For the first two weeks of December, London’s M.Goldstein Gallery is exhibiting five artists, exploring a range of topics across a variety of mediums. There’s no overriding theme. Just a bunch of people who are inspiring thought and provoking conversation (as all arty types should). As the show launches to the public this evening, we ask three of the contributors to wear their art on their sleeves and explain to us their creative bent. Have a read below.
Kingsley Ifill
What is art?
How long is a piece of string?
What is the artiest thing in the world?
The cafe on Chatsworth Road that sells porridge with an essay length description for £7 a bowl. Either that or my answer for the next question.
Describe your work?
Sunflowers sitting in a pint of dregs.
Most important thing happening in the art world today?
My new zine Clichés & Consequence. Or a serious answer: Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s new body of work for their show in February 2017 at BlainSouthern.
Do you think art and creativity are a good way to protest and send a message?
It’s the only way.
Nicholas Abrahams
What is art?
Depends who is asking or looking. It’s the kind of question I worry about less and less, the older I get…
What is the artiest thing in the world?
Really, REALLY ugly art that no one wants to even look at, except for its creator, but the artist just keeps on making it, on and on and on, because THEY WILL BE VINDICATED ONE DAY!
Describe your work?
Mainly, but sometimes not, moving pictures! This time I am showing a recent film made for Shirley Collins, the secret Queen of England, 81 year old folk siren returning to the stage after a 40 year absence, shot in a fantastic ossuary in Kent. All those skulls and bones are strangely peaceful. So it will be shown in the gallery surrounded by a real skull or two, as a bit of a memento mori. Always good to remember that we are all gonna die one day! And also I am showing some of my collection of vintage photographs of people dressed up as polar bears, from the 1930s to the 1970s, mainly from Poland. They tend to make people smile a lot. I used to sometimes dress up as a ‘Wildman’, these days I’m more into dressing as a Polar Bear.
Most important thing happening in the art world today?
The new Life on Earth TV show is pretty hard to beat.
Do you think art and creativity are a good way to protest and send a message?
As good as any other, although recently protesting seems to have taken a bit of a kicking. Living creatively is perhaps the best way to avoid falling into negativity in current times. I personally would really like to splat a custard pie in Nigel Farage’s face. I did think Janey Godley – the lady who held up a sign saying ‘Trump is a Cunt’ when the Donald visited his Scottish golf course, the photo of which went viral – might not have achieved much, but somehow expressed with great eloquence what I felt. Oooh, I’m still feeling it!
Julia Fodor aka Princess Julia
What is art?
Art can be whatever you want it to be. It’s a way of expressing and reflecting upon everything that affects you.
What is the artiest thing in the world?
Could be a person, could be something they’ve created. Could be a place. Hard to cite just one particular thing. Perhaps it’s something quite ethereal. Perhaps it’s a cave painting, one of the earliest forms of human self expression.
Describe your work?
Well, I’m always quite obsessed with the human condition, how people present themselves and communicate. I’m self taught so there’s a kind of simplicity to my work. I love painting. I enjoy the connect between a thought and how that translates into vision. I dream paintings and then I paint them. For this show my muses were men who don’t generally wear makeup so there was a sense of power in image I wanted to convey. Makeup is often seen as a feminine or theatrical pastime in our society. I didn’t want to feminise (unless they wanted to) my men, rather I wanted to capture a strength of personality or alter ego that makeup can convey.
Most important thing happening in the art world today?
Generally the conversation that art and artists generate.
Do you think art and creativity are a good way to protest and send a message?
Yes, that’s really a given isn’t it?
M.Goldstein Gallery presents Group Show opens this evening, Thursday 1 December, 6pm – 8pm. The exhibition runs till 14 December.
Credits
Text Matthew Whitehouse