Amelia’s Magazine | INSA’s Sh*t Shoes


Illustration by Antonia Parker

Well, viagra here’s a treat.

As part of the Chris Ofili exhibition at Tate Britain, the gallery played host to Bring The Noise – a project to encourage emerging artists, musicians and fashion designers to respond to Ofili’s work.

Super stylist, publisher and owner of WAH Nails Sharmadean Reid worked her magic on the fingers of the fashion-conscious, and graffiti artist INSA made, erm, these…

Taking his insipration from Ofili’s work quite literally, believe it or not, these fabulous stilettos are part leather, part… elephant dung. Yeah, you heard me!

I’m not sure they’ll be available in the shops, or if there’s much of a market for this kind of thing, but aren’t they incredible to look at? INSA’s synonymous graphic style is applied to the shoe, with almost delicate beading used as the sole.

Read more about Chris Ofili and the exhibition at Tate Britain here.

Categories ,Bring The Noise, ,Chris Ofili, ,Elephant dung, ,INSA, ,Sharmadean Reid, ,Stilettos, ,Tate Britain

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Amelia’s Magazine | Five things you might not know about Chris Ofili

Sparky Deathcap is a twenty-something musician and artist from Cheshire, sildenafil whose wry tales of love and loss are in turns hilarious and heartwrenching. You may have caught him recently supporting the likes of Los Campesinos! and Hot Club de Paris.

On songs like “Berlin Syndrome”, case guitars and handclaps loop and whirl around lyrics like, recipe “Since then you just make cameos when I’m asleep/you’re the William Shatner of this elite genre of women that I have loved and lost,” creating a lo-fi landscape one that is simultaneously bleak and full of warmth. At times the songs are reminiscent of early Smog, when Bill Callahan wrote songs like he had a sense of humour and sometimes felt a bit awkward. As well as the recent Tear Jerky EP (available here) he maintains a brilliant cartoon blog at his website.

It’s a busy year for Sparky, off on a European tour as we speak, but I managed to send a few emails back and forth about comic books, rock operas and the Wonder Years.

So, you’re on tour with Los Campesinos! right now, how’s that going?

It has been really fun, it’s an absolute privilege to tour with my friends Los Campesinos! and the supports, Islet and Swanton Bombs, are two outrageously good bands. It was my birthday the other day coinciding with our Aberdeen date and the crowd sang happy birthday to me which was a really touching moment.

Sparky Deathcap presumably isn’t your real name – is it a sort of onstage personal that allows you to unleash your inner diva, like Beyonce Knowles’ Sasha Fierce?

I originally chose it something like 5 years ago when I started doing the one man and a guitar thing live because I felt like it would be easier to play if I could invent a persona. Now, however, there isn’t really a great separation between Sparky Deathcap and me, except for when I remember some of the crap, depressing gigs I used to do and I think about younger Sparky as this sort of beleaguered little brother or something and how excited he’d be by the exciting things I’m getting to do at the moment. Crikey, my mind is like Fellini directing The Wonder Years. Edited by Lassie.

When you play live you have drawings projected behind you, do you think you might ever make a whole comic book, is that something you’d be interested in?

Oh I have grand, grand plans for comic books. I’m working on a little comics booklet for my album and an illustrated valentines rock opera for next year. I’m also trying to resurrect my weekly comic strip for my new blog. The trouble is that comics are incredibly labour intensive. Chris Ware pointed out once that unlike writing a novel, comics don’t allow any sort of natural flow to occur as every page has to be planned out as a whole and so the panels within in it are predestined. I’d love to create a big Clowesian comic book one day, but for now I have to concentrate upon producing small, gimmicky things to “build my profile”… urggggghhhh, the modern world… adulthood…

You mentioned your rock opera there, what does that involve?

That was something I wrote for a ukulele festival in Manchester last year on Valentine’s Day. I was wrongly under the impression that we had to perform the whole thing on ukulele and didn’t really have any ukulele songs so I set about writing a sort of musical/rock opera about an organ transplant van driver finding love whilst snowbound in a rural town. I drew some illustrations for my old overhead projector as well. I hope to turn it into a special edition record and book for next year’s Valentine’s Day.

Musically, who would you call your biggest influences? You get compared to Jeffrey Lewis a lot, right? But that seems like a pretty easy comparison for anyone who sings and draws…

I have an awful lot of respect, naturally, for Jeffrey Lewis, and he has obviously influenced some aspects of my live show, even if it is in trying to steer away from his territory as much as I possibly can. I suppose the bands I have revered the most over the years are The Beach Boys, Pavement, Smog, Silver Jews, Magnetic Fields and Why?, but increasingly I’m becoming very interested in Steve Reich and Bill Evans. In terms of my artwork I’m very heavily influenced by Archer Prewitt, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Adrian Tomine and Marcel Dzama. Archer Prewitt is another artist/musician; he plays in the The Sea And Cake and under his own name whilst also drawing the incomparable Sof’ Boy comics.

So, after this tour, what’s next for Sparky Deathcap?

Next up: more touring with Los Camp. I’m trying to perfect my world-weary, “oh, touring is such a drag,” but in truth it’s the most fun I’ve ever had. We have European and US tours to come which will be really amazing. In between I’m working hard on writing and recording my album, which is really very exciting.

Sparky Deathcap is a twenty-something musician and artist from Cheshire, viagra dosage whose wry tales of love and loss are in turns hilarious and heartwrenching. You may have caught him recently supporting the likes of Los Campesinos! and Hot Club de Paris.

On songs like “Berlin Syndrome”, generic guitars and handclaps loop and whirl around lyrics like, “Since then you just make cameos when I’m asleep/you’re the William Shatner of this elite genre of women that I have loved and lost,” creating a lo-fi landscape one that is simultaneously bleak and full of warmth. At times the songs are reminiscent of early Smog, when Bill Callahan wrote songs like he had a sense of humour and sometimes felt a bit awkward. As well as the recent Tear Jerky EP (available here) he maintains a brilliant cartoon blog at his website.

It’s a busy year for Sparky, off on a European tour as we speak, but I managed to send a few emails back and forth about comic books, rock operas and the Wonder Years.

So, you’re on tour with Los Campesinos! right now, how’s that going?

It has been really fun, it’s an absolute privilege to tour with my friends Los Campesinos! and the supports, Islet and Swanton Bombs, are two outrageously good bands. It was my birthday the other day coinciding with our Aberdeen date and the crowd sang happy birthday to me which was a really touching moment.

Sparky Deathcap presumably isn’t your real name – is it a sort of onstage personal that allows you to unleash your inner diva, like Beyonce Knowles’ Sasha Fierce?

I originally chose it something like 5 years ago when I started doing the one man and a guitar thing live because I felt like it would be easier to play if I could invent a persona. Now, however, there isn’t really a great separation between Sparky Deathcap and me, except for when I remember some of the crap, depressing gigs I used to do and I think about younger Sparky as this sort of beleaguered little brother or something and how excited he’d be by the exciting things I’m getting to do at the moment. Crikey, my mind is like Fellini directing The Wonder Years. Edited by Lassie.

When you play live you have drawings projected behind you, do you think you might ever make a whole comic book, is that something you’d be interested in?

Oh I have grand, grand plans for comic books. I’m working on a little comics booklet for my album and an illustrated valentines rock opera for next year. I’m also trying to resurrect my weekly comic strip for my new blog. The trouble is that comics are incredibly labour intensive. Chris Ware pointed out once that unlike writing a novel, comics don’t allow any sort of natural flow to occur as every page has to be planned out as a whole and so the panels within in it are predestined. I’d love to create a big Clowesian comic book one day, but for now I have to concentrate upon producing small, gimmicky things to “build my profile”… urggggghhhh, the modern world… adulthood…

You mentioned your rock opera there, what does that involve?

That was something I wrote for a ukulele festival in Manchester last year on Valentine’s Day. I was wrongly under the impression that we had to perform the whole thing on ukulele and didn’t really have any ukulele songs so I set about writing a sort of musical/rock opera about an organ transplant van driver finding love whilst snowbound in a rural town. I drew some illustrations for my old overhead projector as well. I hope to turn it into a special edition record and book for next year’s Valentine’s Day.

Musically, who would you call your biggest influences? You get compared to Jeffrey Lewis a lot, right? But that seems like a pretty easy comparison for anyone who sings and draws…

I have an awful lot of respect, naturally, for Jeffrey Lewis, and he has obviously influenced some aspects of my live show, even if it is in trying to steer away from his territory as much as I possibly can. I suppose the bands I have revered the most over the years are The Beach Boys, Pavement, Smog, Silver Jews, Magnetic Fields and Why?, but increasingly I’m becoming very interested in Steve Reich and Bill Evans. In terms of my artwork I’m very heavily influenced by Archer Prewitt, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Adrian Tomine and Marcel Dzama. Archer Prewitt is another artist/musician; he plays in the The Sea And Cake and under his own name whilst also drawing the incomparable Sof’ Boy comics.

So, after this tour, what’s next for Sparky Deathcap?

Next up: more touring with Los Camp. I’m trying to perfect my world-weary, “oh, touring is such a drag,” but in truth it’s the most fun I’ve ever had. We have European and US tours to come which will be really amazing. In between I’m working hard on writing and recording my album, which is really very exciting.

‘The Holy Virgin Mary’ All Images Courtesy Tate Britain, order London © Chris Ofili

1)   Alongside his other works of art, dosage currently being showcased at The Tate Britain, decease one canvas has elicited more controversy than others. The Holy Virgin Mary, portrays an African Virgin Mary surrounded by clippings of genitalia taken from blaxploitation and porn films.

Hang on a minute, could he be making a cultural criticism on the fact that the media has a tendency to deify white idols (Vogue has been in monthly syndication since 1973, to date publishing 446 issues since then, 14 of the covers have featured black women) whereas black women are at best, overlooked and at worst, reduced to faceless sexual objects? Of course he’s not! He’s screwing up America! Bernard Goldman’s right wing book chronicling those who are most to blame for the current predicament of ‘screwed up America’ – the not too creatively titled ‘100 People Who Are Screwing Up America’ listed Ofili at Number 86 for his contributions to the decline of United States. Whether he is directly responsible for environmental decline, the War on Iraq or the 35.9 million citizens living below the poverty line in the US is not made clear. Quite a feat considering he’s actually British. Regardless, Mayor Giuliani was appalled enough by Ofili’s artwork, that in 1999 he threatened to withdraw The Brooklyn Museum of Art’s $7million grant because, as he said “There’s nothing in the First Amendment that supports horrible and disgusting projects!” Well good sir, in which, can we ban Fox News? Or at the very least, Rush Limbaugh. No? Guess the pendulum doesn’t swing both ways. Digressing, I can’t help but wonder whether it’s the depiction of The Holy Virgin Mary as a black woman, the genitalia or the use of elephant dung as an art material that has caused so much outrage?

‘No Woman, No Cry’

2) Continuing from point Number 1; The Holy Virgin Mary had to be placed behind a plexiglass shield when on display in New York. However, crafty little old Christian pensioner, Dennis Heiner, 72, jumped behind the plexiglass shield and smeared white paint over the artwork until the Virgin Mary was obscured from view.  He was charged with second-degree criminal mischief and a $250 fine. That wasn’t a typo. $250. Who wants to place bets on what would happen to me if I threw paint around inside the Vatican?

‘Painting with Shit on it.’

3) Chris Ofili refuses to be molded by his own success. His more recent paintings that are displayed in this exhibition have shrugged off the bright glittery tones of their predecessors. Black on black-blue, the new canvases tell a story, but a story you have to dance around to see. Standing in front of dark canvas, adjusting your eyes to make out the images, like looking for sharks in a dark sea, you can make out a few images; a deer carcass, men making music – but being practically invisible, the mind is forced to project it’s own ideas on what Ofili is both displaying and commenting on.

‘Blue Riders’

4) After winning a scholarship to study in Zimbabwe, Ofili studied African cave paintings, which he has cited as a source of inspiration for much of his work.

5) Chris Ofili is one of the few black artists to be included in the artistically elite group ‘Young British Artists’ which also included Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.  Any young artists, or anyone young (under 26) can visit Chris Ofili at The Tate Britain for only £5. Pretty good, eh?

Click for our event listing for this exhibtion

Categories ,africa, ,african art, ,amica lane, ,art vandalism, ,cave paintings, ,Chris Ofili, ,controversy, ,discounts, ,equal rights, ,left wing, ,politics, ,right wing, ,sensations, ,Tate, ,Tate Britain, ,young british artists

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Amelia’s Magazine | Frieze Art Fair 2010: Exhibition Review

anarchist book fair london
Kutlag Ataman column frieze by jen costello
‘Column’ by Kutlug Ataman (2008) Thomas Dane Gallery. Illustration by Jenny Costello.

Unlike the formidable ‘fashion pack’ who rear their waspish heads every 6 months, website like this the art crowd – a jolly army of jacquard pashminas, drugs trilby hats and black horn-rimmed glasses – tend to be a more pleasant bunch. But visiting last Sunday’s Frieze Art Fair with so many of them arriving in droves, especially families (wanting little Cuthbert and Horatio to get a good cultural grounding early on) made standing in front of a particular artwork trying to ‘get’ it fairly difficult, especially when there’s someone behind you with a camera, waiting for you to get out of the way. Swarming crowds aside, the participating galleries delivered up their usual array of weird and wonderful delights. My personal favourite was ‘Clowd and Cloun’ by New York artist Roni Horn, of Eve Presenhuber Gallery, Zurich a series of images featuring a clown’s head in rapid movement (if you’ve never gotten over the film ‘IT’ like myself, then this is for you!)

Section from 'Clowd and Cloun (Gray)'  by Roni Horne,
Section from ‘Clowd and Cloun (Gray)’ by Roni Horn (2001) Eve Presenhuber Gallery. Photo by Viola Levy.

More macabre and disturbing was Berlinde de Bruyckere’s ‘Lingam’ (2010) from the Zurich Gallery Hauser & Wirth– a grotesque ‘lump of flesh’ suspended in a dome-like structure, with two legs indicating that it might have once been a person. Other works attracting attention was Belfast artist Cathy Wilkes’ intriguing installation ‘The Sea of Galilee’ (2009) courtesy of Berlin’s Giti Nourbakhsch Gallery. Featuring a scattered collection of battered objects including a life-size female figurine and a child’s nativity scenes, the work provided an intriguing reflection on religion and physical embodiment. New York’s David Zwiner Gallery unearthed ‘Trump’ (1998) a dazzling early work by Chris Ofili which demonstrates the artist’s unique manipulation of colour and texture at its most jaw-dropping (I was brought out of my awe-stricken trance by exclamations of: “Mummy, is that ELEPHANT poo?! Get over it!)

Chris Ofili 'Trump@ Photo by Linda Nylind
‘Trump’ by Chris Ofili (1998) David Zwiner. Photo by Linda Nylind courtesy of Frieze.

And the Lehmen Maupin Gallery also in New York, presented enfant terrible Tracey Emin at her provocative best with ‘Dark Hole’ (2009) – a work which among other things, takes the traditional feminine art form of embroidery and turns it on its head (quite literally some might say!)

Tracy Emin 'Dark Hole'
‘Dark Hole’ by Tracey Emin (2009) Lehmen Maupin. Photo by Viola Levy.

Frieze Projects Curator Sarah McCrory provided an engaging and accessible diversion from the serious business of browsing the works on display (and trying to chat to tired and grumpy gallery owners!) The bemused feelings of many newcomers to the art scene were summed up by Annika Ström’s project ‘Ten Embarrassed Men’ where ten be-suited corporate types shuffled around the festival looking suitably awkward (but one of them still managed to tacitly flirt with my companion to her amusement!)

Ten Embarrased Men- Linda Nylind
Annika Ström’s‘Ten Embarrassed Men.’ Photo by Linda Nylind courtesy of Frieze

And ‘Frozen’ by Cartier award-winning Simon Fujiwara took visitors on a tour of excavation sites, mostly seen through glass in certain areas below the floor of the Frieze exhibition space. Depicting a fictional Roman settlement described as “bawdy, materialistic and gender-equal,” the project was explained as the artist’s attempt to return to art in its purist form before the advent of Christianity made it “inextricably linked to piety and morality.” I wasn’t too sure how relevant this statement was given how seemingly little influence Christianity has over art today, but the project still appealed to my inner ancient-history buff!

'frozen' Photo by Linda Nylind
Section from Simon Fujiwara’s ‘Frozen’ Installation. Photo by Polly Braden courtesy of Frieze

Outside in The Sculpture Park, the endless green fields of Regents Park were a welcome break from the slightly suffocating atmosphere inside the tent, and visitors were allowed more freedom to engage with the works on display. Artist Gavin Turk’s “Les Bikes de Bois Rond” was a big hit, allowing visitors to hop on a bike, cycle round the park and return to collect their certificate on ‘having participated in an art work.’ It’s a shame many other art exhibitions can’t take place in the open air.

les bikes du bois ronde
Gavin Turk’s ‘Les Bikes du Bois Rond’ Photo by Linda Nylind courtesy of Frieze

On the Frieze Film side, Linder’s Forgetful Green stole the show in comparison to the other more abstract films presented. Shot by Vogue photographer Tim Walker, the film was an ode to hazy drunken summer days, with its motley crew of hedonistic characters (including Linder herself) painted in garish colours, who gorge on rose petals and birthday cake, and roll around fields of flowers in debauched ecstasy – in Richard Nicoll outfits naturally! I wanted to jump in the film, don a wig and some false eyelashes and throw birthday cake around with them for eternity…

forgetful green
forgetful green
forgetful green
Stills from Forgetful Green, from CT Editions: The Protagonist

Although many are now championing the smaller and more independent art fairs, when it comes to Frieze, it’s important to look beyond the corporate trimmings, and the bustling crowds, as it still remains the best way to digest all that’s new and exciting in the art world in one (admittedly exhausting!) afternoon.

freize art fair by jen costello
‘Map of the World in Ties and Jackets’ by Jonathan Monk (2009), Lisson Gallery. Illustration by Jenny Costello.

Categories ,Annika Ström, ,Archaeology, ,art, ,Berlinde de Bruyckere, ,Birthday Cake, ,Cartier Award, ,Cathy Wilkes, ,Chris Ofili, ,Christianity, ,David Zwiner, ,Drunk, ,Eve Presenhuber, ,False Eyelashes, ,Freize, ,Frieze Art Fair, ,Giti Nourbakhsch, ,Hauser and Wirth, ,Jennifer Costello, ,Jenny Costello, ,Jonathan Monk, ,Kutlug Ataman, ,Lehmen Maupin, ,Linda Nylind, ,Linder, ,Lisson Gallery, ,Polly Braden, ,Regents Park, ,Richard Nicoll, ,Roman, ,Roni Horn, ,Rose Petals, ,Simon Fujiwara, ,Thomas Dane, ,Tim Walker, ,Tracey Emin, ,vogue, ,Wig

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Amelia’s Magazine | Cheapzine launches an open brief to find artists/designers for their Art Nouveau book

illustration by Brett Manning
illustration by Brett Manning

Anyone who has heard me lecture will be aware that I do like to bang on about what a great idea it is to produce your own fanzine: they’re cheap, dosage this site flexible and mean you can spread yourself around easily. NO NO not like some slutty yoga bunny – more like the best way eva to promote yourself if you’re an up and coming artist or writer. Plus, troche a whole network of zine fairs has now grown up to support this most underground of art industries.

cheapzine art nouveau book

That point aside, view I am a particular fan of zines that talk about Amelia’s Magazine and Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours – you know how it goes. And of course the fact that the creators of such zines are interested in my work means that OBVIOUSLY they have good taste – goes without saying that they are worth talking about in return then.

Some aspects of zines exist online because of course one cannot exist without a webtastic presence these days, but as someone who is a massive fan of cold hard print, I believe you still can’t beat something which you can actually hold in your hands. So, it is with pleasure that I’d like to promote Cheapzine’s latest project, which sees them moving from the (okay, somewhat limited) world of photocopied zines and blog posts into a four colour print book project, choosing as its subject the influence of Art Nouveau on contemporary art. This A5 book will collate the best examples of such work alongside a collection of essays on the subject from Tommy Eugene Higson – a self-confessed art history obsessive – and artwork from current Cheapzine contributors such as Brett Manning whose work is featured above (she’s a girl okay), purveyor of wonderfully detailed drawings.

Martyn Mills-cheapzine
illustration by Martyn Mills

“Until recently I’d kinda thought of Art Nouveau was just a nice little discourse in art history that died out with the rise of high Modernism, but this isn’t the case at all,” explains chief Cheapziner Tommy. “Most of the fashion illustrators that we like appear to take inspiration from artists such as Egon Schiele, Alphonse Mucha and Gustav Klimt.” He thinks that the influence of this particular period of design can be seen in everything: from high art, such as Chris Ofili’s Upper Room (currently the highlight at his Tate Britain solo show) to ‘lowbrow’ art, contemporary illustration, poster art, fashion design and even ‘business’ art.

Sarah Ontiveros
illustration by Sarah Ontiveros

“We decided to make the book cause we’ve been making the zine for a while now,” he continues, “and we’ve been working with some really cool people so we wanted to make something a bit nicer and more ‘proper’ than the zine.” So far Tommy and his cohort Nikki Marie have produced nine issues of Cheapzine, with issue 10 likely to be the last for the time being due to their new projects. Just like Amelia’s Magazine, it seems that 10, not 3, really is the magic number.

Tommy is hoping to publish 500 copies of this limited edition book sometime towards the end of summer. Whether you’re a photographer, illustrator or designer, this will be an ideal place to get your work seen, and who doesn’t love a bit of Art Nouveou, really? The deadline is 31st March 2010 and all work should be sent to cheap-magazine@live.com

Categories ,Art Nouveau, ,Brett Manning, ,Cheapzine, ,Chris Ofili, ,illustration, ,Nikki Marie, ,Open brief, ,Tate Britain, ,Tommy Eugene Higson

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