Coming up…
Bow Arts Open Studios 2012:
181 - 183 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ
Coming up.....
Bow Arts Open Exhibition (Selected by Bob and Roberta Smith, Skye Sherwin, Rosamond Murdoch and Emilie Faure)
Private View 29 June 2012 (6-9pm)
Exhibition continues 30 June – 15 July 2012 (11am-5pm)
Bermondsey Project Space, Unit 7, Rich Industrial Estate, Willow Walk, SE1 5SF
Open Studios coming soon! Come and have a nosey round my studio!
I’ll be in my studio C1-4 at 181 - 183 Bow Road at the private view on Friday 23 June from 7pm. Pop by and say hello! I’ll also be in sporadically on 24/25 June.
Postcard text draft
Stemming from an interest in the everyday and the commonplace, I have created a series of extremely detailed reproductions of the checkered pattern commonly found on laundry bags.
An exercise in patience and endurance, the repetitive action of the painting is an echo of mundane wage labour and the grind of the 9-5. The paintings also reflect on the formation of taste values in consumer society by playing with low brow/low value aesthetics. Chosen for their associations with poundshops, laundrettes and market stalls, they reflect on the way we ascribe value to objects, and how this is formed through the capitalist creation of false needs through branding and advertising. I attempt to appropriate these techniques by exploiting the same recurring motif and branding them according to their aesthetic style, just like consumer objects.
The pattern is based on a simple grid that anyone could recreate debunking the traditional myths of the artist figure which elevate art and art practice above any other activity.
So another 10 or so hours and I’m back on track to finishing this set before my open studios at the end of June. Added a bit of a change influenced by Dunkin Donuts packaging, gone for a gradiated red/orange colour. The fluro colours doing my head in a bit though now.
1. I’ve been working so hard on this latest painting - even going in most nights after work. Its the largest granny shopper painting I’ve done, and I’m thinking I’m gonna have to make a heart wrenching decision to abandon it and start again. I had the idea of doing hand drawn lines halfway through the series, and it just doesn’t work, the set needs to be uniform. Arghhh easily over 24 hours wasted.
2. Fluro series colour tests - don’t they look nice together…
March
1. Base for Fluro shopper (no 3/5)
2. Vintage shopper
Went to see Social Fabric at INIVA, textile production, Marxism and politics. Beautiful fabrics from the design library. Chintz was banned in the UK in 18th Century because it was ruining the UK wool and silk industries. People were buying the more colourful imported chintz fabrics!
Spent £45 on canvas for 2x large fluro shopper paintings. Spent another £20 on acrylics and small brushes. Really enjoying the granny shopper paintings. Can ‘zone out’ is mindless…like factory work, automatic. Useful to always have shoppers on the go, when I get a creative block with other projects, can always get on with these paintings…
Had a tour round John Jones - amazing to watch them gilding a frame with gold leaf - idea for deluxe shopper series…pricey but will look amazing!
February
1. Burberry colour tests, working out colour combos. Not really sure…
2. Granny shopper test - hand drawn lines NO RULERS!
3. Chintz drawing. Definition: “too colourful and in poor taste..” “brightly colourful but gaudy and tasteless..”
4. Wavy lines
Cake painting…mixing colours with icing sugar for a change rather than oils! Tasty!
My sister is getting married in Bristol Zoo next year and I’m designing the invites. This is one of my favourite illustrations so far..more illustrations at http://sarahdeebarrettillustrates.tumblr.com/
January 2012
January diary
11th Jan: First evening in the studio. Need new bulb in the bathroom, pitch black. Worked on Green Acrylic granny shopper
14 Jan: FREEZING! Bought an eco heater from Argos and lugged it back on bus. Better than before but its a bit rubbish really, doesn’t give off that much heat. Nearly finished green granny shopper. Had to repaint the green on the pink painting as it wasn’t dark enough. Annoying.
