EPISODE 12: SHEPHERD MANYIKA

In episode 14 Rowan and Nick chat with New York based photographer Delphine Diallo about her life, lockdown and learning kung fu from the same teacher as Wu Tang’s RZA. Diallo left a corporate job as a graphic designer and entered the world of photography after meeting acclaimed photographer Peter Beard at a dinner party. Since then she has been an unstoppable force exhibiting her work globally and collaborating with brands such as Nike, Vogue and Converse as well as with fellow artists Shepherd Fairey and JR. In this episode we talk about Diallo's photography practice and how it has, more recently, lead to making intricate collage works. We discuss why she felt the move from her home in Paris to New York was a necessary one and why it has provided much wider scope for creative opportunities. Diallo talks passionately about her spiritual path and how that, combined with her artistic practice, has helped her to stay creative during lockdown.

This time around we're joined by Isabella Summers aka Isa Machine. Isabella rose to prominence as part of the band Florence And The Machine and has since enjoyed an extremely varied career that has included collaborations with Cy Twombly and Beyoncé. We talk about her artistic beginnings as part of the South London squat-art collective !WOWOW! as well as her latest project - producing the soundtrack to the new Amazon series Little Fires Everywhere. She tells us about her time touring with the band and how she turned it into a global gallery tour which ignited her interest in classical painters. Me and Isa go way back and we also spend a bit of time talking about our days spent partying and making music in South East London at time when it didn't cos the earth to live there. We also talk about the loss of Isa's father, which happened early in lockdown. She tells us what a strange experience it is to lose someone so close at such a strange time and also what big influence he has been on her creativity.

Shepherd Manyika is based in South East London and his work ranges from video to sculpture to performance and everything in-between. He has also worked in arts education for a long time and his projects tend to have a big emphasis on community. We talk about Shepherd's progression as an artist and how music and art were something he kept separate, but are now part of the same practice. We talk about his Sound Opus series, which feature a sound system he built using and old supermarket trolley and also his collaborations with the 22A Records camp. We also touch on our time working together at the South London Gallery and how lockdown may begin to erode the exclusivity of the gallery industry.

In this episode were joined by artist Adelaide Damoah. Adelaide is a painter and performance artist from London and is also completely self taught. She has exhibited internationally and her work covers issues regarding race, identity and feminism. We talk to Adelaide about her transition from the pharmaceutical industry into contemporary art and the self analytical nature of her work. We discuss her being a founding member of the Black British Female Artist Collective and how collaboration is a vital part of her practice. We also touch on how things are improving in the art world for marginalised identities, but also how there is still a very long way to go.

Emma Cousin is a painter based in South East London - via Yorkshire - and has been part of all sorts of excellent exhibitions with all sorts of excellent galleries; as well as having a huge amount of experience working in the commercial gallery world. Emma recently started her own podcast consisting of lockdown conversations with fellow artists and they're great so we wanted to get her on our podcast to talk about it. As well as the podcast we talk to Emma's about her practice and the use of stretched and contorted figures in her paintings. We also talk about the Bread and Jam exhibitions she used to host from her house in Brockley and how they felt like a healthier alternative to most private views.

This time we're joined by Ben Murphy and Nick Thompson of Delphian and Gallery and artist Lucia Ferrari. Delphian is a nomadic gallery, founded in 2017, with a focus on pioneering emerging contemporary art. Their hugely popular open call, which happens annually, has gained them a huge online following and given them the wherewithal to support the winners as well as runners up. We talk to them about Delphian's recent Lockdown Editions, which Lucia is part of, as well as being an entry to this years open call. The editions are a series of prints, released by Delphian with, 100% of the profits going to the artists in hope they can help them through this turbulent time. We also speak to them about how they're keeping busy during the lockdown and also what the most significant changes to there practices have been.

In this lockdown edition we speak to artist Christopher Stead about how lockdown has effected his life and practice and also how it has impacted on his time studying at the Royal College of Art. There has been a lot in the press about how the RCA has handled the lockdown and their introduction of a virtual show, which has caused concern amongst students and artists alike. Chris explains the intricacies of the situation from the inside out.

We met up with Anna Reading early this year, at her in her studio in Bermondsey, and had a chat about her work and career so far. Anna won the Mark Tanner sculpture prize in 2018 and was part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries the same year. Since then she has been in an indefatigable work mode and has had shows at Standpoint Gallery, The Bomb Factory, The Cello Factory as well as being part of a show that Nick and I curated at The Silver Building. We talk about the idea of never not working and Anna's struggles to separate life and work and also the influence that her childhood holidays to remote parts of the British have had on her sculptures.

Special Christmas edition of the ART PROOF podcast with with Delphian Gallery, Artfully and Mizog Podcasts.

This time round we're joined by artists Richie Culver. We visited Richie in his studio in West London earlier this year and had a really interesting, fun and at times intimate chat about his life and practice and how he got to where he is today. We cover a lot of stuff in the conversation from addiction, being a self taught artists and parenthood to Bruce Lee, pigeon fancying, mumble rap and caravans. We also delve into Richie's past: growing up in Hull, living in Ibiza as a young raver and his time making art from newspapers he found in a New York crack house. We really enjoyed this one and there's a bit of a rolling start so bare with it as it takes a minute or so to really kick in - I just really didn't want to cut any out. So listen to the end where there is info on how to contact us and subscribe and also info on projects Richie has coming up.