1 When did you start to make art?
I’ve always made art in some way, shape or form, even as a kid, but in a serious, more considered sense, I began in the late ‘90’s.
2 How did you evolve into a professional artist?
The evolutionary process really kicked in when I took a course at Chelsea in ’97, which was the catalyst that propelled me to take it seriously. From there I applied to art school, which solidified my commitment.
3 What drove you to make art as a professional vocation?
I had worked in the design industry for a number of years and got tired of articulating others’ ideas. I wanted to articulate my own.
4 Explain your inspiration?
Curiosity, first of all. A desire to understand the world around me and my world in particular. Maps of any kind, old documents and photographs, catalogues, diagrams, lists, records, tickets, fragments of text from just about any source. Also the traces that time inscribes on a surface; the soot on a candle snuffer, for example; cracks in the pavement, or the accumulation left from layer after layer of posters being pasted on and then torn off of the walls in the tube. Fragility inspires me, both in the physical sense – a spider’s web – as well as the metaphorical.
5 In what way does your inspiration transform into ideas?
I’m not sure how to answer that. Ideas begin to transform from inspiration in the form of a conversation, an observation or an experience. From there it’s an evolutionary process, really.
6 From Ideas to production of art – how? And why?
Sometimes I make assemblages, sometimes I make photographs or digital collages. I also produce a zine, which in a funny sort of way, is a curatorial exercise. A lot of my work incorporates text in one form or another so I tend to collect a lot of mundane stuff that, over a period of time, begins to find its way into the work. I like to categorise, organise and devise systems and that approach is part of the making process for me. As for ‘why’, I couldn’t possibly answer that in any sensible sort of way. Things just evolve and come into being.
7 Could your ideas be portrayed in any other medium? If so which?
I don’t have a particular medium, like a painter does, for example, though I do tend to use photography and digital processes quite a lot. It could be said that ‘mixed media’ is my chosen medium, because it encompasses anything I want it to – the ultimate in flexibility. My assemblages can be, and often are, portrayed as photographs, and perhaps some of my photographs could be portrayed as paintings, though I’m not so sure it would make them any more or less successful, and I’m rubbish at painting anyway.
8 Which artists would you most like to blatantly rip off?
None because then the work wouldn’t really be mine.
9 Why is your art made?
Because no one else would make it in the same way that I would.
10 What does being an artists mean to you?
It’s a way of thinking, a way of looking at and interpreting the world as much as anything.
11 Are you happy with your reasons for making art? i.e Are there any trade offs that make life hard?
I work at an unrelated ‘paying’ job 3 days a week in order to fund my work, pay my studio rent and so on, so there’s always a huge issue with time. Ideally, I would love to be able to be in the studio 5, 6 days a week and stuff the job, but that’s just not an option. So I have to be disciplined and organised and motivated to get into the studio on the days that I’m able, and that can sometimes cause conflicts with the rest of life which often requires my attention. The struggle is always, what (or who) comes first?
12 When does your art become successful?
When someone connects with it instinctively; when it doesn’t have to be explained, theorised about ad nauseum and verbally dissected in order for it to communicate something on an intrinsic level. I think that’s why they call it ‘visual art’ instead of ‘critical theory’.
13 What is art?
How high is the sky?
14 How do you start the process of making work?
It depends on what I’m working on and what it requires. I’m obsessed with lists, diagrams, systems and with categorising and organising things, but I’m all over the map in terms of being disciplined about any sort of set process. That said, I tend to get very methodical once I calm down with an idea and settle into making it happen.
15 Who prices your work? And how is the price decided upon?
With the exception of my zine, I don’t sell very often so it tends not to be an issue, but when I have, I’ve priced the work myself, as I’ve never been connected with a gallery. It’s incredibly difficult to be objective about one’s own work, and I can certainly see the value in having a gallery deal with those sorts of things.
16 What is your next move, project, show etc?
I’m just starting a piece of work for Joe Schneider’s ‘Delicate Situations’ and I’ve finally sent issue 10 of my zine to the printer.
17 What are the pros and cons of the art market?
Because of the visibility of the ‘art market’, contemporary art has more of an audience – and therefore more of a voice – than it ever has before. People from all walks of life are more willing to look at and consider work that isn’t just there to look pretty over the sofa. I think that in the past, work was often deemed successful on technical skill alone, whereas now, audiences seem to want to be challenged on a myriad of levels.
They require more out of the work and are willing to consider it a bit more carefully.
Perhaps because of that increased awareness, there’s now a lot more room for artists to incorporate different disciplines into their practice. Curation, self-initiated projetcs, residencies, and artist run spaces are all out there, available for those who want to engage with them or make them happen. I think that’s a good thing; it gives purpose to those of us that, for whatever reason, don’t fit comfortably into the mainstream gallery system and it enlivens the cultural landscape in general. The con is that art becomes a commodity no different from and no better or worse than Starbucks coffee or a Ford Focus, but that’s actually a double edged sword. On the one hand, somewhere in that commodification process, an artist can appear to be driven by what’s expected of them, rather than by what their work was about in the first place, and I would imagine that on some level, that’s a conflicted place in which to reside.
Damien Hirst, who is now ‘Doing Hollywood’ and ‘gorilla artist’ Banksy, whose work now sells for millions, both come to mind, because it seems that on some level they are no longer in control of what drives their work (though I somehow doubt they are complaining on the way to the bank). And while it’s easy to take potshots at Art Stars, it’s also fair to say that a bit of luck mixed with a lot of ambition, hard work and a strong personality have as much to do with their success as does their talent, and how is that any different than any other vocation? The art business is a business. It’s very similar to the music business and Kurt Cobain articulated the dichotomy beautifully when he wrote ‘Radio Friendly Unit Shifter’. Like the music business, there are a handful of artists who become wildly successful, yet there is a lot of really great work out in the world that will never be recognised to any great degree.
That can be depressing at times, but it’s also reality, and who among us would turn around and say no if a collector or gallery wanted to throw a ridiculous amount of money at us for making work? Clinging to the idea that art and artists should somehow be above that, deemed worthy for what the work offers on an intrinsic level alone is unrealistic and naive.
18 Which pieces would you like to be remembered for?
I don’t think I’ve made that one yet.
19 Any routine in making your artwork? If so what?
Not really. A lot of trial and error, a lot lists, a lot of standing back and looking and a lot of thinking, thinking, thinking, but no set routine, as in, ‘I have to have all my pencils sharpened and in a row before I can begin’.
20 What has been the biggest break in your career?
Creating my zine and having it sold in the ICA bookshop is pretty cool, and having work in a big show in Spain last year was as well, though I don’t know that they were ‘breaks’ necessarily.
21 Who has been the biggest influence on you?
Life in general, politics and current events, everyday people doing everyday things… I don’t think I could categorise it as one person or one thing.
22 How many artworks have you given away and to whom?
I gave a set of prints to a Hans Heiner-Buhr, a German artist who lives in the Republic of Georgia. That’s it, really.
