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FAD Magazine covers contemporary art – News, Exhibitions and Interviews reported on from London

Nick Bailey answers FAD’s Questions

nick-bailey

1 When did you start to make art?
I Imagine my mum would say I started making art in Kindergarten in Australia, which used to have a steady supply of toilet rolls, egg boxes and plastic film pots to glue together, take home and gradually clutter the house with. Personally, I think that what I was making eventually began to become art at the end of foundation, when I had finally decided I wasn’t a painter.


2 What drove you to make art as a professional vocation?

Having been given the freedom, and encouragement to make artwork on my foundation course and at college, I think I would struggle to make myself do anything else.

4 Explain your inspiration?
Potentially, everything can be inspiring; obviously, a lot of work by other artists is essential, but it is almost easier to list things that very rarely or never provide inspiration than things that do. Physical inspiration often comes from things people interact with, mainly very simplistic, iconic objects such as buttons and hammers. Things that peak my curiosity, little puzzles and mysterious objects that I think other people would find interesting tend to lend a lot of inspiration too.

5 In what way does your inspiration transform into ideas?
I suppose ideas develop almost accidentally from exposure to things that inspire me in the same way they do with everybody; when you lose focus for a moment or two and begin to daydream whilst doing some monotonous task or other. I tend to think to myself ’wouldn’t it be odd if this was with that?’ or ‘what would happen if this was welded shut?’ etc. The only particularly hard bit is remembering to write them down or draw them, when I can, before they’re forgotten. I suppose it is emersion in things that influence me that causes this, as much as anything else.

6 From Ideas to production of art – how? And why?
I have a few pads and books where I jot down or doodle my absent-minded ideas, which I regularly scour through to find ideas that are feasible and could actually make something that might be in some way artful, or that have a strong concept to them. For every ten ideas, I get about eight that are no good, or a bit weak, one that I would absolutely love to do if I had an unlimited budget or time, and occasionally one I can actually make and be proud of.


7 Could your ideas be portrayed in any other medium? If so which?

The ideas dictate the medium, generally not the other way round. More often than not it is the physical components of a work or some quality of them that is essential in producing art from what is basically a load of objects, or components or an apparatus. I don’t think any of them would work as paintings, as I don’t think like a painter. A very few might make alright photographs, but generally I think the audience has to be able to see what a sculpture is made of, and be able to walk around it, maybe even touch it on the odd occasion.


8 Which artists would you most like to blatantly rip off?

I’d really like to rip off Roman Signer, maybe Conrad Shawcross too. It’s the way they are able to think like a sculptor, a poet, a philosopher and an engineer seemingly simultaneously.

9 Why is your art made?
My Art is made because every now and then when I am examining the random ideas I have had and I come across something that I desperately want to see realised as a physical object; that I am willing to spend time and effort, and normally a silly amount of money making into a real, tangible thing.

10 What does being an artists mean to you?
To me, being an artist means you are in a position to pursue your interests; in many ways it can be seen as a little bit selfish, as an artist applies him or herself to interpreting their ideas and passions as physical things and populating the world with them.

11 Are you happy with your reasons for making art? i.e Are there any trade offs that make life hard?

The only real trade off that I have discovered, as I mentioned early, is that now I have been given the freedom to maker artwork, I find it increasingly hard to turn my attention to other important things I need to do, like working in a more stable job.

12 When does your art become successful?
To my mind, my art is most successful, or at least, I am most proud of it when the idea or concepts behind it are clear and concise enough to be apparent for most people upon first viewing the work, whilst, simultainiously and paradoxically, there are elements of the work that are interpretable, or that someone can develop a deeper understanding of, maybe on their second viewing.

13 What is art?
My understanding is that the word ‘art’ is almost synonymous with the word ‘decision’; Anything is art if someone decides it’s art, arguably therefore something isn’t art if someone decides it’s not. So art is based almost entirely on personal decision, and therefore everyone’s definition of art varies. The best someone like myself can do is offer what we made as art for the individual viewer to decide for themselves.

14 How do you start the process of making work?
Once I have an idea that I really desperately want to make into a physical object I generally need to research how to made it. Every work is different and requires learning new skills and often working with new materials. It is important that they aren’t composed of the same things every time or made in the same way, or the works ‘style’ can begin to become ‘sameness’ and you begin to become too defined and too prescriptive. Most of the work is preparation, design, research, planning and sourcing materials.

15 Who prices your work? And how is the price decided upon?
Generally I price my work based on the amount of time I have spent on it and how much I have spent on materials.

16 What is your next; move, project, show etc?
My next really big project after this is setting up a new studio, so that I can produce better work, maybe larger works, and test then in a gallery environment.

17 What are the pros and cons of the art market?
The little that I know of the art market at this stage suggests that like any other economic market it is severely effected by the current financial climate, which means it is potentially somewhat stunted at the moment, although, this also means it is expected to pick up and flourish as the recession begins to ebb.

18 Which pieces would you like to be remembered for?
I don’t actually think I have produced any work that I’m worthy of remembrance for to date, but artists are said to practice art, so I would hope that my work will develop and improve until I produce something I can be perpetually proud of.

19 Any routine in making your artwork? If so what?
As I mentioned earlier, I try to avoid making too many works that are similar, as I don’t want to be that narrowly defined. This often involved relearning elements of my practice regularly and disrupting any formal routine, but I guess all my work follows a loose pattern of development from a concept to designing a work, and eventually producing a physical structure.

20 Who has been the biggest influence on you?
In terms of artists I really admire I guess the biggest influence would be Roman Signer. Though I am also very luck to come from a very supporting family with some very creative members, to have had some truly great art teachers, tutors and technicians throughout my education, and to have worked and interned for some great artists too.

21 How many artworks have you given away and to whom?
Other than a drawing or two in secondary school to a friend, I don’t remember ever giving work away; I guess not a lot of people have room in their living rooms for bulky sculptures.

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