creating an environment in which contemporary art can simply be enjoyed without fear of alienation or complication.�

Alice Grenier Nebout Dance of Wild Animals Acrylic and pastel “My work is all about expressing revolt through a quality of paint that is alive, vibrating, visceral. I give a really important place to colour which dominates all my studies, creating a kind of subjectivity of sensuality in each of my works. I seek the richness of forms and colours, with a flesh-like and thick paint, striving to create a harmonious composition yet filled with carnal impulses and sensations. I consider my painting as a kind of neo-expressionist style. I also affirm my belief in romantic traditions that earlier Expressionists had adopted in protest against aspects of contemporary art. I try to make a bodily painting that talks by itself. In my opinion Art is an instrument of truth. Painting is feeling. Just as much as a sentence describes, so a sequence of colours decribes.

It isn’t history that expresses real life, but art. My artistic process draws as much from the eternal quest for beauty than the quest for emotions, sensations and excitement.”

Rebecca Harper By the Lido at Night Oil on canvas “Using painting to play voyeur allows enough distance to be somewhat removed from the subject itself in order to play the narrator. Concerned with identity politics – how people and their environments seemingly shape each other, uncovering how people live under constructs we have built ourselves – I consider nuances in behaviours through dualities in cultural and social-constructs.

Through recognisable imagery, I seek to invite considerations on the status of individuals and relationships, suggesting perceptions and dynamics between people and place, whether we are participants or voyeurs of this experience. The figures act as a visual proposition with which to familiarise, empathise or engage, dissected with a compassionate, sober, “eyes wide open” approach.

Being exposed to unlimited visual imagery in a busy world, that time and journey in painting feels necessary as a means of reflection, to negotiate where we see the world today.”

Ollie Hayward 4.1 Photograph (edition of 10) “Body of Ours is the documentation of the process of performing one’s identity.

Alongside a sculpture resembling a physical manifestation of my own complex ideas surrounding my identity, I’ve produced a series of images which examines how each of us interacts with these often conflicting ways of portraying the idea of identity to the rest of society: the insecurities we keep hidden from the world akin to something dirty, to the characteristics we see as admirable and wear very much like an armour upon our bodies.

Inspired by both my own struggles surrounding identity as well as those of my peers and friends, the work represents an intimate look at a personal, unique but altogether familiar story of insecurity and ultimately growth.”

Willa Hilditch Ensemble 10 Pencil on paper “My practice calls into question the relation between figurative representation and the objects and scenarios that they depict. My work is systematically self-referential.

I construct objects from paper, ceramic, wood and paint that echo shapes from either my urban architectural drawings or from the work of others. I extrapolate from these to create forms that are playful in colour and pattern. I treat these sculptures as theatrical parts. They take the form of props or characters, sometimes using the larger works as backdrops for the objects to sit in front of. Together the elements unfold as a scene in a theatrical rehearsal of characters. The sculptural elements are in constant rehearsal within my studio space. My drawings depict the sculptures (or props) in various combinations but contain no point of reference to scale. This gives them a certain ambiguity. My process has no fixed end point, hence the naming of many works as ‘rehearsal’ or appropriate theatre related language.”

Beth Horner September Mist Acrylic on board “My work is rooted in suburbia through the street views, domestic environments and kitsch elements that crop up. I employ collage both physically and digitally, using discarded, often low quality images that I have taken with my phone, or sourced from the depths of my personal digital devices. These autobiographical images are compiled together and reconstructed to give them a new context and narrative.

I am interested in a push and pull between the virtual and the physical, often exploring ideas around simulated paint, and examining the framework of a painting with reference to digital interfaces. Compositions generated on Photoshop are translated into analogue form using both painterly techniques and screen-printing to describe different kinds of spaces, surface qualities and picture planes. In person, the paintings deceive a viewer into understanding the picture as digital, and when viewed digitally, the images pretend to be made of paint.�

Rihanah Hussain Misty Silk screen print “I specialise in silk screen printed textiles. For silk screen printing I use pigment dyes to produce intense, vivid colours. My craft involves designing with high quality linen fabrics and I fill my sketchbook with drawings to create a variety of different ideas for my comprehensive range of prints.

I enjoy being free and expressive with paint brushes and pencils in the sense that my drawing style is very instant, as I like fast and sporadic results. I am fixated with animals, people and my surroundings and create illustrations from this. When painting I use heavy brush marks to encapsulate the scenery and mixture of tones.

In contrast with this I use a thin brush to add the fine delicate details onto the fur or face of my characters portraying their distinctive expressions. My drawings and textiles have a whimsical element, inherent in all my work.�

Naoya Inose Monolith “Coexist” Oil and acrylic on canvas “I paint about the problems happening around me as well as various social and environmental issues. Even though they are problems that might occur in my life, I fundamentally consider myself a messenger. Painting can transcend language, and is a tool that makes it possible for people from all over the world to share visual information immediately. For this reason, I paint images with concrete visual effects that are all handled equally on the canvas. This is rooted in my philosophy that everything needs to be treated equally, which becomes the axis for my work whereby the depiction evenly spreads to every corner of the canvas.

Residing in the UK brought me into close contact with a society where a strong racial hierarchy still remains. I became more aware of my own race as well as my position within society both in the negative and positive sense. I am raising the problem of the meaning as well as meaninglessness of this in my painting.”

Anna Jung Seo Mother & Child 2 Oil on paper on board “As a Korean artist in London, ‘dislocation’ has been my main interest. I explore the notion of distance in different spheres: psychological and emotional distance within people and geographical and physical distance between places and people. My recent series of works expands my interests into people’s daily lives, in the streets and pubs, particularly of a street market in south London.

I am fascinated by the way in which emotions and vulnerability of life can be dramatised into intimate or even awkward moments. These paintings are based upon the short memory following quick observations through daily encounters.

Intrigued by scenes around me, I try to convey the vulnerability of these individuals by capturing the intense moments within small-scale paintings. I aim to build up my own narrative on top of their stories. I believe that these small moments are, though ephemeral, strong enough to show the fragmented truth of life.”

Michael Kashora Three Acrylic and oil on canvas “The heart of my work is the human condition; how fragile, beautiful, complex and precious it can be. It’s interested me because it’s what I believe we constantly learn more about, which is seen by how we continually introduce laws that are designed to improve quality of life and equality. Culture has then been one of my focal points, particularly in film. My work explores the relationship between people, nature and the supernatural in the Christendom sense. I engage these subjects by depicting dramatic situations that viewers can relate to, have a memory of, or can hopefully learn something new from. My goal has been to also entertain, using cinematic devices, and this ultimately brought me to then explore my painting composition method in film. The films I’ve produced have also fed back into my paintings.”

Grace Lee A Fist Raised in Righteous Anger Oil on canvas “Drawing on the familiar iconography of art history, my artistic practice explores the visual tension that emerges between the generic and the specific, and how this might relate to ideas of ownership. The images are laden with domestic connotation, but this domestic language clashes with an equally prevalent cultural history. The work is underpinned by this conflict, which ultimately gives way to further contradiction, between the personal and the universal, the serious and the humorous, original and replica, order and chaos…

I am fascinated by double meaning – puns, word play, quotes, allusions – and I think this ambiguity of language, whether verbal or visual, can expand and invert meaning in a way that allows for uncertainty, and for duality. What once appeared familiar might now seem alien, and what at first appeared alien might not be so strange.”

Kris Lock Synthesiser Oil on board “Within my practice I attempt to unpack the different components that underpin connection to places and states of places. My research engages with particular histories, and uses material functions and non-human interactions as a way of navigating interconnectivities.

Working in painting, sculpture, video and sound, cross medium assemblages are often employed in response to research and as ways of generating speculative models for understanding socio-political geographies.

These paintings explore encounters between an object and their respective environments. Both stem from an interest in the agency and transformative potential of water and in mechanisms that underpin various commodified spaces.�

Rose McMurray Coy Oil and charcoal on calico ‘The male nude is typically public: he strides through city squares, guards public buildings, is worshipped in church. He personifies communal pride and aspiration.

The female nude, on the other hand, comes into her own only when art is geared towards the tastes of erotic fantasies of private consumers.’ (Walters, M. 1978) “My paintings seek to address the issue of gender roles which are embedded within society; the premise that a male must be muscular and courageous to be admired and the female must appear modest and beautiful, to be worthy of respect. She is portrayed in a manner supposedly befitting her higher purpose - to be a receptacle for reproduction. The female is seen passively awaiting adoration while the male is strong and exuding power. I intend to counter this by creating a juxtaposition in which the female embraces this dominant and unreserved nature whilst the male becomes vulnerable and submissive.”

Leah Meredith Series 3 of 6, Displaced II Acrylic on watercolour paper “I am moved by the sheer plethora of images that we see every day in the media, of people affected by conflict and dispossession across our world. I believe that each and every individual has a story to tell, and it is important that we should hear and remember these stories. Through the process of appropriating imagery from press cuttings, I highlight each individual’s story, as a way of extending these moments of tragedy through the medium of painting.

Raw, poignant and profoundly honest, I capture the intimate and sincere portrait of humanity.”

Liz Middleton Inheritance & Heritage Sandstone “In 1937 the hands of my grandfather, Max B Lewis, sketched, modelled and carved at the City & Guilds of London Art School where I recently graduated. His work was captured and preserved in the library archives and it was there that he met my grandmother Marjorie. Max was awarded the Rome travelling scholarship for his emerging talents, but then World War II broke out and everything changed.

He laid down his chisels and work coat and reluctantly picked up the tools of destruction needed to make munitions.

Inheritance and Heritage is the title of a book my grandmother wrote about my grandfather’s legacy and her concern for the loss of carving skill, tradition and training to care for London’s architectural heritage. My lettering is a gesture of assurance that craftsmanship and patronage of artistry continue to be gifted forward.”

Aiden Milligan Between the Pines Screen print on Somserset paper “Working with paint, print media, drawing, and collage, my practice seeks to explore figuration within a suggestion of landscape, blending pastiche narratives with contemporaneous colour. My work stands testament to a new mythology, a personal folklore that seeks to question and probe that which already exists, delving into the Scottish literary vice of ‘authenticity’, a key concern in a world of half-truths.

The narratives that pervade the work tend to look into rural banality and charge it with a sense of wonder, threat, suspense, and at times melodrama. Much of the imagery stems from observation and sense of place, before being carefully laced with other references, from maritime folklore, to questions surrounding conservation and the wild. I am also keen for the observer to interpret the work as they wish, layering their own narrative and association.”

Hannah Mooney Lough Swilly at midday Oil on board “Primarily I am interested in the natural, organic forms in painting, etching and drawing. For the past four years my focus has centred around the timeless genres of landscape and still life painting. As much as possible I try to work from life, observing the mood and personality of my subject. The mood of the Scottish landscape is similar to that of the Irish landscape. It is unpredictable, often dark, sometimes sullen, troubled, and mysterious.

Outside or in the studio, I try to think about how the landscape feels and remember its nuances, lyricalism and subdued colour palette. Although one could remark that my subject matter is rather neutral and unchanging, the elemental drama of Irish and Scottish skies is always changing.

Most importantly, painting the landscape from life has brought me closer to nature and made me respectful of its strength, energy and beauty.�

Roisin O’Donnell Climbing Frame Oil on ply board “Specialising in paint, my work aims to blur the boundaries of reality and fantasy through the depiction of dark, dream-like landscapes. Not unlike the Magical Realists, I try to create a harmonious union between the real and the unknown through the layering of oil paint.

When looking at my work, you are transported to a place that can only ever exist partially in my mind. I invite you to become a spectator in this world and consider it with new understanding. I paint nocturnes, and use darkness as a vehicle to evoke uncanny feelings and distort conventional reality. By combining the natural and the man-made, I allow for a Romantic notion of the sublime to be experienced within 21st century urban settings.”

David Rae Night Shift Oil on canvas “The locations forming the basis for my work are mainly those that featured in my childhood, places I’ve visited or those that are re-imagined. Capturing a sense of place is an important aspect to each piece; alluding to an atmosphere in which I explore the presence of absence. The objects that populate each space suggest human interaction and are based on my wider interests, sport being a prime example.

Within the paintings I like to include subtle narratives creating an element of curiosity but not to an overpowering level, just enough to question the viewer’s judgement of what the work could be about. The title and compositional elements within the paintings will inevitably offer clues regarding each painting’s subject.”

Maia Regis Mosquito Hour Acrylic and pigments on linen “I want to transform the canvases into living beings, into visceral surfaces. They have to be fed from chance, traces of work, dirt, cuts and seams. This year I used paper glued on canvas, coffee bags, old hessian postbags, ancient moth eaten French embroideries, and Sicilian embroidered white tablecloths. These unconventional and irregular canvases conjure smells, sounds and tactile sensations, adding a cinematic feel. What I’m looking for in my work is for it to be the most full of life possible. I need to work on a large scale, so that painting becomes a physical act – that’s when I feel most confident and free. I like to navigate in troubled waters, between the real and the imaginary. Ambiguity for me is the key to a lively work.”

Phoebe Ridgway Now, we tempt it in Oil on board “I seek to represent a cyclical idea of landscape, informed by the sense of a remembered place. The work investigates the journey and context of this remembered place, generating a comprehensive vision of past memories. I grasp moments that remain with me and use them as motifs, which lay nestled within the paintings. These moments are entwined with the human presence on the land, forever following and altering, interrupting and intruding into the ever-changing rhythmic arrangement of the natural environment. The paintings examine these instances with a retrospective glance, attempting to make something full-bodied and rich with experiences. The continual process of layering paint enables me to keep revisiting these instances, ultimately to show a place over time. The paintings offer a consideration of place, a place shown as a holistic entity, one that shows an accumulation of instances, all co-mingling to suggest a totality.�

Sian Rycroft Viewpoint 2 Concrete and steel “The use of concrete springs from my upbringing in forever changing Leeds as it is home to many concrete buildings.

The structure of this piece is derived from the decluttering of the busy city which creates its simplest form. The complexities of surrounding areas are removed and untangled as the unpopulated urban landscape is recreated as sculptural drawings.

My work aims to create a conversation between the viewer, the work, the materials, the space and the surrounding environments. I use my work as a means of bringing the concrete utopian vision, as spoken of by Le Corbusier and Brutalism, back into the gallery for reconsideration of its subtle and fragile properties. I am reintroducing a material that is controversial, has been scrutinized and is considered a health risk in order to show its diversity and its industrial monumentality.�

Jennifer Sendall The Atheist Oil and Dutch metal on panel “Initially I trained in sight-size atelier-style, however my MA was conceptually based. I am engaged with the processes of time and mindful observation and the transference of sensation between my work and the mind of the observer.

Cinematography and digital effects influence me more than static work.

I am interested in Mikhail Bakhtin’s ideas of consciousness being manifest only through the passage of time. It is vital to me that I never rely upon a photograph to create the work, to do so would be to deny the time and consciousness required with the motif. The meditative mindfulness of deep observation and consideration, over an extended period, is foundational in my creative process.

The play of light and compositional pattern are my visual focus. The goal is a triad of near-impact (handling and mark-making), a far-impact (composition and notan) and a conceptual-impact (affect upon the consciousness of the viewer).”

Gail Seres-Woolfson Urban Concourse Acrylic and mixed media on board “My current work explores urban experience. A life-long city dweller, with a background in dance and performance, I am interested in architecture and space, and in the rhythms, contrasts and movement around me. Fluorescent debris against urban grey, dancing smog engulfing geometric construction, chimneys and railings within a landscape of abstracted shapes and colliding planes. My paintings juxtapose the concrete and stable with the transient and fluid, and echo the everevolving metropolis through an open-ended process of layering, observation and re-imagining. Using paint, pastel and collage ephemera I recall the textures of the city, and notions of time pervade the enquiry with references to period architecture, Modernist aesthetics, contemporary street furniture, and the architectural plans which will shape the future of our surroundings. Through structure and spontaneity, curiosity and intuition, I evoke the multiplicitous built environment, alive with angles, uprights and the possibility of encounter.�

Isobel Smith Tartan Bath 2 Embroidery “Throughout the last few years, my practice has been concerned with the everyday.

I am particularly interested in the environments that we create for ourselves; our homes and the comfort we find in the physicality of our familiar surroundings. I am interested in how this sense of comfort can be distorted or subverted through different methods of representation, and how it might be possible to create a sense of ‘The Uncanny’ in the work. I attempt to achieve this by creating scenes that are deliberately designed to seem implausible and uncomfortable. Through incorporating familiar elements such as chairs, beds and tables with bold colours and elements of impossible depth, perspective and scale, especially through mediums with connotations of nostalgia such as collage and embroidery, I hope to create a sense of familiarity juxtaposed with uncertainty in the work.”

Romily Alice Walden UTOPIAS (IRL//URL) Untitled #3 Phosphor coated glass tubing, argon gas, mercury, acrylic housing, arduino control system (edition of 10) “My work is concerned with gender and its interplay with other social categorisations and power differentials. At the core of my practice is an interrogation of contemporary embodiment and its relation to the post-internet age. I’m questioning modern society’s relationship with looking, being looked at, gendered hierarchies, pleasure and the body. These themes are explored with a focus on the IRL/URL paradigm (In Real Life / URL referring to an internet address).

The work is additionally concerned with the value of labour in an age of instant gratification; by producing all of my own neon work, I’m seeking to question the role of craft in the digital age. My work consists of installation, neon sculpture, and arduino electronic control systems.”

Frances Willoughby Play Along Mixed media “I draw on themes such as the uncanny, the body and the home. Within a psychoanalytic framework, I use fears and desires to create installations, sculptures and collages using a mixture of textiles, found objects and images. I am interested in the theories surrounding the uncanny, whereby the familiar is repressed and reappears. I seek to create windows into a world of tension and anxiety, one in which the characters exist with innocent transparency. Domestic items associated with comfort and security become subverted into sinister totems. My work acknowledges the blurred and often conflicting nature of emotions. I draw drama, secrets and loss from personal events, as they are raw and emotionally charged. Fear, anger and love become entwined ready to be decoded through the cipher of our familiar.�

Fleur Yearsley Empty Chair Oil on canvas Distance divides us, Empty chair at empty table, You are absent, I am still here. “I paint from my own elusive, but potent memories. Painting facilitates a way for me to revisit, grasp and depict certain recollections and capture their sensuous qualities. Whilst taking the bare essentials and what is necessary from each personal experience, my paintings are given structural consideration and refined with colourful sensibility.

Painting with urgency before the memory slips, the work is immediate and energetically fluid. This vigorous way of making is simultaneously combined with meditative and pensive gestures. I am fascinated to see how far I push a singular line that is both loaded and subtle.�

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To me, every day and every color moment is different - Michael Harding

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Our unique approach offers a highly individual, bespoke programme of study. We will provide you with the opportunity to develop and hone, to a very high standard, skills chosen from the full range of artistic mediums, whilst also allowing you to evolve your own artistic language and creative ideas. + Unparalleled contact time with tutors + Teaching from pre-eminent practising artists + Studio based skills training balanced with scholarship + A focus on professional development + A vibrant small community of artists Get in touch to talk about applications and open day registration. academiccourses@artacademy.org.uk www.artacademy.org.uk 020 7407 6969

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