1 If you weren’t an artist, what else would you be?
I’d be a sack of rotting flesh, 6feet under.
2 Name 3 of your least favorite artists.
Hum, some of my peers from the Royal Academy I guess. Lets call it a clash of personalities!
3. Anytime, any place – which artist’s body would you most like to inhabit?
There’s a few Michael Jackson, I’ve never mastered the moonwalk. Orlan, she’s revolutionary, Christina Ricci, I find her projected angst and on screen presence alluring, her body beautiful and tits tantalizing and lastly Dawn Mellor, I’m in love with her neuroses, her art and painted red lips.
4 What is your favorite ‘ism’?
Jism J
5 What was the most intelligent thing that someone said or wrote about your work?
Nigel Rolfe commented on a series of Sugimoto seascapes that I reworked; I received some very mixed reviews regarding these images, some suggested that my act of appropriation was aggressive, which I entirely disagreed with, and still do. I found this opinion to be intellectually stunted and incredibly schooled, thankfully so did Nigel, which was greatly reassuring. He referred to Bourriaud’s pocked sized book Postproduction, with which I was already familiar and rightly highlighted that the point of appropriating such established work, well any works, was that it’s not about copying or inhabiting, but about making ‘them ones own’, to intellectually develop, question and discuss all modes of culture, and sometimes this meant using what already exists and this in no way limits its value, nor does it undermine the original, apparently and disappointingly a controversial viewpoint amongst some art critics and art lovers.
Jane Simpson once made a very interesting remark about my photographs being like skin, which pleased me, as this is something that I have often thought myself. By this she meant that they had a corporeal life of their own an opinion that reminds me of notions discussed by Barthes in Camera Lucida and lastly Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe philosophised about the significance of a curled photograph for about 45minutes during one conversation. This go me thinking!
6. And the dumbest?
The dumbest would have been me. I denied making feminist work when speaking to Norman Rosenthal – fuck knows where my head was at that day, I think nerves overcame me.
7 Which artists would you most like to rip off, sorry, I mean appropriate as a critique of originality and authorship?
I have made a piece of work entitled Reflections on Gustave Le Gray’s Grande Lame Méditerranée. Gustave Le Gray is known for his architectural, landscape and portrait photographs. During his period it was very difficult to achieve still images due to the exposure length, so he often printed from two negatives achieving static beauty that is so easy to attain in today’s image making climate. The work I made was digital; I scanned one of his seascapes moving the picture during the process. The sea was then flipped and repositioned as sky (see below). I see the work as commenting on the self-reflexive nature of photography as well as questioning originality and authorship.
8 Do you care what your art costs? State your reasons!
I would like to say no, but I’d be lying. I think art should be provocative as well as being a visual treat; therefore it is important that it is accessible, however a price tag limits that in some ways, but the bottom line is I need to eat, I need shelter and importantly I need money to continue practicing, however I can honestly say that I am not motivated by money, but it is a useful necessity.
9 What are the three big ideas that you would like your work to express?
I suppose it would be to provoke thought, to bring aesthetic beauty and to enlighten others and myself. It’s a tall order!
10 Are you a political artist?
Yes, but I am always a sucker for beauty – however I guess beauty is political too.
11 How do you start the process of making work?
By simple observation, I am intuitive, emotionally and intellectually driven.
12 What next?
To stay on the same trajectory, and develop my latest project Our Dark Chamber; a collaborative printed matter fanzine dedicated to photography. I’d like to pay homage to the medium by curating a publication that showcases emerging and established talent. The zine will be politically aware and socially minded presenting sublime beauty and utter heartache, things that only photography can ‘truly’ capture due to its nature of being. The first editions concept is For the Love of Light and Dark. Watch this space!
13 If Moma and the Tate and the Pompidou wanted to acquire one of your works each, which would you want them to have?
I don’t think I have made that work yet; it’s too early in my career to honestly say that I would deserve to be amongst such masters and collections.
14 Complete the following sentence “Blessed art the artists, for they shall……”
cheat death.
15 Complete the following sentence “Blessed are the curators, for they shall…”
get to tell a story.
16 Complete the following sentence “Blessed are the art critics, for they shall….”
exercise free speech.
17. What is your favorite cheese?
There are far too many to choose from and of course it also depends on what it accompanies.
18. What’s next for you?
I’m desperate for the toilet. After that its back to editing images, planning projects, applying for funding, budgeting and dreaming of a future that brings peace and happiness. Lastly guzzling a glass, or two of red wine.
See Alana Lake at This is England from May 21st
