Chats with Artists in Lockdown

Luke Routledge is primarily a sculptor though his practise encompasses painting, drawing, illustration, writing and video making. In this episode, Luke and I talk about the 'in the middle' feeling that we are both in at the moment, in the early/mid stages of making new work. Luke describes his recent exhibition at Eastside projects, "strange matter" and we begin to get into his ideas around his constructed universe and what he calls his 'living collage territory'. We talk about conceptual machines, sculpture making itself, modular bodies and using words in a sculptural format. We talk about Luke's many and tailored materials, his particular colour palette and his relationship with pseudoscience. We touch on skateboard imagery and cartoons, poetry and stories, and we hear a little of Luke’s recent writing, from the horse’s mouth. We get into humour and the kinetic and end on new things that Luke is trying to make and how helpful it is trying to learn new things all the time.  Image: Strange Matter @ Eastside Projects, Birmingham 2020 Links: www.lukeroutledge.com www.eastsideprojects.org www.coventrybiennial.com www.theschoolofthedamned.wixsite.com

In this episode I talk to Brian Alfred. Brian Alfred is an artist, podcaster, educator and curator based out of Brooklyn, working in painting, drawing, collage and animation. He is also the host of  SOUND & VISION one of the top visual arts podcasts in the world.  Brian and I talk about coffee, before getting into how he started his podcasts and how they have evolved. We talk about environment, being able to paint anything, and being hit by lightning, literally. Brian talks about fractals classes at Yale and being a hard worker and we get into cliches and painting sunsets. Brian talks about his forthcoming show with Miles McEnry Gallery which considers places we are stuck and places we would like to be. And we end on hand washing appreciation and the importance of family. Links: http://brianalfred.net/ https://www.milesmcenery.com/artists/brian-alfred

Harriet Hill and I chat about her upcoming live art odyssey, Home-ing, getting into what it is, where she will go and how she arrived at this brilliant project. We talk about words as sculpture, making in a domestic setting, endurance and acts of resistance and making art about politics. We end on family collaborations and absorbing and getting absorbed.  Out take: Harriet Hill will set off  walking from London on 22nd June arriving at her childhood home in Wales on 25th July. To find our more about this project or to meet Harriet along the way you can access her route at www.harriethill.co.uk/home-ing or follow her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/harrietlhill/ We will speak again after her walk and may add some of that conversation to this episode so watch this space…and good luck Harriet. Image: Credit Daniel Crawshaw Links: https://www.instagram.com/harrietlhill/ #home-ing Feminist Library:  https://feministlibrary.co.uk HOME Slough:  https://www.homeslough.org.uk/news/ OVADA:   https://www.ovada.org.uk About Face Theatre Company:   https://www.aboutfacetheatre.co.uk Sidney Nolan Trust:   https://www.sidneynolantrust.org Home-ing is supported by public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England

Glen Pudvine and I talk about being envious of manic energy, working to a deadline and yoyo-ing between being bored and amazed. Glen tells us about using his penis as a pointer to the next painting, referencing his RA degree show and about being naked as a solution and exposing a certain type of “normalness”. We talk his recently opened show at J. Hammond Projects, "Slugulus the White and the Penance of Saint Glen”, it’s themes and particular lighting, and we get in to glazes and the brilliant text accompanying the show by Matt Carey-Williams. We end on emotional telly and being grateful for people IRL! Links: https://www.glenpudvine.com/ https://www.jhammondprojects.com/

Dean Kenning and I talk about diagramming, John Latham, gravity and pigeons and get into where his kinetic sculpture began in the first place. We talk about the aesthetics of kinetic art and Dean gets into lucozade bottles and pointless fingers. We discuss his recently won Mark Tanner award and the current ideas in progress for it. We talk about dumb vs clever, looking at the stars and trying to leave space to be irritated.  Image: Untitled (Rubber Plant), kinetic sculpture, Matt’s Gallery, 2019. links: http://www.deankenning.com https://www.mattsgallery.org/artists/kenning/exhibition-1.php https://standpointlondon.co.uk/mtsa/mtsa-winner-2020.php https://beaconsfield.ltd.uk/projects/the-origin-of-life-by-dean-kenning/ http://flattimeho.org.uk/events/diagram-research-group/

Paloma Proudfoot and I talk about loving orange, zones in the studio and her brilliant name, (which I am a bit obsessed with). We talk about glazes like icing cake, techniques that give movement and the stress of the process. We talk about clothes patterns, dissection and mapping, how to track bodily change and notation. We talk about curing, the second body, collaborations as cycles and the Art Death Club. We end on goggle-box, RuPaul, Cooking and not being such a lone ranger.  Links: https://www.palomaproudfoot.com Image: 'The union of a human foot and a shoe is actually a monstrous custom', 2020, glazed ceramic, Sara Zanin Gallery.

Jean-Philippe Dordolo and I chat about feeling tired and in-between and about revolt, anger and doom. We touch on Brexit and anger as a positive emotion. JP talks about getting his hands dirty, introduces the many mediums he straddles and investigates how he applies himself to different mediums. We talk about drawing as butchery, cast painting as possibly un-painting , the influence of photography on his methodology and process and the beauty in the back of paintings. We talk about making a flat dense image, about ricotta, cheese-cake and tarte tatin and things melting or sweating. We talk about eating cheese like it’s gold and nostrils. JP tells us about his current favourite materials and we talk about his titles, which are always in German and we explore why JP uses and appreciates this language. JP reflects on taking the pressure off under lockdown, slow cooking everything and learning to letting go.  Image: Die Touristen werden uns nie finden 2019 Cast composite, fibreglass, pigments, pastels, plaster, aluminium, acrylic, polyester resin, ping-pong balls, fake eyelashes 208 x 280 x 205 cm Links: www.jeanphilippedordolo.com

Jane Hayes-Greenwood and I talk about the impact of lockdown on her practice, and how it has kept the works she's making at a certain scale. Jane talks about being interested in things on the periphery and being drawn towards the anthropomorphic and difficult to place. We talk about the plants in her most recent series of works, developed over the last few years; discussing the real and imagined as well as the significance of green. We touch on stage sets, little islands and the 'Lady of the Night', as well as plant sex and transformation. Jane talks about her anxiety sparking paintings and we traverse tarantulas, spikes, spines and hairs as well as alien looking orchids that take us to psychological space. Jane talks about making paintings as series and how plants sit outside of time. Jane touches on how the things that feature in her works often stand in for experiences, thoughts and projections and build on previous interests in archeology and psychology. Jane talks about having to tidy up before being able to make a mess and we talk a bit about her process of collage and drawing. We get into 'The Witches Garden' and 'Mother Nature', which started from research into midwifery, fertility and medicine and continue to grow. We talk about brushes - soft goats hair and those that dry out and end up ruined. We talk about CGI and food too. Jane talks about Block 336 and their journey as well as the current shows. We discuss the joys and precarity of running a space like Block 336 in London. We talk about City and Guilds of London Art School, the art school where Jane studied and now teaches and we discuss the place and its style. Jane talks about her most recent finished painting, tantalisingly describing it as 'many mouthed and active' and we talk about the idea of getting feedback from paintings. Jane ends on significant shifts, personal and global; the joy of having a baby; the need to get out, even if its just to empty the bins; and learning about herself through motherhood.  Image: In Bloom. 2020. Links: https://www.janehayesgreenwood.com/ https://block336.com/ https://www.cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk/

Anna Perach and I talk about an awareness of darkness and adjusting to a lack of sun. Anna tells us about settling into the new Saraband Foundation Studio after 4 years studying for her MA at Goldsmiths. We talk about how she fell in love with tufting. We talk about how tufting feels, how tough it is physically and how it is now central to her practice. Anna talks about being heavily influenced by soviet decor and how unpicking and reworking the things she’s grown up with to understand and explore her practice. Anna talks about art with primal feelings and we talk about tactility, about carpet, the body and containment. We talk about faces, how they come into being and if we speak to them.  We discuss some of the folklore stories that influence and inspire the work and we talk about conversations in your head and conversations with the work. We talk about female archetypes, relating directly to the Seven Wives piece and we talk about primal mother figures and ritual or repetitive behaviour. We talk about inherited information, how we hold our histories in our bodies. We talk about collaborative working, with a movement director to learn about and understand applying pressures on performers. We talk about trying to connect the body and mind, and investigate ideas about how the body takes over when its not possible to verbally communicate. We reference Bluebeard, Pina Bausch and the film Suspiria. Anna talks about creating an environment thinking about bringing in music, ideas of avant-garde theatre and the possibilities of working with glass and hot and cold. We talk about carrying on working as a strength and an escape!  Image: Seven Wives performance documentation 2020 Image Credit, Matt Ashford Studios Links: https://www.annaperach.com The Herzliya Museum-  https://www.herzliyamuseum.co.il/en/

Olivia Bax and I chat about the weather, the weight of it and the frustration of it, like being the under slanted weather. We talk about her show "Off Grid" at Standpoint Gallery, and the delay caused by Lockdown in March and what this afforded and affected. Olivia talks about research as process and we discuss the pace and rhythms of the studio. Olivia talks about her steel armatures, her doodles and her drawing in space like it's a notepad. She speaks about breathing life into the linear, the excitement of making things solid and remaining in the process. We talk about colour, moving through the different tones of a mountain to cold chips. We explore Olivia's finding of colour, both from found often disregarded paint and through layering, as well as talking about hands and fingers, pulp and state changes. Olivia describes the making 'battle', the slapping and the weight and being a 'putter'. We ruminate on the idea of dialogues with the back of the work and think about what the inside is doing. Olivia touches on the short stories she writes, published in Yellowfields, and where some of those stories spark from. We consider objects that mean more than one thing and do more than one thing and such as filter and funnel. We consider theatrical pieces, starting with a tabletop resting place and sculptural relations. We think about restriction as a device to adapt and react to and reflect on how Olivia personally extends herself. We end on adjusting pace, prioritising and the joy of being introverted, but with friends and cake. Image: Hopper 2020 Steel, chicken wire, newspaper, glue, paint, plaster, wheels, varnish         112 x 96 x 96 cm Photo: Tim Bowditch Links: https://www.oliviabax.co.uk https://www.standpointlondon.co.uk https://www.yellowfields.tk/