jotta

SHIFT

2010-01-27T06:09:00.000-08:00

Southbank Centre plays host to Cape Farewell’s SHIFT festival, a stimulating programme of climate-focused events inspired by Cape Farewell’s expeditions to the High Arctic and the rainforests in Peru.

Cape Farewell brings artists, scientists and communicators together to stimulate ideas and the production of art founded in scientific research. Next week Southbank Centre hosts free events engaging artists, architects and scientists in discussion about climate change and showcasing creative work in response to questions of sustainability.

Cape Farewell collaborates with a series of partners including Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges on some inspiring walks, the Expeditions by the Dollis Brook Route, three walks starting out from each of the colleges will visit rarely seen areas of London on foot converging at Southbank Centre at 4pm on Saturday January 30th.
While London College of Fashion's Centre for Sustainable Fashion showcases work from its MA Fashion and the Environment and Fashioning the Future 2009.

Shift Encounters

Sunley Pavilion, Tuesday 26 January

Join a panel of architects in discussion about the creative process of engaging with climate change and how to envision and build a sustainable future.

Weston Pavilion, Wednesday 27 January 2010

Join climate scientists in discussion about the role of culture and art in helping to communicate the work and findings from the science community.

Weston Pavilion, Thursday 28 January 2010

Join artists in discussion about the creative process of engaging with climate change and the role of the artist in relation to the most defining issue of our generation.

Royal Festival Hall
Cape Farewell In-Site

Thursday 28 January 2010 - Saturday 30 January 2010

Projected onto external walls of the Southbank Centre buildings, Cape Farewell presents some of the work made

Friday 29 January, Comedian Marcus Brigstocke, a seasoned Cape Farewell voyager introduces some very special guests in a night of comedy and music uniting against climate change.
Find out more

Tickets are on sale and available to buy from the Southbank Centre website. They're selling fast so get in quick - the ideal CO2 Zero gift!
Buy SHIFT tickets

http://www.capefarewell.com/art/exhibitions/shift-festival.html

The Posters Came From The Walls - WIN TICKETS

2009-11-24T07:16:00.000-08:00

By Millie Ross

Depeche Mode have some of the most devoted fans in the world. Turner prize winner Jeremy Deller and music video director Nick Abrahams decided to document the unbridled fanaticism that the band from Basildon have induced in their devotees, from Dave Day in St Petersberg to families of Dave look-a-likes in Germany, they discovered some bizarre, and truly touching stories. Rather than a film about a band, this film is about human obsession and music’s ability to bind people, despite their surroundings.
Why did Mute approach you to make this documentary as a duo?
JD - Because we are brilliant film makers
NA - I think Mute only wanted me but Jeremy jumped on the bandwagon.... no, Mute were looking for someone to make a film about Depeche Mode, and we had the idea of doing a film about the fans rather than the band itself, which I think must have appealed to Mute as the band wouldn’t be hassled by a film crew and they would still get an interesting film. I don't think us working together as a duo was that relevant, Jeremy is well known for collaborating with a wide variety of people, and film making generally is a collaborative process so it didn’t bother me.

How did you locate the fans?
NA - We located the devotees via the internet mainly. We were overwhelmed by people sending in their stories as we had deliberately kept our brief quite wide, asking for stories of what the band meant to people. We then had to narrow it down to the stories we would investigate further.

Were there any fans which you met yet did not include? If so for what reason?
NA - There are lots of out takes. Lots and lots. When the film makes it onto DvD (hopefully in the spring), I would guess at least another hour of those will make it onto the disk. The film itself purely has stories about fans. But some of the other interviews included an expert talking about the phenomena of fandom, and a Russian cultural expert talking about Depeche in relation to Russian pop music. Also some of the key guys from the Detroit techno scene, such as Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, giving some idea of the influence of DM on their town. The film itself just includes the stories which moved or interested us the most.

Some of the fan material is quite personal and revealing- particularly the family who's home videos were show, were they all happy to have it exposed to such a wide and potentially critical audience?
JD - They make it to be seen, they have their tongues in their cheeks.

Did you approach any members of the band for interviews?
NA - Nope!

Has the band seen the film? If so what do they think of it?
NA - They all had to give the film the thumbs up before we could show it. Martin asked for one date in the film to be corrected as it was wrong but otherwise the band didnt ask for any changes.

It seems for many of the fans you spoke to equate Depeche Mode to a freedom which they were not always allowed. What do you think it was about this band which drew so many Eastern Europeans who were living in heavily restricted societies to their music?
JD - It's good tuneful music that is slightly anguished, also it is easier to bootleg electronic music, its clearer sounding than rock music , also they looked good, a bit macho but a bit camp too.
NA - When Jeremy says it's easily bootlegable, I think he means that you have to remember that almost all the music was passed around was on bootleg cassettes. Thus Jeremy's theory that it reproduced well on the tapes due to its clear, electronic nature .. married to strong harmonies and lyrics.

Many of Depeche Mode's lyrics are quite spiritual - do you think that this quasi religious lyrical content explains the extremity of their fans devotion?
JD - Yes especially in Mexico.

To win two tickets to a London screening at the Clapham Picture house at 7pm on December 1st, including a Q&A with directors, email me@jotta.com with the name of the town that Depeche Mode come from in the subject heading.

For more information about the one night only screenings of the Posters Came From The Walls on December 1st go to: www.theposterscamefromthewalls.com.

Anna and The Witch's Bottle

2009-09-03T04:07:00.003-07:00

By Millie Findlay

A unique fusion of narrative, image and music, Anna and The Witch’s Bottle is a fairytale turned on its head, with echoes of Alice in Wonderland meets Aubrey Beardsley.



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The inaugural project of creative boutique Black Maps Press, Anna and The Witches Bottle represents an attempt to experiment with how narrative is communicated and appeals to the imagination through a multi-sensory experience. Not only are there beautiful words and images to shape the story, there is also a wonderful minimalist soundtrack provided by Martin Roman Rebelski of Doves.

Written by author Geoff Cox, (who is currently working on Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll, starring Marilyn Manson as Lewis Carroll and model Lily Cole as Alice), Anna and The Witch’s Bottle is a modern fairytale turned on its head, at once whimsical and childish, but with a dark underbelly.

The book is illustrated by Rohan Daniel Eason, known for his collaborations in the fashion world, he recently created a pair of hand-inked gloves for Yoko Ono. His illustrations perfectly reflect the darkly idiosyncratic tone Geoff Cox’s narrative, filled with sad-faced dog waiters and a hut made of crabs.

Black Maps founder Stuart Suitor brought the three elements together to present an alternative to the standard children’s books currently on the market. "I was absolutely struck by the pedestrian nature of these modern children's books," says Stuart, who was reintroduced to children's literature whilst teaching English to children from ethnic backgrounds. "I found myself lamenting the strange, creepy, weird but entirely marvellous books I had read as a kid." This served as the catalyst to bring the three creative forces together in what would eventually become Anna and The Witch's Bottle.

"Whilst being music driven, Black Maps aims to expand the idea of a record label, including experimental film, private press literature, design commissions, textile works, events and beyond", affirms Stuart.

Anna and the Witch’s Bottle is to be released in a limited edition of only 300 copies this month, making it an immediate collectors item for fans of mellifluous beauty. This unique and magical book has all the makings of a future classic: this is children's literature like you have never seen/heard it before.

Anna and The Witch's Bottle Launches at The Pumphouse Gallery Summer Party in Battersea Park on 22nd of September 2009 with a special reading and preview event.

Copies of the book are available at the Black Maps website or at the following real-world portals: select Paul Smith stores, MySugarland, Howie and Belle, Merchant Archive, Galleri Kleerup, and Culturelabel.com, for the bargain price of £30. But hurry, only 300 copies are available!

The Exchange Room

2009-09-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

By Ian Bruce

The brainchild of portrait painter Ian Bruce and entrepreneur Tom Daly, The Exchange Room is a week long pop up show featuring a collective group of artists taking the market into their own hands and rewriting the rules. You can’t buy it (read: afford it), then barter for it. And that they did: the show is made up of ‘exchanges’, all is explained in this Facebook chat.



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121 Charing Cross Road
Opening 1st September 6-9
Show open through until 8th September 10 am - 8pm

Immersion

2009-09-03T04:03:00.000-07:00

By Millie Findlay

Fight that sickening feeling of dread following graduation with Immersion, a collaborative programme between University of the Arts London, Passport and Palmer Hamilton Partnership which aims to give graduates the skills they need to get their foot in the door of the creative industries.



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We have all had it - that panicked feeling and the question, "What am I doing with my life?" You may have just graduated with flying colours, but now what? Perhaps you have been picked up by a gallery, or landed a huge commission, or perhaps you have not been so lucky. Those first few steps after finishing your degree seem the hardest ever, and with times as hard as they are, the job market can seem a daunting prospect.

Help is at hand: Immersion is an intensive programme designed to help art and design graduates fight their way through the quagmire that is graduate employment, identify their goals and give them the skills to achieve them. With a diverse programme including CV writing, portfolio assistance, mentoring and networking events, Immersion is unique in offering creative graduates advice from a business perspective, which can be hard to find!

With a stellar line-up of industry insiders including Ian Nelson, Worldwide Head of Design at Ellesse and Alistair Hall, Director of We Made This, Immersion aims to provide a wealth of knowledge to new graduates from those who have already made it. Learning takes place in the form of workshops, expert presentations, peer learning and practical group exercises, all of which encourages participants to identify their goals, enhance their skills and get the contacts to take those all-important first steps into the world of work.

The cost is £160, and the programme takes place over 12 weeks part-time.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, check out the jotta Immersion group, or the Immersion website for more details and the application form.

Art Schmart

2009-09-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Opening at Swanfield Yard, a curious menagerie of undergraduate artists just emerging from the behemoth that is Central St Martins come together as Art Schmart. With an eclectic mix of work, they attempt to put a name to the face of emergent concerns and styles of current young artists, an oddly-placed generation within history processing the concerns of the world today.

Choosing work that tries to represent the incipient practices of the current crop of undergraduates, Art Schmart spreads across media and disciplines, creating a platform for young artists to show their work, without having to contend with the agenda of the gallery system.

Featuring work from Kyle Zeto, Ruth Francesca Daniels, Katie Hare, Millie Findlay, Charles Drinkwater, Una Savic, Phoebe Mitchell, Tom Clark, Spike Blake, Tom Campell, Mikael Monchicort, Eleanor Purseglove, Alexander Clarke, Amber Bowie-Lowe, Jessica Sarah Rinland, and Jammie Nicholas.

Swanfield Yard, 2b Swanfield Street London E2
Tuesday 22nd-Tuesday 29th September 12-5pm
Private View Thursday 24th September 6-9pm

Graham Carter's East meets West

2009-09-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

By Millie Findlay

While jotta member Graham Carter has been one of the most sought after illustrators in the UK over the last ten years, as one of the founding members of Peepshow Collective, he’s now celebrated for his prolific repertoire of silkscreen prints, which explore childhood fantasy, the animal kingdom and now, a collision of eastern and western culture.



	Deer Boy, Quiet Carriage, Ever Red, Seeking Samurai (Click any image to enlarge it)

Graham rediscovered his love of silkscreen printing in 2005 and hasn’t stopped since with a string of successful solo shows across the South East, and exhibiting in galleries throughout the UK. His unique printmaking style has made him one of the most collected printmakers in the UK over last 5 years, with characters and exquisite colour pallets which transport the viewer into a land of robots, giant bears, origami creatures and of course, yeti’s.

What were your main inspirations for the work you have made for your upcoming show?

I’m kind of caught between two phases at the moment. On the one hand I am into retro American culture and design, and on the other, a more Oriental inspired approach.

My desire to visit China/Japan is evident in my work, although it’s more of a fantastical version rather than a true study of their culture. So the show in general is a meld of the two cultures. Like a travel diary

How do you approach your personal work as opposed to your commercial projects?

The excitement factor is at a zero generally when I ‘m working on commercial briefs so I tend to go about things on a robotic level. In some cases I just automatically produce what I think the client wants rather than ‘how I would do it’ - because I know from past experience that they will say, ‘hmmm. We like it, but can it be more like this....?’ So I just cut that stage out to save time.

There is a completely different feeling when I’m producing my own work and I become absorbed in it and quite excited about reaching the end result. I speedily try to get through commissions to give myself time to work on my own ideas, which usually begin life on the page of a sketchbook, scribbled or in a coffee shop while watching the world go by.

How did you come to focus back on your own work, rather than company briefs?

I wanted to give the Brighton Art Fair a go because it looked like a fun thing to do and thought it would be interesting to see how my ‘other’ work went down as it had largely been unseen. Luckily the response was overwhelming so I’ve just carried on from there. Until that point I didn’t realise the print business was such a big thing, so it proved to be great business shift as well as a personal one.

How did you rediscover your love for screenprinting?

Ah it’s always been there and I’ve always kept my hand in even when working for Habitat etc. Wherever I’ve lived I’ve always investigated the local open access print workshops. I’ve tried alternative working methods but always came back to silkscreen. I’ve only scratched the surface really when you consider just how many screen printing methods and surfaces there are to play with, so I should be doing it for a while longer. Investing in my own printing studio was the next natural step for me so I’m lucky enough to be able to immerse myself in it - as long as my back holds itself together!

How did you come to the yeti as a recurrent character?

It’s only really featured in 2 or 3 recent prints but it seems to be a favourite with people. I just enjoy the idea that the Yeti truly exist and are revelling in the fact that no one can find them, and living quite a happy peaceful existence. I produced around 40 yeti clay sculptures for a show at ink-d gallery brighton so I need to wait a while before I revisit Yeti land.

What are you working on at the moment?

Just finished working on a design for a high-end ladies fashions company. They specialise in using artists to design their tops and it’s basically like working on a huge cross-shaped print. Quite a departure from my usual way of working but quite enjoyable towards the end.

Just about to start on a limited edition screen print as part of a group show for ink-d gallery, based on the kissing policemen by Banksy (I maintain I sketched it out first before he produced it – so now my version can finally see the light of day!).

ENTER YOUR ROBOT IMAGES TO WIN AN ORIGINAL GRAHAM CARTER PRINT HERE

Check out Graham's work on jotta

www.graham-carter.co.uk

Face Off part 2

2009-09-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross published

Wimbledon College of Art interview Central Saint Martins in the final stage of This Is Why We Meet.



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What were your expectations before the project began?

Sofia: From the beginning, I found the idea of working with other CSM students from different courses exciting, if not a bit frightening as well. The opportunity of having my work up in one of the most viewed areas on Brick Lane and working inside such an innovative advertising agency made for some quite high expectations I have to say.

What was the moment when you came up with the idea for the project and what lead up to the idea?

Sandra: This was actually our first idea and we came up with it just by talking and trying to get to know each other. It turned out that we were all interested in literature, writing and books, so it was something that we all had in common.

Did you know each other before? Are you enjoying being part of a team?

Helen: We only met through this project and had been in touch via emails and facebook prior to meeting on the Monday morning.

Sofia: It is quite challenging working with people that you have never met before but at the same time it can be far more intriguing and interesting. In my opinion collaborative work is really important in the field of contemporary and applied arts. So it is not only about enjoying being part of a team but actually being able to embrace it and put your own personal touch.

What do you see as the projects biggest challenges?

Helen: It was a challenge to make a distinct piece of work from the other colleges. We also had the weight of the success of the previous installations to consider.

Sandra: We had to work very fast since it is such a short project so we did not have much time to test our ideas, but we were lucky anyway since we came up with our idea so fast. Another challenge was to stick to the budget and still make the installation look the way we wanted it to look.

Is the outcome something you think you would've created/thought about doing by yourself?

Jai: No, this is not something that I would have thought of making into an interactive exhibition. Prior to this project I had no ideas as I felt it was not possible to plan an exhibition without knowing my groups skill set.

Sofia: Yes, the general idea is really close to my way of thinking. But of course when you are working with other people the shaping of ideas is going in all different directions that you may have never thought yourself. That is what makes collaborations interesting and important after all.

What are your thoughts on 'iNTERACTION' in relation to art works and has this changed throughout the week?

Helen: The first screen is where the text will be entered, then the second displays the story in its entirety. The crucial point is that once the enter button has been pressed on the first screen, the thing has been said and a commitment has been made to join this collective story. The second screen visually vocalizes the narrative in an automated mode, like a type of monster that will grow from the input we’ve anticipated. We wanted to be generous with the level of input the audience could make but there are certain frustrations to the process (such as a limited word count). In this way, the piece is about taking part in a work that is permeable, but at the same time has an element of resistance and inaccess.

Jai: Interactivity within artworks engenders a feeling of belonging and adding to the artwork. There would be no art without interaction, without the audience all pieces of art have essentially failed. Unless the intention was to produce art works that require no stimulus of any sort.

Sofia: The communication with the audience is one of the things that make a work of art strong and successful. Interactivity takes it one step further. From this project and the technological difficulties we had I learned to try and keep it simple.

What do you hope others will get from your project?

Helen: A facility to possibly express their thoughts and to place these outside of themselves.

Jai: I believe the point of the project was for the community to create a piece of art that consist of themselves and their sense of individuality. So they feel a sense of belonging, knowing that without them there is no art work.

Describe the experience so far in 4 words...

Helen: Talking, talking, making, talking

Jai: Stressful, Tiresome, Enjoyable, Random

Sofia: Crash, boom, bang, yay!

Sandra: A never ending story.

Has the project made you consider your college's identity at all...?

Helen: A lot of people have told us that this has been the most eclectic group. I think the disciplines taught at the college can be quite removed from one another and don’t necessarily integrate together. It would be a good idea to take this project as a model for further collaborations organized within CSM and the University of the Arts. There should be more opportunities for students to meet future collaborators in advance of graduating.

Sandra: I agree with what Helen is saying. I think that projects like these are important to bring people from different pathways together and open you up to new ways of working and looking at your work. All disciplines are in one way or the other connected to each other and I think that interdisciplinary work should be more encouraged and even promoted by the different colleges.

But to answer the question I have to say that the identity of CSM as a college seems a little bit of a mystery to me, I do think there is one but I also think that the sense of community could be made stronger. A lot of the communal areas at the college have disappeared, for example the bar.

Re- instating that would be a good first step to increase the sense of community.

South London People Map

2009-09-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

jotta has increasingly been drawn south of the river to marvel at the ascending stars of the young South London art scene. Forming collectives, curating exhibitions, going guerilla on unused spaces and taking 150 people to Venice Biennale, their community and productivity are a breath of fresh air in a city where the big-wig galleries had begun to bore.



Map drawn and designed by Barbara Ward (Click any image to enlarge it)

While the majority of the young artists have come out of colleges such as Camberwell College of Arts, London College of Communication and Goldsmiths, joining the dots between the growing number of collectives and galleries has become overwhelming, so jotta got the lowdown from Oliver Hogan, co-founder of LuckyPDF, Tom Harrad, co-founder of Off Modern (who's South East in the East opens tonight!), on where everyone fits and mapped out the connections.

To download a larger version of the South London People Map click here

SECRET CINEMA: Tell no one

2009-09-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

By Millie Findlay

Prepare to dive headfirst into a unique cinematic experience, where the film comes to life around you. Secret Cinema is going outdoors for its biggest screening ever- just don’t ask where.



clockwise from top left: A Night at The Opera, Ghostbusters, Funny Face, The Harder They Come (Click any image to enlarge it)

If you like your cinema outings out of the ordinary, SECRET CINEMA is as exraordinary as it gets. Guests receive a mystery email invitation to a location, and upon arrival are greeted by sights, smells and sounds straight out of the chosen film. The catch is: no one knows what the film is. That is, until it starts. In the meantime audience members have fun deciphering the clues as they queue and enjoy the atmosphere.

At the last secret screening guests were transported to Jamaica for a screening of Jimmy Cliff’s reggae classic The Harder They Come. Celebrating in true Jamaican carnival style with reggae music, dancing and performance artists, before going into the newly transformed Coronet Theatre to watch the film. Other clandestine screenings have seen live rescores, installation artists, live musicians and performers. Locations can range from derelict theatres to city rooftops; Funny Face at the Royal Academy of Arts and Gus Van Saint’s Paranoid Park in a disused railway tunnel in south London.

This time around, all guests are being told is to come prepared to participate in a kaleidoscopic journey to the theme of an American cult classic. Can you guess what it is yet?

Just remember- tell no one (it’s a secret).

More info here.

South East in East

2009-09-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

By Millie Findlay

Hold onto your hats, the south Londoners are coming! Artist collective Off Modern introduce South London’s finest to East London during not just one night – but a whole week’s worth of music, arts and literature.



Off Modern at Corsica Studios, Bradford Bahamas, Off Modern at Hannah Barry Gallery in Peckham, Casio Kids (Click any image to enlarge it)

This Friday sees the start of the seven day extravaganza, when by night music the likes of Hot Club de Paris, The Invisible and My Tiger My Timing, will run alongside theatre performances from New Cross collective Short Nights. By day workshops, films and a large group exhibition featuring Off Moderners Tom Harrad and Yuki Pattison, plus contributions from South London compadres including Deptford based gallery and party organisers Friendly Street Gallery, and fellow Peckhamites Lucky PDF, mad scientists and inventors Bradford Bahamas and Charlesworth, Lewandowski & Mann.

Off Modern was born in the depths of South East London, with the aim to provide a "lateral glance at art, music, aesthetics and culture", explains co-founder Tom Harrad. The collective have created a platform for young artists to show their work and get noticed, without having to bend to the will of larger galleries. Off Modern lies in the thick of the rapdily growing south London artistic community, with long-standing collaborations with the likes of Friendly Street Gallery and Hannah Barry Gallery.

Tom Harrad affirms that the community spirit down in South London has contributed to the success of Off Modern and other artist collectives: "Everyone knows that the best way to get things done is to work with each other, and to build a scene we can all be a part of."

After being approached by Vibe Bar earlier this year, the folks at Off Modern decided the timing was right for something big. The xOff Modern events at Corsica Studios have been popular since its first outing back in late 2008, however the opportunity at Vibe Bar presented a new challenge. "All our exhibitions have been focussed on South East London artists, lots of graduates from Camberwell and Goldsmiths, so we thought that we should take this into the heart of the London alternative arts scene in the east end."

However, Off Modern has no plans to emigrate east any time soon. "Peckham is a hotbed for untainted creativity. The East end is saturated and commercialised." Tom declares, "Cheap rent and free space always attract artists. The opportunities for people who don’t have loads of money (i.e. Us) are far greater down south." Off Modern certainly does not seem to need to seek success in the east, having lured art-lovers down to Elephant and Castle in ever-greater numbers.

Nor do they show any signs of slowing down, with plans for a record label, single release and permanent exhibition space in the pipeline, as well as the second issue of the Off Modern Zine and the next Corsica studios event in October! There must be something in the water in Peckham…

Want more info? SEiE website or jotta calender

Night of the Living Drawn

2009-08-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

llustrator and cut-out creationist Ellie Logan was recently commissioned to illustrate, cut-put, paint and photgraph a graphic adaption of George Romero’s cult horror film Night of The Living Dead. Ellie reveals the hours of slicing n dicing involved in the process of drawing out the living dead.



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What is your back ground?
Like most artists, I always painted and drew as a dorky kid. I was a design school drop-out who left New Zealand for many years selling door-to-door products, playing receptionist for a posh Windsor hotel, running a B&B in Edinburgh, then back home to do a degree in Arts while getting involved with musicians , where I did stage/costume design and touring shows.

Inspired by the way that musicians worked together, I curated illustration shows and auctions and packs of cards with local illustrators' work representing local bands and businesses. I then came to London after living in Korea for a bit to sell a fashion label internationally. I felt something was missing so I started a stall in 'up market' on Brick lane and sold my 3d photographic art. Happily the work sold to my surprise, as like many artists I have bouts of insecurity!

A London based art and culture magazine called 'Pimp' helped me on my way, by showing interest and printing my work. I decided to get a portfolio up on the AOI (Association of Illustrators) where Bang Zoom! Books stumbled across me.

Originally they were looking for work inspired by the film 'Night of the Living Dead' for the back of the graphic novel as part of the 'international art section' .The work I put forward led to me being asked to do the entire book (about 800 images!).

When and why did you go from illustration to making cut outs?
I don't recognise a difference, to be honest. The cut out style was a way for me to cope with being so crap at computers. My background in stage/performance design was most probably the inspiration..and allowed me to use anything I could find to make something appear a certain way...illusion done on a shoestring and fear of photo shop!

Is this your first attempt at creating cut out imagery for a narrative?
I have been working in cut-out for about about 8 years.

Do you ever create your own narratives for illustrations or cut outs?
Yes, I did this for about 5 years before I realised it could be liked by anybody else , it was something I did outside working hours.

What drew you to Night of the Living Dead?
Funnily enough my flatmate Pete got me into the zombie genre one week before Bang Zoom! Books contacted out of the blue...weird!

How long did it take you to create the sets for the graphic novel- did you base it on the film?
I was given stills from the movie, I then drew and painted the character, the background and other objects , I then photographed the scene held up with lipsticks (as they were the best size and freestanding) I lit the sets with bike lights and used sugar for the road scenes and real glass for the car window scenes. I would then download them and play with the contrast, brighten or add a vignette where necessary. So each image would take me about 2-3 hours.

How did you go about getting a publisher involved and then George Romero to do a forward?
All down to Bang Zoom! Books

When will it be released?
The book is in it's final stages. It's being laid out with words, bubbles and sound effects. The Dead are really coming to life now!! Release date to be confirmed.

It's quite an intensive process you go through to get the look you wanted, can you tell us more about this process?

Yeah it was, firstly I cut out photographs of characters and placed them in a miniature scene, all in photographic paper, (3d collage looking). The producers wanted the 3d look to be more subtle than this, so that the viewer would not really know how it had been done, so the challenge was to make it appear 3d, but not obviously. A good challenge, and a nice way to evolve my 3d paper art in to a more menacing look.

Initially the book had been photoshopped with colour. I had a break from the book to work on other jobs. On returning to this mammoth project, I decided to strip it back, and redo a vast number of images. Within this time I had actually become a better painter, so this is another reason I remade much of the book and on final grading only used photoshop to up the contrast and lighten any dark areas returning to the feel of the 1960's.

Why did you choose to produce the images in this way?

I wanted a real/unreal look, so that the story had haunting and mystery, but not just a copy of the original film. Bang Zoom! Books and I both wanted to do something quite special, as the film is.

How do you go about promoting your work and obtaining paid commissions?
The last 2 years have been busy with exhibitions. I have not had time to look for work. Due to exhibiting in the London Underground on a Billboard and platform poster for ArtBelow and being featured in books and magazines, I have been contacted as a result .

For example; I was found at the market and then featured in a Chinese Book about London art and have since been signed up to an art licensing company in Taiwan. They in turn sponsored my show for ArtBelow in Tokyo's metro in association with dazed and Confused Japan and have printed my work on products.

What else are you working on at the moment?
Most recently I made a short film for 'Hop Skip', (a performance and video show curated by Martina O'Shea at Liquid Studios as part of Hackney Wicked)

Currently I am working on an exhibition for Taiwan. This year's work will focus on triptych style work in the feel of religious relief art. I am looking into carving and making moulds and painting on top of 3d panels. I exhibited at Hackney Wicked's Top and Tail Gallery's show with an olde engraved gin glass. I am working with techniques and compositions of the middles ages and mixing in modern themes of religion versus economics, so comparisons with modern life should hopefully bring about some thought.

What would your ultimate collaboration be?
I would like to direct a film bringing together; makeup, sound and visual artists as well as stage design.

www.clublogan.wordpress.com

Maureen Gubia and Eoin Ryan Join jottaBoutique

2009-08-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

By Millie Findlay

jotta presents two brand spanking new artists to the Boutique. Artists Maureen Gubia and Eoin Ryan make works to bewitch and beguile, drawing the viewer into their illusive imagined worlds.



Maureen Gubi, Tripii series 2009, Crow and faces by Eoin Ryan. (Click any image to enlarge it)

Maureen Gubia’s whimsical line drawings and photographs capture the attention of all who see them. Hailing from Ecuador, her work retains the essence of her homeland, acting as a series of tantalizing snapshots into her life, supported by the photography posted on her blog. Maureen describes her drawings as being “driven by longing” , and her fluid style helps her to explore that dark, volatile world of human emotion. Her work was recently shown in the Swanfield pop-up shop, exploring the darker side of living in a tropical climate, where the carnival is over and laziness and apathy reigns.

The dreamy watercolours now available in the Boutique transport you directly into Gubia’s world of childlike figures peeping out from the page in between carnival-coloured vegetation.

jotta had Eoin Ryan down as a ‘ones to watch’ in July, after he had attracted our attention with his alluring illustrations on his jotta profile. Eoin draws inspiration for his illustrations from sources as diverse as propaganda posters and Japanese woodblocks to create his unique and haunting images.
Having produced work for Art on the Green, Eoin is currently indulging in some ‘shameless self-promotion’ ready for his next show in the autumn. Eoin is releasing a series of limited edition prints exclusively for jotta, these have their origins in the enticing combination of miscellaneous research and ‘scratching around’ in Eoin’s head to provide the content.

All the work is available on the jottaBoutique for your perusing pleasure - so snap the opportunity to own some rare gems!

Face Off

2009-08-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

In the final week of THIS IS WHY WE MEET, jotta asked the last two teams in the 6 week series to interview each other, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design team and Wimbledon College of Art. Wimbledon’s seven steps to becoming a more personable person were a hit, they give retrospective responses while CSM respond from the thick of creation fever.



Wimbledon, CSM, Wimbledon, CSM (Click any image to enlarge it)

Wimbledon College of Art responds to questions from Central Saint Martins

What was the thought behind your exhibition?

Consumerism, Propoganda, Cosmetic surgery of the personality. Inspirational moment was a recent trip to Vidal sasoon: where we were told we would come out 'better.' We were also inspired by the cliches of 'The Apprentice'...and any self improvement and mindwashing institutions.

Did you all know each other before you started this project, if not, how was it to work with people you have not worked with before?

Wimbledon is a very little college, and the nature of studying theatre means you all get involved in others projects a lot too, so three of us knew each other roughly, through various collaborations with paper and films and also through the Design for Performance Degree.

Did you encounter any troubles along the way, and if so, how did this affect the final outcome of the project?

Yes, many. We had to continually refine and adapt the outcome of the project as the week went on, and even after the private view. It was an ambitious project, creating the company entirely from scratch. We found we dedicated so much time to creating and making the products that the window display suffered at the start of the week, but it's on now and looking as we hoped.

At what point were you stretched beyond your elastic point and did you ping back to another direction that you didn’t expect?

Many points, lots of strecthing. Expectations pinging all over the place.

What has been the most interesting way you have engaged with those living and being in the area?

This weekend is our main time for face to face interaction, and more active convincing of our company, which will be interesting. We have observed peoples response to the video which has been amazing- many people don't know if it's real or not- whilst many have laughed. Creating something which people ask and are unsure of, "is this real", has been great, normally we don't have the facilities to do something like this so convincingly. It's been a lot of fun.

Has this project altered your approach to your work?

It has made us all more confident to do things we wouldnt normally do, realise we can take skills into other areas - product design, graphic design, directing, advertising etc. Our work on our degree has been more traditionally 'theatrical' possibly (see some at www.edithtsang.com and www.zoejosephine.com)

What are the positive/ negative outcomes of this project?

We are still awaiting the final result, to be objective about it all but thus far- Positives: Creating recreation, fruitful friendships, getting people to laugh at dominating consumerism/self help ideas/adverts
Negatives: Suspected Narcicissm, Possible Sound pollution.

Doodle-ville

2009-08-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

What started as a credit crunchy opportunity to utilise some unused space, has become a hidden gem for the creative meanderings of locals, workshops, exhibitions and packed out parties.

Found (with a little searching), down a drive way off the quaint village high street of Battersea, the semi-decrepit industrial building which the Doodle Bar calls home was scheduled for demolition when Jules Cocke and illustrator Serge Seidlitz,, of neighbouring film and animation studio, Squint/Opera, had the bright idea.

So Doodle Bar was born, they white washed the walls and threw in some vintage couches and an espresso machine and hey presto, you got yourself a pop-up bar.

The interior was built through bartering and sourcing furniture from the giveaway website Freecycle, making Doodle Bar a low-cost, high-concept space, intent on spurring creativity in the community.

Since they opened in early June word has spread, with a little help from blogdom, Facebook and Twitter, and a lot of talk, plus the neighbouring businesses which include Vivienne Westwood’s studio, Norman Foster Architects and Alsop architects, dropping by regularly haven’t hurt.

“There’s been a wild amount of interest” Says Jules happily.

Not only a bar and café, Doodle Bar is a haven for scribblers. The walls, chairs, tables and even waiters were all blank canvasses, they walls, tables, chairs, even the VW and the ping pong table outside are now pretty well covered in scribbles, doodles, even some poetry and the odd slander.

"The waiters wear white jeans and shirts. You can doodle anywhere you want on their clothes. It's up to the waiters where they draw the line."

Not surprisingly the landlord loves what they’ve done and they now have plans to make it into a creative hub, a place for educational workshops and events, exhibitions and gigs. By November they’ll be up and running with a bar license and café.

The theme of doodle began with Doodle earth, a collaborative drawing architecture project organised with onedotzero. Doodle Earth toured with onedotzero’s film festival to cites and invited the public to come and collaborate on illustrated city installations, where the style of drawing would mirror the architecture and organic growth of the city. The more doodles that a city uploads the bigger the map gets, their Buenos Aries Doodle site had 50,000 people take part, making it one huge psycho-geographical map.

“It was hugely popular, an ice breaker amongst people,” Says Jules, “It was a meeting point which became about the atmosphere while creating rather than the actual product.”

Yes Doodle Bar and Doodle Earth are very much a nice physical reflection of a common thread running through current creative circles – collaboration, a meeting place and an interactive and constantly evolving work of art. Get down there before the walls fill up.

The DoodleBar, Ransomes Dock, 33 Parkgate Rd, Battersea, London; thedoodlebar.com; Café: 9am-6pm. Bar: check calendar.

Profile Me

2009-08-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

By ben james

We're dusting ourselves down here at jotta with a number of new design changes aimed at making jotta easier to use and, well, prettier. First up, your profile page.

Log-in, log-in and if you don’t have an account sign-up, sign-up! We’ve created a new profile page that makes it easier for you to share your profile, find your friends, manage your contact information and promote your store if you have one.

We’ve also worked on the news feed to make it easier to manage and created a fancy new concertina viewer for your Projects so you can view each project and the content within it from right within your Profile page.

We’re not saying it’s perfect but we hope it’s a step in the right direction. Let us know your thoughts. We like praise, it makes us feel fuzzy inside, and criticism is good as long as it’s not about what we wear or the music we listen too.

thanks, the jotta team.

all comments: ben@jotta.com

Directional Glasses For Forward Thinking

2009-08-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

The four Wimbledon College of Art students unveiled their interactive installation in the windows of W+K for the penultimate installment of the great This Is Why We Meet collaborative experiment. Personality conditioning and corporate video camp is the order of the week.

Head down to Hanbury St in East London to witness Wimbledon's Personality Conditioning Corporation. Complete with infomercials, bespoke products and the red attired P.C.C. persuaders, the seven steps to becoming a more personable person would be a crime to miss.

Living Dolls

2009-08-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

The London College of Communication team from the almighty This Is Why We Meet collaborative experiment took interaction to new levels of hilarity with Get A Life, a live platform set up on Hanbury street in London.

View video here

The installation invited the public to experiment with social participation and human dialogue using different kinds of communication and allowing people from all over the world to interact and be part of the platform. The “Humannequins”, as they dubbed their couple Emma and Joseph, were miked up to a Skype phone, so whe people stopped to look or walked past the Humannequins would often pipe up and start speaking to them. Public reactions was varied – some people were quite scared, others became engrossed in really long and quite serious conversations with them, and others just laugh!
Basically they were playing with dolls.

Get Your Artwork Displayed Across London

2009-08-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

VICE UK and Levi’s 501s can help you bypass the whole languishing-in-a-cramped-studio-eating-pot-noodles part of becoming an “artist”. All you have to do is tell them how you would incorporate the ethos of Living Unbuttoned into a large art installation and you could have your art displayed in public sites throughout London, and then BAM – you’re the next Emin.



Maya Huyuk, Felice Varini, Richard Sarson, BLU (Click any image to enlarge it)

If you are selected from the teeming hordes of hopefuls to have your work featured as part of the Live Unbutton campaign, you work will be blown up to HUGE proportions, and displayed in Camden, Shoreditch and Soho.

The winner of the competition will work with the project mentor, Ben Freeman, expert on design, graphics, photography and the publisher of all round amazing magazine FUN, to translate their work from small scale, to ‘size of a large building scale’.

Once up, your work will remain on show for one month.

Your work need not be in any fixed medium or format, be it oil painting, papier-mâché, carved granite – whatever, we want to see it. All entries simply need to reflect the essence of the 501 jeans Live Unbuttoned campaign.

The competition opens on the 3rd of August and closes on the 1st of September, that allows you artistic types about a month to submit your ideas to VICE via the entry form.

Inspirational images above by-

( Remember, your work can be any format, any style, and any medium. So don’t take these examples as guidelines, only as little squares of inspiration that you are totally free to ignore).

Art Takes on Acton

2009-08-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

By Holly Willats

London’s Acton may seem a creative desert, yet a group of artists have just grabbed themselves a super studio spot in a disused Perfume Factory. jotta could not resist a sneak peek of their upcoming opening on Sunday and as a result, reminisced over the artistic history of the West, and started hoping for a shift in the London creative compass.



Emma Cummins Remember To Forget THis, Ten Days Issue1, The Perfume Fcatory, Emma Cummins Where Art Lied (Untitled 1), Inkjet 2008 (Click any image to enlarge it)

In setting up their studios within The Perfume Factory, these artists intended to work in the spirit of creative collaboration. With a knowledge of the historical legacy of the area in which the studio sits, Ross Taylor, Royal Academy MA graduate, hoped to organise something that would bring artists and writers together to create something that was both good fun and creative. The result? – both an exhibition and new artist magazine that will launch simultaneously on Sunday 23rd August.

The initial idea was to make a magazine - a quick, cheap, fanzine style book of writings by artists and writers. The editors, Ross Taylor and myself, were both interested in how artists make work, why, when and how this could materialise. From this first idea came the concept of 10 Days. 10 Days is an artistic collective that has come together to interact with one another and create a magazine. The publication hopes to act as a device to vibrate and encourage ideas that do not have to be definite. The nature of the publication is that the contributor is asked to be spontaneous, being given 10 days to respond to the title of the relevant issue. The first issue centres on eleven individual contributors’ MANIFESTOS. From this title, the artists responded by looking at their own creative personal beliefs. 10 Days is a collective idea and is does not function for profit. The editors are interested in writing, ideas, pictures and diagrams and will allow anyone interested to contribute.

Whilst co-editing 10 Days Ross Taylor curated Perfect Answers for Perfect Questions.

“Voices and characters appear all the time in everyday life. We summon them in opinions and in stereotypes, stories and examples. They can seem unemployed and clueless, they can also be our best friends. Long hair, short hair, fictional, historical, blind or overweight in appearance. We have to give them clothes and beliefs, they some times need a family." Taylor describes the exhibition, "This exhibition brings together eleven artists who each individually deal with aspects of invention, especially in terms of the cast that play out their ideas. It is an extended and combined exploration of meetings between artists work where unexpected happenings will be generated. Through painting, sculpture and photography the work will be presented on islands, and like in a Kurt Voonegut story this troop of actors will have to meet.”

This collective of artists are proof that there is still call for a pure enjoyment in art. There is no financial motivation – with 10 Days selling for just £1 to enable the collective to fund the second issue. Those contributing and making the magazine, get to take away enjoyment and satisfaction in seeing evenings of discussion turned into a reality.

You might wonder what these artists are doing out West, away from both the galleries of the West End and the busy arts scene of East London. However, not so long ago there was much art and music activity in leafy (safe) West London, in the 50’s and 60’s the area was a magnet for musicians and art students, who could hear bands such as The Who and The Rolling Stones at the iconic Ealing Club.

In the same area and at the same time there was a radical change that altered the way art is taught and created, a movement that remains influential to this day. In the 1960s, Ealing Technical College & School of Art began its Groundcourse, run by Roy Ascott. The course was informed by the principles of cybernetics and the title focused on what Ascott described as, ‘learning from the ground up’. This course transformed the agenda of education in art in both this country, and as a result, abroad. Students included Pete Townsend, John Challis, Gilbert & George, Richard Long, Brian Eno, Stephen Willats and Michael English who would all go on to push the British art and music scene forward. All the avant-garde artists of the sixties such as Noel Forster and Bernard Cohen, who sparked many ideas and theories were teaching at Ealing, and the school became a key institution in the formation and influence of British conceptualism.

Going further West two artists, Peter Dunn and Loraine Leeson introduced Ruislip to the equation. Creating installations in local libraries around their community inspired art practice. Appropriately enough, given the focus of 10 Days publication, the artists produced their own Manifesto at the time, which ended:

"We declare that art needs people as much as people need art: the two should be inextricable linked with each other, and never divorced so damingly again."

With the Acton area surrounded by such a solid artistic legacy, Perfect Answers to Perfect Questions sees contemporary young artists working together to create something that to spark excitement in the area.

‘Perfect Answers to Perfect Questions’ and the launch of the new artist magazine 10 Days is on Sunday 23rd August, 4 – 7pm.

The Perfume Factory, 140 Wales Farm Road, London, W3 6UG
1 minute from North Acton tube Click here to view a map.

10days.booklet@gmail.com - website coming soon.

‘Perfect Answers to Perfect Questions’ will run until 30 August, opening hours: Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 12-6pm.

DIY LONDON SEEN

2009-08-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

By Millie Findlay

DIY LONDON SEEN is an exhibition based around the world captured in Aaron Rose’s film ‘Beautiful Losers.’ Join us for the opening Thursday 20th and the closing, for which jotta will host the evening with music and live visuals.



images by Chrissie Abbott, Aidan O'Neill, Cheryl Dunn, Ivory Serra. (Click any image to enlarge it)

Chances are you are already familiar with Beautiful Losers, the traveling art exhibit turned documentary film celebrating the legacy of the artistic movement which was spawned in and around New York’s Alleged Gallery in the early 90s, joined together by the DIY aesthetics of punk rock, hip-hop and skateboarding. The marks of artists like Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, Geoff McFetridge, Mike Mills and Harmonie Korine are widely acknowledged in popular art, design, film, and fashion.

Now, a new exhibition in London takes up the Beautiful Losers calling to “Make Something From Nothing,” featuring a group of and emerging UK artists. DIY LONDON SEEN, an exhibition documenting the work of, and inspired by the artists featured in the film, coincides with Beautiful Losers UK DVD release and screenings at the London Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Curated by Watch This Space, the show features a group of young London artists whose work embodies the spirit of the film, alongside the photography of original Loser, Cheryl Dunn, and Ivory Serra, who documented the rise of the Beautiful Losers’ artists throughout the 90s.

The artists contributing to DIY LONDON SEEN include: Arran Gregory, Aidan O’Neill, Best One, Chrissie Abbott, Clare Shilland, Charlie Woolley, Cheryl Dunn, Gustav Svanborg Edén, Graham Hudson, Harry Malt, Ivory Serra, Jethro Haynes, Marc Silver, Marcus Oakley, Niall O’Brien, Nick Jensen, Robin Clare, Sam Ashley and Toby Shuall.

DIY LONDON SEEN illustrates the growth of the movement inspired by the ‘Beautiful Losers’, which is now a global phenomenon, by showcasing the work of local artists whose work takes the ethos of the Alleged gallery Artists and runs with it.

DIY LONDON SEEN runs from 17th August - 5th September 2009

11, The Market Building, Covent Garden, London WC2 8RF (next to Lush)

The Ultimate Party Animal

2009-08-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

A chameleon with retro-futuristic skin, Arran Gregory’s Grizzly Bear reflects it’s surroundings. After graduating from Chelsea College of Art and Design’s Graphics and Communication degree with a his handcrafted pet in hand, Arran, skater, illustrator, sculptor and Slam City Skate t-shirt designer, exhibits his mirrored bear in DIY LONDON SEEN this week.



(Click any image to enlarge it)

Why a grizzly bear?
I'm not entirely sure where my interest in bears comes from... I like to represent animals graphically and I find the Grizzly bear has the most impact. It is said that the Grizzly bear spirit is the most powerful of all animal spirits. I find this quite cool.

Did you look to other artists or designers for inspiration when creating this work?
No. my ideas never derive directly from another persons art. i don't search for inspiration, it comes to me naturally, as a result i have found that my ideas are often quite surreal.
Once i get a really exciting idea, I have to see it through. It's a test for myself to see whether it can be done. That's how it worked regarding the Mirror Bear- the idea was there and i could picture it perfectly, so i had to make it happen.

What research did you do prior to and during the creation?
I had to research a lot of different materials and think through exactly how I was going to build the Bear as I'd never made a sculpture before. I researched the muscle and bone structure of the grizzly bear so that I could accurately picture every angle whilst sculpting.

Is this the first lifesize mirror animal you've created?
Yes

What would you do differently next time?
I want to make a smaller animal which is easier to manage. Then after that i want to make something four times as big.

I noticed on your blog you'd approached BAPE to create a mirror animal sculpture for their retail outlets- was this self initiated? Are you a fan of the label- what drew you to them? Would you like to work on interiors more in the future?
Yeah I approached Bape as the project seemed to suit their company so well. I proposed to build an Ape. I haven't really considered interior design until you mentioned it. I guess I'd like to, but i want to concentrate on developing my drawings for now.

Would you call yourself an illustrator or sculptor? I'm an artist, who illustrates ideas; usually I put pen to paper to release them, sometimes I have to take a photograph or make a sculpture. I wouldn't want to restrict my creativity by confining my ideas within the boundaries of traditional illustration.

What or who inspires you?
I'm inspired by animals, nature, sega games, skateboarding, travelling and the city.

How did you come to be exhibiting in DIY London Seen?
My friend Gareth who runs Pointer footwear and Slam showed my work to Bakul and she got in contact. Oh and because I skate.

How can you relate to the artists and work featured in the film? Are you a fan?
I'm a big fan of Beautiful Losers. Actually, I concentrated on the book in quite some detail for my dissertation. I wanted to find out why skateboarders feel the need to create art and why the act of skateboarding is so inspirational.

What's up next for you? Are you working on any new projects?
Proposing to create a giant mirrorball strawberry for Spitalfields Market.

Philip Li

2009-08-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

By Holly Willats

Camberwell graduate and This Is Why We Meet player Philip Li fuses disciplines, materials and genres, including performance, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, fashion and new media. Known for his graduate of ceramic works for which he sought to develop new images for the traditional medium, creating a surprising series of fashion cross architectural sculpted ceramic armour.

Your work combines photography, performance, fashion and ceramics. How does you work allow these different disciplines work well together?

As an artist, these disciplines are all methods of expression - and depending on the project, certain aspects get more prominence. I have a very holistic view of art and want to try everything – and I think that’s a very modern idea – the ability to crossover and put things together in a new way – the way I dress, the things I do, the things I make – are all about pushing those boundaries. For me, the excitement comes when you can build those bridges between disciplines - and play with their definitions and the perceptions of the audience. Especially with traditional ideas and materials - like ceramics.

What was it that first drew you to using ceramics?

The tactility – clay is such a responsive material and I’m a maker, so those qualities of clay really appealed to me. It can be transformed to any state – from liquid, to glass, to dust. The possibilities of manipulating it are endless. I also like the fact it's such a subversive material that not many people care or know about – but I do! A lot of people undervalue it – including education systems, which is a huge shame. I learnt a lot from that in-depth focus on one material, which has enabled me to become more questioning with everything else.

What is the concept behind your latest work, ‘The Statue’ and ‘The Commuter’ series?

It was really about developing new ways of seeing – and by placing ceramics into a photograph, I wanted to say that ceramics doesn’t necessarily have to be a pot that sits on a table. It can be an image, it can have a presence in a photograph and it can be used to describe ideas in other ways. Added to that is my passion for fashion images, and how sexuality and gender is represented and manipulated – and how it affects me. So all the ceramic body-sculptures and compositions in ‘The Statue’ and ‘The Commuter’ series are about the construction of masculine archetypes and my attempts at becoming them.

You arecently collaborated with Carl Guilhon, Chris King, and Joel Stephens in POP–ME–UP, a collaborative project as part of This Is Why We Meet – how did this collaboration first come about?

Joe and Jimmy (from Pat + Trevor) asked me to apply for the project, and it sounded such a great idea - so I did! We were friends before but had never worked on a project together – so this seemed a perfect opportunity. Together with Laura (from W+K) they also chose my fellow collaborators. In the back of their mind, I think they wanted to create a new boyband…

Did you find that you worked well with these other artists in this project?

I’m extremely flexible in my work and I’m lucky to have a broad range of media and disciplines – so finding something that could be applied to the project was quite easy – but having never worked with these guys before – you also had to consider what everyone else wanted to add – and then make a good choice from it all! Ceramics was too problematic to use in the short space of time – but we also had to create something altogether. In the end, this project utilizes each person’s strengths quite well – from the performance aspect, the graphics, the styling and the businessman mentality. The theme of masculinity definitely was in there. It allowed us to explore that side of creating a pseudo real-life, art installation – we were the exhibits.

POP–ME–UP relies on audience interaction and participation. Why is this important to the project?

Interaction was one of the key demands ‘This Is Why We Meet’ hence the ‘me’ in POP-ME-UP. We wanted people to engage with the space and us in a very direct, human way. In a way, we were re-appropriating the space and giving it back to the public by selling them sections of the window. It’s about building connections, getting people aware of what is surrounding them, and making them engaged and feel a part of the artwork. POP-ME-UP operates on so many levels, but ultimately it was important for me that there was something deeper for them to engage with – and this idea of finance and advertising was fundamental to this project – our survival as artists and as humans, in an increasingly financed and commercial world.

What has been the reaction to the project so far?

Everyone’s been extremely positive – we thought the W+K guys might think we were taking the piss out of them – but they didn’t thankfully! It is a site-sensitive piece and the public are interested in it. It’s human nature to read those ads – we’ve got lonely hearts ads, restaurateur posters, signed Gilbert & George flyers. Once that wall is filled, we’ll have a great document of everyone who’s participated in the project.

What will happen to the contributions for POP–ME–UP after this week?

They’ll all be popped up somewhere else! Hopefully they’ll be compiled together for a publication and for further viewing online or in an exhibition. They’re definitely not going to be thrown away. Hopefully some of the advertisers get some responses too!

Do you have any other projects or exhibitions coming up?

Yes - I’ll be showing at the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-On-Trent later on this year, and then I’m doing some work with LuckyPDF – we’re hopefully moving into our new studios soon so I can get going on some more work. I’m going to start some more collaborations too – that’s very much how I’d like to move my work forward! That’s pretty much the plan now – work, work, work!

See more of Philip's work here

London Fashion Weekend

2009-08-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

LFWend catwalk will see designers such as Matthew Williamson, Jaeger London, Basso & Brooke, Luella, Eley Kishimoto exhibit immediately after London Fashion Week in an event tailored for the shoppers.

London Fashion Weekend will take place from the 24th to the 27th of September at the Somerset House and urban 180 The Strand - the new home of British fashion, London Fashion Weekend will again be using the official London Fashion Week catwalk.

LFWend have launched a new Photographers pass which gives photographers, both amateur and pro, the chance to photograph or film 2 of the London Fashion Weekend catwalks of their choice throughout the weekend. A stellar opportunity for those wanting to build their fashion catwalk portfolio and also to use images editorially.

We have 20 of these passes to give away, so 20 photographers can come and snap away for free.

email us at editor@jotta.com to win.

Boring Journeys Effect Your Mood

2009-08-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

jotta popped down to the week long workshop commandeered by glueLondon and onedotzero, the international festival of innovative adventures moving image, to find out what their crack teams of students had in mind to change our urban environment for the better.

glueLondon and onedotzero selected 40 graduates from across 17 creative disciplines and threw them into the Doodle Bar in Battersea for 6 days to get busy brainstorming. With daily workshops from design and creative industry mentors, the students were split into teams and briefed over the week to produce an interventionary piece that reimagines their urban environment and improving it in some was. Drawing from varying frames of reference, even basic issues like communicating an idea becamea challenge.

jotta caught up with three of the teams:

BLUE team

Members of Blue crew span disciplines of spatial design, illustration, interaction design, and come from colleges like Central Saint Martins, Camberwell College of art and Design and Middlesex.

"We went through loads of ideas, we over-analysed the ideas and actually kept coming back to this one. The creative process went in a circle.

Basically we’ve subverted the Facebook and blogging phenomenon, taking the online interaction experience physical.

It’s been hard because of our different backgrounds, and the way we approach things differently, also we only just met, the first 3 days we were all spent being over polite".

Coming from different frames of reference sometimes made it tricky, but Blue team caught on to one of Britain's favourite moaning past times- the weather!

"Our idea is trying to celebrate bad weather, coloured umbrellas float above a town square in a flock, when the weather is good they stay condensed and when it rains they follow individuals by GPS or Bluetooth. It’s playful, relaxed, homely, it’s meant to brighten up your day."

Thebluegroup.wordpress.com

MAGENTA team

Their cross disciplinary skill set spans motion graphics, photography, graphics and illustration, "We took elements from a few different ideas."

Magenta team decided to focus on changing the environment to encourage people to be nice to others simply for the sake of it - interventions which demonstrate the mantra:

"It’s Nice To Be Nice."

Check out their blog here-

playgrounddoor.tumblr.com

ORANGE team

The Orange gang were looking pretty productive when we stopped by, with pairs working on an animated site, pieces of wood were being chopped and painted as miniature models of their instalation plan.

"We looked at how we see our environment, something that you walk past everyday and see but that will change constantly."

Their idea looks at patterns of the city and migration flows. With a functional property, for instance if the station is full the multi- coloured poles grow higher, people can see it online and plan their journey.

Creates an effect almost like the city is breathing, like a Mexican wave effect. We liked this one.

Onedotzeroorange.tumblr.com

For more details on the week and the cascade project visit:

www.onedotzero.com/blog

www.gluelondon.com

Get Involved

2009-08-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

By Stephanie Grace
Since jotta launched earlier this year, we’ve worked with literally hundreds of people from the jotta community on exhibitions, workshops, special projects and more. Below are some of the ways you can get involved.

jotta animate the V&A

We try and keep you up to date on all our projects well in advance, and offer ways you can contribute and participate with exhibitions and events such as the V&A Friday Late, The jotta Craft Fair, The Legion and The Trafalgar Hotel exhibitions. But sometimes there’s just so much to keep track of, so here’s some tips on how you can get involved. Don't forget we're always here should you want to get in touch with us directly too, email ben@jotta.com or call us on 020 3286 9291

jottaContemporary

Looking for a place to exhibit your work?

We select from the best artist’s on the jotta network to exhibit work in various locations, from the grand halls of the Victoria and Albert Museum to weird and wonderful sites such as pop-up boutiques in Soho to re-claimed shopping centres in Elephant & Castle.

Contact ellie@jotta.com

jottaBoutique

Want a place to sell your work in a credible space, without the worry of being exploited over commission?

A platform to promote and sell your work directly, from original art pieces, limited edition prints, fine art photography to one-off design pieces. Sell your work in a trusted space and in good company, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design have chosen jottaBoutique as their only online store.

Find out more here

jottaLab

Keen to work within a design agency environment?

Solving business and brand challenges through design, jottaLab is a multidisciplinary full service design agency, which brings together a wealth of experience with the best emerging talent to create intelligent design solutions.

Find out more about jottaLab (link coming soon...)

Ones To Watch

Want some extra exposure?

We spotlight the hottest talent from within the jotta community, interviewing and showcasing their work in the magazine and on the homepage.

Are you the next big thing?

Apply to be interviewed by emailing millie@jotta.com

Marketplace

A realm of opportunities

We list some of the best jobs, internships, competitions, scholarships that the creative world has to offer, from Conde Nast illustration commissions, to internships at Vice magazine and the Institute of Contemporary Art, residencies in Australia and Berlin and competitions with BBC World.

Jump into Marketplace

The Magazine

Have you got something to say?

Well jotta is the place to say it! We are on the look out for budding journalists and art critics to contribute to the magazine.

Email millie@jotta.com

Groups

Looking to collaborate/discuss/debate?

Want to start a collective, find your creative soul mate, have a group exhibition, ponder over the latest offerings from your favourite artist or rant about an awful exhibition you went to last week?

There’s a group for nearly everything, and if you don’t find what your looking for, start your own here.

The Next Big Thing

2009-08-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

The seven short films chosen by art and design collective Tomato from this years’ graduates show that in these dark economic times, filmmakers seem to be satisfying the public appetite for a little escapism.

Organised by Film Friends Forever, the selection of seven films contained elements of magic and surrealism, a mixture of quirkiness and poignancy.

Royal College of Art graduate Rafael Sommerhalder’s animation piece Wolves, set the tone for the evening - a tale of two lonely commuters on the tube becoming part of a lupine-esque mating ritual. The simplicity of the sparse black and white animation enhanced the humour as well as the painful awkwardness of the character’s interactions.

What followed was the sole exception to an otherwise animation dominated bill - London College of Communication’s Luke White's Tide is a dreamlike story of a father sending his son down a small tunnel, equipped with a camera to bring back footage from a place very different from the bleak, barren landscape they inhabit. Inter-spliced with 16-mm projections, its ominous, dramatic atosphere was reminiscent of sequences from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Helen Piercy of the National Film and Television School (NFTS) presented Goodbye Mr Pink, a mixture of live action and stop-motion animation in which two children, on discovering their pet rabbit has died, perform an amateur autopsy and imagine the afterlife in store for the eponymous Mr Pink. With elements of twee and the sinister combined, this film had a distinct Roald Dahl feel.

Another NFTS graduate, Li Marhaban’s film End of the Line is a stunningly crafted mixed media animation of a woman navigating a city, run down by hours of work and commuting. Beautifully evocative, End of the Line was tipped by Tomato as the pick of the bunch, followed by Seong Jun Lee of the RCA’s experimental animation Cityscape, which conjures up scenes of London through flowing layers of spidery line drawings.

The evening closed with two funnies. Yellow Belly Up, from Philip Bacon, also of the NFTS, depicted an assortment of people wearing animal suits jumping of a cliff, meticulously recorded by a bespectacled, bird-suited, jellybean-eating overseer. Comparisons can be drawn with the black humour implicit in the work of young animator David Firth, creator of Salad Fingers.

Lastly, David Lopez Retamero, again from the RCA, showed us Sam’s Hotdog’s . Hot-dog vendor Sam introduces us to his life, his girlfriends and his vicious pet bear. As well as sublime animation, the comic dialogue set thsi film apart from the other, less talky pieces and ensured it drew the biggest laughs and audience response of the night.

The animation and cinematography of the films is uniformly beautiful and highly impressive, but what is interesting is the total absence of grit or realism. While, as a society we are in need of a good cheering up, the occasional change of tone wouldn’t have gone amiss to avoid the tone becoming mono. None the less, independently, each piece is impressive and the creators are definitely ones to watch.

www.tomato.co.uk
www.filmfriendsforever.com

Stories of the Eye competition

2009-08-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

By Millie Findlay

Vice and Olympus have teamed up for a new photography project, where four ladies in the limelight use a camera to showcase hidden talents and create an interactive blog, allowing us a rare glimpse into their worlds.



Lovefoxxx's toes, Daisy's ginger boy with money, Alice and boy, Miquita's pool table shot. (Click any image to enlarge it)

In 1959, Olympus changed the face of photography with one simple idea: create a camera as easy to use and carry as a pen. Designed by renowned style guru Yoshihisa Maitani, the original Olympus Pen sold over 17 million units to become one of the most popular and trusted camera series ever. Now some of the UK's leading young women have been invited to take part in the relaunch, by choosing a theme for their own photographic blog which they'll then populate with pics taken on the new Olympus Pen.

Lovefoxxx, while renowned as the lead singer of CSS, the former illustrator and fashion assistant uses her natural creativity as she travels the world with her band. Model Daisy Lowe uses 'eye style' to take us behind the scenes of her fashionable world. Alice Dellal indulges her passion for photography, the model with the copy-cat inciting style offers us a glimpse into her life beyond the catwalk. London-based TV presenter Miquita Oliver uses 'eyeLondon" as a vehicle to take us on an insider's tour of her hometown.

Each will upload the photographs they snap on their Olympus Pens over the course of six weeks, giving us a privileged peek inside their worlds.

Mean while the public, you, us, anyone with a trigger finger, can browse through their photographs, and if they feel inspired, upload their own original snaps.

Lovefoxx, Daisy, Alice and Miquita will each judge the images uploaded within their own section, and picks their choice of images to be displayed on the website. At the end of the project each girl will chose one contributor to be displayed alongside the four celebrities in the Stories of the Eye exhibition. All the winners will also receive an Olympus E-P1, worth £699!

The exhibition will open with a typical VICE party bang, attended by industry insiders, press and special guests. Date and venue tbc.

See the story so far at www.viceland.com/storiesof theeye

Beyond the Valley: In The Blackout

2009-08-13T04:27:00.000-07:00

By Charley Barker

Creative collective Beyond The Valley’s recent adventure into short film for their AW09 womenswear collection follows the unlikely love story between a Victorian Dress and a Mechanic Overall.

In the Blackout tracks the bizarre progression in the relationship between the two items of clothing, light-heartedly representing the loss of class division. The motto of the film is that love is complicated, yet possible. A metaphorical look emerges - how the label progresses design graduates to generate products suitable for large-scale and international distribution.

The concept of the director Ian Bonhôte and Fernando Del Reginato who worked with puppeteers to create a dance between the two characters, then painstakingly airbrushed them out, screen by screen." Says one third of Beyond The Valley, Kate Harwood. "The Victorian dress was something we created especially for the film - we had to create an interesting and workable shape.”

Co-owners Jo Jackson, Kate Harwood and Kristjana S. Williams graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2003, and have worked hard under the moniker of Beyond The Valley to support and promote emerging new talent across the multi-disciplinary industry of fashion, art and design.

The treasure trove store houses a diverse range of original fashion, books, jewellery, illustration, furniture, wallpaper, design products and accessories. Ceramic Biscuit Boxes by Robert Archard, sit alongside Marissa’s gold rubber brogues and a hamburger bag, for the more obscure fashion addicts, by Hannah Havana. Beyond the Valley provides a space for designers to peddle eccentric, individual and quirky products – with no limitations.

The Beyond the Valley AW09 collection is based on the Victorian dress which featured in The Blackout. “The dress was one of our print show pieces for the season, and for that we had free reign." explains Kate, "It was a really interesting creative process; I worked as a costume designer before I set up BTV so it was nice to be back on set. To base a collection on a film character just came naturally. I design the clothes and Kristjana designs all the print work.”

www.beyondthevalley.com

Solenne Morigeaud

2009-08-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

By Millie Ross

This Parisian surface designer made the leap from the high end fashion houses of Paris to study textile futures at Central Saint Martins. Now, while setting up a business in France, Solenne is expanding her repertoire of surfaces from etched mirrors to a fascinating collaboration with a scientist.



(Click any image to enlarge it)

How would you compare studying in Paris to your time studying at Central Saint Martins?
In both places, the studies themselves were very creative. But in England there is a group spirit. People share their ideas, and are less individualist than in Paris. Also in Central Saint Martins, we are pushed to go far beyond our capabilities, and to challenge ourselves.They also prepare students much more to the business world than in France, by introducing them to former students and share experiences.

Are there any designers or art styles that have influenced your work?
I admire the artist Peter Callesen for his beautifully handmade paper work, Tokujin Yoshoka for the spiritual aspect of his work, Shinwei Rhoda Yen for the sad poetry of her dying table “Mushroom ate my furniture”, “ Limited funghi” by Katharina Mischer, “The tree trunk bench” by Jurgen Bey… I like the idea of playing with the life cycle of our objects and materials, questioning their durability and giving them a new life through a poetic process. I am also very inspired by decorative artistic movements, such as Art Nouveau.

What made you take the transition from the Parisian fashion world to the craft world of London?
First, the challenge: What could be more inspiring for a designer to try an experience abroad? Then the specialization: Although I studied both fashion and textile in France, I found myself solely working in the fashion industry. So the diversity that a textile designer should have was very restricted. I wanted to extend my skills, because I strongly believe in being multidisciplinary.

You've worked for some high end fashion houses including Christian Dior and Christian Lacroix what were your roles there and how did you obtain these jobs?
I was a textile embroiderer. I was working directly on the garments that were shown on the Haute-Couture catwalk. An amazing experience that taught me many skills and develop a very good eye!

The textile world in Paris is quite small. If you are studying textile and do some work placements, you start to create your own network. This network creates opportunities. Experience and a good portfolio are what every company is looking for when you come to present your work. I just tried my chance, and it worked!

How do your etchings and cuts reflect your fashion and accessory design background? Does this background impact the techniques you employ or the overall style?
I think I have indeed an embroiderer way of working in design. For my project “Smoke and Mirrors”, I was looking at the material “mirror” exactly like a piece of fabric. How would I dress it up? How would I ornament it? Also, a fashion designer has to check how his garment fits, how the cut is. He needs to have an overall view of his creation to see whether there is a detail that works or not. A leftover from my fashion experience… I definitely cannot deny (and do not want to) my fashion background.

You're a textiles designer that works with mirror and glass- does this place you in textiles field or interiors?
I am a surface designer, which means that I am working with every type of material, depending on the commission. For my last project, I was working with glass and mirror, and my aim was to work for interior design. But does that mean I am an interior designer? I do not think so. I could also have created jewellery from my samples. The textile area has a much wider range than working only with fabrics. It is applicable to any kind of material you can imagine, that is what makes it so inspiring!

Where did the inspiration for the Smoke and Mirrors project come from? And what process did you go through to create one of these mirror or glass designs?
The inspiration comes from old divination: Ink stains, clouds, shadows and smoke trails – coincidental patterns that create an unforeseen imagery. My aim when I was sampling was to create a magical and unexpected effect. I did hundreds of samples before finding the desired result!

What are you working on at the moment?
I am setting up my own company in France. So a lot of administration! Meanwhile I am working on a project called “Nobelini”. It is a contest in which a designer and a scientist are paired to work together on the creation of a new product. I am working with Marta Archanco, a scientist specialised in endocrinology. She studied two appetite-related hormones called leptin and adiponectin and its relation with reproduction, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London working to identify the complex interactions by which a hormone called thyroid hormone takes part in our body during growth and development. More details here and here

What would be your ideal job/ collaboration?
Sourcing old unwanted objects of the every day to give them a new life! I want to give objects longevity by creating an emotional attachment between our possessions and us.

Do you have any other projects or exhibitions coming up?
I will be exhibiting at the London Design Festival. At Tent, with the collective “Is this textiles?” and Mint shop.

More details of Solenne's shows on her website

See more of Solenne's work here

Memory Evaporate

2009-08-13T02:54:00.000-07:00

By Holly Willats

ottaContemporary has once again transformed the interior spaces of The Trafalgar Hotel with works by four young artists who, through use of found imagery, photography and analog film works, create surreal installations, exploring the moment of hesitation between the real and the fictional.



Sophie Turner, Feather Anchoring 2009, Sam Austen, All that is alive merely evaporates, 2009, Katherine Whittle-Williams, Flock, 2009, Richard Rawles, Beating Around The Bush 2008. (Click any image to enlarge it)

Whittle–Williams both reflects and confronts the limitations of photography as a medium. By reconfiguring and appropriating found imagery, she manipulates images into a reflective series that hopes to stimulate an awareness of time and space as a continuous entity beyond the work; reality is under question.

Meanwhile in the basement, Rawles explores an enchanted and twisted fairytale world of the lost or forgotten, the neglected or rejected and preconceptions and prejudices. His photographic series encompasses the space in enigmatic light, asking the viewer to look at the shadows that are left untouched. A response to urban landscapes that allow nature and beauty to rule and prevail, Rawles creates this fairytale world in order to question the validity and authority of these wisdoms of nature. By creating interplay between light and dark, Rawles emphasises a paradox that exists within the essence of nature.

Thirdly Austen, whose influences of early vaudeville cinema, surrealist films and analogue science fiction film, culminates in work that explores the ephemeral nature and physicality of analog filmmaking. Austen looks at a layered film making process by exposing sections of images over one another. Through illuminating psychedelic imagery the viewer is invited to permeate the borderline between the real and the imagined landscape and even question the possibility of mutation.

Sophie Turner’s installation allows physicality to challenge representation by merging found imagery, taxidermy and research-based methodologies with history from the Trafalgar area. Turner’s work looks at the notion of the objects tangible memory and through linking traditional craft’s such as taxidermy and cross stitch embroidery to moments of time, she questions how one can attempt to anchor such untangible moments and memory.

A fair amount to digest, which is why this is an exhibition that needs to be seen. So get down to Trafalgar Square and rather than waste time deliberating over the Gormley plinth – see some work that will really get your imagination going.

The Trafalgar

2 Spring Gardens Trafalgar Square London SW1 2TS

10 August – 10 October 2009

Fanny Bostrom

2009-08-13T02:51:00.000-07:00

By Esther Bradley

Our favourite Swedish-turned-New Yorker has us hooked on her treasure trove blog of fabulous found artwork. And while her enchanting fairytale inks and watercolours are hung and admired in the Swanfield Boutique, we get to know a bit more of this artist as she relaxes in her hometown.



(Click any image to enlarge it)

When did you move to New York? Was it hard to establish yourself there?
I moved to New York about five years ago. I was still modelling at the time but after about two years I jumped ship. It's always hard changing careers; it takes time and hard work and a big slice of luck.

How does the art scene in New York differ from Sweden?
I've mostly been exhibiting in America. I had my first solo in Sweden in May of this year. I loved showing in Sweden since that’s where I’m from. The art scene is pretty vibrant. I love Copenhagen as well; it feels like things are happening there.

How do you support yourself as an artist? Do you sell work or get many commissions?
Well this year has been kind of bumpy, with all the economic crisis going on everywhere. I think collectors are spending less money on emerging artists right now. Although last year was quite good for me, being a new artist and all.

Why did you decide to set up your blog?
I wanted to try it out, before it was more personal, but now it's morphed more into an art blog of people’s work I admire. It inspires me, it makes me search more.

How do you find and choose the artists featured on your blog? Is there something about them that draws them together?
No, it's just artists I like, that’s all, very simple.

Tell us about your work…what are your favourite pieces and where do you find inspiration?
Well, it differs from every show. My last solo show was in Sweden, where most of the inspiration came from old fairy tales, like H.C Andersen and The Brothers Grim. Also one of my favourite books is Master and Margarita by Michael Bulgakov-that was a big inspiration too. I used a lot of found old pictures for the show - I love searching through flea markets for unusual things.

My favourite pieces I’ve made always change but I usually have a special one from every body of work. From this recent one it was "I must be one of the devil's daughters"; that was the first painting I made for the show.

What are you doing at the moment? Are you working on anything in particular?
Right now I’m at my mums place by the seaside outside of Gothenburg. I’m reading, swimming and walking in the woods, fishing for mackerel and picking mushrooms, pondering what to do next.

Peruse Fanny's blog on jotta and see more of her work here

Together, At The Junction Live Performances

2009-08-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

By Esther Bradley

Check out video footage of live performances by a r a r sound experiments, featuring jotta member Vasco Alvo, and What They Could do, They Did, who’s ritualistic performance Chaplin Vs. Keaton, acknowledges Charlie Chaplin’s first performance in Elephant and Castle area.

Matt & Ross

2009-08-13T02:44:00.000-07:00

By Esther Bradley

Matt & Ross forged an ongoing collaboration when they met at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design. With a wealth of projects inspired by location and adaptation, the pair’s site-specific work for jotta’s Together, At The Junction exhibition is a modernist mutation for a dying mall.



The penguin donkey begins it's journey in the Lake District, then lands at the Elephant Rooms as elephant donkey! (Click any image to enlarge it)

'Charging Thunder "Duke-a-roo" Cavalcade', created for the jottaContemporary show at Elephant and Castle, is based around a furniture throwback of the 1930’s: A bookcase for the classic penguin paperback that looks a lot like a donkey, unsurprisingly nick-named, a Penguin Donkey.

60 years since it’s conception, the bookcase is still being produced for a mass market, contrasting sharply with the soon to be demolished shopping centre, widely regarded as a modernist design disaster.

In 1963 the literary pack-mule was transformed into several mythical creatures as a project run by Grizedale Arts, in the Lake District, where Matt is a resident artist. Here the design classic grew a head and tail and proceeded to eat grass in Lawson Park. After discussions with the directors of the company, Matt and Ross arrived at a new use for the Penguin Donkey.

Making it their site-specific, animal answer to the jottaContemporary brief, the duo have mutated the beasts further. Wearing elephant tusks and carrying a castle, they embody changes taken place through its migration to the new south London locale. At its core, the works reference escape and altering localities, particularly relevant to the Elephant and Castle area being a home for migrants and diversity.

Instead of literature, the Penguin Donkey-Elephant is stacked inside with slabs of Kendal Mint Cake, valued by mountaineers for it’s high energy content. Was this what kept it going on the long trip down from Cumbria? We like to think it served as a tasty reward for the explorer-visitors who found their way through south London’s infamous underground maze.

Check out Matt & Ross' upcoming shows here, and the Grizedale write up on the show here.

Get a Life

2009-08-13T02:43:00.001-07:00

By Stephanie Grace

The fifth team of collaborators in the great “This Is Why We Meet” experiment are a group of “attention-grabbing” London College of Communications students who are wondering: just how far are people willing to go?



(Click any image to enlarge it)

After a few days of discussion and deliberation between the four LCC students, jotta caught up with them just as they are poised to put their plans into action.

The dream team from LCC includes Yana Naidenov, a second year graphic design student specalising in interaction and the moving image, her previous work has been centered around human interaction and collective performance. Eleanora D’Acci, also on graphic design, Eleanora has chosen the typography pathway, and is interested in ideas, researching and testing. Recent graduate of the graphic design course, Daniel Camacho's final piece for university explored ideas surrounding barriers, borders and the passing of time. While the fourth person in the puzzle, Catarina Chaby is currently studying sound art and design and iikes to experiment with new technology. Through her practice Catarina creates virtual spaces through sound as well as recording live music and bands.

jotta: What have you been up to over the last couple of days?
Yana: “Monday was a workshop at Liverpool Street station, in teams we stood at a distance from each other and attempted to communicate an idea to the other team using only paper, pens and string. It was really hard, because the ideas were so abstract (truth and lies) but we got there in the end.”
Daniel: “It was a good introduction into the way we might work together.”

jotta: What did you think of the previous groups work so far?
Daniel: “I think that because we got to see people’s response, we wanted to go a step ahead, a step further.”
Yana: “Even though the other teams windows were bright and colourful, people weren’t necessarily stopping.”
Eleanora: “We wanted people to stop, to grab their attention.”

jotta: How are you going to do that?
Katrina: “by using the space in between the two windows”
How did you come up with your idea?
Yana: “we wanted to use the idea of the window display to invite you in, that’s why were going to use mannequins”
Eleanora: “we wanted to use the language of the place, we didn’t want the concept to be too abstract or that it could have been made anywhere, brick lane is a place you go to shop. Its about space becoming a place.”

jotta: What ideas do you hope to explore through this project?
Daniel: This project is not only about collaboration or interaction. 'Get a life' aims to take the project one step further and explore human dialogues and social participation.

jotta: What can the audience expect on Monday when your installation goes live?
Daniel: “We want to give people a new experience”
Yana: “We're looking forward to have some fun with it and see the public reaction.”

So if you're in the Shoreditch area next week and bump into some interactive mannequins on the street, don’t say jotta didn’t warn you!

Display: Monday 10th- Sunday 17th August
Private view: Monday 10th August, 6-9pm
WK LONDON
16 HANBURY ST
LONDON
E1 6QR

Elevator Gallery

2009-08-13T02:40:00.000-07:00

By Monique Jackson

Cherie Marie Viederfield is co-owner and curator of Elevator Gallery in Mother Studio building in Hackney Wick. Cherie tells jotta about the birth of Hackney WickED and her opinions on the rise of the area.



last image: by Rowan Corkill one of the artists exhibiting in "The Tomorrow People 2009" at the Elevator Gallery (Click any image to enlarge it)

Could you tell me about yourself, your role within the gallery?
I studied fine art at Central Saint Martins. I make sculpture, photomontage and also performance based work under my alter ego Snoozie Hexagon. After I graduated I was on the lookout for cheap studio space and a friend told me about Mother Studios. I took a space in the attic adjacent to a large project space that was to become Elevator Gallery, the rest is history.

What do you think are the primary objectives of Hackney Wicked? Mainly it is about fun. If it isn’t fun I wouldn’t be interested. It’s also about telling the world about the fantastic creative energy here. It’s a concrete paradise.

How do Elevator gallery fit into this? For the festival we will be showcasing the best of emerging arts graduates from the UK in a show called The Tomorrow People.

To what extent do you feel last year’s Hackney WickED was a success? Last year we came up with the idea of doing an art festival on a drunken afternoon at Ingrid Z’s. (Residence gALLERY). It was incredibly haphazard, we had no budget and only 3 months to organize but to our dismay thousands of people turned up and Time out Magazine dedicated an issue to it. They said that Hackney Wick was the new Shoreditch...hilarious!

With money coming in in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games do you think there’s a danger of the gentrification of Hackney Wick compromising what initially made it a great place for creatives to live and work?
No not at all. The Olympics is happening, we can’t stop it. It would be very foolish for a creative community to stagnate and not be creative. That would be a futile protest. If anything the festival lets the creative community stand their ground. It’s a really exciting place to be right now. None of us know how long it could last. We should celebrate the now whilst its its here.

What advice would you have for graduates and start up studios wanting to make Hackney Wick their home?
Get in quick. It’s a beautiful place, a really vibrant, young, tight-knit artist community. But the word is out, the waiting lists for studios here are growing, big time.

Mark Andrew Webber

2009-08-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

Mark Webber likes to carve into slabs of linoleum, and with a little lino-cutting here and a couple of hundred hours there, he meticulously crafts 30-seconds worth of fantastic carved animation, or as he’s dubbed it, linomation. Mark gives us some insight to his lino world, which graced the cover of Crafts Magazine and the pages of Grafik.

What drew you to working with linoleum for your carvings and prints, as opposed to carving wood or other alternative printing methods? 

Well, for one thing linoleum is softer than most other forms like wood. I have lots of joint problems (arthritis) especially in my hands, so linoleum works well, and the heat when I work with a heater on the lino feels great. It does not do my hands much good doing the carving, but I just have to keep doing it!   

Linomation is a very unique way of animating, how did you come up with the idea? 

Linomation came about because I have a love of animation and a love of my carving work and I saw no reason why I could not combine the two. It seemed to make sense to me, as carving produces lots of prints of the same image and animation uses lots of images that are slightly different.  

Typically, how long will one of your animations take to carve?  

It depends. It seems as though I always take things to “the next level,” as in the work is getting more detailed, with bigger frames, and no doubt if I did another one it would involve more frames too. The last linomation I did, for example, was about 500 hours, which was for a 30-second animation. Each frame was carved on a 10 cm squared piece of linoleum.

What’s the process you go through when you create an animated piece? 

Using a light box, I align the frames when drawing on the paper. Then I cut the linoleum to the size I need it. Since I’ve drawn the frames on paper, I can rub each frame onto the separate piece of linoleum, making sure to number each one as I go along. Numbering is very important due to the subtle differences each frame has. Then once transferred, the carving begins. After I will scan each lino carving or take a picture of each one. Once I’ve done that then I’ll animate the linoleum carvings, printing each frame. The last one was 297 frames and it took me two days in a print room to just get a set of one prints done. 

You also carve city maps out of linoleum, however instead of streets or picturesque landmarks you use words to indicate locations. Why do you choose to carve words as map detail? 

The places I was making a map of, which started off as New York, were made up mainly of all these important places—these can be the more well-known areas: museums, the cafes, the shops, the parks, and churches. I chose to use the words, the names of the places, because some people will not even know what these places look like, yet they will have heard about them and know the name. I also like typography, so using type to make a map in this way, using various typefaces, seemed right since lots of the places, museums and shops use various typographies for their signs. The maps are getting more detailed, like the linomations.

How did you get commissioned for the cover of Crafts Magazine? 

The Crafts Magazine came about because I got into the “International Society of Typography Designers” with the New York Map, which in turn got me featured in Grafik Magazine. Marcus Piper, who was hired to work on re-designing Crafts Magazine saw the New York Map in Grafik Magazine and emailed me about doing the Crafts Magazine front cover, the first one for the re-design, and I jumped at the chance.

By Emily Thomas

Aaron Rose: DIY Hero

2009-08-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

jotta chewed the fat with Aaron Rose, director, teacher, gallerist, musician, publisher and editor, and we’re sure there’s more he does in his spare time. Aaron talks about his film Beautiful Losers and the accompanying London exhibition, DIY London Seen, plus his recent adventures into experimental television and DIY teaching.

jotta: What sparked the idea to make BEAUTIFUL LOSERS?

AARON: There were some other people that wanted to make the film also. There was a lot of talk of making the movie and that the artists talked to each and decided that it would be better for us to make a film. If there was going to be a film, then the film should come from the art, from the artists and not from an outsider that might sensationalise some things.

jotta: Right, so there were suggestions by other filmmakers and producers?

AARON: Yeah, I don’t think really any of us wanted to be on the screen. It was just more like, either we did it or someone else was gonna do it and tell the wrong story.

jotta: Who did you make the film for?

AARON: Kids. I don’t think that young people are taught that they don’t need to follow the rules to succeed. And that’s kind of what the film’s about. So all the way through the editing process I was always thinking about what the kids were going to think.

jotta: Did you do screenings throughout with the kids? Or did you just kind of keep yourself in that frame of mind throughout the editing process?

AARON: We did maybe half a dozen screenings, all different audiences. Some were with old people, some were with young people. I realised through that whole process that iscreenings are crap! It doesn’t tell you anything. Especially the ones with the kids, you know? I believe you can just make a film and put it out in the world knowing you did a good job and people will watch. And it’s your vision.

jotta: So, these days the whole nature of the DIY ethos has changed completely due to the ease and immediacy of self-publishing. Where do you find the kind of DIY activity and this same ethos of creating work existing today?

AARON: In every bedroom, in every garage, every basement, every independent record store, every magazine rack in those independent record stores, in any city in the world. In laptop music. A noise band. Somebody who’s out writing graffiti, somebody who’s making exceptional art, with psychedelic patterns with Spongebob Squarepants in the middle of it. It can exisit in all forms, in all mediums. It’s funny, people like to talk about the internet and culture, the idea of things being human, I think that it just made it bigger. The advent of the internet actually really helped physical media, there’s been a massive resurface of vinyl records. But the internet has actually helped the DIY culture.

jotta: And do you think that this increase in DIY in other forms has also seen an increase in collective creativity or collaboration? Because it’s easier for people to connect basically?

AARON: I dunno if I’m qualified to answer that one for you. I can’t tell. I know that there’s a lot of people making, so many people that it’s mind-boggling. In all forms, in all mediums, in all ages. And as far as collaboration goes, I’m not entirely sure.

jotta: Was there a strong emphasis on collaboration amongst the artists in the film?

AARON: There was collaboration and there was competition. Like, someone would show up with a certain kind of brush to someone’s studio, and another person would say, “Hey I wanna use that brush.” It’s like with music, playing each others’ instruments and equipment. The real collaboration was more to do with supporting each other and helping to build each others work. It was understood that the more you push each other the more other people push you. It also came from trying to outdo your friends though- it’s rooted in one-up-manship, which I think is healthy!

By Millie Ross

Main Yard and the Wick

2009-08-03T03:49:00.001-07:00

Artist Simon Foxell lives and works in Main Yard Gallery, a tucked away artist run space in Hackney Wick. jotta caught up with him in the lead up to the Hackney Wicked festival to find out the ethos behind Main Yard and Simon’s thought on the future of Hackney Wick and its artist communities.

What is Main Yard Gallery and are they getting involved with this years Hackney Wicked?

Main Yard Gallery is an artist run space in a former print factory. The space is primarily used as a studio, but it is great having a large space to explore the exhibition/curation side of producing the work. It's useful as an artist to have an insight into the way exhibition spaces can alter the work, and what can be done with the spaces when there is no business element in place. While of course we wouldn't object to work being sold, that is in no way part of the concept behind the space. It is entirely focussed on the added freedom and experimentation that running your own space can offer. We usually invite other artists to show with us when we exhibit, and we don't impose any real limitations on what people show - we base our invitations on what work we’ve seen and people we consider to be good artists and then let them get on with it, so we never know exactly what a show is going to look like until its done.

We place great emphasis on curation, maintaining absolute freedom for the artists is very much part of the psychology on the space. We have plans for film nights, performance nights, and to perform plays written by friends - some writers, most not, just to play with the uses of an art space and really enjoy the process. We also want to have an exhibition of just one piece that is a collaboration between say 12 artists of all disciplines just to see what happens.It may well be disastrous, but that in itself could be interesting. We have the space, so we want to push its possibilities.

We are getting involved with Hackney WickED - it's a great idea, and also gives us the chance to be part of something bigger which is exciting. For our show for the festival: The Mountain of Fire and Miracles, we have said to the artists involved “This is the title, take it however you want,” so we really have no idea what to expect from some people. But we trust them....

What attracted you to work in the area?

I was lucky and listened to a recommendation. When I moved to London from Brighton I knew I wanted a live work space, and a friend of mine said "Look around Hackney Wick." So I did and loved it. Then I moved away for a while and ended up in Hackney Central. I came back to the Wick in January this year. Being back after some time has really made me aware of how good this area is. Not just working in close quarters with other artists which has so many benefits, but also that each warehouse is part of a larger network and by having it all on your doorstep you become more engaged. There are loads of artists living in Hackney Central, but they don't make their work there and they don't exhibit there. The Wick has both of those facilities, and it creates a stronger community. Also its hard to be lazy when people are making work all around you. I think its really important for development to feel like a small fish in a big pond and the Wick offers that. It makes me work so much harder!

For a newcomer to Hackney where are some good places to start?

Art-wise Vyner Street is a good one stop shop, then there are some great spaces in Bethnal Green and Mare St, and of course places like Schwartz and Elevator in the Wick, and James Taylor Gallery in Homerton. For socialising, the usual suspects would be the Dolphin on Mare St for late drinking, The Dove and Cat & Mutton on Broadway market, the Victory on Vyner St, and all of Shoreditch of course.

Is there still a squat scene here?

Probably, but very little these days. The squat scene was alive around here when it was just some shabby industrial estate without much industry actually occurring, and people owned buildings that they had kind of forgotten about. Now it's a shabby industrial estate well known for being full of artists who want to live in former industrial spaces, and no-one who owns a building around here is going to forget about it. I suppose it's 'artist gentrification', if that exists - enough artists move in and every owner of warehouse can market it to them and we lap it up. Our place has some DIY plumbing and no central heating, but we love it for the price and the amount of space, and the landlord doesn't have to lift a finger. With that kind of easy money on the table no-one is going to leave their building empty for more than five minutes, and the demand is so high for spaces in the Wick that they don't need to.

Does Hackney have its own creative ideology?

I don't know if it has its own ideology as such, but energy undoubtedly. It has the faciilities and the population to support all kinds of creative channels and ventures and when you have so many creative people living in one borough it keeps the momentum going. It's so hard to keep motivated when you are the only one doing it, and while it can be daunting to sit in London Fields on a sunny Saturday and think 'fuck, half of all these people here are probably artists', it's actually a great thing, because it keeps a buzz and an atmosphere that personally, I find very conducive to work.

I’ve read that your live/work space is being demolished in preparation for the 2012 Olympic games do you feel this reflects a wider problem and if so is this an unfair compromise?

YES it is unfair! Well fairness might not be the right way to view it – it's short-sighted and ignorant. As for the demolition, we don’t know what's going on now. There is a demolition order on the building, and it was meant to be pulled down last year, but it's gone quiet. We are hoping that as the Olympics are haemorrhaging money they have decided to make cut backs and we might be one of them. But it will go eventually. They don’t want people coming to London in 2012 and finding we don’t have air-con on the tube, that we haven’t pedestrianised as many streets as we should, or seeing what the East end actually looks like. The cool press is always wittering on about where the new Hackney is, is it Deptford, Peckham? Who knows. But there won’t be a new Hackney Wick because there isn’t the space. The new Hackney Wick will be a soulless cluster of cheaply and quickly constructed flats to make the area look more civilised. Buildings near by have already started to be demolished, and so many people are going to have to leave, because even the buildings that survive will probably become more expensive because of the new smartness of the area.

I hate that we are living in a city that has no interest or respect for its creativity until it becomes marketable and can be valued. Until then its worthless it seems. There are over 600 artist’s studios in the Wick, which apparently makes it the largest concentration in the world, and this isn’t worth keeping? That is part of the aim of Hackney WickED. The organisers want to raise awareness about the area, because there isn’t anywhere else that can support the number of artists there are around here and it deserves and conservation order.

Any advice to graduates and start up studios or gallleries who are interested in moving to the area?

Just do what you want. The only real obstacle to any of these things is procrastination. The rent we pay is the same or less that any room you're going to find in Hackney Central and if you want to start a space, find one, get a part time job to pay the bills and you're started. I quit my full time job because it was getting in the way of making work, and now scrape by part time, but its worth it to do what I want to do. I take no issue with people wanting more money and we all have to pay what we owe, but then tear the damn credit card up if causes you that much hassle! Finding warehouses that artists can afford to live in, in communities where other artists also live, is going to become more rare as time goes on, and while there is far from any guarantee that it will pay off, for me, or for anyone else that tries, we might living in the last stages of when this kind of thing is going to be easily possible, and you have to do it while you still can.

By Monique Jackson

jotta // This Is Why We Meet Twitterview!

2009-08-03T03:47:00.000-07:00

jotta conducted a live and open interview with the Camberwell College of Arts team on Twitter. We were sent questions from you, which we then posted to the team who were working away in their project space at Wieden + Kennedy.

Read the Twitterview on the jotta article!

Hackney's Wicked

2009-07-30T09:13:00.001-07:00

This weekend’s ‘Hackney Wicked’ arts festival will see the artists, galleries and design studios of Hackney Wick open their doors to the public for a host of exhibitions and events, with a Fete, performance art flashmobs, markets, music and parties pulling a crowd to East London’s most creative industrial outpost.
"We came up with the idea of doing an art festival on a drunken afternoon at Ingrid Z’s. (Residence gALLERY)." Says Cherie-Marie Veiderveld, co-owner/creator of Elevator Gallery, "It was incredibly haphazard, we had no budget and only 3 months to organise, but to our dismay thousands of people turned up and Time out Magazine dedicated an issue to it!"

Highlights include Taigen Kawabe’s performance at Elevator galleries in Queen’s Yard, a live music stage with over twenty acts in Main Yard off of Wallis Road, Dave Notarius’ ‘ARTSCREAM TRUCK’ a novelty mobile art gallery and the finale on Sunday, Harry Meadows’ Coracle Regatta boat race on the nearby canal and the ominous burning of the Wicker Man who’s location remains a secret.

Still in its infancy, after it debuted last year the festival received international billing from NY Arts Magazine as ‘the most vital art event of the summer’. A launch-pad for fresh talent and up and coming businesses, the festival provides both entertainment and an important cultural boost for London’s creative community.

On first impressions an industrial and desolate looking landscape, Hackney Wick provides much needed and affordable homes for the artists you are likely to be seeing at 'Wicked' 2009. The area is gaining a reputation for its DIY grassroots approach to the arts and creative industries, perhaps due to the hurdles inhabitants have had to overcome by its unconventional location. The A12 and neighboring canals physically cut the area off from the rest of the city. Not a typically picturesque place to live; disused buildings, baron spaces and smashed windows are ever-present reminders of its past and an explanation of its affordability.

Shoreditch tends to get the press as the home of London’s young creative scene, but contrary to its downbeat appearance there are clear signs that Hackney Wick is one of the true playgrounds of the new school, alongside South London’s thriving Peckham scene.

Large factory rooms provide perfect homes for shared open plan residencies for live/work collectives and independent galleries/studios, though quite unlike the suave refurbishments you would see closer to the city. An influx of artists have migrated over the last decade from an increasingly gentrified and expensive Shoreditch. The area has many high profile resident artists; the Chapman brothers can be spotted in the local ‘Wick Cafe’ and Gavin Turk will be involved in the ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday.

Local artist Simon Foxell says that artists also have “absolute freedom” to work as they wish when shows are hosted in their own live/work spaces, consequently they are able to dust off any anxiety towards selling work or pandering to a la mode tastes.

Unfortunately this “concrete paradise” won’t be around forever. What you’ll see this weekend is a fleeting moment in London’s history where artist’s, on a record breaking level, have utilised neglected properties, in many cases transforming lost industrial landscapes into homes and working spaces.

Zoe Klinger creative producer of Philpott Design admits it was the inclusiveness at Mother Studios which attracted her to her current studio “we searched for different setups in London and came across Mother Studios which was perfect because of the community”. Local intern and recent graduate from London College of Fashion Anja Diskin said she got her job through just being in the area, "I got a freelance pattern cutting job purely from a chance meeting in a Vietnamese Restauraunt."

There is an urge to get involved now, while there is still an arts scene here, as Cherie says "the secret’s out" since it would be "foolish" to think that the present artistic community is a permanant feature. So come down while there is still something to celebrate.

Hackney Wicked begins on Friday 31st July over the weekend till Sunday 2nd August. Hackney Wick train station is an overground tube station one stop from Stratford and five away from Highgate and Islington. The buses 26, 30, 236, 276, 488, 388. and
night bus 26 also pass through the area.

Visit, http://www.hackneywicked.com/ to find out times and locations for various events.

By Monique Jackson

Flight Of The Conchord's T-Shirt Design Competition

2009-07-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Shepard’s turned musicians Jermaine and Bret continue their adventures in the big apple in series 2 of Flight Of The Conchord’s. To celebrate its release design a Flight Of The Conchord’s T-shirt for the chance to win a trip to New York. Get ready to Folk!Flight of the Conchords is an award winning comedy that has gained cult Status with its mix of gormless banter and ironic musical wordplay. In series 2 New Zealand’s ‘fourth most popular folk parody act,’ continue their plan to become musical stars in New York.

New York- the land of the free, home to the brave, centre of bagels, hip-hop, Sex and the City, cheesecake and The Strokes. The big apple, where thousands of hopeful young stars flock to everyday in hope of becoming the next big thing. With this in mind, VICE is offering you the chance to fly out there for a weekend to remember for free.

All you have to do is design a Flight of the Conchords t-shirt and VICE will pick the winner on the 21st August.

To enter, click here

Flight Of The Conchord series 2 is released on DVD- August 3rd

The DVD is packed with special features including outtakes, deleted scenes and several featurettes including a mini documentary on the band's pursuit of fame, Dave's Pawn Shop Commercials' and a hilarious dance clip hidden ‘Easter Egg'.

By Stephanie Grace

jotta at The Legion

2009-07-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

jotta’s recent creative collaboration with The Legion saw a trio of artists projecting dreamy images around the venue, with many a free and dreamy cocktail floating about to muddle the senses further.jotta and friends swamped the popular watering hole and music venue on Old St in East London last week, kick-starting an ongoing residency during which jotta will give a platform to some of most talented creatives.

Illustrations by Nick Morely and Eoin Ryan, and photography by Gemma Land were chosen for their monochromatic, ritual fetish imagery, all elevated by a wailing live soundtrack from London trio The Rayographs. You can shimmy down to the regular Legion band nights to catch a glimpse of the artwork which will be projected across their walls until September, when jotta will deliver a whole new exhibition of work and anothe rnight of frivolity!

As you can see, we sure did pack the place out…

By Esther Bradley

Sarah Tse

2009-07-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

From a single lead tip flow images of tiny square robots, towering stacks of teacups, innocent woodland creatures, and sensuously blooming roses. The childhood images blossom for a fleeting moment on a plaster wall before they are whitewashed over for the sake of a new pencil-drawn project.

These transitory sketches of youth are the work of Central Saint Martins student Sarah Tse who uses her childhood experiences, travels and dreams as inspiration for her larger-than-life drawings.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, most of Sarah’s influences come from her time spent in China. The pencil drawings she currently creates are paradoxes inspired by childhood toys she once played with and patterns she saw during her internships.

“I was particularly impressed with the Chinese artists’ ability to capture different textures, surfaces and expressions,” Sarah writes on email. From those Chinese artists, she has drawn an array of paradoxical patterns and images that “produce a nostalgic, timeless, disturbing and sentimental ambience for [her] drawings.”

While pencil sketches full of fanciful textures and paradoxical shapes or creatures are Sarah’s primary form of art now, she started by dabbling in various art mediums that emphasized a different set of themes and subjects.

“In the past, my studio practice always started with a fixed agenda, like the metamorphosis of female adolescence or the Japanese porn culture,” Sarah explains, “For each agenda, I tried a medium, or a mix of different media, that would best illustrate its contents.”

Sarah started with oil portraits and then quickly moved on to other forms, each demonstrating a specific theme or message. She would use photographic collages, projected photos, and other combinations of art to portray the tension between childlike adolescence and feminine sexuality. Some of her early projects were used to convey specific messages, such as her pale pink booth installment with paper doll cutouts that was a commentary on Japanese childhood sexuality.

But the cutouts, booths, and pictures never seemed to fully inspire her, and Sarah’s art to never feel like her own. It was because of this lack of motivation that she transfered to the pencil drawings she currently creates. Through her sketches, Sarah is now able to manipulate the meaning of objects and change the way the world is interpreted.

“Drawing is the most basic and honest tool in visual arts,” she says. “[It] delivers well the fragile and timeless quality intended in my work.”

And so, seven years after her acceptance into CSM A-levels for Fine Arts, Sarah follows the influential footsteps of Mary Ryden and Zoe Mendelson by drawing dream-like visions from her childhood, though now she’s pushing the boundaries of illustration by expanding from canvas to walls and, eventually, furniture and floors.

“I use wall installments because pencil drawings on a wall produce a temporary yet powerful narrative,” she said.

Walls provide a canvas that lacks the vulnerability of paper, giving transitory quality similar in nature to dreams- a vital element for her drawings as Sarah seeks to create an alternate realm through her sketches; a world where people can escape reality and remain innocent.

Expect to see Sarah in September in a collaborative exhibition at the Jealous Gallery, as well as a solo exhibition in January 2010 in Manchester.

For more pictures of her work, go to Sarah's jotta Profile.

By Emily Thomas

Antichrist

2009-07-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Dark and startlingly beautiful, Antichrist moves slowly through a painful emotional landscape, traversing the rocky terrain between a couple as they attempt to navigate the bottomless well of grief and trauma that follows a child’s death.

For a director who has been accused of making films which centre around the manipulation of emotionally battered women by misogynistic male characters, Antichrist seems to be Von Trier having a giggle at these accusations by handing us one of the most graphic scenes in cinematic history: female self circumcision, a pointed and indulgent excursion into a misogynistic.

From the outset we’re led to mistrust Willem Dafoe’s character, 'Him', a therapist who takes it upon himself to counsel his wife after the death of their child. Deconstructing her grief, he is clearly manipulating Charlotte Gainsbourg’s 'She', using her pain and digging to the root of her fears in order to maintain a safe distance from his own grief, while exposing her to emotional damage.

However, despite the outrage and hype this film aroused at it's Cannes screening, it is really only the final 30 minutes of the film which require hand over eye censorship, for the first 50 minutes the painful aftermath of a child’s death is conveyed through a variety of powerful cinematic techniques. Von Trier deploys slow motion, sound and sharp then misty colours to excellent effect. He synthesises the physical symptoms of anxiety through heightened white noise and intense close ups. Slow motion is used throughout, creating a stop motion effect during dreamlike sequences, and the titles sequences marking each chapter of the film are bold and brilliant in their simplicity - chalk on sanded down piece of wood.

Antichrist is a dramatic departure form Von Trier’s dogma days, which deployed hand held camera’s, natural lighting and gritty realism. Once the couple journey into their woods, “Eden”, the cinematography becomes even darker and more beautiful, and frames throughout could easily become enchanting still photography.

The high production and dark fairytale/nightmare aesthetic he explores is reminiscent of Spanish director Guillermo Del Toro’s work in Pan’s Labrynth and El espinazo del diablo (The Devil's Backbone). The Grimm Brothers fairytale tangent could be further indulged when we contemplate the history of children's stories such as Snow White, who embodies both good and evil in women, as the wicked witch and Snow White are contsnatly shadowed by trail of forest creatures.

Antichrist sees Von Trier utilise quite conventional dramatic devices, such as the “turning point”, which sees our impression of each character take an about-turn, as mistrust for the manipulative husband is transferred to Gainsbourg, who’s paranoia and extreme instability becomes apparent when a diary is discovered in a hidden attic, and suddenly the focus becomes the dormant power of woman and nature - the two intrinsically connected. It’s a powerful and frightening film, with only two characters, all others mentioned (except for their son) remain invisible, faceless. It’s just the two of them and their genitalia doubles.

By Millie Ross

What Happens When Strangers Meet

2009-07-30T09:01:00.001-07:00

As Pat and Trevor’s collaborative experiment, ‘This is Why We Meet’ enters its second stage, jotta is invited down to meet the new team, an eclectic mix of designers from London College of Fashion. Join them for the opening tonight where you can, “Read the Directions and Directly You Will Be Directed in the Right Direction”.
Sat around a boardroom style table are four friendly women who have managed to transform an office space into an industrious workshop. Three of the four have just graduated from a one year course in footwear design at the Cordwainers college, armed with traditional tools they are busily shaping, cutting and re-working materials and fabrics from string to leather.

We're take clues as to how the final work may be shaped via their diverse backgrounds.

Kirsty White is an Australian landscape gardener. Her style is influenced by architecture, in particular Art Deco buildings and for her final piece on the course she designed shoes based on the dilapidated Battersea Power Station.

Hollie While is the second antipodean of the group and has a background in graphic design. Specalising in feminine shoes made with masculine construction she describes her style as “chunky and minimal.”

Self-confessed shoe fanatic Frankie O’Dowd originally studied criminology until she made the unusual step into men’s footwear. Interested in the craft of shoe-making, she recently created a traditional gents shoe embellished with a tongue-in-cheek pattern of the male member.

Yuliya Krylova brings something different to the group; a recent graduate from the Costume Design for Performance degree, she is the only non-shoemaker of the four. Originally from Kazakhstan, Yuliya is also a trained financial lawyer, and practiced in New York before coming to London to fulfill her passion for costume and dressing up.

The new team have their work cut out for them, having never collaborated together before, the girls have a week to get to know each other, come up with an idea for an installation to fill two empty shop windows and see it through to completion and private view. Although daunting, they seem to be loving the process: “You can bounce ideas of each other, come up with things you would have never come up with on your own,” says Kirsty.

They came up with their idea quickly yet are keeping it under wraps, and their daily blogging on the This is Why We Meet deliberately vague, with a few red herrings to throw you off the scent. They cite influences for this project from graffiti to a website that’s devoted to found objects.

As designers it was important for them to create something tactile, “We wanted to make something where the audience could collaborate, something really interactive,” explains Hollie. Their interest lies in what happens when strangers meet, how they communicate and creating a project that enables them to share an experience with each other, “making it possible for the public to actively engage with the window, to see to the other side,” says Yuliya.

We were curious to know their thoughts on the interactive and collaborative aspect of the project and Frankie's simple response rang in my ear like a revelation, “because people don’t want to be passive anymore.”

Tonight is the grand unveiling of the new installation as the London College of Fashion team's first piece will be revealed to the public. The work will unfold as the week progresses and passers by will have the chance to make their own mark.

Read, look and watch them at work on their live blog here

Display: Monday 27th July - Sunday 2nd August
Private view: Monday 27th July, 6-9pm
WK LONDON
16 HANBURY ST
LONDON
E1 6QR

By Stephanie Grace

To The Max

2009-07-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

Bouncing ideas of visual abstraction between cinemas and music festivals throughout Europe, filmmaker and media artist Max Hattler has already seduced the likes of Basement Jaxx and onedotzero with his arresting animations. In between receiving awards, teaching at Goldsmiths College and jetsetting to international VJ gigs, Max let's jotta in on the digital dream.

We certainly won’t be starved for innovative audio-visual delights this season. Max’s stage visuals for Basement Jaxx are currently on tour, his film Aanaatt is doing the festival rounds, various live gigs are planned throughout Europe and animation screenings in London are due in September. To complete this summer of madness Max’s next short film Spin will be finished by Autumn.

What is your background and how did you become interested in this field of work?
Growing up, I was always drawing and painting. When I got my first computer age twelve, I started manipulating and animating images digitally, but wasn’t thinking about film at all. Then I discovered the computer’s audio editing possibilities and spent most of my teens making electronic music. It was only when I came across an animation module during my BA at Goldsmiths, that it dawned on me that I could combine all these previously disparate interests into a singular expression through the medium of film! Doing an MA in Animation at the Royal College of Art really brought it all together for me.

What other artists do you admire and have influenced you?
Just a handful off the top of my head…Animators Oskar Fischinger, Robert Breer and Jan Švankmajer. Painter-photographer László Moholy-Nagy, product designer Hans (Nick) Roericht, and my composer dad Hellmut Hattler.

Are you driven more by the visual aesthetics or by the technological possibilities?
The computer is just a tool (the dominant tool, ok), and everyone uses it, from accountants to writers. Having said that, I must admit that I don’t know if I would be working with moving image if it weren’t for the computer. I don’t think I would have the patience or the funds to work with film and pencil. So in that sense it is technology that drives my creativity. But I try to make it my own, to use the technology to materialise my vision.

Do you find you are constantly retraining for new software and equipment in this industry? How does this fast-paced environment influence your creative thought process?
There’s definitely an element of constant retraining going on, I embrace the new. I tend to try new things with each project, to challenge myself and keep things interesting. But at the same time, I’m quite controlled in my approach. I try to constrain things conceptually as well as technically, and try to use these limitations as a way of generating ideas within them. Technology can be crippling in its promise of unlimited possibilities.

How does your work deal with political issues? You speak of finding a space between abstraction and figuration. Can you give examples of how this ‘space’ is realised?
My film Collision deals with the relationship between Islam and America (and by extension the UK). I felt that I wanted to make a contribution to the debate that was going on, but without taking sides or being finger pointing.

Abstraction can be an interesting tool in this regard. Abstractions of sound, image, and symbolism can open up a space that is far enough removed from reality in order to create critical distance, and reflection. But it needs to be recognizable enough to make meaning. I try to work with this concept of floating between recognizable and abstraction, pulling the viewer between specific and open-ended, between narrative and non-narrative.

You work across disciplines of film and live animation, do you have a preference or do you see yourself moving in any other directions in the future?
Since my MA graduation I’ve started taking my work into a live context, through audiovisual performance. Films are currently the most important part of my practice, but it can be a solitary and lengthy process, especially when working with animation. So doing live a/v work opens it up to something more immediate and adrenaline-driven, less controlled, more fun.

I really like how both outlets complement each other. The live performances allow me to travel to perform at festivals; this in turn helps my filmmaking. I also enjoy working with bands, and often, live visuals lead to music video or film collaborations, or vice versa.

Aanaatt (Teaser) from Max Hattler on Vimeo.

More of Max's films and tour dates can be viewed at:

http://www.maxhattler.com/

By Esther Bradley

Katherine Pont

2009-07-22T02:48:00.000-07:00

Katherine Pont, illustrator extraordinaire turned fairy-tale fashion designer, talks to jotta about cutting-edge collectives, creative collaborations and her latest venture, a pop-up boutique in the heart of Soho.
Katherine Pont is the designer behind clothing label 'Mine' and co-founder of the Swanfield Collective, along with womenswear designer Cecilia Hammarborg and couture cake baker Lily Vanilli. This July, Swanfield move from their East London home to the bright lights of the West End where they will be showcasing not only their own talented creations, but an inspiring array of upcoming designers and artists from jotta.

How and why did you start the Swanfield collective?
Cissi [Cecilia Hammarborg] found a space in east London on Swanfield Street, and thought it would make a great shop space, so we got together and started plotting for our pop. The Swanfield collective grew from there, inviting friends and designers to showcase and sell their wares leading up to Christmas.

There are natural collectives that form within friends doing the same things, but with Swanfield we wanted to push this merge between art, music and fashion so we host musical events as well as exhibits. Lily Vanilli also bakes a mean cupcake.

Running your own business is tough, so in this tricky time it makes sense to join forces and co-inspire each other to keep making, baking and designing.

What do you think about the new craze for pop-up boutiques?
I think the temporary nature of them makes them quite sought-after. Retail can be a ghost town too, so there are little boxes out there waiting to be shops. With Swanfield Pop-Boutique we are re-thinking things to create an inspiring and inviting space where customers can buy from the designers themselves, and drop in for acoustic gigs and events. So shop for a new frock, gorge on a cupcake and listen with your eyes too.

How important is collaboration to you and Swanfield?
You fall into natural collaborations within the creative industry, and borrow inspiration and influence through these working relationships. I really like the crossing of disciplines from art and design to fashion and music, these creative modes inform and inspire each other, and that is what is happening amongst those involved with Swanfield. Times are a little tough money wise, but there is always room for pretty things.

Official Launch Date and Party: Tuesday July 21st

Lily Vanilli Cake Party (featuring edible cake sculptures, think Hansel and Gretel meets Marie Antoinette!): Thursday August 6th

To read more about the Swanfield Pop-up Boutique click here

To see more of Katherine’s designs click here

By Stephanie Grace

You Turn Us On

2009-07-22T02:45:00.001-07:00

jotta popped in to see the first stage of This Is Why We Meet at Wieden + Kennedy’s Big Brother-esque project space. There the affable and ever-so bright Chelsea College of Fine Arts team gave us an exclusive peek at their work in progress, an interactive mechanical installation which will launch with a bang (literally) on Monday June 20th.We sat down in a bean bag to ask the team a bit about themselves and what kind of work they make:

Grace Schofield – “I make film and performance , for my final degree show I showed a film of a collaboration with a friend in railway arch – we created the appearance of chemistry experiment, with dry ice and random chemicals. It was about the farce, we were just playing for the visitors who came and thought we’d set up a chemistry lab.”

Hannah Newell – “I do sculptural instillation, my final work was about reanimating public space. I built a bridge and a pathway, with scaffolding up building at Chelsea college, people taking up public space.”

Daniella Kemal – “My area was photography, and my work looked at how people behave in front of a camera. I invited people to undertake activities in front of camera, I was trying to capture honesty, but then began to question whether it was the event or documentation which was of more interest. So I became interested in interactive installation because it brings together people who might not have normally come together. And I love the title!”

Kiwon Hong – “I’ve been making large scale kinetic mechanisms, brightly coloured and moving objects. In the brief they mentioned sculpture and drawing – so I thought it would explore those disciplines, but it’s turned out to be much more crazy and really amazing!”

After being plonked in their think tank, how did the quartet begin the process of concocting an interactive sculptural instillation, which was to be placed in two opposite facing windows on a busy East lodnon street in less than a weeks time?

Daniella - "It was really difficult to figure out what we wanted to do. We did know thatb wanted it to be an action and a reaction, giving the public some control and the privilege of experience."

Grace - “Went through a lot of ideas,and actually the first few we came to we said "Oh ok that works”, and then we spent a long time figuring out what interaction meant."

In the first days Pat and Trevor (aka Joe and Jimmy), gave the team some exercises, team building style activities which encouraged them to think creatively and collaboratively, to interact without words, with each other and with the public.

Hannah - “We went down to Liverpool Street station, the two pairs got a word which we had to express without voice, but using paper and string!”

Daniella – “Ours was peace so we cut out flowers and gave them to people who we hoped would pass the other team to show them”
Hannah - “And we guessed because ours was war!

Now they’ve come to the technical stage, which involves building prototypes with tape and wheels, in order to pinpoint any major problems. The tight timescale means they’ve played on the interaction element of their installation, more than fine details of the “machine”.

A panic button moment came when the four texted Joe with a “phone a friend” SOS, pleading for tech help. Thus they were gifted with Nico, Wieden + Kennedy's technical man and the groups mentor and saviour.

So while still not entirely sure what team Chelsea have in store for us come Monday eve, we do know that there will be mobile phone number on display, so when passers by call one of the many Nokia donated phones, this will trigger the activation of their kinetic sculpture. So we’ll have fun calling from the comfort of home and watching on their website the reaction of innocent bystanders to this mysterious balloon bursting machine.

“It’s almost like putting 30p in a slot,” Says Joe, the proud co-curator, “like a carnival machine.”

Comparing it to the hair-brained invention cartoons of Heath Robinson, Joe says, “It’s kind of like going back in time to when the wheel was an exciting invention.”

"We want to do a 'Winner of the day', in that game show, tacky glitter style", says Daniella excitedly.

Grace agrees, “We want it to grab people’s attention.”

And from the snippets we’ve just gleaned, this wheel-turning, balloon-bursting, glittery phone-ringing concoction will do just that.

Come see for yourself.

Display: Monday 20th - Sunday 26th July
Private view: Monday 20th July, 6-9pm
WK LONDON
16 HANBURY ST
LONDON
E1 6QR

Track the blogs of each team with regular video updates here

By Millie Ross

The Best and Brightest of New Designers

2009-07-22T02:33:00.000-07:00

jotta went along to New Designers 2009, a massive culmination of the best graduating textiles, applied arts, ceramics, metalworks and jewellery design students, and we liked what we saw. We plucked just a handful of the artists on show whose work dazzled us.

(piece titled "Resonate II" by Emmeline Hastings)

In addition to being a metalworks graduate from the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Emmeline Hastings sings and plays the guitar. Performing and the music produced gives way to her other art—metal that recreates the movements and vibrations of sound.

What or who inspires you? It is the movements and vibrations of sound and music that I try to show in my work, but I am also inspired by the science of ‘Cymatics.’ This is the science of seeing sound in natural substances like water and crystals. The shapes and patterns that emerge are mind-blowing.

Is there a particular metal that you enjoy working with the most? And why? I use stainless steel because of its springiness and reflective qualities but it is not easy to work with because it is so hard. I have also used silver in my work and its malleability is a refreshing change from stainless steel. However, I like the combination of the two.

What are your plans now that the show’s done? I’m taking part in a residency to keep access to a workshop and develop the work. I hope to complete a much larger piece, and maybe obtain some funding to realise these ideas or work by commission.

At Edinburgh College of Art, Karen Mabon was amongst only 11 who studied Jewellery and Silversmithing. Although, instead of working in precious metals, Karen chose to manipulate plywood into fun, toy-like pieces of jewellery.

What inspires your jewellery designs? It’s something that changes every day. My degree show collection was inspired by a number of things, ranging from my first visit to Berlin to the greyhound races in Glasgow to the time I met Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. I am inspired by artists who share my interest in interpreting and manipulating reality; photographer Tim Walker, David Hockney, and filmmakers Pierre Huyghe and Aeronout Mik.

Do you incorporate the same detail and style from your 3D boxes in your jewellery as well? Yes, definitely. To be honest I don’t really see myself as a jeweller! I have quite an interdisciplinary attitude towards design and believe every aspect of a product should be equally considered. I love the colours and typeface of graphic and packaging design from the 1950s, and hope my own work conjures up similar connotations. My work is quite playful and toy-like, and I think the packaging contributes to that. I want people to instantly warm to it.

Do you have any plans for the future now that the show’s done? In September, I start an MA at the Royal College of Art in London, which I’m really looking forward to. I’m not sure how my work will change when I go to the RCA, I’m considering venturing into film.

Rebecca Vernon, a recent ceramics graduate from Bath Spa University, likes glass. She especially enjoys the way light reacts to glass, a phenomenon she tries to recreate in her clay pieces.

Are there other mediums or artists that inspire you? I got my initial inspiration from the V&A glass section. I also have a bit of an obsession with overly ornate cut glass, I love getting up ridiculously early on a Sunday morning and going to car boots to buy other people’s junk. I love the playful qualities of light on the surface of the glass, which is something I try to capture in my work.

Do you always carve your sculptures or was that just for your tea set piece? I came to carving by accident, I was making something and it had dried out too much so that it wasn’t malleable anymore. I start to cut into it out of frustration in order to refine the form. I thought this was the perfect way to translate the qualities I love from cut glass. Since then I have spent that last year and a half trying to refine this technique.

What do you plan on doing now that the show’s done? I’m currently looking to buy a kiln so I can get going independently and make some more work because I feel there is a lot of energy behind it at the moment. I keep on having ideas of how to expand and improve, and I don’t want to lose the momentum I have built up.

A recent textile design graduate from the small-town Loughborough University, Jenny Appleton uses current British figures and culture as inspiration for the modern wallpaper and furniture prints she creates.

Tell us something interesting about yourself. I asked some of my friends and they all said that I have an uncommonly loud laugh that penetrates walls. Cheers kids. On another note, I live on a farm and, growing up, I had a pet sheep named Winston.

What or who inspires you when you design? I’m inspired by all sorts, really, from music and art to places and people. Primarily my work’s about current British culture mixed with antiquated traditions, however it’s all very personal to me and is based on my views and experiences. It’s really just an amalgamation of everything that interests me right now.

What do you plan on doing now that the show’s done? Now that the show is over I plan to continue working on some new wallpaper designs and furniture pieces as well as finding some sort of way of commercially hand printing my wallpapers. I’d love to see a few shops stocking the wallpapers.

New Designers 2009

By Emily Thomas

jotta Lands at the Legion

2009-07-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

jotta launches an ongoing residency of jotta artist exhibitions at music venue The Legion, beginning with the monochromatic, graphics and photography of jotta members Nick Morley, Eoin Ryan, and Gemma Land.

(piece by Gemma Land)

In a music and art collaboration, the Legion and jotta have joined creative forces. While the Legion provides the music, jotta will be sourcing artists for bi-monthly exhibitions. To start off this partnership, three jotta artists have been chosen for the first showing on Monday night.

Nick Morley, a London artist and illustrator, will be showing off his monochromatic illustrations alongside Irish illustrator and designer Eoin Ryan and London photographer Gemma Land.

Nick's work has been featured on the book covers of Penguin and Faber & Faber, and inside the cult illustration compendium Le Gun Magazine. Focusing on masculinity, heroism and human achievement, his work features blackly humorous images of hunters, wrestlers and bearded men.

Eoin has recently graduated from Camberwell College of Arts where he studied illustration. In addition to his muted geometric illustrations, Eoin animates his drawings, with one being screened at the BFI as part of the onedotzero Adventures in Motion Film Festival.

Gemma is completing her last year at London College of Communication, Masters in Photography. Her photographs depict bourgeois and idyllic suburban real estate, and center around the origins and history of residential architecture.

Joining the trio of jotta artists will be Amy Hurst (drums), Astrud Steehouder (guitar and vocals), and Jessamine Tierney (bass and vocals)- who make up The Rayographs. The Rayographs base their songs on ideas such as the "dark blue cinematic lynchian atmospheres" and "stark impressions of strange histories." Their live performance at the Legion on Monday will coincide with the release of their new single, ‘Francis’.

Together the three jotta artists and the Rayographs will be exploring themes of darkness and dreams in the brick alcoves of the Legion, starting off a great new bi-monthly trend.

Come join us at the Private View next Monday July 20th 7pm - 10pm at The Legion.

By Emily Thomas

THIS IS WHY WE MEET - Week 1

2009-07-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

And they’re off! Six teams, six colleges, six mediums and six installations. We have exclusive video footage of the first team, Chelsea College of Fine Arts on their day 1 and 2 in the project space.

After an intensive week of careful considration and lots of pieces of paper flying about, Pat and Trevor (aka Joe and Jimmy), and Laura Vent of Weiden + Kennedy selected the teams - 4 students from each college within the University of the Arts London - who would become part of a collaborative team and work together intensively for a one-week period prior to installation of their work.

The Chelsea team is made up of artists Kiwon Hong, Daniella Kemal, Hannah Newell and Grace Schofield. Their first day in Weiden + Kennedy's project space saw them getting to know each other through workshops, brainstorming sessions and pool tournaments.

DANIELLA INTERVIEW 1 from Pat And Trevor on Vimeo.

This is one of the activities the Chelsea team got up to yesterday.

INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP 1 from Pat And Trevor on Vimeo.

Check out more of the fun on their blog

By Millie Ross

BEAUTIFUL LOSERS

2009-07-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

BEAUTIFUL LOSERS reveres the inspirational energy and DIY nature of a group of artists who emerged in the early 90’s from the now notorious Alleged Gallery. Your artwork could share the walls with the films artists at the London premier.

The documentary's director Aaron Rose founded Alleged through a disenchanted backlash against the exclusive ‘ivory tower’ of the art world. From derelict shopfront to youth hang-out, the four walls of Alleged served as a make-shift home for breeding young creative spirit.

Forever on the brink of eviction, the gallery continued to pump out art shows that gave vocal chords to a street sub-culture of punks and skateboarders, kids with nothing to do except make their own kind of art in their own anti-art school way.

Five and a half years in the making, BEAUTIFUL LOSERS tells the history of the scene through 11 key artists who came together at Alleged and are now famous in their own rights. Harmony Korine, who gained recognition for writing the film ‘Kids’ at just 19 and has recently premiered his latest film, Mister Lonely at Cannes; Barry McGee, a leading graffiti artist in the subcultures of California; graphic designer Geoff McFetridge who is commissioned by Nike and Stussy, and ex-pro skater and artist Ed Templeton, founder of skateboarding company Toy Machine.

The documentary digs up old super 8 home-video, threads together indepth interviews from throughout the years, interspersed with illustrative animations, art work and early films by the artists. Towards the end of the film the artists contemplate the inevitability of emerging from the underground. Finding themselves in a popular culture and being sought after by high-profile galleries, many felt the pressure to sell out to advertising moguls-many of who were their peers in the street art scene, converted into corporate cool-hunters.

Now in their 30’s and 40’s footage of the artists in their homes and studios show a developed clarity to their individual styles, a greater appreciation of each other’s work and collaboration. Although their lives have panned out in different directions, they all share the same insight on what it means to be given a chance as a inner city kid and to express themselves as exactly that.

"It’s your duty to tell your story in a different way." Wise words from the ever-eccentric Harmony Korine.

THE COMPETITION -

Submit your original art work for a chance to exhibit alongside these hugely influential artists as part of the exhibition to coincide with the release of the film!

jotta have teamed up with the filmmakers who will curate a London exhibition featuring artists from the film.

Your work could be selected to exhibit alongside them, to be seen by luminaries from both the art and film worlds who will be in attendance!

SUBMIT YOUR WORK HERE

BEAUTIFUL LOSERS will open exclusively at the ICA from August 7th and will be out on DVD on August 24th.

losermovie.co.uk

By Esther Bradley

Swanfield on Tour

2009-07-14T05:21:00.001-07:00

Imagine a one-stop shop for everything you love about London- its fashion designers, its art, its music… and its food. Swanfield, East London’s favourite Pop-Up Boutique is going on tour and jotta are joining them for the ride.

The best things in London at the moment are transient; blink and you’ll miss the pop-up shops and galleries taking temporary residence in the most unlikely places. jotta are once again bringing you to the cusp of the next big thing- a travelling department store full of local designers, artists, musicians and bakers all under one roof.

From mid-July to September Swanfield will be taking up residence amongst the cobbled streets of Newburgh Quarter in Soho, in a creative hub of activity.

The space will be overflowing with new designs from a flock of young London independants fashion and jewellery designers (many of whom are jotta members), in the Swanfield wardrobe where new and vintage fashion sits alongside jewellery and accessories from labels including Mine, Cecilia Hammarborg, Milena, Ava Dollskull, Maaike Mekking, Max & Che, Karin Andreasson, Bunnies Forever, Luladot, and Stansfield for men.

Hungry after all that shopping? Cozy up in a comfy corner and sample the homemade delights that Lily Vanilli has produced including her legendary bespoke cupcake service.

After helping to curate artists in the original Swanfield pop-up in east London, which ran from last Christmas to this Spring, jotta are chuffed to be joing Swanfield collective again to showcasing a stunning trio of upcoming female artists; Fanny Bostrom, Maureen Gubia and Katy Smail.

For the launch Swanfield and jotta will be hosting the debut London exhibition of work by acclaimed New York artist Fanny Bostrom. Fanny's dark, dreamy paintings and whimsical papercuts have been curated into galleries for solo shows in New York and Stockholm.

Read Fanny's blog stream on jotta, for which the New York based Swede tirelessly updates us on amazing artists she encounters on her travels, and see more of Fanny’s own work here

To see more of Maureen’s work click here

To see more of Katy’s work click here

If you thought the fun stopped there, guess again, as late nights on Thursdays will see Swanfield host a selection of eclectic musical acts, events and performances from the likes of Johnny Flynn, Oh Ruin, Serafina Steer, Josh Weller and more.

Official Launch Date & Party:
Tuesday July 21st
Lily Vanilli Cake Party & Press Day:
Thursday August 6th

For more info on the Swanfield gang click here

By Stephanie Grace

We're All Going On A Summer Holiday

2009-07-14T05:19:00.000-07:00

Always wanted to go to Venice Biennale? Why not take 100 of your closest friends too? That’s what South London art collective LuckyPDF did for the field trip of a lifetime. Watch the fun here.

Peckham Internationale in Venice from Jack Foxton on Vimeo.

In early June of this year LuckyPDF launched the Peckham Internationale, a project inspired by the local Hannah Barry Gallery and their show entitled The Peckham Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. With the help of fellow South London collectives The Sunday Painter and members of Off Modern, LuckyPDF encouraged and mobilised a group of over a hundred peeps from the the artistic community in Peckham and London to travel to the Venice Biennale as a large flash excursion/holiday.

"What makles our events and parties special isn't necessarily the bands or dj's, but the atmosphere and the people there." Says Oliver Hogan, one quarter of LuckyPDF.

Originally they planned to hire coaches and envisioned a road trip of epic proportions,eventually practicality prevailed and the gang of one hundred flew to the Italian art capital. "The aim was just to get everyone there,. we coordinated a timetable so thta we were all in certian places at the same time, one meal had 70 people eating in restaurant on Campo Santa Margherita, it was kind of like team building, though that sounds crap! Everyone was aquaintances, and now we're a real community."

The Peckham Internationale hasn't stopped there and are planning for a second venture abroad this Christmas, to keep informed you can join the mailing list at www.luckypdf.com.

By Oliver Hogan

Atma

2009-07-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

A row of ghostly figures stand heads bowed, an army of faceless workers, a tunnel dwelling fleet of clones entwined by their briefcases. Painter and street artist ATMA’s recent mural sat in the depths of Tunnel 228, the collaboration between innovative theatre group Punchdrunk, The Old Vic Theatre, and Pictures on Walls – Banksy’s art collective.

Atma’s wall mural, Metropoli Souls, was one of an impressive roster of international contemporary artists selected to partake in this extraordinary combination of theatre and contemporary art. The Toulouse born artist’s work sat alongside work by acclaimed artists Alistair Mackie, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Paul Insect and Polly Morgan, all housed in the maze of Victorian vaulted tunnels underneath Waterloo Station.

Sealed from the world of the city above for many years, it is fitting that Atma’s work would reside in such a locale. A nomadic city dweller, Atma’s paintings have found home on the walls and allies of streets across Europe and North Africa.

Atma’s work began in the underground street art scene of Toulouse alongside the likes of internationally acclaimed artists as Miss Van, CeeT, Tilt, and Der. Here his Black and White series Faces from the New World took shape.

The work Atma did in Barcelona adhered to a palette of black and white. Striking, minimal and evocative, the billboard-sized portraits drew inspiration from the black white iconography of jazz and hip hop. A two-year stint in Morocco found the artist painting diptychs of the North African sand dunes and exhibiting new dynamic and spiritual work in the galleries of Rabat .This brought him to the attention of the cities wealthy elite and led a canvas being bought as a wedding present for the king of Morocco. The following week an aid was sent to purchase further work for the Royal family.

Unsurprisingly, from there his reputation flourished.

Now a London resident the artist paints and creates collages from meticulously compiled collections of newspapers, receipts, tickets and packaging with images sourced from his own photography.

“Since living in London I collect everything from my life, this culture is so dependant on consuming, in the consumer game you keep asking for more. In my work, everything I use I have consumed.”

Atma has recently turned his collage to portraiture with subjects including Gordon Ramsey and Chris Eubank. His latest piece for Kevin Spacey currently adorns the wall of his office at the old Vic.

Atma has adopted a method of creating work which entails completely absorbing an environment. Just as he immersed himself in the culture of Rabat, through painting life and the desert and in Barcelona through literally painting the streets, Atma explores the very fabric of a place through materials and waste it expels. And in the case of the stunning and immersive Tunnel 228, going underground.

Atma is currently working on additional portrait commissions and plans to explore further collaborations with like-minded artists at other unusual locations. New themes for his work are evolving; social commentary will be one of them, while working with the underprivileged is also of great importance to him.

By Millie Ross

See more of Atma's work here

For sales enquiries, commissions and exhibitions please contact his agents at: sananguatavut@googlemail.com

High Diving

2009-07-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

In the lead up to the monumental sculpture show in Peckham’s multi-storey car park, jotta followed the making of Theo Turpin’s structural diving board tower and glass plunge pool - an allegory to the risks and balancing acts of being an artist.

As our behind the scenes footage is testament, jotta member Theo Turpin’s sculptural work 'Between You and I', which was given the space to be born and grow to monumental proportions by the Hannah Barry Gallery, has weathered all conditions on the roof of the South London eerie concrete tower.

Now open to the public for ascension and admiration until September 20th, all those months of hard grafting and waiting on the edge have finally paid off.

By Esther Bradley

Cover Art Lives

2009-07-09T07:49:00.001-07:00

With the rise of the Internet came the onslaught of the mp3. It devoured record companies and turned everything digital. Well, not quite. Hard Format has dedicated its time to preserving and celebrating vinyl, CDs, and other tangible forms of music through the cover art that went with them.

"Everybody's talking about the end of physical media. Digital distribution is incredibly convenient and there's no doubt it will be the dominant format, but there's definitely still a place for beautiful, engaging design. Hard Format celebrates our love of that." Writes Colin Buttimer, co- founder of the wonderful online archive of great cover designs, "We publish a weekly update on a chosen cover design and are gradually building up pages on key designers, labels and personal, themed collections."

Hard Format's Top Five Favourite Covers

Kraftwerk, Autobahn (Vertigo)
Absolutely iconic design, beloved of Peter Saville as well as ourselves. No one knows for sure who designed it either! Here's a link to the cover.

Kruder & Dorfmeister: K&D Sessions (!K7)
This was the subject of our first post on Hard Format. It was a CD sold off by a local library - we chose it because of the wear and tear it shows from its many listeners. It's like a talisman for Hard Format. See the CD here.

Albert Ayler: Ghost Box (Revenant)
The box, cast from the original owned by Albert Ayler himself, contains all sorts of memorabilia, seven CDs, a beautifully designed book and a dogwood flower, the artist's favourite. Can you believe a piece of record packaging could bring a tear to the eye? This one did. Take a look at the box.

Chain Reaction
We adore the utilitarian beauty of the first eight releases on Chain Reaction, arguably techno's most important label, even if they did sometimes shatter the CDs inside. Here's a link to it.

Money Will Ruin Everything (Rune Grammofon)
There's a little message inside that says "This book is a record cover". Rune Grammofon are exemplary in their love, style and dedication to brilliant new music. Peek inside.

By Colin Buttimer

Anthropologie: Crossing the Pond

2009-07-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

Whimsical, bohemian with a penchant for discovery, US fashion and homeware purveyor Anthropologie are spreading their wings and coming to the UK, with some exciting and incredibly creative job opportunities up for the taking.

Anthropologie prides itself on the creative décor of each individual store. Each of its 120 stores scattered across the United States are situated in architecturally diverse buildings and exhibit continually evolving and innovative window displays.

In 2007, the New York City store on Fifth Avenue exuded a Princess and the Pea atmosphere as it stacked its colorfully patterned bedding into a haphazard tower of comfort. While in 2007 the New York’s Rockafeller Center store surrounded a yellow sundress with partially filled plastic bags accentuated by green leaf cutouts. The Anthropologie theme? Self-sustainability.

Now this lifestyle opus with an emphasis on exploration and creativity is beginning its expansion into Europe, with London as the gateway.

Although Anthropolgie sells in over 150 location across the States and online, the company continually strives to maintain an individual identity. The largest purveyor of decorative antiques and found objects in the United States, this ethos is seen in their choice of buildings for their UK sites. Two architecturally distinct buildings: a grand and beautiful old building on Regent Street and the historical Antiquarius building on King’s Road.

Reflecting the chequered past of the King’s Road Antiquarius building, Anthopologie plans to recreate the grand hall that once served as a gentlemen's club and pool hall. As well as preserving the history of the sites, the two stores will also represent the local London environment by “incorporating reclaimed materials and featuring work by local artists and artisans.”

While the company has chosen two grand old buildings and ensures the preservation of London culture, what is really exciting are the immersive windows and interiors that will be unveiled in September. Like their U.S. predecessors, we can expect to see the creation of another world for each store.

If you'd like to be part of this creation and are an artist, design or maker with great ideas and making know-how, jump into the jotta marketplace to read more about the roles of Display Co-ordinator.

Snapshots from Manchester Metropolitan

2009-07-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

Up north, Manchester Metropolitan University exposed the work of over 30 photography students who delve into dramatic landscape, intimate portraiture and eerie still life.

From landscapes to close-ups, black and whites to the brightly hued, the BA Photography degree show at MMU revealed a broad scope of student talents.

Photographers such as Alan Joiner and Elliot Kennedy developed and displayed a group of images focused around specific themes, while Olga Rozenbajgier, focused on capturing isolated figures and close relationships. To create this atmosphere Olga chose to create realities using actors and contrasted that against images of her family.

On the other hand MMU student Stephanie Johnson chose to center her images around the surrealism of fashion and filled her lens with close-ups and details about the fashion process.

For more pictures by these artists as well as shots from the others on display, go here.

By Emily Thomas

Ellie Bunston

2009-07-07T03:31:00.000-07:00

After shooting an impressive range of short films, cinematography graduate Ellie Bunston has developed a knack for capturing contrast lighting, imbuing her work with a sense of danger, thrill, and loss that would be otherwise imperceptible.

What or who inspires your work?
There is no particular cinematographer or director that inspires all my work; all my films have been so different. I really like to research each film differently - though there are the classics that first got me thinking about cinematography, films by Robert Yoeman, Bruno Delbonnel and Roger Deakins. I really like the more experimental filmmakers like Michael Gondry and Tacita Dean.
How did you find your time at the University College for Creative Arts?
UCA is one of a few Uni's that use 16mm film, a lot of Uni's now only use digital. The course is great for teaching you industry standard skills and using industry standard equipment such as Arri SR3's and Avid Media Composer.
Do you usually edit and direct your own films or do you collaborate with editors and directors?
I've done it on two films, but it's not my preferred field. Although, I'm really glad I have experienced other roles in filmmaking; it has made me appreciate other people and I think it has made me a much better filmmaker. I much preferred working with other people on their visions and stories. I like to read a script or synopsis and get inspired and excited when all the images pop into my head.
In the 'RSG-6' clip you have an interesting set up. It appears to have a sole light source: the partially open door on the right of the frame, which thrusts the rest of the frame into deep shadow in addition to casting interesting shadow patterns on the left side of the frame. How did you set up the angle and shot in order to capture enough light to distinguish the silhouettes but not enough to see much detail? Also, toward the end of the clip the edges of the frame appear rounded/ circular. Did you use a specific lens for that or was it part of the editing?
This is one of my favourite in the film. It was so simple to achieve, but created an awesome shot. We used a wide-angle 5.7mm lens, which created the curvature effect, but what was great about this shot was the location. We shot in a nuclear war bunker in a tunnel with great perforated metal walls, which gave the tunnel great texture. All we did was to put a 360 fresnel on the door so when it opened it spilled just enough light onto the characters and just enough on the wall behind to see that they were in a tunnel; we then tracked back using a trolley to get that sense of depth and danger to the scene.
'RSG-6' and 'Last Day at Work' use a lot of contrast lighting, is this a signature style for you or were those clips experiments in lighting?
For 'RSG-6' and 'Last Day at Work' both had a dark feel, especially 'Last Day at Work.' Contrast lighting really works well with this style. I don't like to over use it. It can be over done sometimes especially in black and white films. It's not really a signature style, just very effective and fits in with a lot of the scenes that I've worked on. The shot at the beginning of 'Last Day at Work' was a director's choice; we wanted to create the sense of curiosity and the sense of being lost and confused. The character in the story was a man suffering from dementia who kept going to work thinking his work place still existed and so this shot of him walking into darkness really embraced that theme of loss.
Have you made much animation besides 'Floods Today?'
With animation I'm very much an amateur. I enjoy drawing and although I'm not that good at it I would definitely like to do more in the future. I have done bits on bobs experimenting with mostly drawn or stop animation with my digital SLR and super 8mm camera, but for my last film, the music video for A Lilly, I used green screen animation for the first time, but I much prefer drawn or stop motion.
What is your favourite shot/ angle/ lighting to shoot?
I really enjoyed the lighting set ups for the Bachelor Tree, I had a lot of pre production time and a lot of research. I especially like the more contrasty shots, which have a slight German expressionism feel - this really suited this style of story. I really enjoy the tracking shots too; it helped with the flow and rhythm of the story, which was really important as there was a narrated rhyme voice over.
If you would like to see Ellie's films, go to her jotta profile.
By Emily Thomas

Kate Copeland

2009-07-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Kate Copeland is a little lady with big ambitions; her passion for illustration and her recent flourishes in animation have seen her commissioned by some big names, from War Child to political editorial, her figurative drawings interspersed with abstract shapes and vector will be infiltrating your periphery soon.

You have recently redesigned the logo of War Child. How did you rework the War Child Logo? What are the thoughts behind it?
The logo design was an adaption, taken from the Army Of You event flyer I designed for War Child. War Child work to protect children living in dangerous war zones and I wanted to echo this in the work. The design shows a tangle of wings, a trapped freedom. It was a real pleasure to work with the charity.

What projects are you currently working on?
My work is currently involved in the music industry, which I absolutely love. I’ve been working closely with Filthy Dukes and Kill Em All to produce flyers and t-shirts. I’ve been designing artwork for the Pure Groove record label also.

Do you want to convey a message with your animation and illustration work?
A lot of my work last year was editorial based, and I enjoyed working with articles where I could comment on current political affairs. Most of my work recently has been more light-hearted, focused more on aesthetics than content. When I get the opportunity to work on editorial, I try to communicate a message and sometimes slip in my opinion.

How would you best describe your style?
I’ve recently started working with pencil again. I’ve been using pen for nearly the past two years and it’s nice to turn back to the pencil. I like to combine detailed figurative drawings, with abstract shapes and vector. It’s a fairly new approach for me, but I like where it’s going.

For what reason did you choose to study Illustration at The Arts Institute Bournemouth?
It had a good reputation and it’s a very open course. There’s a huge amount of support to develop potential and design disciplines have a wide cross over. It’s always lovely to be by the beach too!

How do you balance life as a student and freelance illustrator?
It gets pretty hectic at times and it involves a lot of late nights and coffee. I’ve been lucky so far that my student and freelance projects can overlap. I can often incorporate work I’ve created for university in my commissioned work.

Uou recently became a member of 'Just Us' collective, what are your future plans with this art collective?
‘Just Us’ is showcase for young creative talent from universities across the UK. It’s very fresh and new, so nothing has been set out for us all yet, but I’m looking forward to working with the other members.

You are active in illustration and animation. What attracts you the most and why?
Drawing has always been the focus in my life, always determined to have a career in design, so my path naturally lead me here. Since studying, I’ve found I can visualise better in motion and animation allows me to push my skills further.

You said you’d like to focus more on animation in the future. For what reason?
Ambition. I feel I excel in animation; my mind works better in with moving image. I can create narratives and give audience pleasure through motion and technique. There’s a satisfaction to producing transitions between imagery and working with music. Sound is equally as important as the visuals.
I still want work as an illustrator but I’m passionate in all areas of design, but I never want to limit myself. I still love working in editorial illustration, but at the moment I have a drive to create music videos, vinyl covers and big set designs. I’d love to see my drawings huge on stage or in a window display; it’s a big dream of mine.
It’s a lot of passion and big ambition for a little girl from Devon.

Check out more of Kate's work here.

By Nicky Ruisch

Extra extra read all about it...

2009-07-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

jotta hosted another news worthy event at the V&A last Friday when the Chip Chop team, Emma Rios and Dan Price, made headlines and followed the life of the tabloids from the newsroom to the chip shop. jotta’s roaming reporters were there to catch the action.

Welcome to the chip chop, no ordinary fish and chip shop. What the order of the day? Asks the boy behind the counter. You ponder your decision- scampi scandals, pickled page 3 lovelies or some haddock headlines? Your paper delights get rapped in a blank newspaper. As you enter the restaurant- instead of salt and vinegar, you’re presented with glue and scissors. Here you don’t read the news you make it…

To watch some footage of the night click here.

And see more pics here.

By Stephanie Grace

Monumental

2009-07-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

South London gallery Hannah Barry opened Bold Tendencies lll last night on the rooftop of the Peckham Rye multiplex. In the sweltering heat there was not a better place to watch the sundown over the London cityscape in the custom built bar, surrounded by monumental sculpture from a who’s who of the South London massive, including jotta One To Watch Theo Turpin.

jotta was lucky enough to get an exclusive preview of the installation of the show which invited young artists from around the Peckham Camberwell area to create "monumental" site specific scultpure which responded to the structure and surround environemnt of the carpark.

The images here are from the wek before the opening, jotta filmed up and coming young artist Theo Turpin installing hishuge diving tower, as well as the opening last night.

The car park which is normally deserted and uterly eerie was last night amock with flocks of young artists, no doubt just some of the many collectives took part including Off Modern, Lucky pdf, Sunday Painters and Matthew Stone.

Stay tuned for the exclusive installation film.

14 – 20 JULY, open daily 12noon – 6pm Level 10 , Peckham Rye Multistorey Car Park, 95A Rye Lane SE15 4ST

Hannah Barry

By Millie Ross

Martin Margiela SS 2010

2009-07-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

jotta skipped over to Paris to catch the Martin Margiela menswear presentation for Spring Summer 2010. Resplendent in all shades of pale, the street cast line up of models and piped elevator voice descriptions cast a 2001 Space Odyssey style serenity over the collection.

There were definite hints of irony in the calm and clinical tones of the female “voice from above”, who coolly described each garment in laymans terms.

The no mess no fuss show saw each gentleman (sourced from the street in the tradition of MMM) walk sans model strut onto the platform, followed by an attendant who helped them into their final garment, usually a jacket or vest. The show was a clear continuation of the Margiela houses' ethos that says the star of the show should always be the garments, rather than supermodels and front row celebs.

Crisp, concise and elegant the collection tracked a progression from minimal, classic and magnificently cut, to subtle affectations of floral motifs in soft screen prints, embroidery and laser cuts.

While Martin Margiela has recently stepped back into the shadows, handing the reigns to his designers, some were heard to say that the collection harked back to the days of yore when the Belgian designer reigned supreme. No doubt a compliment to his protege's.

By Millie Ross

Central Saint Martins BA Fashion Show 2009

2009-06-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

One of the most anticipated dates on the fashion calendar, Central Saint Martins Fashion BA once again put on a show that displayed the vast range of talent from over 40 forward thinking students, many of whom seem to be kicking off recession blues with power dressing responses.

In these leaner-than-lean times graduates should choose to move away from a slim line into the bulk of expansive metres of painstakingly wrought fabric, whether outsize proportions, billowing trains or vast crinolined skirts.

Indeed, volume was a general trend, with bold and hefty shoulders, low slung crotches and a few plumped feather-stuffed puffa’s.

The winning collection was Dutch fashion print student Marie Hill, who sent out a series of fluorescent-techno bodycon cocktail dresses, with the body divided by contour lines of delicate folds with spider webs taut at the back. Hill won L’Oreal Professionnel’s 1st prize for her designs which certainly epitomised the power woman.

By Imogen Eveson, Carmen Ho

The Lives of Buildings Festival at Trinity Buoy Wharf

2009-06-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

jotta artist Lee Simmons exhibits his work ‘The Hidden Histories of a Broken Boat’ an exhibition and workshop in the Chain Store at Trinity Buoy Wharf this weekend.

Behind Closed Doors gives the public a chance to take a look inside the studios of the Trinity Buoy Wharf creative community.

Find out about the low cost but highly effective approach that turned a former buoy manufacturing site into a thriving centre for the arts and creative industries that includes a range of historic buildings and London's only lighthouse alongside the innovative Container Cities- housing and workspaces built inside containers.

Take a peek at artists and fashion designers at work whilst having the opportunity to purchase a one off straight from its creator.

Wheelhouse from a wrecked boat is residing at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, where the memories of this structure are visibly evolving as drawings and photographs: a walk in book.

jotta artist Lee Simmons has work and will be taking part in workshops which invite visitors to interpret the boat's past, to record it's stories in colour, and therefore contribute to a book in process.

There will be a series of 1 1/2 hour dynamic painting, drawing and drama workshops for young people (of any age), with the artist. Water based paints will be used, all skill levels are welcome.

THE HIDDEN HISTORIES OF A BROKEN BOAT

27th & 28th June

12pm - 1.30pm & 3pm - 4.30pm

All ages (under 5yr's must be accompanied by an adult)

FREE

www.trinitybuoywharf.com

By Millie Ross

Craig Barnes

2009-06-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Craig Barnes seeks to make 3d objects in an increasingly two-dimensional world. Fresh out of Central Saint Martins Fine Art BA, Barnes employs an arsenal of seemingly redundant modern materials to create architectural sculptures, which while responding to contemporary living, also seek to re-appraise the forgotten moments of the past.

Tell us something interesting about yourself?
I can’t help myself.

What or who inspires you?
Car boot sales and people who do their own thing.

What is your final piece ‘Corbusier’s Cabanon,’ about?
Le Cabanon was the only building the architect Corbusier built for himself. Located on the French Riviera, the building is humble in scale but rich in the proportional detail inherent in Le Modular, his system of sizing which draws heavily on the human figures proportions. "Le Caban-non" (my piece) is an approximation of it constructed using a modular system derived from a standard wood panel sized sheets of 2440mm x 1220mm (or in imperial ft, 8' x 4').

What’s your favourite object?
Right now, a small ceramic lobster.

Your work that features a bicycle and paint (the bicycle powered centrifugal casting machine) looks like a lot of fun…
I was working with ways of affecting the casting process without directly being in contact with the material. It was an experiment to see how plaster would set when a centrifugal force was applied (ie, spinning it) - would it retain its 'shape', the same vortex like shape that you get when you take the plug out the bath. The shape of the mould itself was a circular piece of cardboard folded into 12 sections that allowed the mould to be removed leaving the moulded plaster intact. It was open at the top to allow the plaster to be poured in, and was also a little wonky, which aided the spillage greatly. The mould leaked if I cycled too fast. It was filled with coloured plaster and it took me a week to remove the spillage of the floor. It was a happy accident however.

How was your recent degree show?
Rather pleasant all told. It was certainly a relief to let go of the work and see how people took it. I had some great conversations with a bunch of people. I sold two pictures and had a small piece stolen, which at this point I'm beyond caring about. In fact, I'll take it as a compliment. However, I am now in quite great need of a bacon sandwich and cup of tea.

What are your plans for after you graduate?
Lie down for a bit, and get back up again.

By Stephanie Grace

Itamar Ferrer

2009-06-24T02:52:00.000-07:00

Itamar Ferrer is a designer in the broadest sense, her practice stretches far and wide, you name it she’s done it. Winner of the NEU NOW design brief for ELIA, her innovative logo was highly praised by the judges. Itamar talks to jotta about adapting to the challenges of London and the value of perserverence.
A firm believer in the future and its possibilities, Itamar has grabbed every opportunity and produced some mind-blowing work, from drawing voices with light to tackling the future of education through interaction and collaboration.

Your website states that you are ‘working, living and enjoying London,’ coming from Venezuela what is it about London that you like?
Coming to London from Venezuela was a big leap; I mean literally you have to cross an ocean! And despite missing terribly the beautiful warm Venezuelan weather (and by now I know that I will never get over that!) I enjoy London’s diversity... in every sense. The fact that you can live here for years and there will always be something to discover, is fantastic. Just walking down the street and seeing creativity expressed in so many shapes and forms makes me smile and reassures me that I can just be me, and do what I enjoy here. And despite what the general opinion may be regarding the current situation, I still think there are many opportunities in this city. One just has to be creative…and persevere.

You recently won a competition to design a logo for the ELIA, how did you come up with the concept?
Winning the competition for ELIA was a wonderful surprise. One aspect of the brief was to take into account that the logo had to somehow represent something ‘truly European’. As you can imagine, not an easy task for a Latin American! So besides looking into European references, I did two main things: ask all my European friends what being European meant to them and I armed myself with a camera, walking around London taking pictures of things and situations that I thought were, or looked European in my eyes.
It was a difficult one. The concept came out quite mixed and fresh. I’m happy with it.

What are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I freelance regularly for Design Against Crime at Central Saint Martins Innovation Centre and Textile Futures Research Group, developing their communication design and strategies, assisting in project management and administration.
I’m also developing a social design project with Universidad del Zulia in Venezuela (where I did my BA) and continue to participate in different competitions. I'm keen on exploring and applying my visual communication skills to other design areas, collaborate, continue learning and gather other experiences. To be honest, I'm happiest when I get to stick my fingers in different pies.

In the past you have set up a design studio, how did you find that process?
It was immensely gratifying, beautifully difficult, endlessly challenging, character strengthening, self-reliant, terrifying, liberating, restrictive and attractively independent. It has been one of the biggest learning curves I have had professionally, and personally. It taught me many lessons about myself, how to be strangely bold and confident, develop my design skills, handle a business, speak to clients, manage budgets and overall how to communicate with people. Definitely one of the best experiences I have ever had and one of the reasons I am now in London.

I will definitely do it again…….someday.

You were a recipient of the Program Alban Scholarship in 2007, which enabled you to undertake postgraduate study at Central Saint Martins, how beneficial did you find this?
Coming to Central Saint Martins in London and doing my MA was an amazing experience. It has definitely influenced my way of thinking and literally changed my life. I know, I know, it sounds like a cliché but take into account that I am thousands of miles away from my home country. I really do have to thank Program Alban’s scholarship and their generosity, as well as my family for supporting me in this choice. They were both key in enabling me to come to London. I am certain that without the Alban scholarship I would not been able to study at such a prestigious institution as CSM. It has been beneficial from every angle you can view it: I developed my design and conceptual skills, have been re-introduced to the world of design, met people from all around the world, made friends, I'm developing more work and have had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling… what more can I say?

You had a really interesting and varied career, what drives you?
I sometimes ask myself that same question: “And why am I doing this exactly?” and I do ask myself a lot of questions...
But truthfully I enjoy beginnings, the excitement of starting new things, responding to different situations, researching into varied subjects and disciplines and specially working with other people. I think that’s one of the things I enjoy the most about being a designer: you’re always changing what you are working on. You start something, see it develop through, finish it, hand it over, move on to the next thing and start all over again. I'm of a restless character and I'm always up for a challenge so if I had to do the same thing everyday in the same way, I would be terribly bored and frustrated.

Do you have any words of wisdom for recent graduates?
Persevere, persevere, persevere and one more thing, persevere! Have fun. Fail and learn. Enjoy what you do and do it with heart, as there are always opportunities out there. Just be ready to go when they come!

For more of Itamar's work click here

By Stephanie Grace

Emma Rios and Dan Price: Cutters Delight

2009-06-24T02:47:00.000-07:00

Emma Rios is a sought-after illustrator and cut-out queen. Her intricate drawings hint at dark undertones and the sets and scenes she creates are of fairy-tale proportions. Dan Price’s on-the-road photography style captures epic journeys across cultural landscapes, his camera know-how knows no limits.

Imagine what happens when these two multi-talented individuals decide to work together- a magical mash-up of illustration and occurs.

Emma, how would you describe Dan?
Dan likes challenges so he’s good to work with. When he’s working things out in his head he slaps his thighs making good drumbeats, now I keep doing it too. His photography is really beautiful, full of colour and adventure. Dan likes boys’ stuff, bikes, robots and making things out of cardboard. He’s sharp as you like, so good with ideas; he is a creative jack-of-all-trades. I am yet to find something he is not good at...mmmm sometimes he’s really late for stuff, ha ha.

Dan, how would you describe Emma?
I am always impressed by Emma's confident approach to projects, her ideas are always strong and fun and it's such a treat to watch her draw and make her elegant paper cut-outs. Above all she's super-inspiring to work with! (And she likes good music and buys me biscuits/coffee/chocolate to keep me going)

How did you end up collaborating?
Emma: We where flung together to make a book for the Royal Hospital London, I was pretty sad because I wanted to work with my friend Harry but actually Dan was so brilliant I am glad we worked together on that one.
Dan: We immediately clicked on a creative level, and friend level!

What work have you done together?
Dan: We're currently working together on a King James-themed 'make-your-own-amazing-hat-and-then-be-photographed-like-a-king' marquee for West End Live (this weekend Leicester Square!). I look forward to working with Emma again in the future.

What are your working on now individually?
Emma: My next project is top secret but it is some set design.
Dan: My next project involves riding all over the UK to photograph huge Radio masts in the middle of nowhere.

Catch Emma and Dan at the V&A on Friday 26th June where they have created the hilarious and amazing CHip CHop illustrationworkshop. An illustrative journey from the newsroom to the chip shop complete with battered verbs and vowels, ketchup glue pots, newsroom tension and our special seaside megamix, think Ian Drury, Cockney 80s and Martin Parr. Click here for more details.

For more of Emma Rios work click here

For more of Dan Price's work click here

By Stephanie Grace

THIS IS WHY WE MEET

2009-06-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

One big and very instrumental piece of the South London puzzle, Pat and Trevor are an independent curatorial duo, who after splashing their innovative experiments in sound ‘n’ vision across South London roofs, basements and pool parties, moved onto the posher confines of the ICA, Whitechapel Gallery and Tate Britain. Their latest project is set to be bigger than ever and calls for ideas from YOU.

This Is Why We Meet is an investigation, celebration and showcase of collaborative working practice within the arts. A call out for collaborative installation ideas from University of the Arts London students.

How was the idea for the project born?
We were running the Sassoon Gallery in Peckham and working a massive range of shows from MA Sculpture at Wimbledon to boyleANDshaw performance work and experimental music events with Janek Schaefer (British Composer of the Year 2008) and a very special Seb Rochford/Leafcutter John collaboration. We were constantly meeting people, talking, working, collaborating. Laura Vent (from WK) must've been coming to some of the things going on there and wanted us to work with her space at Wieden+Kennedy. At the same time as all this we we're tutoring. It was all about collaboration, exhibiting and meeting people.

Both being fairly recent graduates yourselves, how do you feel about working with students both in this project and as lecturers at London College of Communication?
We feel like current students who graduated 2 years ago. We've been working hard since leaving London College of Communication and have had the chance to work on incredibly interesting projects at respected institutions. Actually Pat And Trevor started when we were still in college. Now there are things we can pass on to students about working together.

Some of the best advice and tuition we got from college was from our peers. We're just at the next stage. We can talk to students about what happens next, and most of the time, they believe us.

The work produced for the competition is going to be collaborative and participatory. How important are these aspects of art practice are at the moment?
They are very important, it seems.There is a difference, however, between participation (you create a situation/have a proposition and invite people to take part in it), and collaboration (something that emerges together from a group of people, always built together) - our good friend Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre pointed this out.

Chaos and challenge can (sometimes) take your experiments further. I found a nice video with Jim Dine talking about collaboration. Usually working in solitude (but for his tools, Pinocchio, an owl, a raven), he says, "It gets lonesome being an artist in a studio. It's a social act as much as anything. And sometimes you run out of ideas, it [collaboration] gives you ideas."
So collaboration is just another way of working.

How will your other work as Pat And Trevor inform this project?
We will be using everything we have learned ever, go out all guns blazing, throw the kitchen sink at them, and then see what happens.

Actually, the most important thing we have to be concerned with is creating an environment in which students will be comfortable. It is going to be very intense, there is a budget for materials, a studio space, and 4 students. We have no idea what is going to happen, but that's what makes it so exciting.

What will the students gain from taking part?
There will be thousands of people walking past their piece every day which is always a good thing. They will meet lots of fascinating people, they will be pushed to experiment, they will be busy and they can do or say anything they want. And they won't be assessed! Actually, we might devise our own special assessment criterion...

By Millie Ross

Sash B

2009-06-24T02:39:00.000-07:00

Sash B is a recent graduate of the Fine Art MA at Central Saint Martins, his choreographed performances seek to redefine space; he draws new boundaries that defy limitations as lines reach over, above, across and eventually beyond. jotta talk to him about marking his territory, dis-lexic dance practices and intellectual masturbation. Can you tell us something about yourself? I find it very difficult to hit repeatedly on my head with my right hand, and simultaneously make circles on my belly with my left hand.

What mediums do you choose to work in and why? I try to 'keep missing a step' between Disciplines and media. Which is implied by my exploring a 'dislexic In between', isn't it?
I listen to Dance. I Install words. I sew painting. I Draw dis-placement, dis-function, dis-tortion.

How important is the ephemeral aspect of your work? I like my practice to be time consuming and resulting in ephemeral works. Because I like the Wisdom of the Absurd.

Like the needle of my sewing machine biting into the flesh of the paper, whilst biding together fragments of paper... I like this transient and fragile quality of my work, because it materialises the flowing and elusive quality of the artistic Quest (made 'flesh' in Dance). I like to dwell on the ephemeral. Guess I like stretching Time in Space.

Can you tell us about the relationship your art practice has to a dance practice? My work is inspired by my 'DIS-lexic' way of processing the world. Which I approach through the hyperlaxity of my body, and my moving between practices and media. I am a Fine artist who searches through a dance-based practice based on improvisation, fusing choreographic process & performance in the flow of a same Space & Time, thus giving flesh to my quest for the 'equation of an overlapping of categories and a slippage of levels', by being in the process, thinking through it and showing it as a result. And... putting a stop to intellectual masturbation. Sometimes.

I investigate a 'Double Axis of Dis-location', through the dislexic In-Between of 'Trans-lation', between and within Stretching, Geometry, Space, Time and Language. My interest lies in the tridimensional tension between a very physical approach of a 'Concept', its translation into abstract/linguistic/mathematical terms and domestic items/material/situations. To make abstraction figurative. Whilst keeping its methaphoric quality, whilst keeping it 'grounded 'into a physical practice that is about being 'centered'.

In the ‘Hunting for the Inbetween’ series your photographs feature a physical trace, an outline… Your work seems to deal heavily with boundaries and borders...Liked your association of ideas here: from the 'In-between-dance-and-Fine-art' to 'please talk about borders'. Yes I was trying to cut or sticky tape ‘through/across/over' the claustrophobic and authoritarian limitations that established 'categories' are, to suggest the 'beyond'. Was trying to create a new logic of classification. Like in 'My-friend's-hairdo-that-was-so-much-part-of-my-landscape'.

What or who inspires you?
Deleuze and his Rhizome, the pink contortionist at 'Britain's got talent', Yvonna Rainer, Francys Allys, changing gears in my car on my Island.

I am interested in the paradox within the notion of 'process', which is about the 'Now and Here' experience. But it also implies a 'forward', a direction, a 'becoming', a 'work in progress'. For me those sum up the 'elusive but pregnant' qualities embedded in the always 'middle of the Now' that the 'In-between' is, embodied in the flow of a 'constantly renewed Now' in Dance.

What are you currently working on? Currently working beautifully in my studio. And on a project, Yes, which is my In-between with your next question. Do you have any up-coming exhibitions? Watch out for 'Time Out' in October, for 'The Artist & the Institution, the Body & Fine Art: a DIS-lexic In-Between'. It may happen.
But let's not sell the skin of the bear before killing the bear, we say in French...

To see more of Sash's work click here

By Stephanie Grace

jotta

SHIFT

The Posters Came From The Walls - WIN TICKETS

Anna and The Witch's Bottle

The Exchange Room

Immersion

Art Schmart

Graham Carter's East meets West

Face Off part 2

South London People Map

SECRET CINEMA: Tell no one

South East in East

Night of the Living Drawn

Maureen Gubia and Eoin Ryan Join jottaBoutique

Face Off

Doodle-ville

Profile Me

Directional Glasses For Forward Thinking

Living Dolls

Get Your Artwork Displayed Across London

Maya Huyuk

Felice Varini

Richard Sarson

BLU

Art Takes on Acton

DIY LONDON SEEN

The Ultimate Party Animal

Philip Li

London Fashion Weekend

Boring Journeys Effect Your Mood

Get Involved

The Next Big Thing

Stories of the Eye competition

Beyond the Valley: In The Blackout

Solenne Morigeaud

Memory Evaporate

Fanny Bostrom

Together, At The Junction Live Performances

Matt & Ross

Get a Life

Elevator Gallery

Mark Andrew Webber

Aaron Rose: DIY Hero

Main Yard and the Wick

jotta // This Is Why We Meet Twitterview!

Hackney's Wicked

Flight Of The Conchord's T-Shirt Design Competition

jotta at The Legion

Sarah Tse

Antichrist

What Happens When Strangers Meet

To The Max

Katherine Pont

You Turn Us On

The Best and Brightest of New Designers

jotta Lands at the Legion

THIS IS WHY WE MEET - Week 1

BEAUTIFUL LOSERS

Swanfield on Tour

We're All Going On A Summer Holiday

Atma

High Diving

Cover Art Lives

Anthropologie: Crossing the Pond

Snapshots from Manchester Metropolitan

Ellie Bunston

Kate Copeland

Extra extra read all about it...

Monumental

Martin Margiela SS 2010

Central Saint Martins BA Fashion Show 2009

The Lives of Buildings Festival at Trinity Buoy Wharf

Craig Barnes

Itamar Ferrer

Emma Rios and Dan Price: Cutters Delight

THIS IS WHY WE MEET

Sash B