It will be interesting to see how Rosalind and Annabel curate the exhibition, particularly considering the diverse range of artists involved. From my perspective it is a fantastic opportunity to present my visual practice alongside artists I have previously worked with in a journalistic sense. The dialogue between artwork is rather different to that of two people conducting an interview!

Zeitgeist Project Space
ASC Bond House Goodwood Rd New Cross London SE14 6BL

Private View Tuesday 17 April, 6-8.30pm
18 – 28 April (Thursday-Saturday, 1-5pm)
Open for SLAM Last Fridays 6-8.30pm
Artists & Curators Dialogue – Saturday 28 April, 4-5pm

www.zeitgeistartsprojects.com

Bow Arts was established in 1995 when it moved into its Bow Road premises, formed of two adjoining buildings, and started providing artists’ studios on the site. They run a fantastic educational programme, offering employment opportunities to artists that allows them to pay their rent and develop their creative skills at the same time. They also run The Nunnery, a contemporary art gallery housed at the site.

Whilst I am looking forward to joining such a reputable studio group, I will be maintaining my engagement with my friends from the Cor Blimey Arts network. Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley will be continuing the DIY Educate programme with their superb new venture – ZeitgeistArtsProjects. They will continue to provide a critical context in which practicing and emerging artists can gain valuable support and guidance – at a price that they can afford.

I will be contributing to Zeitgeist’s session ‘The Place to Be’ at Goldsmiths College on 2 March, offering insights into using social media, making applications and writing proposals. To book click here

Whilst I am sad Cor Blimey Arts studios are no more, I am looking forward to new opportunities and meeting new people. The most critical thing for me is a sustained period focusing on my drawings, with a view to having my second solo exhibition towards the end of the year. An inspiring, supportive network of artists, both old and new, physical and virtual, have been the lynch-pin for my practice over the last 12 months. Long may that continue…

One of the key strengths of this show is that it does not seek to demystify da Vinci. Part of the joy of engaging with his work is the clandestine nature of the experience. The unfinished ‘Musician’ (also known as Portrait of a Young Man) is a prime example. As Adrian Searle wrote in his recent review of the exhibition: “The painting and the viewer are left hovering…we stand and look, and become part of the experience of looking itself, caught between one thing and the next.”

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the presentation of Leonardo’s two versions of the Virgin of the Rocks. Placed at opposite ends of the gallery, facing one another in a kind of high-end Renaissance version of Top Trumps, you can’t help but pick your favourite. However, more interesting is the way you start to dismantle da Vinci’s evolving technique and thought processes. You fill in the blanks, and create your own narrative.

When Leonardo entered Ludovico Sforza’s service in about 1489, he took the opportunity to paint his master’s 16-year-old mistress, Cecilia Gallerani. ‘The Lady with an Ermine’ is a curious work, Leonardo using the portrait to illustrate his belief that by responding to all that was most beautiful and harmonious in the natural world, painting could inspire love in the viewer. Both this painting and ‘Portrait of a Woman (The Belle Ferronniere)’ are hypnotic and unlike any paintings I have experienced before.

Elsewhere, around sixty drawings are on display. In no way filler, these works underpin and enhance the paintings. It is in these that my real passion for da Vinci lies. Leonardo never remained static, and his inability to focus on one idea for any length of time before getting distracted by some other thought process lent itself to drawing rather than painting. It undoubtedly pissed a few people off – he didn’t receive payment for his first Virgin of the Rocks for almost 25 years – but is at the root of his enduring influence on the way artists still work today.

As artists and human beings we must never stop questioning and evolving. As da Vinci said: “Art is never finished – only abandoned.”

For ticket details click here »

The impressive panel of artists and arts professionals included Lisa Snook, Alistair Gentry, Rosalind Davis, Hilary Jack, Pippa Koszerek, Rob Turner and Dany Louise.

The full debate is now live on the Guardian website here

How can share working enhance the lives of individual artists? My talk at ISEA 2011 aimed to explain how AIR is facilitating new dialogue between individuals and organisations, acting as the catalyst for new engagement and discussions that will enhance the working lives of visual and applied artists.

AIR’s campaigns and advocacy were discussed, with reference to our use of digital communications as a means of coordinating fast and direct action. Examples included our campaign for access to art education, which utilised Twitter and in particular the tag #AIRmarch26 to assemble artists from around the UK at the TUC march earlier this year in London. Digital campaigns including the Free Ai Weiwei and Artist’s Resale Right petitions were also explained.

Disseminating practical advice to artists, and AIR’s commitment to an inclusive framework, was explained. AIR Activists (regionally based, pro-active members of AIR) have delivered advice sessions across the country throughout 2011, with debates shared live on Twitter using event-specific tags. Video of each event is also streamed on YouTube, with the content archived to encourage continued discussion and critical debate.

Notions of collaboration were discussed in relation to AIR’s engagement with key organisations. These include Arts Council England, Artquest, Axis, DACS and Turning Point. Another key point of discussion was AIR’s enhanced international profile. Already a member of the European Council of Artists, AIR is continuing dialogues with the International Association of Art and is commissioning new research into international representative bodies for artists. We are also in the final stages of agreeing a memorandum of understanding with The Scottish Artists Union.

At ISEA 2011, I introduced AIR as the voice for artists, with these new collaborations, dialogues and services providing our members with a platform for their views and opinions to be heard by key decision makers. AIR is harnessing a new solidarity between artists, united in a common cause – to enhance their working lives and professional status.

Further links:

AIR Council reports on the latest collaborations.

Join AIR Activists today and become a pro-active member of AIR!

Brief Encounter is an on-going project exploring the intensification and acceleration of social exchanges and activities across world-time and space-time. My drawings and video work confront this situation by offering a crucible where heterogeneous forms of sociability are worked out through a dynamic network of forms – before, during and after production.

Lines are traced in a globalised space that extends to time and geography: history is traversed like an unexplored territory. The work references future events according to a system of cognitive logic, presented as a kind of fake archeological re-enactment – relics whose historical placing remains unclear.

My work explores the act of discovery and documentation and the discourse between art and history, the ancient and modern, time and place. My use of detailed, linear imagery such as fingerprints addresses issues of identity and individuality with a forensic precision. An engagement with historical themes is reflected in my use of faded, delicate forms. The viewer is invited to encounter and explore the ambiguity of this imagery; the ripples of the fingerprints becoming almost map or maze like.

With the new drawings, I have slightly shifted my approach, relying less on the rigid systems and formulas I have been using for the last five years or so. It feels great to just let loose and make some marks, and I am really pleased with the results so far.

So if you are in Deptford this weekend (1/2 Oct) pop by. More info can be found here

My full interview can found on the AIR website here

I am really keen to use this exhibition as the base for a new body of work. Lots of ideas fizzing around – just need to find the time to organise and realise them. Have some strong concepts for a new set of drawings. Time to crack on…

Double Lives: Duple Trials

This month I report on the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation donation to the National Gallery, high levels of remuneration from the arts in Cumbria and Derby, plus all the latest news from the AIR Activists network.

AIR Podcast January