Art News and Interviews
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Karsten Schubert Obituary
Early in 1986, a gallery opened on Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia, London, across from the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Its 25-year-old owner seemed the picture of a certain kind of Englishman: small, solid, with unruly fair hair and gold-rimmed spectacles. He wore, as such Englishmen do, well-cut tweeds; it being the Thatcher era, there was no surprise to hear him say that he meant to have a million pounds in his pocket by his 30th birthday. Despite appearances to the contrary, the gallerist was neither British nor a yuppie.
Karsten Schubert, who has died of thyroid cancer at the age of 57, was German; and he played an unparalleled part in promoting the group that would come to be known as the Young British Artists (YBAs).
Until setting up on his own, Schubert had been at the Lisson Gallery – an institution which, as he was later to say, “was where British art of the 80s happened”. This was no exaggeration. In the years before Damien Hirst’s 1988 Freeze exhibition, the Lisson was the only London gallery open to the work of young and as yet undiscovered artists.
Helene Schjerfbeck’s Self-Portrait, Black Background: radiating mystery
This article titled “Helene Schjerfbeck’s Self-Portrait, Black Background: radiating mystery” was written by Skye Sherwin, for The Guardian on Friday 26th July 2019 09.36 UTC
Portrait of the artist …
This 1915 self-portrait, created by the Finnish modernist Helene Schjerfbeck at the age of 52, sets out her position: an artist-martyr, radiating mystery.
Face first …
Recalling Japanese prints, it is all about the eyes and mouth. Against a mask of thick pale paint, her features are picked out in pink and lilac. She was recovering from illness at the time and, coupled with the tombstone-like inscription in the dramatic black backdrop, her face paint suggests makeup applied to corpses.
Máté Bartha’s Kontakt – Hungary’s military summer youth camps
This article titled “Máté Bartha’s Kontakt – Hungary’s military summer youth camps” was written by Sean O’Hagan, for The Observer on Saturday 27th July 2019 14.00 UTC
Máté Bartha spent 18 months living and working in military-style youth summer camps in rural Hungary. His series Kontakt, which won the Discovery award at this year’s Arles photography festival as well as the last year’s Capa Grand prize in Hungary, captures the rigorous discipline as well as the camaraderie of the camps, where children between the ages of 10 and 18 sleep under canvas and wake at dawn. Their long days are a dogged regime of hard work, army-style training, hiking and survival skills, including how to use replica guns that chillingly resemble the real thing.
“I went there with many preconceptions,” says Bartha, who describes himself as a pacifist, “but being there for so long made me realise I had very shallow knowledge about the military and warfare. I saw anything to do with weapons as necessarily aggressive and destructive but, for many people, learning about or even training in home defence is a natural part of growing up. It provided me a new context in which to look behind the eye-catching surface.”
Chris Horner – Artist
Chris Horner is a British artist who lives and works in Hampshire. He received his BA in Fine Art at the University for the Creative Arts in Surrey, UK. He also completed his MA in Fine Art at the University for the Creative Arts in Surrey in 2018.
Horner’s artwork explores the relationship between artist and material where he transforms readymade, pre used objects into new painted sculptural artworks. He restores life back into an object which was once wanted and appreciated. The experimentation stage in his work enables him to take some kind of control, as he starts to forensically document the surface in a very obsessive way.
Helen Dyne – Artist
Helen Dyne was born into an artistic family and in her early years she was captured by her grandmother sitting quietly painting in her beautifully kept garden. Her mother was also a sculptress so she learned from a young age that she had a natural passion for the arts. However she did not take the path of Art College as it was frowned upon by her father. Consequently It was not until she had raised her family that she had the chance to discover herself. Nature is a huge inspiration for her work, like many artists before her and of today. read more…
Artist – Jonathan Dickson
Born in Dublin in 1970, Jonathan Dickson is a Kildare based visual artist. After graduating from the National College of Art and Design in 1991 he went on to lead a successful career as a multi-award winning illustrator and designer. During 2006 he dedicated himself to further artistic development outside the design industry. Positive reaction to work created subsequently led him to make the decision to leave this career behind and commit full time to painting. Since then he has taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions.
Artist – Tracy Watt
Tracy Watts’ idiosyncratic paintings provide a psychological confrontational, and at times emotive response to the figurative in art. Her nudes and portraits are instantly recognisable in style. At times approaching the self as both creator and subjective feminine she provides representations of art historic narratives plunged into modernity. Strong female characters, derived from literary, biblical and mythological sources, confront the viewer. In the last few years Watts’ new body of work has turned towards portraiture with a flourish of flamboyance and attitude. Entitled ‘Special People’. Her muses entice her with their strength, individuality and talents. All creatives. From the visual arts, music, performance art, burlesque she captures their souls.
Artist – Paula Menchen
Paula Menchen’s work investigates the intersection between drawing, printmaking and painting. She analysis and unearths a synonymous language between these three mediums. Paula graduated from Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design where she majored in Fine Arts with an emphasis on Painting and Installations. She studied at Parsons school of Design and The New School her Junior year. She has exhibited her works in London, Amsterdam, Spain, Italy and America predominantly in Ca. In 2015 after returning to Spain from her studio in London she landed her first solo show at the Kasser Rassu Gallery in Marbella. The following year she was selected and featured in the International Kunst Heute Volume 2016.
Artist – Beverley Mason
Read about what inspires the unique artist Beverley Mason:
I have become a professional artist as a mature woman. However, I loved art as a child and teenager and can still remember some of my early artistic projects: painting a scene of the Garden of Eden on a bookcase when I was aged 9; drawing and painting a psychedelic pattern on an envelope I used to send a fan letter to a pop star (I can’t remember which one!); drawing portraits of the fairies I swear existed in the garden.
My earliest artistic influence was William Blake; I was fascinated and horrified at his religious paintings which he claimed came to him in visions. His figures then and even now are some of the most astonishing representations of human spiritual experiences there has ever been. His imagination knew no limits and as a figurative artist I believe my imagination is my greatest gift. I “see” colour and images in my head and create scenarios which can encompass these. My love of Renaissance paintings, the Pre- Raphaelites, The Symbolists, literary tales of decadence and debauchery and images from circus, theatre, burlesque and cabaret provide me with a never-ending source of exciting baroque scenarios. The possibilities for my imagination are boundless!
Artist – E M Lafuente
E M Lafuente’s paintings merge the outside with what is felt inside, mixing external images with her feelings, dreams and memories.
Most recently her paintings are inspired by the landscapes of Northern England and Scotland, although the influence of her Mediterranean colours is still visible in her palette.
Elisa started painting as a child, copying her mother during those scorching summers in Spain. Majoring in Law, she continued to paint, attending various Spanish art schools while maintaining her self-taught approach. At University she was submerged in Zen meditation and after graduating, continued to study the mind in different ways through Psychology and Yoga. This interest is ever present in her paintings.
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