Osamu Kanemura

Osamu Kanemura is often cited by Martin Parr as an influential photographer. His images of Tokyo in black and white are very graphic and show the city as a place of constant collisions, confusion and expansion.

Keihin Machine Soul, 20” x 24”, 1996, gelatin silver print

Street photography has widespread in the second half of the twentieth century mostly in Western countries. But Japanese photography is specific for its close relationship with the development of domestic camera companies like Nikon or Canon. This has lead in general to a strong interest in the technology of the medium rather than producing art.

Kanemura’s visual project is an urban portrait of Tokyo from within. We see endless narrow streets, a wide net of electric wires and street signs but also the fact that Tokyo is overcrowded. Some claustrophobic feeling emerges as the horizon line is not to be seen anywhere.

Tokyo, like most Asian cities, is a product of growth. After the Second World War, half of Tokyo was destroyed (equivalent to New York City area). However, pressing economic redevelopment and need of shelter didn’t allow central planners to create the new modern city that they had planned. Thus, the pre-war layout served as the basis for reconstruction: in other words, the city was rebuilt on its ruins. The government focused on infrastructure re-development to support the economy and the residential reconstruction was left to local actors. Slum-type housing, that evolved from village habitats, dominated most areas until 1960s.

Tokyo Swing, 20” x 24”, 1995, gelatin silver print

artist’s statement
Remove a device called ‘Understanding‘ from this world. ‘Understanding‘ is only able to understand that it can. Try to capture the images of the unimaginable left behind from the absence of understanding. Photograph is not a device that understands and translates the world but is a device that corresponds to the world without having to understand at all. Capturing images is not an act of accurately reproducing. Even if seen one hundred times the outline becomes ambiguous, untraceable, misleading only to be indefinitely mistaken. Exploding the outline. Abandon this outline, abandon this division.
Osamu Kanemura, 2007

1964 Born in Tokyo, Japan
1993 Graduate from Tokyo College of Photography

gallery:
http://www.amadorgallery.com/

Today’s Japan, 20” x 24”, 1995, gelatin silver print

Si Scott

‘I like to be very hands on with my work‘
Si Scott

Si Scott founded his studio in early 2006. He established his personal style in design, typography and art direction and has worked with a wide range of clients, including Nike, Orange, UNICEF and the BBC.
He always starts by picking a font and then he plays around with different page layouts. The next phase includes the use of fineliners to create the illustration.
His work is extensively done by hand.

Si Scott interviewed by Format Magazine

Can you tell us about your background, please?

Si Scott: I am originally from Leeds, and first studied Graphic Design at Leeds College of Art and Design before going on to study at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. I have always drawn, for as long as I can remember, in one form or another! I didn’t really know what design was when I was at school as there was no such thing as design. It was just “art & design,” and that was pretty much it as far as studying anything creative went. There certainly weren’t any computers either! Leaving school and attending Art College (and discovering design) was like some kind of revelation to me–-it really opened my eyes to all the different possibilities and ways to apply creativity.

Is your work primarily done by hand or is it a mix of hand drawing and computer art?

I’d say my work is ninety percent hand and ten percent other methods – such as the computer for coloring, etc. I also use paint quite a lot.

You do a variety of graphic art, but it’s safe to assume that your passion is typography. What is it about typography that you love so much?

I really don’t know what it is about typography that I like so much – the obvious reasons are just typography’s forms: the endless possibilities regarding what you can do with it. I never wanted to emulate somebody else’s style; that doesn’t interest me at all. I was always striving to do my own thing! Whilst most people were using computers at college, I was in the print room playing around with letterpress, screen-printing etc.

Over the last few years there has certainly been a movement involving the sort of ornate typography you lean towards. Your work has even been credited with playing a part in why this movement initially happened, and I’m wondering–is it more flattering or frustrating to know that your style of work was adopted by hundreds of graphic designers?

It’s a bit of both I guess-–I can understand why some people choose to adopt other people’s style of work, but on the other hand, it also baffles me a little bit. I think design has become quite lazy of late. Especially with the computer playing such a dominant role, it can be quite easy to just bash something together. I really like looking at design and thinking: that attention to detail must have taken absolutely ages.

The difference between your work and the work that has resulted from it within the design community is that yours is incredibly complex and ornate. How long do you generally work on each piece? 
It’s like…how long is a piece of string?

It totally depends on what it is: size, format, etc. I do find it really hard sometimes to estimate how long something will take. I’m getting better though.

You’ve mentioned how you are very inspired by music; what are some of your current favorite sounds?

Interpol, Bjork, Tycho, The Charlatans, Tom Waits, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I could go on all day. I should just say that there are too many to mention, I guess!

Aside from music, where do you find inspiration for your art? Is it an internal reaction to your love of words, or a combination of that mixed with outside influences?

I think it is just a reaction to words-–most of my ideas come from words in one form or another! And due to the fact that I am constantly listening to music, I mostly just seem to be influenced by lyrics.

You recently opened up a studio with Kerry Roper called We Are Bitch. What are you hoping to achieve with this new company, and how’s it going so far?

It was just an idea we had in the pub one night (beer idea)! I’ve known Kerry for quite a long time now, but We Are Bitch isn’t really a studio, it’s just a drunken idea between friends. Neither of us have the time to really pursue it properly. Hopefully, we will be able to work together on something.

Si Scott lives and works in Manchester, UK.

website:
http://www.siscottstudio.com/

Genesis P-Orridge

‘Destroy all stereotypes‘

Who is Genesis P-Orridge?
“Pushing the boundaries” could have been his motto. Artist, musician, performer and writer, born Neil Andrew Megson in Manchester, England in 1950.
He attended a private school where he immersed himself in literature, discovering the beatniks, Surrealism and particularly Dada. Then he studied Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Hull. It was during these years that the character of Genesis P-Orridge appeared. He released his first pressed recording Early Worm in 1968 under the name Genesis P-Orridge.

E Crazy Genius, 1977, letter, Crane/Friedman Correspondence Art Collection

In the late 60s and early 70s he was involved with COUM Transmissions, a performance art group heavily influenced by Dada. Their actions were overly sexually based, dealing with taboos and transgressions. It often included masturbation and having sex. The other major figure was Cosey Fanni Tutti, stripper and model for pornographic films. She incorporated her own image into collages she made in this period, investigating self-image.
In 1971, Genesis was already corresponding with Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs, who introduced him to artist Brion Gysin. Burroughs and Gysin had worked out the cut-up method which consists of cutting up and reassembling various fragments of sentences to give them a completely new and unexpected meaning. The cut-up has been a major influence for Genesis P-Orridge who has tried to deconstruct and reconstruct his own character, according to the cut-up method.
At some point, Genesis wanted to introduce sound in the performances and COUM morphed into Throbbing Gristle around 1975.

Throbbing Gristle, 1980, London, UK (photo: Industrial Records Ltd.)

The four members wanted the name ugly and having nothing to do with music: Throbbing Gristle is a slang term for erection. According to Genesis, the band was not about rock ‘n’ roll, but rather an empirical research he accomplished without reservation.
In 1976 the Prostitution show at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in London caused debate in Parliament. P-Orridge and Tutti were proclaimed as “Wreckers of Civilisation“. The show displayed Tutti’s pornographic images from magazines, used Tampax in glass and included a stripper, transvestite guards and various people such as punks, people in costumes who were hired to mingle with the gallery audience.

Psychic TV was formed in 1981 with Alex Fergusson and long-time partner Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson (he was involved in both COUM and Throbbing Gristle). Prior to his musical career, Christopherson was a designer and photographer. He later directed music videos for Marc Almond, Paul McCartney, Rage Against the Machine and Nine Inch Nails amongst many others.
Psychic TV performed electronic and experimental music. The band released many albums with a large amount of contributors (Coil, Soft Cell, Derek Jarman, Timothy Leary, The Cult…) and even earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for most records released in one year. In 1992, Genesis and his family moved to California. The decision was taken after Genesis has been accused of “Satanic ritual abuse” for a video he created. It was time to leave England.

In 1993 he met and then married performance artist Jacqueline Breyer. She adopted the name Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge and the couple started to become mirror images of another. They applied the cut-up method to their own bodies to operate the mutation into a single pandrogynous being they called “Breyer P-Orridge“, with the help of plastic surgery and make up. Reverting the DNA of his own body could be seen as another act of rebellion from Genesis. Lady Jaye died in 2007 and Genesis chose to embrace the whole character on his own.

English Breakfast, 2002-2009, mixed media, Courtesy of Invisible Exports, NY

Genesis P-Orridge has exhibited in many art institutions around the world, including Centre Pompidou, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, White Columns, Barbican Museum, Deitch Projects.

Genesis P-Orridge is currently exhibiting at INVISIBLE-EXPORTS gallery, NYC. 30 years of being cut-up, until October 18 2009.
INVISIBLE-EXPORTS 14A Orchard Street, New York NY 10002

website:
http://www.genesisp-orridge.com
gallery:
http://www.invisible-exports.com

Simon Henwood

‘I paint my subjects as they are, as they choose to pose. There is no self-awareness; it is a very raw display of their own selves.’
Simon Henwood

Untitled, from the Cricklewood series

The launching of his retrospective book earlier that year is an occasion to focus on Simon Henwood, multi-disciplinary artist.
He lived in New York City between 1988 and 1992, where he released 11 books for adults and children, such as The Clock Shop, The King Who Sneezed and A Piece of Luck.
He launched Purr Magazine in 1993, which was the first magazine to attempt to combine art, comics, music and literature together. It featured artists’ painting and photography, as well as Henwood’s art. Each issue was accompanied by 10inch vinyl recordings. The magazine was distributed all over the world and become a small cult phenomena before stopping in 1995.
Soon after, he started a publishing company named Purr Books. He then involved himself with animation and started working on an animated series for British TV.
Alice was his second magazine venture. It focused on the representation of childhood in art and the media. It is very rare nowadays to find one issue of the magazine.
Simon Henwood has worked through a wide range of artistic media including painting, 3D animation, magazine production and film. He directed several music videos, for Apollo 440, Devendra Banhart, and Roisin Murphy, who is sexually assaulted in a funny way by a giant lobster in the Movie Star video.

Simon Henwood was born in Portsmouth, England in 1965. He lives in London.

website:
http://www.simonhenwood.com/

book:
Charlotte Mullins, Henwood: Paintings and Films 1998-2008, Stephane Simoens Editions, 2009

Ruby Blue

Andrew Zuckerman

‘I am interested in singular themes that have universal interest, mainly relating to the human experience‘
Andrew Zuckerman

about directing
‘I started making pictures as a teenager in Washington DC shooting bands, which gave me access to situations that 14 years old don’t always have. I came to New York for the summers and lived with my sister while working at the International Center of Photography cleaning the darkrooms in exchange for printing time- all the while shooting music people in NYC. At 18 I enrolled at SVA and made short films, sculptures and pictures. I took a break from film after art school and opened a studio focusing completely on photography. I did lots of magazine work and ads.’

about Vogue
‘My first job was working for Vogue. I would shoot still lifes of bags and shoes. The Vogue art directors were really specific. We had to have a perfectly white background and it had to be beautifully done. I worked out of an old pre-war apartment on 46th Street. A fantastic photographer I assisted gave me a set of lights to start with. They were really old Speedotron piggyback systems. I didn’t have enough power in my apartment so I had to run cords out of the windows into my neighbors’ apartments and pay their electric bills. I had a totally jerry rigged system. Thank god no one from Vogue ever actually came to my studio! I was shooting like 8 products a day for Vogue and other magazines. I basically spent a year doing still lifes, which I had never intended on doing. It taught me how to light and be efficient and work on my own. I never worked with an assistant. It was just me alone in my apartment‘.

about Puma – the Fairy Godcompany
‘Puma allowed me to experiment with film after I did a successful print campaign for them. I made some spec spots to show them that what we were doing could work well on TV. They liked them and commissioned three. Now two years later we have made 27 spots together‘.

about commercials
‘The challenge of telling a story in such a short period of time sharpens one’s visual and narrative convictions. The commercial world is filled with immense talent and resources that are all looking to create something entirely new. Rigor is an ethic that making commercials requires and I like that‘.

about the Wisdom project shooting

‘By democratizing the space – shooting all on white – I was able to put all the subjects on a neutral field for the portraits – which served to strip away issues that come with environment and created a cohesive humanistic thread throughout. The white essentially transported them all to the same room. There was no variance in the setup or the equipment – aside from the Mandela shoot which we used kinos for due to an issue he has with excessive light. The shoot consisted of a two camera HD video setup as well as the still shoot so we developed a transformable set from still to motion. In the book I actually included a grid of the equipment used to illustrate the gift technology has provided us in modern times. 20 years ago it would have been nearly impossible to create this project with the same quality and efficiency‘.

about the expansion series

The featured image is an egg being pierced. It is part of a larger body of work exploring the Big Bang theory. Zuckerman used a piece of equipment often used in high-speed photography called The Time Machine to create an interface between his camera, strobe and a microphone mounted to the top of his pellet gun. The reason for the low power setting was to get the highest flash duration, in this case around 1/6000th of a second, in order to properly freeze the motion of the balloon bursting. He used a Hasselblad H2 with a Leaf Aptus 75S digital back and a 120mm lens. Once everything was in place he would pull the trigger of the gun and The Time Machine, hooked up to a microphone mounted on the gun and a pocket wizard connected to the camera and the single strobe, would then do all the work. The sound of the gun is actually what takes the image. The gun was 5 feet away from the balloon and the pellet was travelling at a 1000ft/sec so it was mostly just math and “a lot of trial and error“.

website:
http://www.andrewzuckerman.com/

twitter:
http://twitter.com/zuckermanstudio

books:
Andrew Zuckerman, Creature, Chronicle Books, 2007
a portrait series of animals

Andrew Zuckerman, Wisdom, Abrams; Har/DVD edition, 2008
an account of the portraits and thoughts of famous elders: Vanessa Redgrave, Clint Eastwood, Nelson Mandela…

Andrew Zuckerman, Birds, Chronicle Books, 2009
a visual study of birds from the rarest to the most common

Wes Lang

In 2007 two pieces Wes Lang was supposed to exhibit in the group show “Mail Order Monsters” at Deitch Projects, NY, were pulled off because Jeffrey Deitch said (after the show opened) that they were not appropriate. The show, curated by Kathy Grayson, was supposed to explore “new trends in fucked-up figuration“, according to the gallery website. The original press release reads “Wes Lang’s monsters come from the cultural detritus of a very fucked-up America. He takes images pushed under the cultural carpet and forces them back into view to be countenanced. He often takes on Native American art, black Americana, the Civil War era, or pornography in his exploration of the deleted scenes of American history.”

What Is and What Never Should Be…, 2007, mixed media. Courtesy of the artist

The banned pieces of work included a pickaninny doll and a drawing. The term pickaninny (also picaninny or piccaninny) was used in the first place to caricature the children of African American slaves or African American citizens later. The pickaninny imagery included bulging eyes, messy hair, red lips and wide mouths. Although the term has largely fallen out of use and is now considered offensive and racist, it is still part of the American lexicon.

Walt Whitman’s 138th Dream…, 2008, mixed media on antique paper. Courtesy of ZieherSmith, NY

Wes Lang uses a lot of reference material in his work. He admits constantly buying books and looking at porn sites for pictures. He selects some images and draws them. There are a lot of skulls and naked girls involved, which are part of the biker’s traditional imagery. Text is also very important, he usually puts some song lyrics in his drawings. As Kate Wolf wrote in Dossier, “Lang’s work often contorts slogans of the late sixties and early seventies: bumper sticker-worthy irreverences, borrowed from recognizable political phrases from the 60s, are transformed into a grab-bag of advertising, drug culture, pornography, rock and roll lyrics and self-expression (”If it Feels Good Do it”). Lang couples these slogans with familiar imagery, much of it being reinterpretations of classic icons: a yellow happy face, Harley Davidson insignia, grim reaper, pot leaf, etc.”

The Well-Known Man (unframed), 2005, pencil on paper, engraved deer bone and unique frame.

Courtesy of ZieherSmith, NY

Wes Lang in conversation with David Coggins for Interview Magazine, December 2008
David Coggins: Have you turned to painting because you feel that you’ve gone as far as you could go with drawing?
Wes Lang: I go back and forth. Some of my drawings are pretty raw. There’s still an attention to detail in somehing that looks simple, but in fact is often harder than sitting there meticulously rendering something. I don’t think about it too much if something strikes me, I just do it.

DC: There’s a clear attraction to American history in your work. What interests you about America, and how does that come out in your work?
WL: I like to take American history and then completely ignore it. I come at it visually, taking images and telling my own story. It comes out of criticism and great love. There are problems (with America), and we all know that, but I’m attracted to the dark side of things. I did a bunch of blackface stuff a couple of years ago. That was a little touchy. I wasn’t doing it to piss people off. I was doing a work about Abraham Lincoln, and I came across these of little mammies. The images were striking and simple, and I was attracted to them.

DC: So you’re attracted to loaded imagery?
WL: I’m covered in it, personally. (indicates his tattoos of women, skulls, crosses, and Indians) I’ve always been a collector of weird imagery, even when I was little. There was no question what I wanted to do with myself, since I was very small.

DC: Do you think you’re challenging the audience when you raw a figure in blackface? Do you trust that they’ll know where you’re coming from?
WL: I’m taking it out of its context and putting it into my context and hoping that people can understand that I’m not glorifying this stuff.

DC: How do feel about being in the art world? Is it something that you enjoy or suffer through?
WL: I don’t hate it by any means. I get to do exactly what I want to do everyday day. I just try not to spend to much time in it. You have to be a part of it. You can’t just say “I’m the fucking shit”, and forget it. I definitely carry myself with an attitude though. I’m into bikes and that kind of shit. It helps me sometimes and hinders me other times. But I just want to work with people I trust.

DC: Do you have an official tattoo count?
WL: Just one, it’s easier that way.

The Taste of Life’s Sweet Wine…, 2008, mixed media on antique paper. Courtesy of ZieherSmith, NY

Born in 1972.
Lives and works in Brooklyn.
Began exhibiting in the late nineties.
favorite music: the Grateful Dead, old Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre, Suicidal Tendencies, Wu-Tang, the Doors…
reading material of choice: Charles Bukowski
movies: Hells Angels Forever, The Departed, McCabe & Mrs. Miller
hobbies: motorcycle (he has a Harley Davidson chopper)
favorite tattoo: the skull on the palm of his left hand

watch Wes Lang in his studio:
http://www.vbs.tv/shows.php?show=1169

art gallery:
ZieherSmith (New York)
http://www.ziehersmith.com

books:
Wes Lang & Donald Baechler, Skulls and Shit, Loyal, 2009
The Paradise Club, Artwork by Wes Lang, Eighth Veil, Los Angeles, 2009 (published  at the occasion of the show “Carry On” teamed with Ryan Schneider at Eighth Veil gallery, on view from 15 May to 20 June 2009)

The Moonshiner’s Other Dream, 2005, pencil, colored pencil, ink, gouache on paper, engraved deer bone and unique frame.

Courtesy of ZieherSmith, NY

Takato Yamamoto

Born in Akita, Japan in 1960. Akita is a prefecture located in the northern part of the main island of Japan.
He graduated from the painting department of the Tokyo Zokei University and he experimented with the Ukiyo-e Pop style. He further refined and developed that style to create his Heisei estheticism style (Heisei being the current era name in Japan. The Heisei era started on January 8, 1989, the first day after the death of the reigning Emperor, Hirohito).
His first exhibition was held in Tokyo in 1998.
He is working mostly with litho printing and Japanese ink on paper.

Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs and landscapes, tales from history, the theatre and pleasure quarters. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan. Ukiyo-e were affordable because they could be mass-produced. The original subject of ukiyo-e was city life, in particular activities and scenes from the entertainment district. Beautiful courtesans, bulky sumo wrestlers and popular actors would be portrayed while engaged in appealing activities. Sex was not a sanctioned subject as it continually appeared in ukiyo-e prints. But artists and publishers were sometimes punished for creating these sexually explicit pictures.

Takato Yamamoto is interested in portraying famous occidental myths, such as Salome or Saint Sebastian. His graphic depictions of sex and death remind the work of English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, one of the most controversial artist of the Art Nouveau era.

Salome is mentioned in the New Testament as the daughter of Herodias, a Jewish princess. Christian traditions depict her as an icon of dangerous female seductiveness. Salome’s story has long been a favourite of artists such as Titian, Gustave Moreau, Aubrey Bearsley, Oscar Wilde, Gustave Flaubert.

Saint Sebastian was a Christian saint and martyr, who is said to have been killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians. He is commonly depicted in art and literature tied to a post and shot with arrows. He is venerated in Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church. The image of the martyred Sebastian has proved a popular subject for artists from the Renaissance onward.

The Japanese junior -and senior- high school uniform traditionally consists of a military style uniform for boys and a sailor outfit for girls. The sailor outfit was modelled after the uniform used by the British Royal Navy when it was introduced to Japan in 1920. Sailor outfits play an undeniably large role in the Japanese sexual canon as evidenced by the large amount of anime and manga featuring characters in uniform.

books:
Takato Yamamoto, Scarlet Maniera, ET, 2007
Takato Yamamoto, Divertimento for a Martyr, ET, 2006

Elizabeth Peyton

“That’s what oil paint’s about. You know it’ll last forever.” Elizabeth Peyton in conversation with Rob Pruitt and Steve Lafreniere for Index Magazine, 2000.

Jarvis, 1996, oil on board. Courtesy of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY

American painter born in 1965.
Studied fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Her second exhibition is famous because it took place in a room of the Chelsea Hotel. The place had always been a center of artistic life in New York; many writers and musicians have stayed there (and it is also where Sid Vicious’s girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed to death in 1978).
Her body of work includes portraits of musicians such as Kurt Cobain, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, and famous people from fashion, art and politics: Marc Jacobs, François Truffaut, Matthew Barney, Jonathan Horowitz, Abraham Lincoln, the Kennedys…
She bases her work on pictures from books, magazines or her own snapshots.
All paintings are usually small sized, with some strong graphic sense and the use of bright colours. She creates what we can call intimate portraits, depicting her subjects in a melancholic mood most of the time.
Peyton chooses to return to portrait, which has a long tradition in art history but is probably less common in contemporary art.
2008’s show Life Forever: Elizabeth Peyton, held at the New Museum, NYC, was the first retrospective of her work in an American institution.

Em, 2002, etching w/aquatint printed in purple ink. Courtesy of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY

Extracts from a conversation with Elizabeth Peyton and Cheryl Kaplan for Deutsche Bank Artmag:

CK: How long do you work on individual paintings?

EP: It depends. A lot of times I’ll start and it’ll sit around for a month and I’ll pick it up. It’s always different.

CK: Before you start a painting, what do you know about the painting’s final version?

EP: Nothing. (laughter)

CK: Isn’t that scary…

EP: Yes. I’ll know I’m interested in a certain picture or person, then isolate a picture, but otherwise I have no idea what will happen.

CK: In what way do your paintings lean on your drawings?

EP: For me, drawing and painting have always been separate. If I can get it done in the drawing, it’s over. I don’t need to paint it. Lately I’ll draw, then I do a monotype, then I’ll like it so much I’ll want to make a painting of it, but there’ll be different problems. I never see drawing as less, it’s always another way to resolve. Drawings let you see the thought. That depends on whose drawings.

CK: Your paintings often have an androgynous quality.

EP: I’m interested in people who are androgynous. I like it when people aren’t stereotypically female or male, that their personalities are outside that and not defined or contained by being male or female. I like men who objectify themselves, which is a female trait.

Elizabeth Peyton is currently living and working in New York City.

galleries:
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise (New York)
http://www.gavinbrown.biz/
Sadie Coles HQ (London)
http://www.sadiecoles.com/

Live to Ride (E.P.), 2003, oil on board. Courtesy of Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY

Julian Opie

The work of Julian Opie is so recognizable.
His imagery is graphic, simplified and schematized. And the use of bright flat colours has become a brand mark.
Everyday life is dominated by images and Opie says he finds inspiration in the everyday world. His influences are various, such as classical portraiture, comic books and computer games.
He has a methodological approach with the drawing at the core of his work. An image usually becomes a sculpture, an animated film, a postcard, a CD cover, a screensaver or many other multiple forms. He is making images with existing images, extending some of the projects he is working on, into any other medium.
“The first drawings were very simple, but that gave me a language on which to build. They started as black and white, with very pared-down parameters -the mouth was just a straight line and so on- and bit by bit I adjusted it until it seemed like the right balance between someone real and this generic form.” from Julian Opie (J.O.), Tate Gallery publication, 2004

Graham, Dave, Alex, Damon, 2000

THE PORTRAIT
Opie is exhibiting his portraits since 2000. At the time they were close-up portraits with front-facing heads and shoulders like on the Best of Blur album cover. Men and women of all races and ages are depicted in Opie’s portraits. Title features first name and occupation, which also avoids distance with the depicted subject.
The pictures are apparently simple, with the trademark for his portraits involving a black circle to represent the pupil. Specific individuals are displayed with a generic pattern. The style could easily remind us Hergé’s Tintin comics, especially in the way the pupil is depicted.
The personal characteristics that distinguish every human face have been omitted. Julian Opie has reduced the image down to its essential forms.
It is always the same method, with the use of computer-drawing programme.
We ask ourselves: What is a portrait ? What are the specific elements that make a person unique ?
“People are quite self conscious when I photograph them, which is embarrassing in the photo but helps to give life and presence to a painting. When I’m drawing, I feel like everyone’s face is fabulous. I don’t know if this is also true of bodies. I try to make a universal symbol for each individual I draw.” Julian Opie for the British Council, 2001.

Bijou, model, 2004

HOW TO CREATE A JULIAN OPIE PORTRAIT?
I found a method in www.mancubist.co.uk, a website dedicated to the city of Manchester.
http://www.mancubist.co.uk/2006/09/01/how-to-create-a-julian-opie-portrait

Julian Opie is born in 1958. He is currently working and living in London.
He is exhibiting his work with both solo and group exhibitions since 1982, after he graduated rom the Goldsmith’s school of Art in London.

official website:
http://www.julianopie.com/

online shop:
http://www.julianopieshop.com/

art galleries:
Lisson Gallery
http://www.lissongallery.com/

Alan Cristea Gallery
http://www.alancristea.com/

Blood by Ben Darlington, graphic art student from Dorset, England

Found in the website www.woostercollective.com (dedicated to celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets around the world)

Jeremy Deller (version française)

« C’est ce que j’essaie de faire ressortir dans mon travail : le plaisir que j’ai à faire ce que je fais. » (interview pour Tate online, Turner Prize, 2004)

Né en 1966.
Basé à Londres.
En 1992, il obtient un Master en Histoire de l’Art  à l’Université du Sussex.
Il était auparavant au Courtauld Institute of Art à Londres, d’où il sort diplômé en 1988, spécialisé en architecture et en Baroque.
Alors qu’il est encore étudiant, il commence à intervenir dans la spère publique en placardant des posters d’expositions qu’il aurait souhaité visiter.
En 1986, il rencontre Andy Warhol lors d’un vernissage de ses autoportraits à Londres. Ce dernier l’invite à venir séjourner deux semaines à la Factory.
En 1993, alors que ses parents se sont absentés pour deux semaines, il décide d’organiser une exposition dans sa propre chambre. Open Bedroom se constituait d’une série de douze peintures de Keith Moon (premier batteur du groupe The Who, mort d’une overdose de médicaments à l’âge de 32 ans).
Il réalise des t-shirts portant des inscriptions telles que MY DRUG SHAME ou MY BOOZE HELL (Robbie Williams a d’ailleurs porté ce modèle lors d’une émission pour enfants, montrant à cette occasion un certain degré d’auto dérision, “booze” étant le terme familier pour désigner l’alcool).
Il est récompensé du Turner Prize pour Memory Bucket en 2004.
En 2007, il est nommé pour siéger au conseil d’administration de la Tate Gallery.

Les quatre projets qui suivent font tous référence à des aspects de l’histoire anglaise ou à sa culture. L’intérêt de Deller pour l’Histoire ou la culture vernaculaire s’y ressent. D’aucuns diront qu’il fait ce que l’on nomme de l’art socialement engagé. Pour ma part, le terme social ne me semble pas approprié. Deller agit plutôt comme un catalyseur, essayant de montrer les connections existant entre les choses.

ACID BRASS
1997
« L’idée était simple : faire jouer par une fanfare traditionnelle une sélection de morceaux d’Acid House. » Jeremy Deller (livret du CD d’Acid Brass)

The History of the World, 1997-2004, wall painting, Courtesy de Art: Concept, Paris

Initié il y a plus de dix ans comme une collaboration musicale entre Jeremy Deller et la fanfare de Manchester, Williams Fairey, Acid Brass se réfère à l’histoire récente de la Grande Bretagne, d’un point de vue social et industriel. Il y est question du déclin de l’industrie sous le régime libéral de Margaret Thatcher.
D’un côté, les fanfares d’usine, héritées des conglomérats industriels du Nord de l’Angleterre (on encourageait les ouvriers à jouer dans les fanfares afin d’éviter qu’ils aillent au pub).
Et de l’autre, la musique acid house, venue de Chicago, qui émerge au milieu des années 80. Thatcher mène alors une politique sévère, obligeant les clubs à fermer leurs portes à deux heures du matin. Cela incite les clubbers à prolonger leurs fêtes de manière clandestine dans des usines désaffectées. Le phénomène des rave parties était né.
Les fanfares et l’acid house sont des formes de musique populaire, toutes deux fortement implantées dans le Nord de l’Angleterre. Elles sont en cela étroitement liées à la culture de la classe ouvrière. Pour le projet Acid Brass, elles sont associées en tant que symboles : un monde qui disparaît alors qu’un autre est en train d’émerger.
Depuis 1997, la fanfare Williams Fairey a joué Acid Brass à de nombreuses reprises en Angleterre et dans toute l’Europe, contribuant ainsi à la diffusion de l’œuvre.

STEAM POWERED INTERNET COMPUTER
2006
Jeremy Deller et Alan Kane

Steam Powered Internet Computer, 2006, Courtesy du Modern Institute, Glasgow

Au beau milieu d’un champ dans le Kent, on pouvait utiliser un Macintosh, alimenté par une machine à vapeur.
La révolution industrielle et la révolution digitale, ici mises en relation de manière peu commune.
« Nous nous trouvons actuellement à un tournant dans l’histoire de l’Angleterre, à la fin d’une ère. » Jeremy Deller (The Guardian, 11/07/2006)

THE BATTLE OF ORGREAVE
2001
sur une idée de Jeremy Deller, réalisé par Mike Figgis et produit par Artangel
“En mars 1984, l’Union Nationale des Mineurs se mit en grève. Le 18 juin, un affrontement des plus violents opposa grévistes et police près de la cokerie d’Orgreave. 15 000 personnes auraient été impliquées. » (extrait du film)

The Battle of Orgreave, 2001, Courtesy de Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY

Margaret Thatcher, Premier Ministre au moment des faits, est véritablement partie en guerre contre le Syndicat britannique des Mineurs. Le combat, qui fut l’un des plus violents de l’histoire de la contestation ouvrière en l’Angleterre, est ici rejoué.
Jeremy Deller puise dans la tradition anglaise, en effet, le fait de rejouer un évènement historique est très populaire en Angleterre.
Il a fallu trois ans pour concrétiser ce projet qui est en soi un travail de mémoire collective. On compte environ un millier de participants, parmi lesquels des habitants de la région, des figurants travaillant pour des agences de reconstitution d’événements historiques et enfin des mineurs qui ont rejoué un évènement traumatisant de leur vie.
A la différence des batailles qui ont eu lieu dans l’Antiquité ou au Moyen Age, Orgreave fait partie de l’histoire contemporaine. Mais cela montre aussi à quel point certains événements sont vite oubliés.
Le film n’était pas une fin en soi, c’est plutôt l’événement public qui intéressait Deller, et la façon dont il avait été déformé par les médias au moment des faits.
Son intérêt était moins de rejouer l’événement afin de guérir les consciences que d’apporter un dialogue sur celui-ci. Il voulait que les gens s’en souviennent, pas seulement ceux qui avait vécu Orgreave, mais tous les autres, l’opinion publique y comprise.

FOLK ARCHIVE
1998 à 2005
Jeremy Deller et Alan Kane
Définir Folk Archive n’est pas chose facile. Il pourrait s’agir d’une collection d’objets du quotidien et de traditions du Royaume-Uni : des objets faits main, des sculptures de légumes, un éléphant mécanique, des fêtes de village…

Folk Archive, vue de l’exposition “D’une révolution à l’autre”, Courtesy du Palais de Tokyo, 2008
Photo : Marc Domage

Le point de départ de Folk Archive était d’essayer de montrer certains aspects de la vie anglaise et de sa créativité, absents des cérémonies d’inauguration du Millenium Dome. Les deux artistes se sont toujours intéressés à ce que les gens pouvaient créer en dehors des traditionnels cercles artistiques. Comme le souligne Deller, “Folk Archive se rapporte aux gens qui sont complètement passionnés par ce qu’ils font et qui aiment ce qu’ils font (…) Cela concerne les obsessions et les intérêts des gens.” (conférence Deller & friends, Palais de Tokyo, 02/10/2008).
Le fonds constitutif de Folk Archive n’est pas issu de la culture de la société de consommation, tous les objets ont été créés de manière spontanée, sans intention de profit. Ils n’ont d’ailleurs aucune valeur financière à priori.
L’adjectif folk en Grande Bretagne a une connotation péjorative : il représente tout ce qui n’est pas urbain, donc tout ce qui est inintéressant. C’est d’ailleurs probablement pour cette raison que Jeremy Deller et Alan Kane ont choisi cet adjectif, pour essayer de reconsidérer son sens de manière plus large.
C’est un procédé qui n’a aucune limitation dans le temps, cela peut continuer encore et encore.
Le British Council en a fait l’acquisition en 2007.

Les trois projets ci-dessous ont vu le jour alors que Jeremy Deller se trouvait aux Etats-Unis. Le voyage est important car il génère des rencontres. Le studio n’est pas son territoire de prédilection, il préfère travailler à l’extérieur, essayant de relier des choses ou des événements avec des groupes humains. Il s’intéresse aux connections existant entre les lieux, le temps (passé et présent) et les personnes (individus et groupes).

VETERAN’S DAY PARADE: THE END OF THE EMPIRE
2002, 14′10”, DVD, coul., son.

Veteran’s Day Parade, the End of the Empire, 2002, Courtesy de Art: Concept, Paris

Novembre 2001, jour des vétérans américains à Amargossa Valley au Nevada : la caméra de Jeremy Deller filme les chars et les voitures des différentes communautés qui défilent lentement.
Ce défilé en hommage des soldats américains morts au combat a lieu une fois par an.
Cette vidéo fait partie d’un ensemble de documents produits par Jeremy Deller lors d’un séjour aux Etats-Unis en 2001.

AFTER THE GOLDRUSH
2002, livre et CD

Untitled (After the Goldrush), 2003, Courtesy de Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY

Il est resté en résidence pendant un an au CCAC Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts de San Francisco. Sur place, il a acheté une vieille Jeep qu’il a customisée avec des autocollants pour voitures. Ces autocollants sont une véritable tradition aux Etats-Unis pour exprimer ses idées ou son appartenance à une communauté. Deller les voit comme un possible substitut à la conversation dans un pays où les gens passent une grande partie de leur temps en voiture.
Quelques morceaux choisis : “God Bless America” (Dieu bénisse l’Amérique), “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries” (Eloignez vos rosaires de mes ovaires), “Bush : Texas homegrown dope” (Bush : imbécile du Texas).
L’idée d’un guide sur la Californie du Nord lui est venue naturellement alors qu’il avait rassemblé de nombreux documents, photographies et témoignages d’individus rencontrés en chemin. Il en résulte évidemment un contenu beaucoup plus personnel puisque l’ouvrage est conçu comme un livre de chasse au trésor. Le lecteur peut s’il le souhaite partir à la recherche des gens que Jeremy a rencontré, parmi lesquels Alan Laird (ex-Black Panther qui possède à présent une galerie d’art) ou Dixie Evans (sosie de Marilyn Monroe, danseuse et propriétaire du Musée Burlesque Exotic World). Chacun d’entre eux donne l’opportunité de se remémorer certaines pages de l’Histoire des Etats-Unis. Bien évidemment, le titre est à la fois une référence à la ruée vers l’or qui débuta au milieu du XIXe siècle avec l’immigration massive, et à un album de Neil Young sorti en 1970.
Le guide s’articule autour de cinq endroits, de Oakland jusqu’au désert Mojave où Jeremy Deller a fait l’acquisition d’une parcelle de désert pour 2000 Dollars lors d’une vente aux enchères. Il tenait à conserver une partie du pays avant de partir. Ce moment a été enregistré et c’est d’ailleurs la première piste du CD, qui propose par ailleurs des morceaux de William E. Whitmore, un joueur de banjo.

MEMORY BUCKET – A FILM ABOUT TEXAS
2004, 28′39”, DVD, coul., son.

Helotes, 2004, Courtesy de Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY

Il était en résidence pendant deux mois à San Antonio au Texas lorsqu’il a réalisé ce film. Les rencontres et les témoignages se déroulent à deux endroits chargés sur le plan politique :
- Waco où le FBI a ordonné l’assaut du ranch des Davidiens après 51 jours de siège (rappelons que l’utilisation d’armes militaires contre des civils est supposée être illégale aux Etats-Unis).
- Crawford, où George W. Bush est domicilié car il y possède un ranch.
Deller le considère comme un film sur le Texas. Notre point de vue européen pourrait facilement avoir des clichés en tête lorsqu’il s’agit du Texas : des cowboys sur leurs chevaux devant un ranch par exemple. Mais ce parti pris est évité de manière très simple et très efficace. Deller a préféré recueillir les témoignages d’habitants de la région, comme celui d’un survivant de Waco, et il y a mêlé des images d’archives.
En 2002, lorsqu’il a tourné le film, le gouvernement Bush était encore très populaire. Certains ont cru déceler dans Memory Bucket une sorte d’anti-américanisme. Ce n’est pas le cas, Deller s’est efforcé d’établir des connections entre Crawford, ville patriotique et Waco, prise en état de siège par le gouvernement américain.
Il accorde la même attention à la patronne d’un café restaurant ravie que Bush soit venu dans son établissement qu’à cette femme quaker, farouchement opposée à la guerre en Irak.
Jeremy Deller a du mal à le considérer comme un documentaire : il s’agirait plutôt d’un journal vidéo selon lui. Le titre est emprunté à un magasin situé à Helotes, dans le Sud du Texas. Le film s’ouvre d’ailleurs sur un plan de la façade du magasin.
Memory Bucket rassemble différents éléments constitutifs du travail de Jeremy : c’est un film de type documentaire, il implique le voyage et la résidence, des interviews ont été menées et enfin, il existe cette interaction entre des individus et des identités collectives.
A la fin du film, la caméra capture les images d’un phénomène naturel qui se produit quotidiennement à la tombée de la nuit : des milliers de chauve-souris s’envolant de la grotte Bracken. Elles ne sont pas là par hasard. En effet, la ville d’Austin au Texas est également connue pour abriter la plus importante colonie de chauve-souris vivant en milieu urbain (et je soupçonne par ailleurs M. Deller d’avoir un faible pour ces animaux : voir le projet Bat House ci-après). A ce stade, le film en devient presque une peinture abstraite; il n’y a pas de conclusion (au sens traditionnel du terme en tout cas) car aucune solution n’est proposée. C’est la folie humaine qui est en quelque sorte le sujet du film, et c’est assez déprimant. La séquence avec les chauve-souris évoque le Romantisme du XIXe siècle. La chauve-souris était alors fréquemment employée en littérature ou chez les peintres Préraphaélites comme John Everett Millais.

Untitled (Bats), Courtesy de Art: Concept, Paris

Les deux projets suivants se concentrent sur l’appartenance à une communauté ou à un clan. Ils ont supposé la collaboration avec des fans dans les deux cas. Jeremy Deller s’intéresse ici à l’interaction existant entre l’individu et un groupe.

THE USES OF LITERACY
1997
“Cher ami / fan
Je suis actuellement en train de collecter des documents pour une exposition sur les Manics l’an prochain. Si vous êtes intéressés pour y prendre part ou pour obtenir plus d’information, n’hésitez pas à me contacter. Merci.
Jeremy”
Ce projet est une collaboration entre Jeremy Deller et les fans du groupe de rock Manic Street Preachers. Deller a rassemblé un ensemble de peintures, dessins et poèmes réalisés par les fans.
Le titre est tiré de l’ouvrage de Richard Hoggart La Culture du Pauvre, qui présente un caractère autobiographique et qui déplore la perte d’une vraie culture populaire en Angleterre.
Ce projet utilise ce qui avait été créé dans l’intimité d’une chambre d’adolescent pour le montrer dans un contexte public au moyen d’une exposition et d’un livre.
Deller explore et questionne la relation complexe entre les artistes et le public.
Il a également co-réalisé avec Nick Abrahams le vidéo clip Found That Soul, pour les Manic Street Preachers. On y retrouve le groupe en train de jouer, des fans plongés dans la lecture de livres et des chauve-souris, le tout filmé en images infrarouges.

OUR HOBBY IS DEPECHE MODE / THE POSTERS CAME FROM THE WALLS
co-réalisé par Jeremy Deller et Nick Abrahams
2006, 72′, produit par Brown Owl Film pour Mute / EMI
“Je ne crois pas qu’il existe un autre chanteur au monde qui suscite autant l’intérêt que Dave Gahan de Depeche Mode, en tout cas en Russie. On lui voue quasiment un véritable culte. Durant les six derniers mois, j’ai réalisé un documentaire sur les fans de Depeche Mode avec mon collaborateur Nick Abrahams. Nous avons voyagé en Europe et jusqu’au Mexique, mais les Russes étaient vraiment les plus passionnés.” Jeremy Deller (The Observer, 15/10/2006)

Depeche Mode étant célèbre dans le monde entier depuis plusieurs décennies, il n’y avait aucune utilité à réaliser un documentaire de plus sur leur carrière. Les auteurs ont choisi de se concentrer sur leurs fans et la manière dont ils expriment leur passion pour le groupe et leur musique. Le tout variant selon le contexte politique, économique ou social.
Le public mexicain est particulièrement intéressé par l’aspect religieux des chansons. En Iran, un fan est heureux de montrer quelques cassettes pirates qu’il a pu se procurer. Dans l’ex-URSS qui interdisait la vente d’objets dérivés du groupe, les fans se fabriquent eux-mêmes des t-shirts, des badges ou des boutons.
Le documentaire a été projeté au Festival du Film de Londres en octobre 2008, mais aucune date de sortie n’est prévue pour le moment.

Ce qui rend le travail de Jeremy Deller si particulier, c’est aussi le fait qu’il ne semble pas préoccupé par le marché de l’art. En effet, il conçoit des projets à grande échelle, qui ne sont pas facilement commercialisables. Il s’engage d’ailleurs la plupart du temps sur des projets à long terme comme :

SPEAK TO THE EARTH AND IT WILL TELL YOU
Le titre rappelle le sac en plastique rose qu’il avait créé pour la foire d’art contemporain Frieze en 2003 : Speak to the Earth and it will show you.
Il s’agit dans ce cas d’une collaboration avec Skulptur Projekte Münster 2007. Le phénomène des jardins associatifs n’avait probablement pas échappé à Jeremy Deller alors qu’il séjournait à Münster, en Allemagne. Ils ont du lui sembler typiquement Allemands, en tout cas pour lui qui est Anglais.
Chacune des 54 associations de jardins partagés a reçu un carnet. Il leur est demandé de consigner par écrit toute information, qu’elle présente un caractère social, environnemental ou botanique et ce, jusqu’à la prochaine édition de Skulptur Projekte, en 2017. Histoires individuelles et histoires collectives sont au coeur de ce projet.
http://www.skulptur-projekte.de/

THE BAT HOUSE PROJECT
Un concours initié en 2007 pour créer un abri pour les chauve-souris de Londres.
http://www.bathouseproject.org/

livres / musique :
Folk Archive : Contemporary Popular Art from the UK, Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane, Book Works, Londres, 2005,160 pages
After the Goldrush, Jeremy Deller, Editions CCAC, San Francisco, Californie, 2002, 96 pages & CD
The Uses of Literacy, Jeremy Deller, Book Works, Londres, 1999, 48 pages
The English Civil War Part II, Personal accounts of the 1984-85 miner’s strike, Jeremy Deller, Artangel, 2002, 160 pages & CD
Life is to Blame for Everything : Collected Works & Projects, 1992-1999, Jeremy Deller, Salon 3, 2001, 96 pages
Acid Brass, The Williams Fairey Band, CD, Blast First / Mute Records, 1997

liens :
site de Jeremy Deller :
http://www.jeremy-deller.co.uk/
ou
http://www.jeremydeller.org/

Folk Archive :
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-aad-folk-archive.ht

Film sur les fans de Depeche Mode à travers le monde :
http://www.theposterscamefromthewalls.com/

galeries :
Art: Concept (Paris)
http://www.galerieartconcept.com/
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise (New York)
http://www.gavinbrown.biz/
the Modern Institute (Glasgow)
http://www.themoderninstitute.com/

sac plastique distribué au public de la foire d’art contemporain Frieze en 2003, Courtesy de Art: Concept, Paris