We went along to Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery to check out ‘The Shape of Things’ exhibition that explores the distinctive contribution artists make to influence or reflect national identity, the intercultural nature of British society and its connection with global cultures.

Alinah Azadeh’s exhibits started with her wrapping her mother’s rice cookers and other objects that belonged to her mother who died in the Asian Tsunami of 2004. There is a poem on the wrapping called, ‘Come, Come my Beloved’ by Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi. This poem was turned into a song by Iranian singer Bijan Bijani and the cassette recording was a gift to Alinah from her mother when she was a teenager. The poem is written in Farsi, in Romanised Farsi, and English – the three languages – tongues – spoken by Alinah, her Iranian mother and her British-born daughter.

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Last Year we popped into the Igupop Gallery in Barcelona. We loved Pepa’s work and thought we would find out more about her and her work.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name its Pepa Prieto I was born in Granada, a beautiful city in the south of Spain surrounded by mountains. I will be moving to England soon though.

Q: What are you major influences?
Many small things but probably the most obvious are music, memories, travels, nature, people and books.

Q: Your style is very distinctive, how did it evolve?
Well I have being doing creative things all my life and I really don’t know how I got to this point! What I hope is to continue evolving. Curiosity is one of my motivations for sure.

Q: What is the Spanish arts scene like?
There are many interesting street artist doing things at the moment like Nuria Mora el Tono, Nano. Its great as we are friends and its enchanting to see them!

Q: Where did you train?
I went to Art College in Madrid and then London and Barcelona, although I have never really been a keen student, crazy, ha-ha! But my real training has been Life and Snowboarding as when I was younger I use to be professional.

Q: Do you collect art?
Kind of! Mmmm yes.

Q: Apart from your gallery work do you do commercial work?
Yes, I try to do both, commercial projects are interesting for me, although they are not easy but I always try.

Q: A piece of advice for an aspiring art student?
Love what you do, be patient, work hard, be honest with your work , and the practical one, and show your work around.

Q: Three loves?
Only three? Ummm, Nature, travels, happy personalities (at least people that fight for trying)

Q: Three loathes?
Negativism, lack of imagination and inequality.

Q: Where do you characters come from?
From a hole inside my small nut, from everywhere I suppose.

Q: Can you talk us through your working process?
Think, look, think, write, sketch, write. I always go with a pencil and sometimes a camera then I use acrylics, silk-screens, pencils, wood and whatever I need for the project. When it comes to commissions I have to use the laptop to apply colour. Its a matter of time as sometimes commissions just go with crazy timing.

Q: What artists inspire you?
There are so many great Artist. I love going to museums like El Prado, Victoria and Albert, love 15th century Flemish painters.

Q: What part of your job as an artist do you enjoy the most?
For me it is a way of living, its a continuation of myself. I love my work as is so unpredictable, complicated and at the same time free.

Q: Do you work alone?
Yes.

Q: What does Pepa do outside the studio?
I try to interact with others, hahahah to combat the solitude of the studio.

Q: What direction do you see yourself moving?
I never, but what I would like is to keep on being able to live off my work, and get into nicer projects if I have the opportunity. Personally to keep enjoying things lots! With as much calm as possible.

Q: Where do you live and work?
For the moment in Madrid, Spain where I have set up my studio.

Q: Do you travel?
Yes it’s a real need for me! I have travel a lot since I was a child. I think it is a big piece of my own puzzle!

Q: How many hours a week do you spend in your studio?
Ummm, when I am at home all the time I am an obsessive type of creature, yuk! That’s the way it goes.

Q: Have you shown outside of Spain?
Yes a bit, L.A, London, Miami and Switzerland.

Q: Any upcoming plans for shows in the near future?
I will be in Miami during March and April in an Artist residency called the Fountainhead Studio. I will be painting a big wall at the design district in Miami with Primary flights. I am really looking forward to this project! I have just finished a project with Contemporanea, it’s a black box with three silk-screens inside a series of 60, and then I will head San Diego for some other projects that I still have to finish.

Thanks Pepa for sharing your thoughts with us, good luck with your residency.
Richard Scarry and The Chipster

Q: Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get it from my dreams, any time day or night. It might bother me in some ways.

Q: Your color palette is crazy, how did it evolve?
According to my mother, my color was already crazy when I began to paint at an early age, but it was too strong and messed up. I think it was refined thanks to the study at an art university.

Q: Do your characters have personalities?
I think they have. However, they are harder for you to interpret than me. Some people might search for evil in my monsters, but it doesn’t exist.

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Q: Where are you from?
Bristol

Q: What was the first piece you put on the street?
It was in 1982 and said Krazy Krew – crazy or what!!!!!!

Q: What do you think art can do for the world?
Brighten it up.

Q: How do you see the state the world is in today?
Depends who you believe. Enjoy yourself it’s later than you think.

Q: As a graffiti artist did you have trouble finding the right gallery?
No it came when the time was right. Everything happens at certain times for certain reasons.

Q: Tell me a little about the Bristol Art scene?
It has always been a meting pot of very different styles. I knew more about it in the 80’s than I do now. I do know that Bristol is a fairly small place so you have to keep your cards close to your chest. Bristol is a small bowl with a big spoon.

Q: Have you done any commissions?
Yeah a few.

Q: What is your Favorite medium?
Spray paint – always.

Q: Have you thought about doing 3D sculpture work ?
Yes I had the tail end of a 747 built and had it crashing through the wall of the gallery at my V 4 Vandal show at Black Rat Press.

Q: Favorite place you have traveled to and why?
New York – the place makes me happy.

Q: How did your Morning after series start?
I think from realising you can get away with almost anything if you have a large golfing umbrella. The pin stripe suit and bowler hat is also the perfect decoy. The character in these paintings is dressed as a city gent who wants to ‘paint the town red (amongst other colours).’

Q: What are your hopes for the future?
Longevity. I need to get my book sorted out – I’ve been working on it on & off but it just needs finishing now. It would be great to be living somewhere a little warmer.

Q: What do you listen to when you are working?
The Blade Runner 25th anniversary sound track by Vangelis seems to be on permanent loop some days.

Q: What other artist influences you?
Rolf Harris. He always spurs me on to do better, much better.

Q: Favorite living and deceased artist?
Living – Frank Frazetta. Dead – Warhol.

Q: What do you do when not in the studio?
Try and be a good Dad.

Q: Greatest Joy?
Staring into space, alone.

Q: Greatest Sadness?
Anything to do with kids and illness.

Q: Does Nick have a dark side?
Of course.

Q: If you were not an artist then what would you be?
A Psychiatric patient.

Q: Any upcoming shows we should look out for?
Not just yet I’m still working on a new body of paintings. I’m going to set the date for the show once I’m happy with the work.

Q: Do you have prints available of your work?
Yes I hold most of the artist proofs from all my print editions. I’ve also recently been sorting out which pieces to release as prints for this year.

Q: I notice you have a cool art collection, what was the first piece purchased?
I can’t remember. The collection’s got a bit out of hand.

Q: What are your feelings on the secondary art market?
It’s not really something I should care about? I guess I would be doing it if I was skint. I do feel pretty vulnerable when someone tells me my work is in an auction.

Q: I noticed you have a new site for your work, what can we expect?
A better one – called ‘the art of nick walker.com’

Q: Who is your favorite Graffiti artist?
Mac & Retna.

Q: Do you get time to browse galleries when traveling?
Sometimes.

All the best Richard Scarry and The Chipster

Cheerio!

http://web.mac.com/nickwalkerz/Nick_Walker_Art/Welcome.html

Q: Can you talk briefly about the process of creating one of your pieces?
I use various photographs to work from; some I take myself, and others I find in books, newspapers or on postcards.  I want to create an off-balance psychological portrait, as simply as possible. I use models I know well, and we dress up and play, try out scenarios until something starts to happen; stories unfold, tensions brew, and I use the images to patchwork scenes for the drawings and paintings.

Q: What makes a good day in the studio?
Losing track of time and space. Waking up from drawing to find hours have gone by.

Q: How do you spend your time when taking a break from creating?
I love movies, books, I cook for lots of people to eat together, I go wild swimming.

Q: What artists inspire you?
I think I often get more from the work of dark, honest, funny photographers like Nan Goldin, Diane Arbus,  or Rineke Dijkstra, than from other painters – though I love Inke Essenhigh, Paula Rego, Dana Shutz.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the monkey relic pieces?
I think of these monkey relics as Darwinian saints and sacrifices. There is a certain zeal in the way that humans set themselves apart from the rest of nature. To me there is just a continuation, we are animal, we have drives and instincts that always flow just under the surface of civilization. I am really interested in this line between human and beast; language, culture, and tool-making were all once held up as examples of what makes us unique, and have all been shown to exist in other animals.

Death to me is a state of non-being. All of the hopes and prayers lavished on these monkeys are the desire of the living to create meaning and continuation; just as with religion. I have none, and I am totally intrigued and touched by this need in people, and my technique, the level of detail and time spent on rendering surfaces is a sort of reverence.

Q: How is the arts scene in Scotland?
Edinburgh has many grassroots, artists run projects which are pretty exciting, but the gallery culture is conservative. My favourite gallery is a tiny powerhouse in Glasgow, RECOAT. They’re just about to host Matt Mignanelli from New York. Phewee.

Q: Do you collect art yourself?
I wish I could own more – I try to do swaps with mutually appreciative artists as often as possible.  My best piece is a headless Jessica Harrison figure with a plume of smoke coming from its gullet.

Q: Which living artist would you like your work to be displayed alongside?
I’ve just been included in a touring show with Charles Avery, who is a proper hero of mine.

Q: Three things that you loathe?
homeopathy
the pope
olives

Q: Three things that you love?
hot baths
propelling pencils the green stuff in mint aero

Q: How long do you spend in the studio a week?
As much as I can. I have a busy home, but great support.

Q: Can you describe a Kirsty Whiten collector?
I can never predict who it will be, it’s a secret quirk in all kinds of folk if they get my sense of humour.

Q: Does Kirsty have a darker side?
I think my dark side gets to play in the work, but the rest is secret.

Q: A painting you would most like to own?
To live with, hmmmmmm. I would love something by Victoria Morton. I don’t think you could ever look at them too much. I love the night snow scenes by Inke Essenhigh too.

Q: What direction do you see your work going?
Post boundary. I’m working on big, gauche, psychedelic canvases of post-apocalyptic families living naked in the woods.

Q: The men and monkeys in your pieces are often bound, why?
With the men who are taken hostage, I wanted to explore the entanglement of men and women and their leaning on each other, their dominating of each other, their needing of each other, and – ultimately – their capture. With the monkeys, they are totally pinned down by the prayers, wishes, yearnings and offerings that have been attached to them.

Q: Did you go to art college?
Yup. Edinburgh College of art. Finished 10 years ago. Far more useful was a year I spent in Paris in an international art studio complex. Still, Edinburgh was one of the few colleges at the time who really taught drawing, and valued it, as I do.

Q: Do you have any shows planned you can tell us about?
Bold Hype gallery in Orlando Florida

Q: Where did you grow up?
In Fife, Scotland. In a small village. I also travelled a lot with my family because my father studied baboons in Africa.

Q: Have you shown outside of the UK?
Yeah. I met a lot of folks during my year in Paris who consequently invited me. Austria, Australia, Germany and Holland to name a few of the top spots. I’d love to get some more travelling on the go.

Thanks Kirtsy for sharing with us, Richard Scarry and The Chipster

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirstywhiten/

http://www.recoatdesign.com/

http://www.boldhype.net/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5_9&zenid=0hg3bd6jqcr58afsgo3l1hoof1

http://www.stolenspace.com/

David and Silo

Q: Tell me about your process?
I use different media depending on the project, although photography plays a big part in my work. I shoot all my models and print all my own photos on gelatin silver paper. I mount the photos on wood or panel and then it is pretty open. I may add many layers of paints or integrate collage elements, or I may keep it more sparse and at times and wont really touch the photo at all. Maybe a few lines of text or some encaustics. My sculpture and installations stem from the imagery that I create with my collages and photos.

Q: How do you find models for your work?
Most of the people I photograph are friends of mine, some I have been shooting for about 10 years. At times, people will contact me and offer to sit or if I see someone that just fits so completely with a vision or sparks one, I muster the guts and I contact them.

Q: I see struggle in your pieces is that true?
I would agree that visually, certain pieces may appear to be of a struggle or helplessness, but this is not something I believe that drives the work into being. I deal with searching and curiosity and certainly confusion. But struggle is a big part of all life in general, so it will be reflected into the work.

Plague

Q: Where are you from?
I was born in New York City and my family moved 20 miles north of the city when I was about 3 and I grew up in a suburban megalopolis. My father kept an apartment in the East Village in the 80’s which exposed me to a world and lifestyle which I would later romanticize and eventually gravitate to.

Q: Did you go to art school?
Yes. I attended The School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1991 thru 1995. I knew that staying in Manhattan for studies would prove to be way too distracting for me.

Q: What do you think art can do for the world?
Art can continue to act as a cultural, social and spiritual mirror to life on Earth.

Q: How do you see the state the world is in today?
I think we just me be over stimulated and allow things to move much faster than our minds can keep up with. We miss a lot of things, roads to go down, and do not take enough time to look at ourselves collectively, individualism has become a cult.

Q: As an artist did you have trouble finding the right gallery?
At this particular time I only work closely with 2 galleries. The Corey Helford Gallery and Strychnin Gallery, both absolutely wonderful. But no, it was not easy to find this place I am at.

Q: What is your Favourite medium?
So hard for me to say. I am still in love with photography although sculpture has a big piece of my heart.

Q: favourite place you have travelled to and why?
I don’t have one. My time in Cologne has tremendous memories for me, but I cannot pinpoint a favourite.

An installation from a David’s show in Germany

Q: What are your hopes for the future?
Well the ideal would be to remain inspired and paint and sculpt. I would like to have a studio/workshop space to open for artists to help perpetuate a community, but I am not sold on a location.

Q: What do you listen to when you are working?
Lots of music, all kinds.

Q: What other artist influence you?
My immediate inspiration comes from my closest friends. Some are artists, musicians or not. I find that life is the most important driving force to my work. The experience and lessons dictate the work.

Paranoia

Q: Favourite living and deceased artist?
Anslem Kiefer for living and I suppose I’ll say Beuys for dead. It all fluctuates from time to time you know.

Q: Do you go to Museums?
I try to whenever I can.

Q: Greatest Joy?
Love

Q: Greatest Sadness?
The same

Q: Does David have a dark side?
Only to those who cross me. Otherwise, it is not so bad at all.

Twilight Bloom

Q: What would you do if you could not make art?
I may build, cook or teach I suppose.

Q: Do you have prints available of your work?
Nope

Q: Do you collect as well?
Oh most definitely.

Q: Do you remember the first piece you purchased?
No I don’t.

Q: Do you entertain at home?
Oh yes. My studio is at home and I will host free artist workshops for locals and hold silkscreen parties and annual art salons.

Q: Do you get time to browse galleries when travelling?
If I have the time I will make it a plan to peruse the local gallery circuit.

Catastrophic Differences

Q: what would you like people to come away with from your show?
An intimate connection to the work.

Q: How did the installation work start for you?
When working in the studio, over a period of time, certain object accumulate in the environment which contain a certain thread to the works and I have been experimenting on ways to incorporate them into an exhibition. I have never been totally satisfied with just putting a piece on the wall. It seems at times to be too removed from the environment in which it was created.

Thank you for taking time to chat with us about you, your process and art.
All the Best Richard Scarry and The Chipster

New Exhibition at Corey Helford Gallery
Opening Feb 13th 7 to 10 pm, Installation not to be missed.
For further information please contact jch@coreyhelfordgallery.com

http://www.coreyhelfordgallery.com
www.davidhochbaum.com
www.111ladders.blogspot.com
www.goldmineshithouse.com

We’d like to welcome aboard Richard Scarry as our newest guest blogger here at Dailydujour.  Richard is the director of the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City, CA.