Mark Harrison - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair Tenth Anniversary

Stockbridge 6

Oil on canvas 16" x 16"

Mark will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Sam Lock - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

 

Sam Lock - Apparition

Oils and Mixed Media on Canvas

90x90cm

Sam will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Artist of the Week - Louise Bradley

Louise Bradley creates detailed, linear, sensuous and richly coloured screenprints, monoprints, papercuts and drawings of botanical forms and symbols. She will be showing her work at the Brighton Art Fair.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?
Always happy with a pencil in my hand, I guess I never stopped drawing once I had started. My mum is an artist and has always been very creative and original – that helps!

Is being an artist your only job?
I work as an artist in education as well as making art, which is extremely fulfilling. I’m lucky enough to work in galleries such as BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, as well as in the community with diverse groups.

One favourite living artist?
Olafur Eliasson for his sublime light and colour installations

One favourite historical artist?
Helen Chadwick – the strength and originality of her work; its visceral beauty and force

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
I would quite like to have drawn Lucian Freud though I wouldn’t make him sit as long as his sitters did for his paintings. Then he would have to draw me. Is that collaboration or just swapping?!

Who is your style icon?
I like seeing anyone dressed in an original (eccentric?) colourful way – anyone who follows their heart and wears what expresses their character rather than following fashion.

Last book / film that blew your mind?
“Coral: a Pessimist in Paradise” by Steve Jones - blew my mind (though in too depressing a way and I didn’t finish it)  Film? The acting in ‘The Master’ was pretty mind blowing and the photography and soundtrack in ‘Stoker’ were beautiful

Last gig you went to?
Adam Curtis vs Massive Attack at the Manchester International Festival

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
More than I would care to admit

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
Anywhere colourful near the sea with lots of plants would do, to draw and swim

Where and what is your studio?
For the past 15 years I’ve been part of the fantastic 36 Lime Street Ltd; a large artists and makers collective in an old Whiskey warehouse in the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle upon Tyne – next to an urban farm and a large burn leading to the River Tyne. I can hear the tide coming in and out as well as pigs, cockerels and goats through the window. My studio itself is spacious with a ceiling high enough for a mezzanine floor, and I’m part of a group of excellent and friendly practitioners

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Yes – both feed off each other, and intermingle, and I love the freedom of choice that comes from being freelance/self-employed

What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
Cathartic

What would your dream commission be?
A residency in some botanical gardens far away

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The Sculpture Park of Chianti

Set deep (really deep) in the countryside of beautiful Tuscany is The Sculpture Park of Chianti. Established in 2004 as a private enterprise, the park offers a trail of around 30 works of art in woodland to the south of Vagliagli. Reached by dirt track road only, it is well worth a visit.

 

Artists from around the world were invited to view the location, wander the woodland and then create a piece of sculpture specific to that site. The results are varied, interesting and beautiful. With a huge variety of media from glass to metal and wood to stone, each artwork is intended to blend in perfectly with nature and its woodland environment.

 

 

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Artist of the Week - Abigail McDougall

Abigail McDougall paints acrylic and watercolour landscapes and cityscapes. She will be showing her work at the Brighton Art Fair in September.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?
Art was always my favourite subject as a child and I sold a few pieces of my artwork when I was at school, this spurred me on to study art and to just keep on doing it. The real start of my career was when I moved to Bristol after graduating from Falmouth College of Art. Some friends started to get studio spaces at Jamaica Street Studios and they let me put a few pieces of my work up at their annual open studios. I sold a few pieces, so I made more work and started exhibiting in galleries all around Bristol.

Is being an artist your only job?
It is now my only job. It's taken a few years to build up to this.

One favourite living artist?
David Hockney is such an inspiration, he has always tried new technology and incorporated it into his work. His use of colour and mark making are really outstanding and his work ethic is incredible "Give me the Royal Academy and I'll fill it". He recently said.

One favourite historical artist?
My favourite artist from history is Paul Klee. His work taught me to compose pictures, use colour and to be expressive. Invaluable lessons.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
I'd like to go back to the time when Paul Klee and August Macke were travelling together in Tunisia and be with them, discovering the new light of Africa.

Who is your style icon?
In terms of painting it would be Peter Doig currently. In terms of art, music, fashion all rolled into one that would be Grace Jones.

Last book / film that blew your mind?
David Lynch films are always mind blowing. It's not a film, but I recently finished watching the Twin Peaks series- amazing. I also recently watched his film Dune- mind blowing certainly- not necessarily in a good way...

Last gig you went to?
I went to see the Knife at the Camden Roundhouse. It was spectacular.

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
As little as possible- I'm quite traditional. It can be anything between 0 and 8 hours.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
I'd like to spend some time living in Morocco. I have visited twice and I'm in love with the culture, landscapes, atmosphere and light. The range of mind blowing exotic landscapes is so incredible I just have a bit of a Morocco thirst that I need quenching. 

Where and what is your studio?
My studio is in Jamaica Street Studios, in the centre of Bristol. It's the largest independent artist studios outside of London. It is an old carriage works building with massive windows and incredible light. I have a big space I share with another artist. There are around 40 artists in the building so it's a really lively place. We put on quite a lot of high profile exhibitions as a collective.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Not really right now, but I grew up in Italy, so when I do enjoy life I do know how to enjoy the good life.

What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
Atmospheric.

What would your dream commission be?
It would be brilliant to be commissioned to cycle all around Britain and paint scenes from the cycle routes. But as that commission hasn't happened yet, I just have to do it myself slowly bit by bit.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?
I really like the Pompidou Centre, it would be fantastic to exhibit there.

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Ten Years, Ten Artists - Flora McLachlan

FLORA MCLACHLAN AND THE BRIGHTON ART FAIR

The oldest set of Brighton Art Fair labels I can find on my computer is from 2004, so that must be when I first showed there, and I’ve hardly missed one since then!  Seeing those almost-forgotten older etchings brings home to me how BAF has really helped me find my voice as an artist. I began with a strange mixture of straight landscapes, still lives and dark castles, but seeing the work hung in the white space of the art fair, and also hearing what visitors to the art fair found distinctive about it, helped me see my way forward, and I slowly began to combine landscape and a fairy-tale atmosphere to make my pictures of lonely hills and magical wild creatures in dark woodlands.

I grew up in Lancing, so coming down from Oxford to show at Brighton always feels like coming home, and it has in the past been a real family event for me. That first year I showed with my father Jeremy McLachlan and his pottery, and then my mother Philippa Lithgow joined us with her oil paintings of the Downs.  Finally I moved to a space of my own across the aisle from theirs, and felt my work really took off when it was given the spotlight.  In 2008 we parked my six-week-old baby Laurie’s pram in the café and he obligingly slept for hours through the racket of hissing coffee machines and mad buzz of people deciding which painting to buy.  This year I’ll be back, but sadly I’ve now lost both my parents, so alone…apart from all my BAF friends of course.

Brighton Art Fair is always fun; it’s so wonderful to be able to meet and talk to all these other artists for a whole weekend.  It’s intense, exhausting and exhilarating.  I love the rush of hanging the year’s new work, watching how the pictures relate to each other on the wall and wondering what people will think of them.  I also love wandering through the aisles and seeing what everyone else I know has been doing, finding interesting new printmaking inspiration, and sometimes buying or exchanging work. I’ve made a lot of valuable contacts through the art fair, and many sales too, and I do think of it as my year’s milestone, a chance to see my work all together and decide which direction to go in next.  I couldn’t imagine my life as an artist without it.

 

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Artist of the Week - Mark Harrison

Mark Harrison is based in Brighton and produces atmospheric oil paintings of locations around the world. He will be showing his work at the Brighton Art Fair.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?

After studying Graphic Design and Illustration at Art College I was an illustrator for 25+ years specialising in painting book jackets for most major UK and USA publishers (480+ cover illustrations). Stopped in 2005 to paint personal work for sale in UK galleries.

Is being an artist your only job?

Yes!

One favourite living artist?

Too many to mention. I guess Jeremy Mann is the nearest. I love his painterly approach to landscape and figures.

One favourite historical artist?

Alfons Mucha probably my favourite. A master of drawing and painting. Closely followed by John Singer Sargent.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

I've never considered it!

Who is your style icon?

?
Last book / film that blew your mind?
No time to read books! Film - Life Of Pi

Last gig you went to?

Sigur Ros at The Eden Project

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?

Not too bad, half an hour?

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

Bali or Italy. I know Bali very well and one can live there in some style at low cost. It is also very easy for a Westerner to live there, good infrastructure and near the emerging Asian economies. Italy, maybe more realistic, love the country, food, language.

Where and what is your studio?

A large room in my flat with good storage space and overhead natural light.

Do you have a good work/life balance?

Inseparable, which I think it has to be to be an artist.

What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?

I would go crazy if I wasn't painting

What would your dream commission be?

Wealthy client asks me to paint his beautiful home, preferably abroad, with new exciting connections resulting.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?

Solo show in prestigious London gallery, Mayfair or St James's for instance. Messums?

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