no barking aRt issue 3 seNses&desiRes

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issue 3 conTenTs 1. is the Old pOp the nEw pOp ? shizico yi

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1b. Eroticism now shizico yi 2. my McQUEEN Rob Phillips 3. let’s talk abOut sExTHE ART OF STEFFEN KINDT Alan Bamberger

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4. eXclusive featuRes: peOple Ira Upin by Frank Hyder 5. the new pOets on the blOck shizico yi 6. what’s the point?

Lawrence Mathias

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7. pRivate View i see silhouettes shizico yi on Daryl Brown

8. SILENT CHAOS Aster Reem David 9. the pleasuRe of looking Ebru Varol 10. they were bOth wrong Veronica Shimanovskaya 11. SIX-an essay on lOve Sande Robert 12. Private Mew LUCY JOHNSTON 13. no barking aRt reSidency prOject memOry on a plAte Hannes Lin 14 a. cats and their aRtist huMans b-SINCLAIR WATKINS

issue 3

may 2015

editor

shizico yi photographer Camilla Barrett desiger shizico yi Proofreading Emma N. Guillemette Nicolas Chemin

feature artists Alan Bamberger Daryl Brown Aster Reem David Frank Hyder Lucy Johnston Steffen Kindt Hannes Lin Lawrence Mathias Rob Phillips Sande Robert Victoria Rowley Veronica Shimanovskaya Ira Upin Ebru Varol Sinclair Watkins

The inevitable injustice makes the history of art profoundly human.

( Milan Kundera, 2005)

what can artists do in a time like this ?

The drama in the earliest hours of Jan in Paris shocks the core of the humanity. This is how we open the year 2015.

What can artists do in a time like this?

In coming 100s of human ships through oceans, fleeing and trafficking themselves with the price of life they’re willing to pay buying freedom; while Germany and Italy take on most of the refugees, the rest of the European world slowly picking up...

Kathmandu airport is holding up relief supplies for earthquake survivors because of the bureaucracy is more important than saving lives; a boy buried under rubble over 5 days miraculously survived by eating butter and drinking from damped cloth, only you find him walking back in the streets in a week trying to get a job by guiding tourists, the boy’s wildest dream is to become a taxi driver. What can artists do in a time like this?

Suicide by pilots,100s passengers die for few man’s depression.

UK turns its colours to yellow and Blue. Ed, Clegg and Farage quit, Farage’s back within 100 hours. What can artists do in a time like this? We live our life as if these are just pictures, as if these are just the report on the radio, as if nothing had happened, as if we can not do a thing to make a difference.

What can artists do in a time like this?

We all know there is nothing new for the degree of horror, sorrow and pain in watching the news, everyday, life presents us real drama which makes me feel it’s insane to watch Coronation Street, EastEnders or House of Cards when real life is mad as fictions. Then we come to Royal Academy looking into Anselm Kiefer’s works bring the memories of the Wars back from our

shizico yi, editor of no barking aRt, 2015. London

past only finding ourselves living closer to the fear and pain as these paintings depicted. We are searching for homes, hopes, foods, and for love, for a better future for our children...What can artists do in a time like this?

Humanity heals by us making, Goya’s The Third of May (1808), George Grosz’s Pillars of Society (1926), Dali’s Premonition of Civil War (1936), Picasso ‘s Guernica (1937), Ritchter’s Man Shot Down (1988), even in the east, there was Wang Hsi-Chih’s Four Gentlemen (Chin dynasty).

Humanity heals by us making, Rothko did it, Turner did it, Robert Frank did it, Borowczyk did it, Kiefer is doing it,…

Making good art is more powerful than guns, bombs, getting stoned by foods, alcohol, drugs, sex, fashion photos, selfies, Instagram , Twitters or Facebook.

We present this issue with a project “ Senses and Desires” to honor our desire of freedom, desire of senses, desire of the pleasure of looking, of the tasty foods, the desire of loving pets… many artists help us achieve the task, we sincerely solute them.

While asking what can artists do in a time like this, we are asking what can the world do for artists too. In this small corner what no barking aRt can do for artists is this magazine and exhibitions to bring you together, so you would keep on making good art to heal the generations to come; we would keep on doing so as long as the artists support and want us to.

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Senses and Desires special Project

is the Old pOp the nEw pOp ? shizico yi

Is it a type of porn? Is it art? One thing for sure is

the way Japanese Shunga depicts sex ,desire and pleasure is still shocking to many of viewers after 200 years.

Shunga, a form of erotic art in Japan’s ukiyo-e movement.

Shunga in Japanese means “picture of spring”. Like Spring is the time for euphemism, Shunga, also means the essence of pleasure and senses of euphoria. Critics believe the exhibition “Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art” (2014) was one of the most daring curatorial approach made

by British Museum. Under its heavy weight reputation, British Museum has single-handedly stamp-approved this old Japan pop culture to enter into the realm of art and given its importance in the history of art and our civilization.

Just how important are ukiyo-e and Shunga art movement?

How does Japanese Shunga influence western art? We will have to go back to the days of wine and roses, to Paris.

Parisian avant-garde art force had turned its back on academic establishments (such as The Salon) and was looking for inspiration in new classical antiquity.

Like most of the Impressionists, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec liked Japanese prints. Van Gogh once said, “Japanese art, we all had that in common”. Van Gogh had not only held a large collection, acquired directly from Bing1 but he reproduced some of Japanese prints in his paintings. (Figs 1-4, 9-11 ) So did Whistler, in his Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge, the central object is the Battersea Bridge which places against the blank background with fireworks and rockets in the sky. The painting was very much inspired by Hiroshige’s woodblock print. (Frances Fowle 2000, Tate) Figs 5.6.

Picasso had a huge collection of sixty-one Japanese prints.

His Japanese collection included images of courtesans

of the Kabuki actors, satirical scenes and erotic Shunga created by the golden boys of the Edo empire: Utamaro, Kiyonobu, Jihei, Koryusai, Moronobu, Eizan, Harunobu, Eishi and Kiyonaga.

(figs 7-9)

Figures 1. Plum Park in Kameido (1857) by Utagawa Hiroshige, Woodblock print 2. Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige) (1887) by Vincent Van Gogh, oil. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

3. Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and Atake (1857) by Utagawa Hiroshige , Woodblock Print.

4 . The Bridge in the Rain (after Hiroshige) (1887) by Vincent Van Gogh, Oil. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

5. Fireworks Over Ryogoku Bridge, HIROSHIGE. No. 98 from the series 100 Famous Views of Edo originally published 1858 6. Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, James McNeill Whistler, 1872–5.Tate Britain. 68 cm x 51 cm , Oil paint. Tate. london.

7. Vincent’s tracing of the courtesan figure, ,Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

8. Title page of Paris Illustré “Le Japon’ vol. 4, May 1886, no. 45-46 9 . The Courtesan (after Eisen), Vincent van Gogh, 1887, Oil on canvas, 105.5 cm × 60.5 cm ,Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Note 1: Siegfried Bing was the most influential art dealer in this time,

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Senses and Desires special Project

(continue) The signature qualities in Japanese print are elevated perspectives, blank spaces, marked outlines and flat colour. These qualities made their presence into these Parisian avant-garde artists: Toulouse-Lautrec was a collector of Japanese Shunga.

He adopted its colours, marked outlines and the facial expressions of Kabuki actors into his paintings. His use of flat colour, the focus on the essential elements of a painting leaving the rest of the canvas blank and his choice of models from the Parisian night-clubs are all heavily influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e movement and its pleasure-life style. ( figs 1-6)

positions; in Shunga images, many of the sexual organs are dramatically enlarged and shown with stunning exaggerated clarity. In a shocking contrast, most lovers’ faces are flat and somehow unexcited; most of the time these characters show no emotion allowing the viewer to be a bit of a voyeur. (continue) figures on the right 1. National Constitution ceremony poster. Edo period, Utagawa Kunisada. 1786–1864, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper.

Edgar Degas acquired many of prints by Utamaro, Hiroshige, Hokusai and Kiyonaga. Though Degas might not paint ”Japoneries”, he applied their aesthetic qualities such as the elongated formats, blank spaces and elevated perspectives in his art making.

2. Actors Nakamura Fukusuke I as Nuregami Chôgorô and Ichikawa Ichizô III as Hanaregoma Chôkichi , by Utagawa Kunisada, 1857 Edo period ,Publisher Uoya Eikichi (Japanese),36.4 x 24.8 cm, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper.

Picasso also incorporated the plastic solutions practiced by the ukiyo-e masters in to some of his works. Art and the erotic were like one and the same thing throughout Picasso’s life work. The signature characters of Japanese print had made their way into Picasso’s painting. He had not only learnt from the collection he owned but also from his intensive study of 19th century art. His passion of Delacroix, Whistler and Gauguin’s works had influenced him during his years in Paris. All these artists were lovers of Japanese art , especially of art of ukiyo-e. Picasso developed his interest in Japanese art also through the works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas and Vincent Van Gogh, all of whom were fans of Japanese art.

3. Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret

by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec ,1892, color lithograph (advertisement poster)

Most Shunga works are a type of ukiyo-e. The majority of Shunga depicts lovers’ bodies entwined in extraordinary

4. Poem by Jakuren Hôshi, from a triptych of Three Evening Poems (Sanseki), by Suzuki Harunobu(1725–1770), published in 1765 Edo period.

5. Ono no Komachi, by Suzuki Harunobu, ink on paper, 28.5 x 21.8 cm , published 1766-67 6. Jane Avril by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), published 1899, Colour lithograph, 56 x 38 cm.

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Senses and Desires special Project

(continue) Many of Picasso’s latest etchings and drawings are erotic, most of the works were only able to be exhibited at the end of his life after the liberalisation in 1968 in France. One of his erotic prints (1903, fig 1) is inspired by The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife , the most famous image in Shunga history ( it was published in 1814 during the Edo period) ,a work by Hokusai Katsushika. It is an image of a young ama (female diver) copulating with a pair of octopuses. (fig 2)

Figures 1. Picasso painted his own version inspired by The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife in 1903 that has also been shown next to Hokusai’s original in the exhibition in Muse Picasso of Barcelona 2009. Copyright, Museum of Picasso of Barcelona.

After 200 years are we still shocked by this sort of thing?

3. one of the Shunga by Katsushika Hokusai, 1814, woodblock print.

We can safely say that sex would never cease to be the taboo and would always arouse viewers’ senses and desires.

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2.The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife by Katsushika Hokusai, 1814, woodblock print, paper, 19 cm × 27 cm

4. Made in Heaven. Jeff Koons: A Retrospective. The Centre Pompidou, Paris. November, 2014 - April 27, 2015, picture credit: Elsa11. December 2014 All rights reserved.

eRoticism nOw shizico yi

Follow Britain, 1960s was the golden age of Pop Art

of the most primary elements of being, had never been so loudly celebrated before these pop artists of their times, whether is Hokusai in 1814 or Jeff Koons in 1989.

in the US. New York was the epicentre of the movement.

1970s to mid 1980s the world devoted to Andy Warhol’s “art-factory” revolution. From 1986, the city had decided to give another group of raising stars : Ashley Bickerton, Peter Halley, Meyer Vaisman and the golden boy of the time, Jeff koons. Koons’s “Made in Heaven” series is a public act of his love to a platinum porn star turned politician-Ilona Staller (also know as”Cicciolina”,a Hungarian-born Italian) which undoubtedly coincided with Shunga’s pop art culture in the depiction of sex and pleasure. (figures 3-4)

Unlike Picasso or Koons, many contemporary artists make sexual references in their work, not for the pleasure but for expressing their frustration and searching for answers in live through their art works.

In her Tate show of 2012, Yayoki Kusama installed hundreds of bulged 3D white, silver and gold phallic objects in many of her exhibition rooms. These phallic forms along with dried macaroni cover furniture, hanging dresses, high heels and other everyday domestic objects. It was like walked into Alice in Phallic-Land.

Picasso’s Paris drawings and Koons’s Made in Heaven series were created for pleasure. A certain misogyny is portrayed in many of Koons’ close-up photos of sexual organs and in Picasso’s case, his drawings depicting the sexual preferences of the people are somewhat exaggerated.

Phallic domination, penis fixation and sexual obsession are parodied by means of figures like enormous vaginas or objects elongated into the shape of a phallus; this exaggeration of sexual senses are also a motif used by Shunga artists, in parodying the sexual act. Pleasure, one

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Kusama’s phallic objects are reminiscent of what Claire Bishop described as ‘the erotic fusion’. ( Bishop, 2005: 91) Mignon Nixon has also written that Kusama’s phallic forms belong to the shift in art practice in the 1950s and 1960s which was shared by other female contemporaries including Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesses. And this shift still carried out in many of contemporary female artists’ works. Victoria Rowley is one of the examples. (continue)

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Senses and Desires special Project

(continue) Mignon Nixon has also written that Kusama’s phallic forms belong to the shift in art practice in the 1950s and 1960s which was shared by other female contemporaries including Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesses .And this shift is still carried out in many contemporary female artists’ works. Victoria Rowley is one example.

Amber Foundation in the following May. Rowley told no barking aRt of her concept behind these erotic works.:

From early textile years, Rowley was already a very complex character as an artist. Her almost in-perfection appearance and tender nature do not stop Victoria challenging the taboo. Many of her projects developed from daring images in the history of art, from Hieronymus Bosch’s epic “The Garden of Earthly Delights” in the 15 century to Shunga in 19 century.

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Victoria Rowley specialises in erotic-botanical

art on textiles. Her works consist of mostly traditional academic botanicals and exotic imagery. Her works intend to represent a merging of the opposite sexes. An exaggerated and erect phallus may often be seen as the central subject in her work, however Rowley’s approaches to placement and detail is very feminine.

Rowley is currently working on a series of large digital, and screen-printed textiles. Works titled ‘Pudenda’ and ‘Paradise slice’ will be placed alongside ‘Signior Dildo’ and ‘Happy to see me’. The series began with the work called ‘Nympha’, which was exhibited at no barking aRt Biennale in London last year, and sold at a charity auction for the

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my McQUEEN Rob Phillips

When I reflect on McQueen’s clothes I think the obvious signature sharp tailoring, waist definition, pointed shoulders, bumsters, all archetypal McQueen but at the end of the day these are just clothes. It was the whole picture, the meaning behind it, the punch his work packed, is where he came into his own.

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transcript of Rob Phillips talking about alexander McQueen

I’m not a fan of McQueen’s clothes. Never have been and never will be. When I really look at them, especially in today’s context, I find them somewhat derivative.

There are many other designers who I feel are far more significant in terms of the product they design. But McQueen to me was never about that. I always felt the term ‘fashion’ was wasted on McQueen, he was far more than clothes and way bigger than fashion.

Back in 1995 the fashion scene seemed to have yet again, reached a plateau, much like today in my opinion.

Everything was very similar, very constructed, polished and finished as clothes are, where trend and commerce meet. Everything was glossy, airbrushed and constantly perpetuating a perfect image, whatever that is. Even the tail ends of grunge had been fashionably gloss coated.

Yes there was the odd designer who challenged these norms but they were either too small to be written about or to quiet to get noticed. Of course there are many ‘in the know’ fashion connoisseurs who did recognise other happenings in fashion but let’s think mainstream and in this instance I’ll talk from a very personal perspective;

think working class boy, no money, growing up in the urban / suburban midlands, pre mass internet. I had access to a littering of glossy magazines and the odd art book in the local library, but nothing deeper than that. You only found out about designers when they hit the front pages of my Dad’s Daily Mirror or appeared in editorials of Vogue or Marie Claire, which I would save pocket money to buy. I think we got cable in about ‘98 and that was dominated by rubbish and very little fashion. Beyond this it was hard to find and see fashion in my situation. It’s only when something big happened that you would know about it.

Society had / has constructed quite a specific image of beauty, clean skin, silky full hair, lean figure etc.

Through the ages this image has changed but since the 80’s it seems to have simmered on a simile. This type of beauty has never really appealed to me and neither did it surround me. I have no shame or issue with saying that in my younger years I very much struggled with the way I looked yet at the same time (continue)

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I had absolutely no relationship with or desire to be like images coming from the media. The idea of being like everyone else was just too much for an introverted, poetic romantic teenager like me. Not only on an image level but also an emotional and intellectual one. What I was seeing in mainstream fashion, TV and the media in general ‘spoke nothing to me about my life’ (thank you The Smiths). I neither wanted to be like the images I saw nor did I find them attractive or sexually appealing, but somehow I felt a certain pressure to conform.

Conform I did and it got me nowhere apart from being very miserable, overwhelmed and feeling kind of second class.

Cash is just cash, you can’t take it to the grave and the idea of insane luxury living where you do nothing but shop and concentrate on your looks I find vacuous and chillingly dull.

What the papers described as vile, ridiculous and misogynistic, I saw as an anarchic, antiestablishment, anti-fashion, hyperreal and hyper powerful image. I didn’t see woman as object but woman somehow freed from the shackles of trend by being given a different choice from the current status quo, and having choice is imperative.

I also saw a much needed different perspective, not rinsed of all its meaning and passionate sentiment, but instead an open nerve of a generation and society that was bored with fashions banality. From that moment I followed McQueen religiously.

McQueen’s early presentations were full on spectacles of clever and unique juxtaposition.

Without giving you a McQueen history lesson, as you already know it, I will just touch on some poignant moments that really stood out to me.

Enter McQueen.

I’m going to jump past his initial collections to the ones that made the news at the time I discovered his work.

Fashion Rape! Highland Rape!

Did I just read that in my Dad’s newspaper? A sprawling shock tactic headline next to what looked like an alien in a ravaged lace dress was my introduction to Alexander McQueen and I was instantly addicted.

The SS-RTW-1997 ‘La Poupee’ show referenced, in a trippy way, sci-fi, parts of the orient, punk, nature (insects) and contortion, set in some sort of biblical, walk on water production that McQueen went onto use again.

The AW-RTW-1997 ‘Its a Jungle Out There’ collection was a mix of tailored Gestapo like tribes, more religious iconography, bits of animals, namely horns and pelts, bleach and Mad Max. (continue)

It was like watching a lion being ripped apart by its prey, the Gazelle, with onlookers cheering for more. I loved watching this show just to see people drinking and smoking publicly in the front row and sitting on the floor in puddles of booze!

The whole affair was totally different from what the fashion scene was and is about.

In ‘98 I felt McQueen had really arrived. With a graphically, still taboo, title ‘The Golden Shower’, the SS-RTW-1998 collection appeared almost sacrificial. White gowns on crying models bathed in yellow light and soaked through from the rain above, teetering on a catwalk that was pumped with black ink to the sound of the Jaws attack tune was a heady medley of sinister references. Then ‘Joan’ AW-RTW-1998 was like watching hells medieval, Scottish eunuchs in some witchcraft summoning of a higher being, with a Carrie like finale displaying fury in a ring of fire.

You can’t not Mention McQueen’s SS-RTW-1997 Collection ‘No13’ where Aimee Mullins walked on specially crafted / carved legs and Shalom Harlow was balletically graffitied by two robots. Was this about new and old Arts and Craft, or more importantly about overcoming something or being overcome by something?

‘VOSS’ SS-RTW-2001 was a venture into the darkest and lightest recesses of our mind. An elaborate and exaggerated expression of humour and fear that together feel what you imagine madness may feel like. Through a two-way mirror we are made to look at ourselves and then at others. Is it the fear of ourselves that makes us laugh at others? Maybe this was a challenge to our socially constructed norms of acceptable identity and characters alike.

In all the McQueen shows I saw pain, tension and anxiety, maybe that’s just because I work from those feelings, but even looking back at his work now, you can clearly see these are not happy, frivolous affairs. It’s the powerful feelings and emotions that you see in his shows that set him apart from others and why he’s been so successful and what’s helped sell the clothes. McQueen’s spirit was

not sanitised or polished. It was gut wrenchingly sickened, fervent, formidable and all consuming.

I was surprised and thankful, though bias, to discover McQueen’s roots obviously played a large part in why and what he created, I’m sure they do with everyone, but I could partly relate to his story. What’s interesting is when you look at the image of fashion and a lot of the media around it, it’s easy to presume that unless you’re a certain type you will not fit in and McQueen definitely doesn’t fit the fashion stereotype. Don’t believe the hype so to speak, and avoid looking at the front row or socialite columns, because behind this façade there is a plethora of deeply wonderful, empathetic and talented characters.

McQueen’s background obviously had bearing on his attitude to Saville Row and the fashion system. On one side he fits the hard endless graft mentality of the job and has something to say and offer fashion in a very fashion like way through the shows, but on the other hand he was so very different. Each shows immediacy was more than the clothes and styling, but had a deeper, raw energy, that no other designer seemed to have at the time except for Boudicca. McQueen appeared separate from the world he was operating in yet at the same time pandered to its needs and wants. Obscure. The shows personified this and at times it looked like he was sticking the middle finger up to the system. A rebel? Not sure, a man with a dirty sense of humour, some issues and something to say? For sure!

To me McQueen’s skill for fashion design was insignificant when I think about the bigger picture and impact he has had on fashion and society. Here is a man who was seemingly working of his cuff and following his desire with the help of an amazing team to magnify his vision to a fashion and a mainstream audience. No silver spoon, no major backing, just McQueen, his team and tons of tons of heart.

While all others around him seemingly played by fashions rules, typecasts and expectations. McQueen infiltrated the system, played to its timings but the rest was a stage for whatever he wanted to show and this changed things forever. (continue)

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A whole generation where empowered by McQueen. People, designers realised that regardless of who you are, with the help of like minded creatives all collaborating together you can have a voice and be a part of whatever you want, in this instance, fashion. Lots of designers where putting on big theatrical shows, McQueen followed suit but with harder, macabre connotations and emotive significance. Regardless of who was promoting him, his work still went the distance because of its uniqueness.

McQueen was visually talking about people in a more visceral way and exploring parts of the mind that no one else was communicating; highly, aggressively sexual, twisted, perverted, poisoned angry, violent and nihilistic. Showing not an image of perfection but instead more animalistic, cannibalistic, satanic, scientific and fearless and somehow through all this destruction of image norms, he created a forbidding, very constructed figure with a real edge of heart breaking romance. I’d never seen this in fashion, even now being older and not so much wiser; I’d struggle to pull out the pages of any history book someone like McQueen. Yes the clothes played a huge part in his importance, and in my head when I reflect on McQueen’s clothes I think the obvious signature sharp tailoring, waist definition, pointed shoulders, bumsters, all archetypal McQueen but at the end of the day these are just clothes. It was the whole picture, the meaning behind it, the punch his work packed, is where he came into his own. To me McQueen is more akin to an artist; he lay out and played out his soul through fashion.

In my first year second term of university I was asked if I could go and do an internship at McQueen whilst studying, because they wanted someone who could draw and sew. I felt this was way too challenging but could not resist the opportunity so I went for interview and I was working there the next day.

There’s very little I can legally say about my time at McQueen because of confidentiality agreements and my respect for internal privacy. However on my first day I was like some ridiculous quivering wreck of a McQueen fan, totally in awe that I was in the studios where so many amazing things had been created. It was pretty magical to be in those studios.

From day one, I was busy right through my time there. I

used every skill I had and learnt even more. It was an intense high stress environment, long hours and hellish amounts of work, but to be in a place where there was so much creativity, energy and love for McQueen, it was a privilege.

It was a strangely well-orchestrated yet at times free style operation. There was a story being told and every now and again McQueen would throw in a different line or a cliff-hanger, a bit like a film where you simply don’t see something coming. At the time we were working on ‘What a Merry-Go-Round’. The studios walls were full of images that ranged from war uniforms, Edwardian and Victorian funeral wear, the history of clowns and more. We all worked round the clock creating a variety of things, some random, some used, some not. The process was about building and editing.

Experiments could take days and end up in the bin in seconds.

As line-ups were being produced and fittings took place the story became more finalised. But the collection was not over until it went on the catwalk. Things would still be being made last minute backstage.

McQueen had the dirtiest of all the laughs and whilst a very veracious and comical character you could see the cogs in his head thinking and over thinking his plans. Seeing him in action cutting a one-shoulder coat was pretty phenomenal.

He literally created this piece in 5 minutes, pattern perfect.

He was absolute proof to any aspiring designer that regardless of the rhyme and reason, concept or theme, skill is your backbone and so utterly necessary to make your vision come alive. Without it you’re on the back foot totally reliant on others understanding you.

As his collections grew bigger and more professional and he became cooler I felt the work lost its edge of what it originally stood for. This was bound to happen and it would be foolish to keep doing the same thing. But I have a very romantic view of what McQueen is and it’s hard to let that go.

He stood for something profound that he symbolised through clothes, sound, styling, production etc. In my eyes he was a revolutionary, a visionary who actually evolved us, changed things, developed fashion and society.

He was manufactured by his times and reacted to them, even fought them through design. He gave me hope that there was depth and meaning in fashion beyond what I was seeing on the surface. That emotion played a vital role in the process just as it does in truly connecting to consumers.

Intrinsically attuned to his emotions and fantasies his work was poles apart from his contemporaries. Without McQueen I would have never entered fashion. I don’t think in my lifetime I will see another McQueen. Times have changed, and so has fashion, rightfully so.

But what I do hope to witness is more people tuning into to their feelings and expelling them through design, if only to bring more meaning and understanding back to who we are and what we personally and individually stand for, rather than what’s cool or trendy.

That’s my McQueen’s. That how his work speaks to me, through my youth, right up to now. Never forget his importance. The reign of McQueen will be a long one.

Rob Phillips Victoria and Albert Museum Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. till 2 August 2015 (London)

These six sketches were created through memory of McQueen collections that still resonate in Rob’s mind and the titles are the songs that he was listening to while he drew them.

80% of the proceeds from these prints go to a student studying fashion design under the tutorage of Rob Phillips.

From Left to right ‘I got a face that’s made for violence upon’ Marilyn Manson - Disposable Teens Alexander McQueen, ‘Eshu’ - Autumn / Winter, Ready to Wear 2000 Size: A2 – 420mm X 594mm ‘We can watch the world devoured in its pain’ Smashing Pumpkins - The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning Alexander McQueen, ‘Joan’ - Autumn / Winter, Ready to Wear 1998 Size: A2 – 420mm X 594mm

‘Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach, as I want you to be’ Nirvana – Come As You Are Alexander McQueen, ‘The Golden Shower’– Spring / Summer, Ready to Wear 1998 Size: A2 – 420mm X 594mm ‘I’m a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here’ Radiohead – Creep Alexander McQueen, ‘Voss’ – Spring / Summer, Ready to Wear 2001 Size: A2 – 420mm X 594mm ‘I cried for you on the kitchen floor’ Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good’ Alexander McQueen, ‘The Dance of the Twisted Bull’ – Spring / Summer, Ready to Wear 2002 Size: A2 – 420mm X 594mm Contact through email: rob@robphillipswork.com

Rob Phillips

Colourist for International Colour Authority.

His entrepreneurialist attitude, obsession with process and his drive to ‘present the new’ led to his appointment as Creative Director of Fashion Forecast magazine. Establishing a reputation for mentoring Rob was soon approached by the academic sector to tutor fashion students.

Equipped with intense training in fashion womenswear and menswear (design and manufacture), surface textiles, fashion illustration and after a number of internships and design appointments Rob went into the field of Fashion Communication and Journalism.

Rob continues to nurture talent at London College of Fashion across all the courses within the School of Design & Technology, teaching about fashion, fashion lifestyle and transferability.

is the Creative Director at UAL. London College of Fashion for the School of Design and Technology. Rob also works as a Fashion Consultant, Fashion Commentator (BBC, The Guardian, showSTUDIO etc) and Fashion Writer and continues his personal of Fashion Illustration.

Rob became Fashion Editor for ITBD’s International Textiles magazine and

Rob Phillips will be showing his new paintings in no barking aRt’s “ Educating Picasso “ Exhibition in Oct to Nov. 2015 in two galleries in central london.

Senses and Desires special Project

let’s talk abOut sEx the art of STEFFEN KINDT by Alan Bamberger

Upon initial encounter with Steffen Kindt’s art, one might surmise that he appears to be following in the footsteps of Pop Art. Pop may indeed serve as a foundation for his work, however his masterful understanding and portrayal of various facets of the culture of the multitudes extends well beyond the fundamental underpinnings of his imagery. The female form in particular, pervasive in his compositions, often presented in stark elemental contrast with the immediate surroundings, has instant appeal that all can understand and identify with.

Indeed Kindt intentionally enlists the mysterious seductive beguiling ever-changing nature of femininity as the means whereby he delivers his message, to essay on that realm of perception that is uniquely his own.

Steffen began work in 1975 as an art director at an advertising agency, he established his own advertising agency in 1982, one that remains fully engaged and operational to this day. His dedication was rewarded with the first of his many subsequent shows in 1989, and he continues to build upon his considerable curriculum vitae of art world distinctions to this day. Throughout the course of his ascent, Kindt never lost sight of his love of the fine arts and his aspirations in that regard. He continued to paint, refining is techniques, and distilling his vision into direct charismatic uncompromising three-color compositions--commentaries on life via the metaphor of the female form.

To better comprehend Kindt’s methodology, let us reflect for amoment and elucidate on that ever-present female form, that feminine energy so pervasive in his art. On a superficial level, you have the pure voyeurism of it all. One need no more than look. The image, the composition--they stand on their own with absolutely no deep thinking or cerebral contortions required. The endgame of the art lies in the stimulating pleasure of

its viewing. And if that is the realm in which the viewer wishes to reside, at the threshold of pure enjoyment, than that is his or her prerogative.

The female mystique signifies the manifestation of Kindt’s overarching theme, the unifying thread of his art. He proves it is possible to use the identical analogy an infinite number of times and in infinite permutations—the archetypal woman, the ideal-persevering through all, living life to the full, relishing its pleasures, doing whatever may be required to triumph over adversity, and, as delineated by the complexity of a given circumstance, or on a situation-by-situation basis, remaining ever the enigma.

As with the branding of a product for purposes of instant recognition, the woman in red, yellow, black and white evolves into Kindt’s symbolic synopsis of all that is life. So where is the male, the masculine half of the equation, of the reality of life as we live it? This answer is simple-- he’s everywhere. Rather than complicate, or maybe better yet, limit the dramatic potential of his paintings by introducing actual male physicality, Kindt instead elects to balance yin with yang by interjecting manly trappings like motorcycles, automobiles, cigars, and alcohol, but nothing more. In so doing, he renders the male presence emblematic rather than actual, implicit rather than explicit, thereby gifting the viewer freedom to hypothesize on the nature of any male/female relationships that may or may not be taking place within his art. The male essence is there, of that we are certain, but in what capacity or in what respect—of those we are not.

Dissecting the art of Steffen Kindt would not be completed without an analysis of his treatment of sex-- pure unadulterated sex-- and its (continue)

Prince of Denmark, Steffen Kindt

Senses and Desires special Project

direct allusion in so many of his compositions. Kindt’s art is rife with references in this regard, perhaps so much so that those prone to superficial review or cursory resolution might surmise that he belabors the obvious.

Those who delve deeper rapidly and increasingly realise that such an easy explanation is a misconception based on gross oversimplification, and does not begin to reveal the artist’s true intent and motivations. Sex and sexuality, fundamental facts of life and common to us all, are so often glossed over or even completely avoided in standard conversation.

The overwhelming majority of people are reluctant to broach concerns relating to carnality and its associated implications, to discuss them in frank matter-of-fact fashion. Steffen Kindt, however, is not most people. He accepts the challenge straight on, defying convention, and with uncompromising forthrightness , confronts the full spectrum of intimate interplay in his art. True, certain of his references may be obvious, but this is entirely purposeful; they are obvious because they need to be addressed, discussed, examined, explored, and most importantly, acknowledged for the role they play in human affairs. So much in life is the direct consequence of what happens behind closed doors-the doors of the boudoir, not of the boardroom.

Kindt, with bold direct uncompromising honesty, makes things interesting because he allows (even encourages) the act of discourse on every last intention of his seductive subjects, making his art as much about pending or impending acts of intimacy or intercourse as it is about politics, agendas, power struggles, pacts, promises, innuendo, deceit, duplicity,

synthesis, division, victory, or defeat. Men approach the moment in one way; women approach it in another. The finale may be the same, but everything in between is open for discussion.

Though Kindt may initiate that discussion with a stripling pun or stereotypic imagery, the point is that he initiates it.

And he does so in such an innocent unsuspecting manner that while we might at first focus only on the superficial, or attempt to ignore; in the backs of our minds we know that the issues he brings to the fore are anything but frivolous. Here we are; here’s what’s happening; now let’s talk about it.

Notable throughout all of Kindt’s work is its intimacy, the way he invites and entices the viewer right into the moment, so close that the two practically merge into one.

He begins with images and experiences extracted from day to-day life, in and of themselves holding

minimal significance, but he then proceeds to interpret and embellish them in ways that captivate and enchant. Boudoir fashion, immediate physical proximity, plush furnishings, closequarter spaces, the sweet scent of perfume, the moist gentle zephyr of feminine breath-- all are irresistibly engaging-- and now the viewer is invested.

He portrays life as we know it, or life as we might wish it, always with overtones to the positive, but beyond that, the viewer is free to wander about the art and to draw his or her own conclusions, either cognitively or visually or both.

Through a highly selective, intelligent, and eminently effective use of cropping, he eliminates every excess shred of background noise, yielding only the essentials, oftentimes in varying states of bareness, that inexorably evolve into his definitive compositions. And it is astonishing how complete these oeuvres are, genre pictures without

genre, consummately mysterious beyond their immediate high-density nuclei, yet entirely satisfying as standalone visuals. He has perfected a method of accentuating every detail of his work, boldly ramping and intensifying his imagery larger than life with his stark profound red, black, and yellow palette. So fundamental, so effective, the coloration imparts an added air of animation and action to his imagery, bringing it to life, enhancing its impact, and extending it beyond vying for attention to the point of demanding it.

It is this opportunity for viewers to fill in the blanks-- to use Kindt’s clues to their own ends-- that is perhaps the greatest evidence of his ingeniousness. One of the true gifts artists give us is that by visually materializing concepts, ideas, and philosophies, they incite our innermost spirits to take action. (continue)

Senses and Desires special Project

Among so many other things, art encourages us to look inward, to introspect, to examine ourselves, and in so doing, it helps us to better understand our motivations and outlooks on life.

Ultimately though, and on a personal level, Kindt’s paintings evade concise well-defined solution. They bring us closer to each other, yes, but no amount of dialogue can logic his compositions to conclusion or resolve them in our minds. The verity of his narratives remains elusive, as well they should, and an enchanting uncertainty reigns absolute.

Kindt does initiate the weaving of the tale, that is true, but with so few clues to rely on beyond the initial elemental expose, it is ultimately the viewer who must write the epitaph. It might be this, it could be that; you’ll never know for sure.

So there you have an introduction to the manifold facets of Steffen Kindt’s art.

As bold, suggestive, intimate, or unrestrained as his paintings m a y appear, he ultimately references t h e universality of unremarkable moments enjoyed by ordinary average people every single day of their lives. He allows himself copious romantic liberties, imbuing his images with gravity, adventure, mystery, intrigue, excitement, and consequence, crafting a fictional domain where beautiful sensual affluent sophisticates live superstar lives.

Note: This article is a part of The art of steffen kindt original published by Forlaget Munk & Syberg, Demark. THE ART OF STEFFEN KINDT by Alan Bamberger. Published by Forlaget Munk & Syberg - Denmark .

ISBN 978-87-991570-5-1 All rights reserved, no barking aRt publishing -issue 3 is under the permission of the artist Steffen Kindt.

Steffen Kindt was born in Berlin in 1945. He was educated at the Art School in Hamburg and moved to Denmark in1973. He made his debut show in 1989 and continue to show his works around the world.

Images in this feature by Steffen Kindt top figure “Steffen Kindt” - self-portrait figure on the right Backstage previous pages: left: untitled right top: ...quiet please...

eXclusive _ p

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featuRes O

p

l

The Strong Man and the Enigma of the Self Frank Hyder

Ira Upin

I have known Philadelphia artist for more than 35 years as both a man and an artist. I have spent hundreds of hours engaged in intense conversations about politics, religion, morality, architecture, films, family life and art, standing in his studio surrounded by boldly executed images in all stages of development. So one would imagine writing about this powerful, forceful man, who it would seem was so familiar to me, would be a simple task. Alas, therein lies the first enigma. The more you know him offers no clue to decoding his images. I do know his processes and his sources and his models and methods; and yet, the enigma sticks even more persistently. To quote Upin, “A work of art should have a quality

of craft, a clarity of purpose and meaning.” But then there is this, “It’s about randomness and our inability to control that randomness. Things happen,

anything can happen and we want somehow to control it. But in the end we really can’t. The tightness of the way I work seems a futile attempt to exert that control.”

Does one read an image such as “Hot Dog” as a literal narrative? Are the images presented to be taken at face value? Or are they poetic substitutes for a hidden

language, as hieroglyphics or cuneiform scripts create a satisfying image in and of themselves; but by using a key, the reader is able to find another level of insight with completely different meaning. I would argue at times they are both, another enigma. The use of paint in these works is intense and highly resolved, rewarding the viewer with an image crafted with flawless photorealistic readability; yet, the images are arranged as if in a montage or tableau, frequently ignoring logic and traditional photorealistic compulsive relationships. The color is vivid, at times even fluorescent. The relationships are sharp as one would find in an image made for advertising; and yet, each work stubbornly returns us to the photographic reference. So now we see that many of the clues presented by Upin are in fact contradictions. The fact that they have meaning actually separates this artist from being a “photorealist” concerned only with visual data for its own sake. Is Upin a neo-realist in the pantheon of David Salle? Again I think not as his constructed images lack any randomness. In fact, it is easier to think of Jacques-Louis David and the “Death of Marat” when studying a Upin image than the helter skelter of a David Salle. No, Upin is far more poetic in his choices and far more committed and intense in his realizations.

e

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Nola Boys. 2014, 72”x 72”.Oil on Panel

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Police State. 2012, 72”x 72”. Oil on Panel

Hot Dog.2012, 72”x 72”.Oil on Panel

How does one get from “Police State” any sense of photorealism? The image superimposes diverse images and implies a reality of no logical intention. It is through the title that we begin to connect the parts, and we find a kind of impossible “selfie” with compelling intension. The artist here becomes a stand-in for others not seen, whom he has in mind. It is as if the “strong man” takes the voice of the downtrodden and, in his devilish manner, reassures the weak that they are not alone and that this too shall pass.

“Impossible Burden” offers another puzzle. Here the artist is dressed in a colorful workout costume and struggles to bench press a heavy weight; yet, there is no bench.

A curtain shields the burdened artist from the distant world, while an oil derrick pumps away rhythmically. It is as if the weight that the man has assumed, far more than logic allows, competes in a private world ,while devices he has created gracefully labor away in the distance. It is not possible to apply any logic here; and yet, each part of the image is painted with such logic and clarity that we read without doubt the assembled image. So, we find

ourselves in a Dali-esque surreal world where clocks run off tables as the sun reflects in their melting metallic cases.

Yes, Upin at times then is a neo-surrealist. Case closed; mystery solved! Not so fast. “Focus” takes us into a well realized and articulate space where two nude, mature adults are paired with an enormous abstract painting, which appears to be the work of the male seated with his back to us. This painting has the apparent logic of a Vermeer and the rigor of image of a photo-documentalist.

Here the mystery remains, but it’s clues to understanding are far less obvious. The artist sags with the weight of time, while his mate seems to smile as she gives the viewer a long look. Why has he disrobed? Why is being nude of value while attending the huge painting? What gravity has pulled the skin of the artist as if he was a sharpei dog? Yet we return to the artist statement – “clarity of purpose and meaning.” The craft is clear here; and it seems, as well, to have purpose. Yet, meaning? One can only assume that the image is a poetic assembly of unlike things rendered in startling intensity to create an enigma of life itself.

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Impossible Burden.2009, 36”x 36”.Oil on Panel

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Zero Gravity.2012, 36”x 36”.Oil on Panel

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Focus.2010, 36”x 36”.Oil on Panel

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The lives of two adults with much living behind them - naked and prepared to address the future, which stands represented by the enormous abstraction, created in the mind of the sharpei man. A truth, the future is an abstraction generated in our minds, which, as we live it, marks our bodies with visible wear as the tide marks rocks at the edge of the sea.

And so it goes throughout the work of Ira Upin. We find the artist and others rendered in vivid and provocative settings and situations. We find, as well, a patient craftsmanship, never allowing itself to fall victim to impulse, always under control, firmly held in check by the will of the artist who has designed a role for craft in his personal realities. We have vivid and provocative images presented in a wide range of tableau, charged with meaning, yet again firmly under direction of the mastermind of clarity of purpose. We have meaning for sure, but we can never be sure if what we see is the real meaning as this is too controlled by the mind of the master. We have an assembly of powers here, all engaged in a task assigned by their master, Upin, in an enigma of self. We are assured that we are not in the presence of an artist with

street-artist savoir-faire but an artist who employs many of the tactics of image construction found in street art. We are in the presence of an artist who has something on his mind and is willing to commit seemingly endless hours to its delivery. We are in the presence of an artist with enormous technical skill; yet, this artist never takes himself too seriously, often playing the role of the characters in his tales, as in “Fat Cat” or “Ignorance is Bliss”, with a hammy actor’s presence. What we have here is a complex, serious-minded, world-aware, yet focused-on-his-home-and-surroundings American Man, using his artistic skills in the service of his heart and mind. In a world of treasures and problems, we have a “strong man” determined to lift that bar one more time with a sense of optimism that this task may make tomorrow a better day; and if not, our enjoyment of his realization makes our present a bit better whoever we are. left: Fat Cat. 2010, 36”x 36”. Oil on Panel right: Ignorance is Bliss. 2009, 36”x 36”. Oil on Panel

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top: Hat in Hand.2014, 36�x 54�.Oil on Panel right: Upin at work in his studio.

,snettik era yeht esuaceb tnaw yeht revetahw od nac yeht

because they are kittens, they can do whatever they want

it’s all about cats

privAte mEw

LUCY JOHNSTON ’s works have

taking

the punch and sharply pernunce

It is believed that one of the

artist’s own characters. Though

most searched word on line is

her “Private Mew” series may

‘cat’ and they continue to re-

seem

main

light

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hearted, serious

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meme, these large scale chalk

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age whilst at the same time,

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it’s all about cats

cats and their aRtist huMans cats

are special creatures that have found an artful way co-existing with humans.

Over the centuries, the intimacy between cats and their artist humans could be found in many famous works both in eastern and western art history.

Pierre Auguste Renoir was one who loved to paint cats in many of his works. The domestic settings and blissful life he captured on his paintings made these cats timeless.

Le Chat Noir probably is one of the most famous cats in poster art history. The Black Cat(Le Chat Noir) was a nineteenth-century night club in Montmartre district of Paris. Artist Théophile Steinlen designed its poster in 1896 to promote Le Chat Noir’s cabaret tour show.This curvy cat silhouette had swept the streets of Paris.

New York is now under attack by a school of cats!! They are brought in by an exhibition called “Life of Cats”.

It’s an exhibition showing a strong selection of the Hiraki Ukiyo-e art with CATS. Many cat lovers are going nuts about these lively woodblock prints made 100s years ago; once again, a living proof of the old pop is in the new pop culture (see our special feature “ is the old pop the new pop?”)

SINCLAIR

Tattoo Artist WATKINS ‘s kitty friend completes her life in many ways. We invite this artist-cat -family coming to the spotlight sharing with us their story .

right top Le Chat Noir , Théophile Steinlen. Paris. 1896 left bottom: Woman with a cat.

Pierre A. Renoir. 1875, image right curtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA. Left tops and right bottom: Woodblock prints in Life of Cats exhibition, Japan Society, New York. 2015 “Life of Cats” continues through June 7, 2015 at Japan Society New York.

333 East 47th Street, Manhattan.

Phone: 2 1 2 - 8 3 2 - 1 1 5 5 www.japansociety.org

it’s all about cats

next page: “ D e i t i e s ” Series of Six large 8ft x 4ft Drawings Charcoal on Wood this page: Nym and Sinclaire

I talked for a long time about getting a cat after my childhood pet, a docile orange and white cat named Peaches, died. He was a staple to come home to as a child when I felt like my friends and support systems were constantly changing. I had watched my mother, who was one of the only consistent sources of support I had known up to that point in my life, get a pet after each significant change in her life. After she died on 19 September 2012 of liver cirrhosis I waited exactly nine days before heading to the Kentucky Humane Society to pick up my new cat.

I saw an underweight, sickly creature hiding in the corner. She had an infection oozing out of her neck and dried blood where the catch and release program nicked her ear too short. She was tiny and malnourished. I looked at all the other cats, who were, for the most part, friendly and approached me without hesitation but chose this little ball of sick who hid from me. I freaked that I had picked the worst of the lot as she continued to hide from me at home. Until, at the advice of my uncle, I let her come to me. Three days later I heard her purring under the bed and I knew things would be alright. It took months to get her to health. But the effort it took was worth seeing her grow

and get better after watching my mother deteriorate despite those same efforts as their caretaker. She followed me the next year to London to get my Masters of Fine Art and followed again to Houston and is still happy to see me despite my 70 hour work weeks.

What her presence did was allow me to mourn my mother alone. Her friendly face helped to keep me sane during which time I struggled to live in the house in which my mother died and subsequently move to another country alone. She has dealt with every global move I’ve made in stride and is still fat and happy. I’m still trying to learn to trust others and remember that I’m not alone, despite feeling that way, and her presence makes it a little bit easier to do. “

SINCLAIR MA

Fina

Art

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WATKINS based

in

USA

pRivate

View

i see silhouettes shizico yi

Daryl Brown

on

Picked by Art Critic Jonathan Burton as one of the best new artists of the London Art fair, in 2012, Daryl Brown’s sculptures push the boundaries and rules of traditional sculpture. With an exceptional gift in dealing with materials, his sculptures display innovative ways of using woods, clear acrylics, and pigments. His skill brings extreme refinement to his work. Artists like Daryl Brown are what we truly need in this overly ready-made contemporary art world for his brilliance and handsome approach with materials.

He is an “old time master” reincarnated as a real time sculptor.

After

a

busy

calendar

in

2014,

residency,

solo

and

group

exhibitions; Daryl Brown opens 2015 with another successful show. No barking aRt has the privilege to talk to Brown in

depth

feature

about

“Private

his

career

View”

,

we

and give

creative you

process.

this

With

talented

this

sculptor,

a brilliant craftsman and very rightly so to be named one of the best new-bright-stars in London Contemporary art world.

Potographer:

Camilla

Gallery: Project

Barrett

Lubomirov-Easton, Curated

by

Iavor

Lubomirov

London. and

Bella

Easton

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Level One Boss. 2014 Daryl Brown Photos by Camilla Barrett

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no barking aRt : Would you talk about your latest solo show, I See Silhouettes?

Daryl Brown : This show is the result of my residency. I knew about the show 8 months before hand and built it in the back of my mind many times. I knew I wanted to make something quite large, something almost too big for the (gallery) space, but really I wasn’t sure how it would happen. While I was making Level One Boss, which is constructed out of a series of angled sections that run horizontally through the piece, I asked how can I use what I am doing in this sculpture to work in a space? What I am doing in this sculpture is essentially creating the space inside of an object to give an impression to carry on and make you aware of the space surrounding. The formula for the construction allows the piece to grow out, the vectors that divide it have the potential to stretch out into new space, and I started to think about this whole gallery space in the same way... divided into vectors; I wanted to make a sculpture where the space becomes a present component I started to think about how to use the gallery space as a material, and how to slice through it. Then I landed on this new piece. I See Silhouettes (the installation).

NBA Can you talk about this residency with Lubomirov-Easton?

DB The great thing is coming in everyday and interacting with the space. That gave me the opportunity to try something new, to try something bigger and a bit bolder.

NAB Is this the benefit of a residency, that you can develop a project within the space and time you are given? Unlike with group shows in a gallery where usually the artist doesn’t have the luxurious time to try something new within the space.

DB Yes, also you are sort of just dropping off a work, taking it from one context then dropping it down in another. In this residency, I have the opportunity to work in the space, the way I see fit. That has been a great part of this residency. Without this opportunity, I don’t know if this work (the installation, I See Silhouettes) would have come up.

NBA So, we can say this is also a kind of site-specific installation.

DB Yes, definitely, and i see it as piece that can be changed, depending on the situation and space, and how I see it in the future. continue Figures: Top- phot by Camilla Barrett.

Right bottom-by Lubomirov-Easton, Installation Views of the exhibition “I See Silhouettes” .

_

Photos Camilla

by Barrett.

Interviewing Daryl Brown with his installation in Lubomirov-Easton.

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Photos The NBA Did you mean to make these two sculptures having a dialogues to each other?

DB Yes, as I said earlier, they are both made by dividing space into lines essentially. Level One Boss is made with the set-rule of divided horizontal lines where I have picked points and developed them; while the other one is more of a pure form which had no need to be carved into or cut. It’s like drawing silhouettes in a space.

NBA We also think this work is giving viewers an ethereal feeling in the space, with an airy quality.

Though I see Silhouettes is so large, the way you used the materials, the installation hollows the space.

DB That’s good as I agree it has that quality. It is one of the largest pieces I have made yet from some angles it nearly disappears completely and has a fragile quality to it. Usually something so large, especially in a space this size, would feel far more in your face, as the sheer amount of material it would need and the space it would displace, but these lines are more like the demarcation of space...it holds the air.

NBA

What

does

“

I

see

Silhouettes”

mean?

[Daryl Brown rolls his eyes, starting a giant grim

by Judo

Daryl Series.

Brown 2010

on his face eventually becoming soft laughter.]

DB There are few reasons…a lot of them are sort of the in-jokes within myself and few different references…

NBA What kind of in jokes, would you like to share with us?

DB NBA

Do you know Kanye West? His interview with Zane Lowe?

Of

cause…[

we

both

burst

into

laughter]

DB It’s insane right! “ I see silhouettes, I see silhouettes…”, it was so absurd but also kind of profound at the same time.

It’s brilliant …Also that I am a sculptor. I don’t like to sound like a maniac, but I Do see silhouettes. When I think about a work, when I work out the possibility of how things morph into shapes.. it’s kind of true that I see silhouettes, though it might sound ridiculous.

NBA It’s funny that you use the word “morph”, because to us, and we believe to many viewers too, especially who are familiar with your career and your works in this decade. Although your sculptures might change with the materials or forms through time, one thing that’s always present is the movement one can see in your sculptures. They are like these frozen objects about to transform from shape A to Shape B.

_

Photos by Daryl Brown A memory of my mum holding my now dead cat Series. 2013 DB yeah? That’s interesting, Because I am interested in transformation. While I like my materials to inform me and have a say in my work I do try to force them to hold and fit to what I want them to do, and I think that is where the transformation aspect comes from. Especially in work like The Judo series, the movement element is very important.

NBA The Judo series is your first big solo show in 2010.

What was the inspiration? Why is there an oriental element in it? Is there a personal reference to it?

DB I was always fond of Martial Arts growing up, but no more than watching Bruce Lee with my dad Basically I found this book on Judo in a charity shop and it was at a time when I wanted to break the object, to make work that’s more dynamic. I wanted to introduce more forms and materials to my works…Which was also a lot to do with life. Life is constantly jumping from one end to another, one minute a rock song, next minute Hip-Hop, influences overlap and merge and I wanted to represent that…I wanted to get this collage aspect into my work. Then, I saw this book, and the forms were like ready-made sculptures to me... blueprints to build from.

I started drawing from the images, which was usually two opposing figures, and the whole thing came from there, but more than anything it’s about the materials. Often it comes

down to very simple decisions, such as within these dynamic judo forms there are movements and tensions, and I would see how materials react to that tension. For example, an Arm Lock could be compared to a bended piece of wood. That was a spark for an idea. I used to work in series as well. I found it a lot easier to make ten works instead of one, then I can deal with the same thing over and over which frees you up from the pressure too.

NBA We found your results of working in series quite powerful; can you talk about “A memory of my mum holding my now dead cat” series?

DB That body of work is the reaction to immediacy. I used to draw a lot before realising an piece of work but I got bored of the idea that making sculpture should be where you think of what you want to do then you plan toward the making of it. It becomes very labour intensive and like a job.

I just don’t want that. I wished I could be more like a painter, especially like an impressionist, where every brushstroke you make has an impact... It might make or break a work.

You become more confident of what you do... you just do it. That body of work is kind of chaotic to the outsider, very internal, viewers kind of struggle with that work. ( c o n t i n u e s )

_

(continue) But for me, especially now, I see that body of work in my new works. This series started to give me the freedom to just do stuff. Like with Level One Boss , it might look very considered but there was only one key decision I had to make, everything else I was more like “I don’t really know what’s going to happen”. That’s what makes it stressful while you are making work, but I am not willing to give that up, because it keeps the creativity at the forefront all the time. Although “A memory of my mum holding my now dead cat” series is kind of isolated in the whole arch of my practice, that period of 16 months is very important for me. The process has now, like I said, filtered into my new works but more refined.

NBA

NBA Is there any other inspiration for “A memory of my mum holding my now dead cat” ?

NBA If there was an exhibition asking to show 5 objects/sculptures that define as an artist. What would these 5 works

DB It’s very obviously sourced from my life, ...those early memories are always in there. For example, this show ( I see silhouettes) has a certain kind of graphic, pixelated element to it. That’s me reminiscing on the esthetic of my youth, the elements of my first playstation, computer games…

NBA many

You have mentioned computer times, were you really into

games games?

DB No, not really, but I enjoyed them. This (I see silhouette installation) is from that period of esthetic. Also, a video tape is a cool looking thing. The material has a very interesting quality. It’s also to do with the idea of using the material the way it’s not meant to be used. Like how I dragged this tape out of these little boxes and let it show itself off a little bit. As to the title of Level One Boss... its my idea to make it into a series, maybe once a year to make a another one, Level 2, Level 3, 4…

NBA

Then

to

upgrade

the

game?

DB Yes, you kind of upgrade it but I don’t know what they will be, we will have to wait and see.

NBA

Why

DB Hmm, know…I used

do

you

choose

that’s a to paint

to

make

good question. a lot, as we

sculptures?

I don’t all did.

What

is

the

turning

point?

DB I remember the turning point very vividly,…

To think back, I used to paint very vigorously, in terms of how to use paint as a medium, a material. I used to put my paints on very thin or very thick, drag it or to pull it, my work had a physicality to it already. I remember, in a show when I was studying at UEL, I had an idea to hang things on the wall and then paint them. But while I started to get in my stuff, I was putting it all on the floor, and I realized ‘let’s do it on the floor. From that day, I was a sculptor. There are just so many forms to explore, so much to do with the materials. you you be?

DB These would not necessary be the 5 best works, but 5 works that have some sort of significance to my development…First would be the work I mentioned earlier, the one that made me, for the first time, became a sculptor.

That was the work I am still feeling for, for a long time I could not quite match that innocence in my work. Then, in The Judo series there is a work which has a metal frame and a bended wood, that was the first work I announced the space in, and broke away from the singular object. Then I have to have one from the memory of my mum and the cat series,NO 6. And there is one called Living Living Living life.

NBA DB NBA for

Is

that

from

the

Yes, It’s Daniel Johnston’s song. It’s a great song.

Why did Living

you use Living

pinky-red Living

DB In the 3 weeks while I made that something quite stupid with the resin . It to be more red, and if you look on side of the piece, it is more of a NBA your

song…?

colours Life?

work, I did was meant the other red colour.

Is that the same technique you used on “River”, because they have similar texture?

_

Level One Boss. 2014 Daryl Brown Photos by Camilla Barrett

_

DB Yes, they are the same, in terms that both are cast from a flat box mold .Also, Living Living Living life shares a component with Hummingbird.

Hummingbird, the one I got very annoyed with, because wood demands a lot from you but that was the first one where I picked one thing as the rule of construction which became a drive to get things done, and also gave me something to push against. That directly influenced Level One Boss and this new installation.

NBA

Do you have any background from Architecture?

DB

No, but I keep an eye on what’s going on.

NBA with

Does working in a architects inference

wood your

workshop work?

DB Maybe, but influence comes from everywhere.

Remember this video tape piece? I was thinking about when you walk pass railings and how the sun shines through, it has this effects on you…

NBA good DB

Wow, this interpretation

installation is of that

a very reference.

And this installation is the mantra for the future.

NBA It’s very exciting…Would you like to reflect on what the differences you see now and then, in your work and as an artist in this decade?

DB I know more what I am doing which is not always a good thing. (He luminesced with a smile and turned his head toward the sculpture next to him) NBA

Why

is

that?

DB Because it’s kind of nice to have that moment of not knowing. Creativity is very close by if you’re in that state.

Now I have more experience with the materials, which I did not have then. And things have become more focused. I am more settled as an artist, in terms of having control over things, or as you say, he skill-set, but I nearly always feel like I am in the dark... but I don’t fear that. I think that’s very important.

If I want to do something I just try and do it, and usually by... well... a lack of sleep, it gets done.

NBA DB

(burst

into

laughter)

Yes,

NBA

So,

DB…

Level

Lack

that’s what’s 2,

the the

3,

of

secret.

future 4,

sleep….?

5

plan? boss?!

More insights from Daryl Brown about influences from the masters will be revealed in issue 4, please stay tuned. Also there is a documentary short about Brown’s recent work would be aired on Vimeo, please watch it on our web channel or check the up date on Daryl Brown’s official website from July 2015.

http://www.nobarkingart.com/no-barking-channel.html h t t p : / / w w w . d a r y l b r o w n . c o . u k /

_

Photos and works

by Daryl Brown Left page: Living Living Living Life Top: Brown’s latest exhibition view, Loophole, Residence Gallery. 2015 Right: Hummingbird.

Ply wood, body filler, pigment. 2014

the new pOets on the blOck shizico yi Many

contemporary

poets

are

working

in

various

mediums such as Kate Tempest. Though, the hyphenated summed up career-tags make Tempest uncomfortable, once she told the press. “…If you say, ‘This is Kate Tempest and she’s a poet-rapper-playwright,’ it sounds confusing has real

and

never,

ridiculous

ever

burning

Like

been

naff.…

other

(Lynskey

Lawrence

Mods,

bit

drawing

a

2014)

poet-musiMathias

music are

This

than

D.

Tempest,

not-to-be-tagged ford

a

anything

passion.”

Kate

cian-artist

and

band inspirations

and Sleafrom

the time we live, their works expressed the frustration we

In

felt

this

series,

toward

through

our

trouble

introducing

these

time.

POET-

ISTs who are fiercely pushing the envelope in modern poetry, we hope to bring your appetite back in Literature.

by George! there is Kate Tempest Kate Tempest, one of the brightest British talents around, shines a light on the art of spoken-word in contemporary time. She has made old-fashioned occupation, a poet as exciting as a hip-hop musician.

Her spoken-story Brand New Ancients 1 won the Ted Hughes Prize (2012) for innovation in poetry. It is anhour-long poem tackles the absurdity of modern life.

She also has just been named a Next Generation poet by the Poetry Book Society. As if it’s not enough, the pop art arena, Mercury Music Prize has also shortlisted Tempest’s debut album as one of the Albums of the Year 2014.

Anyone who ever listened to or read Tempest’s work would get a sense of how fiercely she is digging into the essence of life, trying to make sense of the world and her place in it through working out the pieces.

Lyn Gardner of The Guardian , described the feeling of listening her theater performance : “Suddenly it feels as if we are not in a theatre but a church, …, hearing the age-old stories that help us make sense of our lives. We’re given the sense that what we are watching is something sacred.”(2012) Oddly, Tempest might feel uncomfortable for being called a poet, she’s always wanted to be a rapper.

“I don’t know who buys poetry,…I started writing, I just wanted to make a hip-hop record.” she once admitted in an interview with The Guardian (2012).

She adores hip-hop artists like MCs, Slick Rick and Klashnekoff and loves the way their lyrics sustain a narrative. It’s even odder for us to know that Tempest, whose words as rich as butter cream sauce hadn’t read much poetry. At beginning, Tempest only tried

Spoken-word performance because she could win a £100 prize in a poetry slam. “I never thought of myself as a poet. It just happened that I was doing more poetry gigs than other gigs. The same lyric that I could do with my band (the trio Sound of Rum), I could do without music and people would listen in a different way.” (Lynskey D. 2014) Her latest poetry collection Hold Your Own is her most personally revealing work (published by Picador Poetry). She told the press that this book is her first proper poems, not just lyrics without music. Though she is famous in Spoken-word performance, this time when asked if she would make Hold Your Own into Spoken-word performance or an album, Tempest felt that some poems were hard to read out loud.

Though, we believe her Spoken-word work fits perfectly on pages. Here is a brilliant example of her talented Spoken-word performance printed down as a poem. (continue)

Brand Hughes

New Prize

Ancients for

won

innovation

the in

Ted

poetry,

What We Came After

by Kate Tempest

(extracted version)

...

Look, if all these people were prophets, We’d profit.

We were born with the truth but then We lost it in logic so go on and find it.

Remind yourself of the timeless because you are the planet that bred you.

And you are the language that led you.

And you are the knowledge that fed you.

So just own it.

Make it make sense and make it Relevant and never believe that the words of the wise are not your words to read.

See, when I hear the quiet voice of vengeance in my ear, That’s when I know hell is empty, ‘cause all the devils are here.

When my tongue tastes shadows, and all my friends are shedding tears, That’s when I know hell is empty, ‘cause all the devils are here.

When my heart is consumed with regret and with fear, That’s when I know hell is empty, ‘cause all the devils are here.

And when the boat sails away and I get left on the pier, That’s when I know hell is empty, ‘cause all the devils are here.

When you’re trying to understand but the text isn’t clear, When the demon jumps up straight, rejecting the spear, When the view is so bleak, it starts infecting the seer, That’s when you know that hell is empty, ‘cause all the devils are here.

So, call me Caliban.

They gave me language, so I could rain down these curses in verses.

And I will take them on word for word. …

This island was mine for a home.

I was free to make rhyme as I roamed Now my mind is alone as I writhe and I moan.

I’m the captive of consonants And I beseech you to be much more confident.

‘Cause we run around nonchalant, rejected, and restless, like, ‘Oh, we cain’ change nuffin’ though, so why should we try?’

But look, we can change.

We can rampage ‘til we stand strange.

Right now we got our hands chained, Clutching a freedom.

You know, the freedom of mean-what-you-say and say-it with meaning.

We need to change our own minds before we try and change the sequence.

We need to live with our energy and not by our reason.

But this the last day of my discontent, its season.

No more will I tolerate this greed.

It’s demeaning.

We need a breeze through this stifling heat Of elitist descriptions of what we can reach.

But they want you to fear it, To not get too near it.

So they can continue pretending they are smarter.

Sit still though, Receive it from self like Siddhartha The past is just what we came after.

Stills It

is

of a

“What

part

of

We

the

Came

RSC’s

After”.

Sound

and

For

a

full

Sound

Fury

project

modern

-

wordplay.

Shakespeare Originally

version

performance &

of

What

by

We

Kate

Came

After

spoken

Tempest,

Fury

word

visit

RSC

https://vimeo.com/28884746

meets commis-

sioned for the egg, Theatre Royal Bath.

we

also

come

find

Tempest’s

and

video

enjoy

archive

her

a

great

place

to

spoken-word-performances. http://katetempest.co.uk/video

Bibliography 1.Gardner L. 2012, “Brand New Ancients – review” The Guardian.UK. 2.Lynskey D. 2014 Kate Tempest: ‘We live in crazy times. You can’t tell a story without it feeling political’ . The Guardian. UK Notes: 1. Brand New Ancients is part of Gods, Myths & Legends - in Battersea Arts Centre. Spoken word artist Kate Tempest tells an

everyday

Credits tre

all

over

Kate

used

copyright credits

to

an

exhilarating

Tempest

co-production

2. Works Use

epic

to

and

live

co-commissioned

and

mentioned

Law

and

artists

fair

and

in

this

dealing

their

band

production.

Battersea by article

Arts the

are

legislation

collaboration

CenAlbany.

under

in

UK,

Fair and

organizations.

the MODs live on!

Minimal beats contrasting its erupted lyrics, Sleaford Mods is an abstract painting of the constantly-bubbling-anger within our generation, if we live with our eyes open, one would know what we mean. The anger arrives when we have empathy on the modern day reality show--- the never-seized-disappointment of the news around the world.

Jason Williamson started Sleaford Mods sometime during 2006 whilst Williamson was living in Nottingham. Their career born out of part frustration , from the early year, very quickly Sleaford Mods found its feet with their music into aggressive verbal on-slaughters on all that is contrived and connected to the day-to-day hammer of low paid employment and domestic situations arising from that trap.

After 2009, Jason met Andrew Fearn and the Sleaford Mods became a duo. Andrew’s involvement meant that Jason was able to stop creating the samples and loops that littered the early recordings and concentrate on the lyrics.

Sleaford Mods expressed how they found press’ illattempts on categorising their place in our music world. “ Many critics have attempted to tag and align the Sleaford Mods with other artists and have done little other than to advertise their own shortcomings and lack of knowledge. …The down to earth observations and story-telling of Ian Dury or Patrik Fitzgerald are maybe closer than any

other names flung about in desperation. If you wish to tag and place Sleaford Mods you’re only limiting yourself.”

So, we humbly obliged to leave our itchy heart there…Poem or not, everything Jason Williamson says and writes seem like songs and poems. There is an extract of he talked of the experience of on tour, when we read it, it could almost pass as an award-winning poem.

“Without a doubt Sleaford Mods are the antidote to the moral tranquilisation that is being created through the pimped out dirge by the industry.”

(Critic, Tait Coles)

below : Image of‘Retweeted’ 2LP works of the early years of Sleaford Mods, 2006 – 2012. Released in Germany.

just the way how one Sleaford Mod talks...

Extracts from Jason Williamson (Sleaford Mods) Talks the Unbearable Grimness of Touring in the UK. Copyright Jason Williamson and Talkhouse,

The ritual cigarette (or four) after the gig, like licking the arse of a dead rat but with some added sense of enjoyment, and it’s because of this that the ongoing necessity to rid yourself of the discomfort of travel, of unfamiliarity,…

You are part human, part giant cranberry advertising “Fry Up” by Lynx.

It’s a stale bag of Quavers and underneath the luxury of this fine weasel’s outerwear lies its hidden agenda, and that works the land of your entirety whilst you push to spread the message of your band through the roadkill, the keyed bump, long Lidl queues and Costa almond slices.

The dead weight of this screaming United Kingdom, an empty amusement arcade with one lorry driver staring into the flashing lights of the fruity, dank monotone, and repainted yearly by the National Lottery Fund….

To get full talk, visit http://thetalkhouse.com/music/talks/jason-williamson-talks/

what’s the point?

What’s the point? You ask The point?

The point of what? I ask Point of a pen?

Point of a pencil?

The point of either spidery stroke finicking some old flyblown symbol be it line or letter A? Or point of a gun?

The all-commending gun?

Little there you might think desultory, a hair trigger snap and we’ve gone.

But the mind behind a barrel is often shapeless itself and mortgaged to some greater futility.

The point then, of a government, of those who seek to steel us through our lives?

They have the charts for every ship of the state, so they tell us, though often pirate captains have a secret treasure map, and we deluded steerage folk godspeed them on their way; the only point there is a goad stick of past deception and our dumb complicity.

So what of friends, and families, and lovers, kith and kin and sex, the nature reductive bent of life?

Surely the essential point is there: The point of the destination, point of no return, the final resting points for all those quests beyond pointless?

Never more distracted than at home, where cozy self-complacency leads us to self-certify favoured points and purposes.

Drawn or scribed, gunned or governed, stamp approve a fiction, a narrative, whatever raison d’etre that can fit; and when that reason’s run to ground, leaving us empty handed at the hearth, we’ll stack the mantelpiece with all the clutter consolation can afford us: the scrappy notes and aides memoires, and hoarded picture postcards of our lives – all the stuff that makes a story and a purpose, and a point in the ringing cosmic void….

Words and images ( in next 2 pages) by Lawrence Mathias Lawrence Mathias is a visual artist based in North London, and working in various media, including drawing, poem, music and song. His songs and poems are often as satirical pieces, and reflect his interest in the narrative content of art and music.

In

recent

mour and

and

years

Mathias

parody,

Daumier

has

great

been

satirical

providing

especially artists

Mathias

drawn

like

to

hu-

Hogarth,

ongoing

Goya

inspirations.

Besides the pleasure of working in this particular figurative style, it also enables him to explore particular themes and topics of the day, and in a way which is direct and clear.

Lawrence Mathias also values the opportunities now available to all artists

for

exploring

technological years’

art

in

advances

exhibitions

are

the

widest

and

partially

the a

possible

internet, result

of

terms, and

his

particularly

the

ability

works to

in

through recent

combine

vari-

ous media quite easily - in this case, visual art, music, words and film.

“What’s the Ponit?”

Lawrence Mathias

by Lawrence Mathias, 2015

Lawrence Mathias, 2015

Lawrence Mathias, 2015

Senses and Desires special Project

the pleasuRe of lookiNg Since Ebru Varol relocated her family to New

York,

surges

Ebru’s

frame

style

after

of

frame

photography after

frame.

Cities are always great inspirations for artists.

Saint-Rémy

and

Arles

to

van

Gogh,

Provence to Cézanne, Tahiti to Gauguin, Vallauris

to

Picasso,

Otley

to

Turner…

New York, the muse of Woody Allen over three

decades,

erlasting

a

pleasure

city for

provides looking,

the

ev-

Ebru

has

captured this sort of joy under her lenses.

Artist Statement

Ebru Varol is a upcoming photographer based in New York. Her work is strangely inventive. At times her studio is her laboratory, at times the City of New York is her theatrical stage. New York’s cinematic and architectural landscapes, are

evidently

the

changing

huge

of

inspirations

lights for

of

the

Varol’s

day

works.

Urban and street photography created within the city of New York, and that of Istanbul, her birthplace also shows a more extroverted counterpart. Her work is modern with clean lines, yet whimsical even surreal at times.

SILENT CHAOS

- Aster Reem David photographer and writer

Serene and inviting is your beauty, Young and tender your bones.

With Grace and Might you offer yourself, You never look alone.

Broken are now those bones, Rotting in the abyss of hell.

Fire has risen, spread like a lingering disease, Drowning in the blazing pit grave.

Harbored you have, the secrets, Deep within the vessel of wrath.

It’s a jungle of darkness and deceit, Days of gentle happiness Feel numbered.

Flicker of welcome light, Fighting to break in through the cracks of your scars.

But solid are the walls, Made stronger only by the hollowed heart.

Tornadoes of darkness have touched that shell, Roaring and devastating the earth you thought you knew.

Consuming your soul, you no longer know Who to be and where to go.

Though now left empty, on the borderline Between shadows and reveries.

It becomes your nature within a world, That never understands.

Broken it maybe, living in the shadows, It is Home.

You will be heard in this silent chaos, Find your way Home. One day.

Endlessly branching For preservation.

SILENT CHAOS

Aster Reem David

Senses and Desires special Project

they were bOth wrong Veronica Shimanovskaya

Famous Picasso-Duchamp argument seemed to underpin all the struggles and developments of the 20th century art. “If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes” the quote attributed to Picasso is diametrically opposed to Duchamp’s “I was interested in ideas, not in visual products”. Modern, and then contemporary art has drifted from pictorial, ‘visual products’ to the unending flow of commentaries and witticisms.

“And he was wrong” – said Pablo about Duchamp, but neither Picasso, no Duchamp considered another dimension of art, to which both the eye and the brain are only the attributes.

The dimension, from which Art itself sprang, and which it was serving for thousands of years. That is human spiritual quests, the development of one’s own essence, and its relationship to the rest of the world and human society.

These types of inquires deal with one’s identity, its relationship with the surroundings, negotiation of time and space, posing and answering life and death questions, too poignant to be resolved by an ironic remark.

Even pondering these questions requires the heightening of the senses, the kindling and masterful growing of desires, which then provide guidance to the never-ending circles and spirals of new experiences and knowledge of the invisible that is perceived through senses in our visible world. This is what my practice is about. In that space of the insatiable curiosity for life I am hoping to meet my audience.

Senses and Desires special Project

When the senses are strung they resonate.

They resonate with nature, environment, thought, other creatures, art, music, and literature.

The interplay of red and red, swirling metal coils, 3-d rope lyre ¬painting, installations orchestrated in space the way that that makes the space sing, the individual features of the crudely hewn ceramic masks assembled into a syncopated frieze – all this multiplicity has a single purpose: to awaken one’s senses. I believe that art’s primary generative reason is to resonate and create the sense of empathy.

I aspire to engage hearts and souls of my viewers and fill the cold vessel of the rational with the bewilderment of senses: the senses of joy and sadness, love and loss, and the sense of belonging to this imperfect world of ours, however painful it may be. My art is about the joy of unresolved and unresolvable complexity of life, and desire for delight and rapture. Who can rationalize happiness? Who can rationalize desire? Just as in music where composition, the relationship between parts, pace and timing, create the sense of harmony or disharmony, accord or discord, mine is the task of measured assembly of the elements that I make anew. Visual drama, tension and contrast between materials, textures, position in

space, content references – all of this – to borrow from Baxtin create heteroglossia of my art practice.

I believe art is neither visual nor just intellectual; it is spiritual and thus polyphonic, just as life itself. Sorry dear Maestros, you were both wrong. As Bill Arning once remarked: “The perception that any observable phenomenon is finite and fully comprehensible is only the result of lazy viewing habits. Visual reality is inexhaustible”.1

1. Bill Arning. “Transformative Vision”, Parkett 76. 2006.

Veronica Shimanovskaya is a St. Petersburg-born

American artist. She is currently based in London where she is engaged in a Professional Doctorate programme at the UEL. She calls herself a traveller and a citizen of the world.

Intercultural communication in the arts is one of Shimanovskaya’s main interests.

The shifting concepts of East and West, their interaction and permeation provide a fertile ground for new ideas.

Veronica is concerned with the perception and interpretation of works of art, their connotations and cross-cultural references,

and the development and preservation of cultural identities in an ever-shrinking world of digital communication and across the ever-expanding horizons of the modern viewer.

Veronica exhibits her work in London and internationally.

A versatile stylist, she employs a variety of media ranging from painting to digital art and installation. She is aspiring to explore the poetry and semantics of the visible and imagined, and to cultivate subjective connections between the personal and historical.

Veronica has a BA and an MA in Architecture from the University of Architecture and Civil Engineering in St.Petersburg, an MA in Liberal Arts from Harvard University, and an MA in Fine Art from the University of East London.

Senses and Desires special Project

Away up high in my rented condo overlooking Ala Moana Beach Park, I had my iPhone to my ear as my eyes took in the sweeping view through panoramic windows of Diamond Head in the East to Ewa in the West. It was Friday night, and just like every Friday around eight o’clock, fireworks were set off near Waikiki, raining multicolor gems of light over the bay. For what reason? Simply pau hana (end of the work day, work week). Palms stood in silhouette around the fringes of the kai as little sail boats made their way out of the harbor and through the waters of Magic Island Lagoon.

Boyfriends I had had. A marriage of twenty-six years I had had. I thought I understood loving another person, caring, compromising, tenderness and sex. Every once in awhile, though, I would see a movie or read a book where the connection and passion were presented in a much larger emotional and spiritual context; ‘Oh’, I would think to myself, ‘Really, now, that just doesn’t happen. That’s Hollywood.’ Well, it had just never happened to me.

Less than two weeks later my buddy, Fred, called. He lived in Kailua on the windward side of Oahu. Fred was entertaining some friends from the mainland and would I like to come over for a party? “Bring a salad”, he said.

The Pali winds through the center of the island like a smooth, silky, green serpent, carrying one on its back while passing shining buildings, pagodas, and dipping through tunnels in the mountains.

Up, up you go through lush coconut palms, kukui, fern and papaya, cresting once through the tunnels, and then, out of the darkness, eyes filling with a horizon of aqua sea lapping against the shores. As I rode the Pali I thought of Fred’s friends. He had spoken to me about them for a long time, but, really, not seeing them before, I had no images to put with fragments of stories. I did remember being told that his best friend, who would be there, had been in a long, loveless marriage.

I was talking to my tarot card reader who lived in California.

Joan recommended readings about every four months, and I was due. She had a solid sixth sense, and working with her had always been helpful. We were just finishing up. At the end of any reading Joan would fan out any remaining cards, faces down, and ask me to choose one as the ‘Message from the Universe’ card.

Since I was not present with her in California, she chose one for me while I waited, across the airways. “Ah”, she purred, “The King of Cups.

A man. A man who loves you. Coming fast. Very fast.”

‘Well’, I thought, ‘This sounds great!’ I was in a good place in my life, and looked forward to her intuition being right.

Funny thing, intuition, that little voice, or pervasive feeling that has a certain weight or warmth or chill. Sometimes lining up in synchronistic harmony with other events and giving us a sense of oneness, meaning, even the clairvoyance of déja vue. We know that we are a part of a larger plan of life and connected to all things.

the 6an essay on lOve

The New Year was approaching. And as with each dawning new year, I picked out a word, or intention that may color the Sande next twelve months. I had chosen one a few days before; or, rather, it chose me.

It announced itself while I completed a large new painting infused with luscious reds, passionate pinks and fiery oranges.

A departure for me. An unexpected change in my work when an inexplicable inner synthesis takes place and a newness is born. Something was working its way through me and came out as this painting. Love was the title. Love was my word.

Joan’s reading was auspicious, and timely. Maybe I was on a roll. I felt ready; however, nothing could have prepared me for what materialized.

At the age of fifty-two, I thought I knew what love was; but, I was about to find out that what I knew was only what I had experienced up to that point.

Robert

Duck Road is what Fred’s street is called by the locals. Honestly, the ducks are like nothing I’ve ever seen. They look as if a nuclear bomb went off, and mixed the DNA of some Hawaiian ducks and turkeys, rendering a disturbing genetic combo of duck bodies and beaks with red turkey waddles and gobbler head skin. They are loved for the little yellow fuzzy babies which follow them around in a line, but despised for the way-toomuch guano which is ever-present on the road. I turned off Duck Road and into Fred’s driveway, parking beside his white picket fence.

Sacred plumeria’s perfume wafted through the warm evening. In Hawai’i, if you pass by a plumeria tree, it is kapu (forbidden) to pick a flower. Luckily, plumerias are very generous and shower their flowers upon the ground in yellow, coral and white. You may pick one up if you ask the tree politely and say thank you. I walked through his gate and into the back yard where I heard voices, ice-cubes clinking and wind chimes softly tinkling amongst the palms surrounding the lanai. I was wearing a new dress, my nails were painted and I felt happy and flossy.

.Through the eyes, love meets the heart. I knew in one instant who held my heart when I shook John’s hand. I knew John. “You must be John”, I said, noticing his eyes were like mine in color and lash, “Fred told me we would like each other.” I began changing on a cellular level. My being knew no barrier. Inside of me began swimming and flowed towards him as he entered my veins, my heart, my spirit.

The molecules in the warm tropical air charged and changed. “I knew it!”, Fred’s son said later. “I could feel it. It was palpable, you could have cut the air with a knife.” Everything slowed, and yet quickened at the same time. Time was not as it had been.

My mind, as minds do, had a few thoughts, though… he was married. And while mis-matched and unhappy, this was where he had chosen to be. I made my way through the party which filled Fred’s hale with good friends, and good food. Pupus of poke and fruit, cheese platters, casseroles and salads offered on a long serving counter. Fred had a large wheelbarrow filled with ice and chock full of sodas, local beer and wine. Some friends of mine motioned me towards them. They had invited a man for to me to meet and were excited and wanted to introduce us. “He looks like Crocodile Dundee!”, one said. He was a nice man; but, he looked more like Crocodile Dundee’s grandfather. I found myself making polite conversation and hoping someone would rescue me.

During the evening John saw to refilling my cocktail glass. His eyes followed me. And, as the days went by it became apparent that the feelings I had were mirrored in his. This was not about lust.

It was not about rules. It was beyond a paradigm either of us had been existing in. “We are neither wicked nor bored, we just understand there is a light between two people.” Kingdom of Heaven.

While riding in the back of Freddie’s beach van a few days later, sitting in the back seat next to John, feeling him ever so subtly brush the back of his fingers against my thigh, my body wanted to be a part of his. There was nothing about him I did not find beautiful.

“Touch is the first language we learn and remains our richest means of emotional expression.” D. Keltner (professor of psychology, University of California, Berkeley).

And weeks later, on the phone with him, listening to his warm, dark bourbon voice interrupt me and say, “I love you”, while we planned on how to spend time together, all were a part of creating something out of the desire we felt for one another. Sometimes

we do not know that we want or need something until it appears.

And desire is that unique, individual energy which shifts us out of how we thought the now was, and who we thought we were in it.

It opens us and allows for a crossing over. It is up to us to choose whether we make the leap into the newness, which may be filled with the unknown, or stay where we are, which may feel safe, although not necessarily alive. The devotion and meaning I felt, the love I held in my heart, all illuminated my knowing that this was a leap I was willing to take. John decided to not cross over. After all, the Universe card spoke of a man who loved me coming. It just didn’t say he would be staying.

Sande is

an

artist

and

writer

based

Robert in

USA

left page: photo of Sande Robert by Einar Vinje, 2015 Figures below: Wet-paintings by Sande Robert

Senses and Desires special Project

memOry

on a plAte

NB aRt reSidency prOject Senses and Desires special Project

Senses and Desires special Project

memOry on a plAte a special no barking aRt artist residency project

Legendary Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc grew up with an excellent cookMama Blanc. Recently, Raymond Blanc recreated a dish from his childhood memory of his mother’s dish, Baked-apple Soufflé in BBC Food and Drink’s revival of the old classic ingredients. Beyond learning how to choose the right kind of apples when baking and seeing Raymond Blanc baking the dish, we can vividly taste his childhood from the look of the Apple Soufflé; it’s Blanc’s childhood on a plate.

Memory plays a major role when we define what our favorite foods are.

Memory can create a bias, pushing some ingredients and dishes out of fashion.

For instance, in post War Britain, rabbit meat was not on the rationing list, so every household could get access to it. After the WWII, all that is left of rabbit meat is the taste of the memory of hard times. This collective memory in Britain has forced rabbit meat to fall out of fashion.

A personal connection to each dish makes your cooking unique. Hannes Lin, an artist of a cook, has managed to transpose his memory into the passion of baking and cooking. Hannes’ memory has sustained his passion in cooking, and those who have tasted Hannes’ dishes are truly amazed by how the simplicity of these ingredients could bring such depth of flavor. (in future series, He is going to cook with us his childhood dishes, learned from his grandma and mother) Hannes’s child, a 5 star home-baking scone concept shop, Cream Tea brings the taste of Britishness to faraway Asia. We asked our artistbaker to have a British-bake-off of sorts from his Cream Tea in Taiwan.

In this series, Hannes has taken on a major project, travelled down memory lane to the sweet recollection of his honeymoon in Europe and London which has inspired his rave reviewed bakes in Cream Tea. While readers in Asia could enjoy his baking, for readers in the west, we are having a grand tour with Hannes through a 3-months-long

to gain an insight into his innovative and varied ways to make his beloved British scones. project,

oUr veRy own crEam TEA Written, recipe design, baked and photographed

by Hannes Lin

If you would ask people where to get the best food, we are pretty sure that the answers would be endless. If you would ask any of the Londoner, where the best scone is, surely we would be told to go hundreds of different places; from E10 to W1, high street to 5 star hotels. Everyone has his favorite choice.

Why is that? Obviously chefs and bakers don’t have a say to what’s your favorite dish, I believe, it is our memory of the places, the food and the people we were sharing with that make the food beyond what it is.

SCONES. Me and my wife loved scones for many years before we travelled to London; while in UK, where the Cream-tea culture was born, we certainly not missed the chance to taste as many scones and clotted creams as we possibly could. Though this might surprise you if we told you the best scones we were found in London were in a museum canteen. Even today, we can still vividly remember that cream-tea, crispiness on the outside and the moist of inside, the most of all, we were impressed by their square cube shaped scones instead of the popular circle ones.

Christmas, 2012, a trip to London with my then newlywed wife to visit my family who we hadn’t seen over years. The trip was full with love and tears; and food had been one of the key elements in our journey in Europe; pizzas, pies, baguettes, coffee, tea and

Ever since, whenever we miss my family, we make our own scones, and because of the memory is so dear to us, the flavor of our scones is even better than any other scones we had in that sweet journey.

memOry on a plAte

a special no barking aRt artist residency project

Senses and Desires special Project

oUr veRy own crEam TEA Written, recipe design, baked and photographed

by Hannes Lin

Preparation Method 1 Fill a pan with water and bring it to the boil. Add the vinegar and reduce the heat to simmer.

2. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and slip into the simmering water for 2-3 minutes. Remove eggs and plunge into iced water ready to use.

3. Hollandaise sauce is the most important part, here is how to make it Put white wine, red onion, stem of basils and black peppers in a small pan.

Heating the white wine to reduce to the quarter of the original portion and filter to a stainless steel bowl.

4. Put 2 yolks into the bowl and place it over a saucepan containing just few

simmering water (or use a double boiler,) the water should not touch the bottom of the cooking bowl.

Continue to whisk rapidly. Be careful, don’t let the eggs get too hot or they will be scrambled. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume.

Remove from heat, whisk in chili pepper, pepper, lemon juice and salt.

Cover it and place in a warm spot until ready to use for the eggs benedict.

5. Prepare some meat (bacon, chicken...choice as you delight), and toast some scones. Put the meat and poached egg on scones, dressing warm hollandaise sauce over the top, now, it’s the time to enjoy it while it’s hot.

Scones Egg Benedict

The secret of this beautiful dish is to cook perfect poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.

Though traditionally we use muffins for Egg Benedicts, believe me, scone is great instead!

memOry on a plAte

a special no barking aRt artist residency project

Senses and Desires special Project

Preparation Method Slice tomatoes and mozzarella cheeses.

Topping in the order of tomato-mozzarella-cheesefresh basil, repeat steps until fill in the scones.

Dressing with mixed olive oil, garlic and balsamic vinegar.

You may know it as Margherita, Why notPizza making juicy my Scone burgers with Margherita scones! could be as classy!

Let your imagination soar, Margherita is a sky isclassic the limit. dish in Italy, made with olive oil, garlic, fresh basils, tomatoes, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

This is a perfect starter for your family feast!

Scone Margherita

Original Scone Cheeseburger

Why not making juicy burgers with scones!

Let your imagination soar, sky is the limit.

Preparation Method Mixing half smash pork and beef, add some salt and black pepper for flavour.

Fried the meatloaf to well-done, remember to melt a piece mozzarella cheese on meatloaf.

Slice the tomatoes and get some lettuces then laying all of them in between the scones.

Now, there you have a juicy scone cheese burger!

memOry on a plAte

a special no barking aRt artist residency project

Senses and Desires special Project

Why notMacaroni making juicy Tuna burgers with scones!

Let yourwith imagination soar, Salad Scones sky is the limit.

Preparation Method 1.

Prepare canned tuna, macaroni, gherkin and mayonnaise and of course, scones.

2.

Fill water in pot and add 2 spoons of salt, bring to simmer. Cook macaroni about 8-10 min, filter and plunge into iced water.

3.

Dice gherkins and toss with salt.

Let it stands for 10-20 minutes, stirring often when waiting. Drain and rinse under cold water afterward.

4.

Drying gherkins and put in a big bowl, mix with macaroni, tuna and mayonnaise. Grinding black pepper then mix them well. Don’t add salt at this point because all ingredients are seasoned already.

Now , there you have a fantastic tuna macaroni salad. Plating salad and serving with warm scones, I believe this is a great dish to have in spring and summer!

I figure up to this point, you should come to realise one thing—that is you can turn any dish into a scone dish! So, let’s make a dish really good for summer

This is a very simple abut very delicious dish, we need only some cream cheese, tofu and mushroom.

You won’t believe how easy to cook a great tasty dish. You must try this, your family will love it!

Baked Cheese Tofu and Mushroom Scones

Method 1.

Take scones out from fridge, slice it to 2 halves. Then, Slice tofu and mushroom to 2-3mm thick. Sandwich them into scone slices and season it with salt and pepper, then bake the whole thing together.

2.

Bake in 180°c oven for 15minutes.

Chocolate Caramel Banana Scones

Fruit Yogurt with Scones

Chocolate and banana

is a perfect match for dishes. Many desserts made with both ingredients. There for, you should not be surprised to try scones with them; especially we are caramelise it with fresh bananas, it simply tastes like heaven.

M e t h o d : 1.

Here we prepare Nutella Hazelnut Spread which contents not only chocolate, also hazelnut to bring a richer flavor and also scones and bananas.

2. Slice banana about 2-3mm, spread Hazelnut spread on the warm scones.

3. Topping your banana slices over the scones then sprinkle sugars on top.

4.

Using a torch, melt the sugar to form a crispy top. Allow this dish to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Remember to try this dish with a cup of fresh milk, hot chocolate.

If you like fruity flavours,

here is a dish for you. This is great for Sunday brunch, it’s low in calories. Remember to use plain yogurt, the sweetness of the fruits would be enough.

M e t h o d : 1. Dice fruits of your choices. Here I use kiwis, apples and bananas.

2.

Mixing fruit cubes with plain yogurt, then topping on your warm scones, serving with extra yogurt and fruits and also tea or coffee would be even nicer.

You can try with any flavour of scone.

This is an easy sweet scone recipe for you.

It’s really good for tea time or breakfast!

Honey Oat Strawberry Cheese Scones

All you need to do is to prepare some cream cheese and whipping cream.

1. Put some cream cheese and whipping cream to a stainless steel bowl, add some fine sugar then whipping it till it’s soft and smooth.

2. Heating your sliced scones, apply with cheese sauce and strawberry jam then sprinkle some oat on it.

3. Finally, dressing some honey or maple syrup before serving.

Baked Peanut Butter and Cheese Scones

This dish can’t be easier! But its great taste won’t be compromised.

1.

Now you already know how to make whip cream cheese and whipped cream after you had seen our Honey Oat and Strawberry Cheese Scones recipe.

So, make some cream cheese creamy and topping on warm scones. Add peanut butter next to the cream cheese.

2.

Fill it and baked it in heated oven about 3 minutes, when you see the peanut butter and cream cheese are melting over the scones, take them out.

3.

Sprinkle some peanut powder or linseed on the scone, serving with extra paste if you like.

Note: Any brand of peanut butter would do, but I think the crunchier peanuts inside the better!

Senses and Desires special Project

Shopping list: * 2 Apples * some unsalted butter * Why juicy fine sugar * anot littlemaking of cinnamon powder.

burgers with scones!

M e t h o d : Let your imagination soar, 1.

Dice an apple to small cubes /about 5mm. Put isaddthe limit. them into a saucesky pan, then, some unsalted butter, fried it until apple cubes are soft and creamy. Don’t overcook it , make sure the apple dices are still a bit crunchy. Season with some cinnamon, ready for use.

2. Heating ping your fried

your scones, and topcreamy apple sauce on it.

3. Slice another apple to 8 pieces, put them on to the apple sauce.

4.

Finally, spread sugar on top. Torch and melt the sugar to form a crispy top. Allow the Scone apple pie to restfor at least 5 minutes before serving.

Scone Apple Pie

Apple Pie is always a popular choice.

Here I like to introduce you a Scone Apple Pie which would be as ideal as the original.

memOry on a plAte

a special no barking aRt artist residency project

Hannes has taken on this project, travelled down memory lane to the sweet recollection of his honeymoon in Europe and London which has inspired his rave reviewed scones in Taiwan. oUr veRy own crEam TEA---Written, recipe design, cooked and photographed by Hannes Lin

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