Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Speaking with Clare McFarlane
For this month's Speaking with Clare McFarlane took some time to speak with bear among bees about her work, her formative experiences and future projects. You can currently see an exhibition of McFarlane's work at Turner Galleries (running till the 12 May) or find her work in a Laneway in Perth.
bear among bees: Can you tell us a little about your creative background?
Clare McFarlane: My mother always encouraged me to do art and be creative. I grew up on a farm in a small town and compared to many people I know now I had a rather culturally sparse experience growing up. No art galleries, no public art - well I remember the high school kids did a mural in town once. There was just the art prize at the local show which was one day, once a year. My mother always encouraged me to take part in this. I remember you won 50c for a second prize and $1 for a first.
Luckily the school I went to had a specialised art teacher (unlike many primary schools) so I did get a lot out of art at school - I was also part of an extension program at the school and one part of that I remember (apart from computer programming and chess) was learning to paint with oils - this would have been maybe year 6 or 7. I really remember those classes and what I learnt then. My mother organised once a week out of school art classes for me with the art teacher. Just me and the teacher... but it was probably really good to have that one-on-one tutoring.
Anyway, I got into the special art program at Applecross SHS, which was wonderful really. Learnt a lot, had some great tutors, met other really talented individuals which was good for me - I'd always been the best at art at my school before but also one of only a few people with any interest in it, so it was great to meet others who were also interested. Though it did take a while to fit in - well... okay, I never really felt like I fit in but that was another story. It was my plan to do biology at uni but in year 12 I got a crush on one of my tutors and decided do art at Curtin (which is what he had done).
The year I started at Curtin had a very large percentage of mature age students - I mention this because I think being straight out of school actually benefited me because I was still in the "do what teacher tells you" mindset. So while some other students, especially mature age ones, had issues with some of the more 'avant-garde' projects, I was quite happy to try new things. Still I was probably a relatively 'conservative' student - majoring in painting and with a minor in printmaking in second year, then majoring and minoring in painting in third year - all the cool kids did sculpture back then :)
I went on to do Honours and then was part of the first group of students to do the newly created Masters of Creative Arts. The research I did for that has had the most influence on all the work that followed...
bab: It sounds like your mum was instrumental in your becoming an artist, was she creative herself?
CM: Well, apparently my mother always wanted one of her children to be an artist - this is what I've been told though I don't feel too pushed into that area. But she wasn't particularly creative - she did photography and writing I suppose but she didn't come from a creative background, she was a teacher at the local school, teaching English, social studies and health.
bab: Also, I saw you did a Graduate Diploma in Cultural Heritage. Did that come before or after your Masters work? Did this play a big part in shaping your ideas on Australian identity and the historical references in your work?
CM: Ah yes, after doing Masters and discovering it qualified me to do retail I decided to do yet another degree. This time something that would get me a job. I already had romantic ideals about museums and history before I started the Grad Dip - kind of why I chose it instead of Library studies which I was also looking at.
During my Masters I became interested in the Pre-Raphaelites and I had an interest in history especially in terms of the feminine and sublime (honours) and the Victorian period - (by then my mother was studying and she ended up doing a PhD in women's journals from the 1830s). And my interest in Australian identity came more from my interest in flora and fauna - it occurred to me at the time it was really 'not done' to use Australian flowers in contemporary art and that would be a bit of a challenge.
Also, at some point someone asked me about my use of Victorian patterns and what this said about Australian identity - so I thought that was interesting and continued to explore that.
The Grad dip in cultural heritage fed into the aesthetics of display in my work I think while also reinforcing ideas of Australian identity and other historical references.
Ideas of display and collecting I suppose actually - Cabinets of wonder, etc
bab: I worked for a while at the State Library of WA in private archives so I'm always interested to see collections cross over into being art, rather than art being just a part of the static collection. Your recent work for the Fringe Festival as half of The Exit Stencilists duo definitely references that cabinet of curiosity tradition and museum display. Can you tell us more about this project & how it came about? And what role does collecting play in your individual practice?
CM: I actually worked in the Curtin Library for six years while doing post grads at uni - and I did think about becoming a Librarian at one point. :) I also have worked for the Holmes à Court Collection and the UWA collection. I am very interested in 'collecting'. Collecting plays a big part in my practice - apart from the references in my work, I have a collection of dead birds, insects and photos of birds and wildflowers, as well as other related matter (books, patterns etc).
I am a bit of a collector at heart so I collect many things - random and otherwise - and sometimes they may become relevant to my work and then sometimes not. I have a collection of tea cups but they have yet to be part of my practice ;)
As for 'Enter through the Window' - Leon Ewing and I decided while doing the work for City of Perth (he was my dogsbody for the project) to form The Exit Stencilists to try and get further art projects - the Fringe Festival exhibition kind of just happened - being part of Gotham Studios I was aware that we had nominated The Peekaboo Gallery as a space for the festival and I thought 'why not be a part of it your self?'.
Leon and I eventually came up with the rather self-indulgent idea of a kind of wunderkammer of changing displays which really suited the situation of the exhibition place - it is viewable to the public constantly and gets an awful lot of passing traffic, so the idea of a changing display gave it more meaning for those that would pass by many times during the length of the festival - and then a few days in we came up with the idea of actually adding to the display as opposed to changing it completely. Seemed so logical when you think about it - and both Leon and I basically got to show off some of our stuff. He is also a compulsive collector - and then we just went extreme at the end - seeing just how much stuff we could display within reason. Of course we documented it everyday - within the display with Polaroids so the passer by could see the evolution - as well as online. We certainly enjoyed it and it would be good to be able to do it again and refine the idea...
bab: In my recent interview with Maria Hildrick she spoke of her collection of dead little creatures too, we touched on the overlooked history of these creatures, the “once was” life. Can you talk a little about what it is that attracts you to collecting the birds and insects?
CM: Hmm... I suppose I find them very poetic - to me they really speak of loss - of death, of the briefness of life - fleeting joy of a bird’s life - of flight. But the other attraction is the tradition of the 'gentlemen scientist' of the Georgian and Victorian times. Quite a quaint idea but an idea of its time.
bab: The Victorian aesthetic seems quite important in your work; can you tell us about that and the patterning you use which are also rooted in those times? Where do the patterns come from are they found patterns, or do you design them?
CM: Actually, I'd say my aesthetic was definitely more Japanese in nature, when you look at my positioning and composition. Japanese and Scandinavian design are where I would define a lot of my aesthetic. But yes, Victorian patterning is a very important element of my work - more precisely it started with Pre-Raphaelite design and the work of William Morris.
These were patterns designed in the romantic period - Victorian in England - and they came from very romantic ideals and ideas. What interested me was their romanticism of nature as represented in these designs. At the time (when I was doing my MCA, 98-99) I was looking for a credible way of representing the feminine and technology without reverting to images of sexualised robot women ah-la Metropolis.
The William Morris patterns were a beautiful vehicle for this - they were these networks of interconnected plants - nature redesigned to fit the Victorian aesthetic - they were like a background structure to which we culturally adhere, or a growing network or nodes, hardware, software, servers and information. They were perfect for integrating the feminine and technology.
SO that was where it started but they have grown to be more - I have used them to talk about Australian identity, as well as the scientific inquiry of nature and the need for humans to classify and catalogue nature. At the moment I am thinking about it in terms of history and memory - of layers of wallpaper ripped off revealing more underneath.
Most of the patterns I source from books - a lot are William Morris patterns while others are from the same/similar period - the mid to late 19th Century. Sometimes I may change them I bit but I'm not really interested in designing new patterns - I'm just interested in using old ones :)
bab: What’s coming up for the rest of 2012 for you? Any upcoming shows or special projects?
CM: Well, there is of course my current exhibition at Turner (a murder's chorus + other winged verse) which has been rather all consuming. I'm going to go in a few art awards - I am definitely going to try and do at least one more wall mural this year - should be able to get one in Subiaco I hope - been talking to Jenny Kerr but the one we organised got pulled by the building owner - he wanted to put advertising there instead.
I'd like to organise something in Melbourne some time soon and to visit there this year. I was going to see how much work was left over from the Turner show to see if there was enough to form the basis of something for Melbourne. Or maybe somewhere else - I have not been as forward as I could be when it comes to trying for exhibitions outside Perth - I need to correct that.
bab: And where can people find out more about your work?
CM: Really the best place to find out more about my work is through the Turner Galleries website:
http://www.turnergalleries.com.au/artists/clare_mcfarlane.php
 |
| Sky’s chorus I, Clare McFarlane, 2012, acrylic and spray-paint on canvas, 100 x 100 cm |
bear among bees: Can you tell us a little about your creative background?
Clare McFarlane: My mother always encouraged me to do art and be creative. I grew up on a farm in a small town and compared to many people I know now I had a rather culturally sparse experience growing up. No art galleries, no public art - well I remember the high school kids did a mural in town once. There was just the art prize at the local show which was one day, once a year. My mother always encouraged me to take part in this. I remember you won 50c for a second prize and $1 for a first.
Luckily the school I went to had a specialised art teacher (unlike many primary schools) so I did get a lot out of art at school - I was also part of an extension program at the school and one part of that I remember (apart from computer programming and chess) was learning to paint with oils - this would have been maybe year 6 or 7. I really remember those classes and what I learnt then. My mother organised once a week out of school art classes for me with the art teacher. Just me and the teacher... but it was probably really good to have that one-on-one tutoring.
Anyway, I got into the special art program at Applecross SHS, which was wonderful really. Learnt a lot, had some great tutors, met other really talented individuals which was good for me - I'd always been the best at art at my school before but also one of only a few people with any interest in it, so it was great to meet others who were also interested. Though it did take a while to fit in - well... okay, I never really felt like I fit in but that was another story. It was my plan to do biology at uni but in year 12 I got a crush on one of my tutors and decided do art at Curtin (which is what he had done).
 |
| Spring’s lament i-ii, Clare McFarlane, 2012, acrylic and spray-paint on canvas, 70 x 100 cm |
The year I started at Curtin had a very large percentage of mature age students - I mention this because I think being straight out of school actually benefited me because I was still in the "do what teacher tells you" mindset. So while some other students, especially mature age ones, had issues with some of the more 'avant-garde' projects, I was quite happy to try new things. Still I was probably a relatively 'conservative' student - majoring in painting and with a minor in printmaking in second year, then majoring and minoring in painting in third year - all the cool kids did sculpture back then :)
I went on to do Honours and then was part of the first group of students to do the newly created Masters of Creative Arts. The research I did for that has had the most influence on all the work that followed...
bab: It sounds like your mum was instrumental in your becoming an artist, was she creative herself?
CM: Well, apparently my mother always wanted one of her children to be an artist - this is what I've been told though I don't feel too pushed into that area. But she wasn't particularly creative - she did photography and writing I suppose but she didn't come from a creative background, she was a teacher at the local school, teaching English, social studies and health.
 |
| Wishful Thinking i-ii, Clare McFarlane, 2010, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, each 45 x 100 cm |
bab: Also, I saw you did a Graduate Diploma in Cultural Heritage. Did that come before or after your Masters work? Did this play a big part in shaping your ideas on Australian identity and the historical references in your work?
CM: Ah yes, after doing Masters and discovering it qualified me to do retail I decided to do yet another degree. This time something that would get me a job. I already had romantic ideals about museums and history before I started the Grad Dip - kind of why I chose it instead of Library studies which I was also looking at.
During my Masters I became interested in the Pre-Raphaelites and I had an interest in history especially in terms of the feminine and sublime (honours) and the Victorian period - (by then my mother was studying and she ended up doing a PhD in women's journals from the 1830s). And my interest in Australian identity came more from my interest in flora and fauna - it occurred to me at the time it was really 'not done' to use Australian flowers in contemporary art and that would be a bit of a challenge.
Also, at some point someone asked me about my use of Victorian patterns and what this said about Australian identity - so I thought that was interesting and continued to explore that.
The Grad dip in cultural heritage fed into the aesthetics of display in my work I think while also reinforcing ideas of Australian identity and other historical references.
Ideas of display and collecting I suppose actually - Cabinets of wonder, etc
 |
| A Murder’s verse ii, Clare McFarlane, 2011, acrylic and spray-paint on canvas, 70 x 70 cm |
bab: I worked for a while at the State Library of WA in private archives so I'm always interested to see collections cross over into being art, rather than art being just a part of the static collection. Your recent work for the Fringe Festival as half of The Exit Stencilists duo definitely references that cabinet of curiosity tradition and museum display. Can you tell us more about this project & how it came about? And what role does collecting play in your individual practice?
CM: I actually worked in the Curtin Library for six years while doing post grads at uni - and I did think about becoming a Librarian at one point. :) I also have worked for the Holmes à Court Collection and the UWA collection. I am very interested in 'collecting'. Collecting plays a big part in my practice - apart from the references in my work, I have a collection of dead birds, insects and photos of birds and wildflowers, as well as other related matter (books, patterns etc).
I am a bit of a collector at heart so I collect many things - random and otherwise - and sometimes they may become relevant to my work and then sometimes not. I have a collection of tea cups but they have yet to be part of my practice ;)
As for 'Enter through the Window' - Leon Ewing and I decided while doing the work for City of Perth (he was my dogsbody for the project) to form The Exit Stencilists to try and get further art projects - the Fringe Festival exhibition kind of just happened - being part of Gotham Studios I was aware that we had nominated The Peekaboo Gallery as a space for the festival and I thought 'why not be a part of it your self?'.
Leon and I eventually came up with the rather self-indulgent idea of a kind of wunderkammer of changing displays which really suited the situation of the exhibition place - it is viewable to the public constantly and gets an awful lot of passing traffic, so the idea of a changing display gave it more meaning for those that would pass by many times during the length of the festival - and then a few days in we came up with the idea of actually adding to the display as opposed to changing it completely. Seemed so logical when you think about it - and both Leon and I basically got to show off some of our stuff. He is also a compulsive collector - and then we just went extreme at the end - seeing just how much stuff we could display within reason. Of course we documented it everyday - within the display with Polaroids so the passer by could see the evolution - as well as online. We certainly enjoyed it and it would be good to be able to do it again and refine the idea...
bab: In my recent interview with Maria Hildrick she spoke of her collection of dead little creatures too, we touched on the overlooked history of these creatures, the “once was” life. Can you talk a little about what it is that attracts you to collecting the birds and insects?
CM: Hmm... I suppose I find them very poetic - to me they really speak of loss - of death, of the briefness of life - fleeting joy of a bird’s life - of flight. But the other attraction is the tradition of the 'gentlemen scientist' of the Georgian and Victorian times. Quite a quaint idea but an idea of its time.
 |
| Lilt of the Firetail, Clare McFarlane, 2012, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, 45 x 100 cm |
bab: The Victorian aesthetic seems quite important in your work; can you tell us about that and the patterning you use which are also rooted in those times? Where do the patterns come from are they found patterns, or do you design them?
CM: Actually, I'd say my aesthetic was definitely more Japanese in nature, when you look at my positioning and composition. Japanese and Scandinavian design are where I would define a lot of my aesthetic. But yes, Victorian patterning is a very important element of my work - more precisely it started with Pre-Raphaelite design and the work of William Morris.
These were patterns designed in the romantic period - Victorian in England - and they came from very romantic ideals and ideas. What interested me was their romanticism of nature as represented in these designs. At the time (when I was doing my MCA, 98-99) I was looking for a credible way of representing the feminine and technology without reverting to images of sexualised robot women ah-la Metropolis.
The William Morris patterns were a beautiful vehicle for this - they were these networks of interconnected plants - nature redesigned to fit the Victorian aesthetic - they were like a background structure to which we culturally adhere, or a growing network or nodes, hardware, software, servers and information. They were perfect for integrating the feminine and technology.
SO that was where it started but they have grown to be more - I have used them to talk about Australian identity, as well as the scientific inquiry of nature and the need for humans to classify and catalogue nature. At the moment I am thinking about it in terms of history and memory - of layers of wallpaper ripped off revealing more underneath.
Most of the patterns I source from books - a lot are William Morris patterns while others are from the same/similar period - the mid to late 19th Century. Sometimes I may change them I bit but I'm not really interested in designing new patterns - I'm just interested in using old ones :)
 |
| Dragon’s verse i-iii, Clare McFarlane, 2010-12, acrylic and silkscreen on board, each 26 x 16 cm |
CM: Well, there is of course my current exhibition at Turner (a murder's chorus + other winged verse) which has been rather all consuming. I'm going to go in a few art awards - I am definitely going to try and do at least one more wall mural this year - should be able to get one in Subiaco I hope - been talking to Jenny Kerr but the one we organised got pulled by the building owner - he wanted to put advertising there instead.
I'd like to organise something in Melbourne some time soon and to visit there this year. I was going to see how much work was left over from the Turner show to see if there was enough to form the basis of something for Melbourne. Or maybe somewhere else - I have not been as forward as I could be when it comes to trying for exhibitions outside Perth - I need to correct that.
bab: And where can people find out more about your work?
CM: Really the best place to find out more about my work is through the Turner Galleries website:
http://www.turnergalleries.com.au/artists/clare_mcfarlane.php
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Hello World! or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise by Christopher Baker
An immersive video installation featuring over 5000 video diaries found on the internet.
via: http://christopherbaker.net/projects/helloworld/
Saturday, April 21, 2012
I share therefore I am?
While I don't know if my own experience with technology agrees with everything Sherry Turkle says in this talk, many of the points she raises I find really relevant to my masters research. Particularly her points on how we define ourselves by what we share and how we edit/present the self with new media - I would argue though that this can still be just as clumsy and awkward in any social situation, on or offline. Reading peoples posts on Facebook or Twitter appears to be full of unintended stumbling and revealing moments.
New technology does change us... but I don't think we should see it as a passive cause and effect exchange and I guess this is the point Turkle does make at the end about self-reflection.
I'm interested to hear from others on this subject.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Vacant old hospital building in Leederville enlivened as creative studio space
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| (From left) Sean Morris and Kyle Hughes-Odgers are among the 25 artists and creatives leasing a studio space at The Ward. Photo: Eva Fernandez |
MEDIA RELEASE, 17 April 2012
Built in 1913 originally as a maternity hospital, ‘The Ward’ in Leederville, has been revitalised as a studio complex for visual artists and creatives, through a joint venture between Artsource and Spacemarket.
The Ward houses 21 studio spaces for visual artists working alongside other creative service peers; such as illustrators, video producers and 3D animators, allowing for collaborations and shared creative emphasis.
Artsource’s guiding mandate is to empower visual artists to build sustainable careers, and it sees having a studio space as the key platform for artists to develop their practice.
Artsource Manager of Studios and Residencies, Loretta Martella said that affordable studio space for artists can be extremely hard to come by, and even rarer; is acquiring a working space close to the city centre.
“Artsource is thrilled to have taken on the head lease for this inner city studio space. What this means for this talented group of artists is a chance to further develop their skills and
ideas in a convenient, central location without the hefty rental rates usually experience in the Perth metro area,” she explained.
While Artsource only holds the lease on The Ward for 13 months from Realmark Property Group, it is imagined that this venture will serve as a favourable model for future studio complexes.
“The Ward is the first commercial building Artsource has attained as a studio complex, and we hope this can be the first of many more inner city studio locations,’’ Martella continued.
The Ward is a welcome addition to Artsource’s well-established Studios Program, which includes a stable of over 80 studios, spread across 8 buildings in the Perth metro area. The other studio locations include Fremantle, Midland, East Perth, Kelmscott, Belmont and White Gum Valley.
Inaugural tenants at The Ward are: Linus Andersson, Tarsh Bates, Claire Bushby, Jo Darbyshire, Giovanni Di Dio, James Foley, Rina Franz, Ruth Halbert, Kyle Hughes-Odgers, Tessa McOnie, Elisa Markes-Young, Sean Morris, Carley Ternes, Deborah Oakley, Kimberley Pace, Perdita Phillips, Josephine Pittman, Aaron Welch, Christopher Young, Alucinor Productions, Inkubator and The Duck House Theatre.
ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Claire Hastwell, Marketing Coordinator, claireh@artsource.net.au; 08 9335 8366
About Artsource
Artsource is Western Australia’s peak representative body for visual artists. A not-for-profit organisation in operation since 1986, Artsource works to expand and improve the sustainability and profile of artists through practical services and support. For more information, please visit www.artsource.net.au
About Artsource Studios Program
Artsource is committed to providing affordable studio spaces to artists and see this as a fundamental way to develop visual artists and their practices in Western Australia. Artsource sublease these spaces to artists, keeping the rent low, offering secure tenure of up to 5 years and managing the day-to-day operations of the head leases.
Further info:
Spacemarket
Artsource
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Sandra Dieckmann Illustration
London based illustrator, Sandra Dieckmann draws enchanting images inspired by nature and wildlife, harmonised with beautiful folk style patterning. Bear among bees is so in love with her bear images (a few favorites posted below) but go check out Sandra's website to see a wonderful menagerie of animals, or visit her etsy shop where you will find a range of tote bags, prints and cards featuring her work.
Sandra Dieckmann Illustration
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SandraDieckmann
http://www.sandradieckmann.com
http://sandradieckmann.blogspot.com
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| Bear Rock, Sandra Diekmann |
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| Beach Bear, Sandra Dieckmann |
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| Sweet Dreams, Sandra Dieckmann |
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| Tomorrow Bear, Sandra Dieckmann |
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| Bear, Sandra Dieckmann |
Sandra Dieckmann Illustration
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SandraDieckmann
http://www.sandradieckmann.com
http://sandradieckmann.blogspot.com
Monday, April 9, 2012
Speaking with Lance Kershaw Ladu
I was introduced to Lance Kershaw Ladu's work when interviewing Cherish Marrington last November. She pointed me to his Facebook profile where I found such intriguingly beautiful ink drawings, I had to find out more and Lance kindly agreed to this little interview with Bear among bees.
I have to confess I am pretty new to your work and have only seen your drawings online but I’m really loving what I have seen. Can you tell me about the characters in your drawings, are they based on people you know, or are they fictional? And where do your characters come from?
Well, I have to say; these characters are based on myself I suppose. I try to embody my own feelings and emotions into these drawings, depicting myself mainly as women.
Your work seems to have a baroque or renaissance feel that kind of makes me think of Peter Greenaway, do you like his movies? Have you seen his drawings? And on the subject of filmmakers, there any movies that have significantly influenced your work?
I adore film. I love Peter Greenaway’s films, like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, though I have never really seen his drawings before, till you have mentioned their existence. But I must say they are quite exquisite. I am heavily inspired by films, such as The Hours, Mommy Dearest, The Others and many more, but my main focus of inspiration comes from psychotic, sad, depressed, cruel, disappointed women or mothers, which became quite evident in a small web design about myself clearly depicted. But I find an immense beauty in these raw emotions, which I think are intensified through women.
Who are some of your favourite artists?
I guess I don’t really have a favourite artist. But I adore the works of Cherish Marrington, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, John William Waterhouse, Andrew Nicholls and Tane Andrews.
I saw on Facebook some beautiful works in progress for an artist book you were making. Is that complete now? Can you tell me about it?
The book called H is for Hippophagy, was a small, 18 paged, book that looked at a different perspective of hippophagy, which is the practice of eating horseflesh. It questioned ‘What is eating the flesh?’ which in my book was the natural decay of a dead carcass. The book was complete, but with my carless handling I managed to shamefully smudge most of the drawings. So it has now been dispersed and adored, hopefully, by their owners.
Is your work mostly drawing, or do you work in other media?
My work is strictly Ink. I find myself in the terrible position of loving this one medium, this one effect, that my own confounding comfort has scared me from progressing to other mediums. I suppose a love for traditional print techniques and drawing keeps me held to its exquisite bosom. Though, there are secret plans of a doll exhibition, which may lead to some spectacular birth of a new art practice for myself.
What would be your earliest creative memory?
My earliest creative memory is when I was 6 or something and I drew the study of a woman. Women have played a big role in my life.
Are you working on anything at the moment that you can tell us about?
I’m planning a show with one of my greatest friends Cherish Marrington, hopefully to be exhibited at Paper Mountain.
How can people find out more about your work?
At the moment, I can’t be found anywhere. Hopefully soon I shall gain access to oniemy. But, I am easily found on Facebook, having the only name Lance Kershaw Ladu. So if someone is interested in finding me, find me there and stay informed. (Polite smile)
.jpg) |
| untitled, Lance Kershaw Ladu, ink on paper. |
I have to confess I am pretty new to your work and have only seen your drawings online but I’m really loving what I have seen. Can you tell me about the characters in your drawings, are they based on people you know, or are they fictional? And where do your characters come from?
Well, I have to say; these characters are based on myself I suppose. I try to embody my own feelings and emotions into these drawings, depicting myself mainly as women.
Your work seems to have a baroque or renaissance feel that kind of makes me think of Peter Greenaway, do you like his movies? Have you seen his drawings? And on the subject of filmmakers, there any movies that have significantly influenced your work?
I adore film. I love Peter Greenaway’s films, like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, though I have never really seen his drawings before, till you have mentioned their existence. But I must say they are quite exquisite. I am heavily inspired by films, such as The Hours, Mommy Dearest, The Others and many more, but my main focus of inspiration comes from psychotic, sad, depressed, cruel, disappointed women or mothers, which became quite evident in a small web design about myself clearly depicted. But I find an immense beauty in these raw emotions, which I think are intensified through women.
.jpg) |
| untitled, Lance Kershaw Ladu, ink on paper. |
Who are some of your favourite artists?
I guess I don’t really have a favourite artist. But I adore the works of Cherish Marrington, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, John William Waterhouse, Andrew Nicholls and Tane Andrews.
I saw on Facebook some beautiful works in progress for an artist book you were making. Is that complete now? Can you tell me about it?
The book called H is for Hippophagy, was a small, 18 paged, book that looked at a different perspective of hippophagy, which is the practice of eating horseflesh. It questioned ‘What is eating the flesh?’ which in my book was the natural decay of a dead carcass. The book was complete, but with my carless handling I managed to shamefully smudge most of the drawings. So it has now been dispersed and adored, hopefully, by their owners.
 |
| death [page insert 12 (pg 24/ pg.25) from H is for...HIPPOPHAGY], Lance Kershaw Ladu, ink on paper. |
Is your work mostly drawing, or do you work in other media?
My work is strictly Ink. I find myself in the terrible position of loving this one medium, this one effect, that my own confounding comfort has scared me from progressing to other mediums. I suppose a love for traditional print techniques and drawing keeps me held to its exquisite bosom. Though, there are secret plans of a doll exhibition, which may lead to some spectacular birth of a new art practice for myself.
What would be your earliest creative memory?
My earliest creative memory is when I was 6 or something and I drew the study of a woman. Women have played a big role in my life.
Are you working on anything at the moment that you can tell us about?
I’m planning a show with one of my greatest friends Cherish Marrington, hopefully to be exhibited at Paper Mountain.
 |
| untitled, Lance Kershaw Ladu, ink on paper. |
How can people find out more about your work?
At the moment, I can’t be found anywhere. Hopefully soon I shall gain access to oniemy. But, I am easily found on Facebook, having the only name Lance Kershaw Ladu. So if someone is interested in finding me, find me there and stay informed. (Polite smile)
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