Hazel Steel

Hazel’s shots work along the very strong theme of women in today’s society, and how women feel about their bodies. Hazel’s fascination of human form, and the emotions of movement and posture are apparent through this collection of photographs. One of the key elements of this series is the confluence of fragility and strength, and Steel wanted to draw attention to to this idea, creating images which almost defy logic – where a split second becomes an eternity.

Hazel Steel

Inspired by artists such as Francesca Woodman, who also worked with the idea of identity within the nude form, Steel sets herself the challenge of completely exposing herself both physically and mentally. Steel has been noted as saying that the idea she always came back to within this project was the idea of escaping. Be it escaping the everyday standards of feminine beauty which bombard us at every turn, or escaping reality and the everyday lives we lead.

The use of powder in these shots is implemented as a way of allowing the viewer into the situation, but keeping them behind a barrier, at a distance from the physicality of the action depicted. Steel has found a strong turning point in her own work through post-processing and editing. Through burning, highlighting and desaturating she has managed to create something almost other-worldly.

Hazel Steel

“This project has allowed me to expand my knowledge in photography, in myself and the way I feel about myself, and the work I produce. Initially I started off trying to communicate a message to the audience, a message I was trying to convey using my own body. However, as the project has progressed, it has become a lot more focused on learning about how I feel about myself personally, and creating a surreal space for me to escape. This is not the end of this project, I am not the only one who has body issues and is in need for an escape from the harsh society which we live in today. By creating visually stunning, entrancing images, I feel that it helps women overcome the pressure that they receive everyday to be a certain type of beautiful.”

- Hazel Steel (source).

RAW FORMAT can be seen at The Strand Gallery until the 22nd June.

More information about Hazel Steel and her work can be seen on her website.

Daisy Ware Jarrett

RawFormat is a creative collective made up of young photographers and filmmakers from the current graduating year of Coventry University’s Photography Degree Course. Following on from a very successful exhibition in 2012 for the widely renowned open education course #picbod, the group have come together once more to showcase their current exploits and exhibit their most recent work.

Jack Somerset

This exhibition features an exciting collection of projects that explore a wide range of contemporary issues and diverse themes. The work featured ranges from stills to films, and includes documentary and personal projects as well as fine art photography.

Hazel Steel

RawFormat can be seen at The Strand Gallery between 17th – 26th June.

Transforming Environments

Christoforatou’s involvement in the art world was inevitable. Her creativity and interest in different materials emerged at a young age. When chatting to The Strand Gallery she told us:

I understood that I wanted to be an artist at an early age; when I was a kid I remember telling my family that I wanted to be an artist. I was always surrounded by colours and brushes as my father was a contractor for dyes. I love the smell of paint! I remember staying for hours in my father’s studio playing with brushes and patterns. I enjoyed visiting museums with my family and going to exhibitions, something that was always very inspiring and motivating.

Childhood experiences have also significantly inspired the themes and issues Christoforatou addresses in her work. Her portfolio is varied in technique and the mediums she uses, but her conceptual ideas are consistent and focused:

My work examines the emotional effects of displacement in relation to notions of ‘home’ as a place of refuge and departure, and the ways in which art can expose the effects of forced displacement and feelings of fear, pain and loss. My family experienced the loss of a home through two house fires. The burnt smell of fire still haunts me to this day. In both instances, I was overcome by feelings of helplessness, disorientation, a pining for my lost belongings, and a deep sadness. The sense of loss of routine and structure was also devastating. These were my first encounters with physical and psychological displacement and came to shape my subsequent experiences of dislocation as I moved from Greece to the UK, a sense of displacement that echoes (and always will echo) the first sense of the loss of home.

Maria Christoforatou in her studio

In her lofty studio space in London’s Southwark, Christoforatou spends much of her time experimenting with different methods and techniques. As an artist she finds the process of creating her work as important to the finished piece as the aesthetic qualities. This is particularly true of her project Homestead, which consists of a number of intricate collages:

A process of destroying and recreating over and over again is at the core of my practice, which often salvages and reworks remnants, fragments and debris. I manipulate images of, or motifs relating to, the physical construction of houses in order to explore the concept of home as fragile and impermanent. I work regularly at my studio; sometimes even short sessions can be productive and help me keep my creativity alive. 

Pieces from Homestead can be found in the exhibition LINES. These collages again address issues of the home and are a mixture of original and found materials. Christoforatou collects her raw materials from a variety of newspapers and magazines, which she then manipulates through a black and white photocopier and combines with her own photographs and charcoal or pastel sketches. The juxtaposition of the real and fake sparks interesting questions for the viewer regarding reality vs imagination. When asked about her methods, she explains:

Found images were used to enhance a sense of absence. The process of photocopying accentuates the absence of that object and increases a sense of displacement. Destroying and recreating over and over again is at the core of my practice, which often salvages and reworks remnants fragments, and debris. The structures created out of collage are very small in the centre of the page, and requires the viewer to come nearer to the actual work. I intended to show that while the image appears to be a house or a building from afar, once nearer, it is possible to see that these are in fact not real or existing buildings.

Homestead and Homestead II

It is an incredibly exciting and busy time for Christoforatou at the moment. Alongside her art practice, she is also working towards a Ph.D, with her thesis exploring further the way displacement is represented in contemporary art. As well as the group exhibition at The Strand Gallery, she has also just opened her first solo show titled ‘Un-Build’ at Galeria Metamorfose, Portugal. This exhibition features drawings and collages that further explore her favourite subject, home.

LINES can be seen at The Strand Gallery between June 12th and June 15th.

Domestic Industrial 2012

Barlow’s entry into the art world was kick started by a shock (but not wholly unwelcome) redundancy from her previous role in retail IT. She used the opportunity to follow her creative dreams, enrolling on a Contemporary Applied Arts BA and spending the next two years knee-deep in clay, wood, metal, plastic and textiles.

There has always been creativity in Barlow’s life. Inspired by an old flatmate, she spent many years experimenting with photography and graphic design. Photography continues to play an integral role in her work, both for documenting her installations and as raw materials for use within her sculptures. Barlow’s mix of the printed image and traditional soda fired ceramics developed organically as a combination of the two mediums she most enjoyed working with, but the nature of these materials also add conceptual depth to her projects. She says:

Work in progress for Domestic Industrial

The combination of ceramics and photography creates an interesting dialogue. We are exposed to both mediums on a daily basis; we are familiar with them due to their provenance. This creates a lot of conceptual scope for discourse and viewer engagement within an art-object and installation.

Barlow’s latest project Domestic/Industrial is as much about the where as the what. The project was inspired by her relationships with the small village of Langold and nearby Firbeck Colliery, two areas she remembers fondly from her youth. The work is not just about these places, but was actually made in and around them. Barlow created many of her sculptures in her aunt’s garden shed and living room in Langold, embedding objects such as gravel and stones into the surfaces and finally returning with the finished products for on-site installations.

Joanne Barlow at work: soda firing at the kiln

My processes are concerned with documenting circumstances, so for D/I             I made lots of plaster and clay ‘records’ on-site, took source photographs for design, and eventually contextual photographs of finished pieces back in their source environment. Someone taking photographs of ceramic houses next to piles of rubbish in a disused colliery is not something you come across every day! 

Working out in the open has led to some interesting encounters with the inquisitive general public:

My most memorable encounter was being quizzed by two elderly ladies whilst taking in-situ photos.  I think they initially thought I was really quite mad, taking photographs of bits of ‘pot’ in a scruffy old back-road. When I explained what I was doing, however, they were very interested in it all and went on to tell me some of their histories in the village, some of which were included in other pieces of D/I.

Domestic Industrial 2012

A selection of work from Barlow’s Domestic/Industrial are featuring in the exhibition LINES. Alongside preparing for the exhibition she has also been busy finishing work for her MA:

I am [continuing] to explore the idea of circumstance through material, process and site. I am utilising blindfolded and sighted drawing, plaster work, video, ceramics, projections, moulding, concretes, photography, graphics, and sewing, in order to explore momentary relationships with my surroundings. This body of work is more autoethnographic than D/I, in that it aims to reflect more of my emotions and thought-processes at the time of making.

For more information visit joannebarlow.com.

LINES can be seen at The Strand Gallery between June 12th and June 15th.

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Jack Smurthwaite is a founding member of Advertising Exhibitions, a mutually beneficial initiative for aspiring creatives. We spoke to Jack ahead of AE’s exhibition Lines to find out more about the collective and venturing into the world of art promotion:

Tell us a little about yourself and what inspired you to form Advertising Exhibitions?

As students, myself, Hannah James (marketing) and Elliot Draper (design) were not seeing the opportunities we wanted around us so we decided to create them. Advertising Exhibitions is not a business venture; it is a collaborative experience that seeks to give opportunities to those looking for experience in the cultural field. For me personally, it was great to start something from scratch, to say “I want to curate an exhibition” and buck every convention because I didn’t know the conventions to start with.

Dark Days Wood by Leslie Hilling

With your first exhibition Lines coming barely a year after the collective was founded, it seems you have achieved a lot in a short space of time. Have you experienced many challenges along the way and what keeps you motivated?

I don’t know if it is because we are all so determined and unwilling to let the small things diminish our outlook, but the last year has been worryingly painless. The initial online response from artists, designers and creatives to our unknown organisation was outstanding and I think this filled us all with confidence and gave us the momentum to carry on. Working with such an interesting and varied group of artists also means that no two days are the same.

Your debut exhibition features work from 30 artists. How did you discover them and what criteria do you look for when choosing new artists to work with?

All the artists responded to online open calls and from the nearly 1000 submissions, 100 works were chosen on the merit of revealing their inner workings through their final outcomes. The brief we gave ourselves was to get a selection of pieces that could be seen to start in the same place but finish in totally different artistic realms. To re-contextualise the exhibited pieces in this way, I think, makes Lines slightly different in terms of a group exhibition – it is not a themed exhibition in the usual sense because the works do not share one theme – it is an exhibition that will hopefully engage the viewer in creating their own links between the works.

Watermark by Samantha Vince

Lines had an interesting selection process. How did you find your panel of industry experts and how did the judging process work?

The Selection Panel were great throughout the entire process – three students with no credentials [looking to curate an exhibition] ask you for a favour and what do you say? They said ‘yes’. Ben Street is a great Art Historian who does a lot for contemporary art in London. Lawrence Lek is a designer and I saw his work at the Design Museum in 2012. We definitely wanted panel members from different backgrounds. The selection process involved building bridges before we could cross them, developing survey websites and all sorts. It’s fantastic that everything has come together.

Any profits from this exhibition are to be donated to The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts. Why did you choose to support this charity in particular?

We wanted to donate something to charity – after all, the entire operation is designed to benefit as many people as possible. The things that The Prince’s Foundation do are fantastic. For someone to not discover something they may potentially love is a great shame.

What’s next in store for Advertising Exhibitions? 

One thing at a time! We definitely want to do another exhibition, working so closely with artists has been inspirational. First thing on my mind is…I have a degree to finish!

Lines can be seen at The Strand Gallery between 12th- 15th June.

The brainchild of a group of university students eager to forge their careers
within the culture sector, Advertising Exhibitions was founded as a
mutually beneficial initiative for aspiring creatives. The non-profit exhibiting body was founded in May 2012 and The Strand Gallery is proud to host their first public exhibition. Lines focuses on the ‘practice and process’ of an idea and aims to reconceptualise artworks by exhibiting them in relation to other works of varying practices, creating new narratives with one another – drawing a line between them.

With over 30 artists on show from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines,
the exhibition seeks to honour each and every one, showcasing
photography, sculpture, illustrations, graphic design, fine art, crafts and
installations. All works will be available to buy and, with a commission-free
policy in place, the sales will wholly benefit the artist. All other proceeds
from the exhibition will be donated to The Prince’s Foundation for Children and
the Arts, in support of their ongoing work to engage disadvantaged children with the arts.

Lines can be seen at The Strand Gallery between 12th- 15th June.

We love books. We love art books so much, our collection has grown into a library so vast we’ve run out of shelves!

So, for the first time ever we’ve decided to host an art book sale with some ludicrous discounts off leading titles. If you love books as much as we do, pay us a visit on the first weekend of June and come have a browse.

Kate Moss and Sadie Frost among famous faces to show support for photographer Debbi Clark’s new exhibition at The Strand Gallery.

Kevin’s book features many of the photographs currently on display at the V&A. Guest list is very limited, so be sure to RSVP to secure a spot.

Conrad Carvalho is the director of Oaktree & Tiger, a company dedicated to the promotion and nurturing of new artistic talent. We spoke to Conrad ahead of O&T’s exhibition (Re)Fashioning The Gaze to find out more about the business and his experiences working with young emerging talent:

Tell us about your background and what inspired the creation of Oak Tree and Tiger?

I had a long career as a commodities trader and felt it was time to take a really big risk and jump into something completely different. I’m fascinated by things I don’t understand and the artworld has an unlimited source of this. I especially had to understand the crazy prices for the artworks that I liked so much, so I did a full time course at Sotheby’s learning about art collecting, valuation and how the art market works. This triggered the end of my finance career… I was hooked on the art world.

The idea formed to work with artists, a good way to experience their work more intimately, and find ways to support them effectively. So I found that I could use my experience and network to help their careers.

Where does the unusual name come from?

I wanted something that had meaning. My surname means Oaktree in Portuguese. It symbolises wisdom, honesty, family, longevity and generosity. Tiger is the national animal of India and is respected for its strength, courage, success and passion. Plus I’m Goan.

What do you look for in an artist, and what advice would you give aspiring artists looking to sell their work?

Well our criteria are that we love their art and they have excellent trained skills. We like their work to have some conceptual ideas, but nothing too integral to the enjoyment of the work. They need to be based in London so that we can build strong relationships and connections, and also with our collectors.

I’d advise aspiring artists to… think about gaining as much visibility as possible. Let galleries approach you (we get far too many applicants all the time). Set up a simple website with your work and do lots of socialising/networking. Keep looking for ways to improve your skills, refine your ideas and message, and speak to people about all of this. You’ll naturally bump into a buyer/gallery directors/etc. and they’ll act without you trying to ‘sell’. Social media campaigns are a very effective and cheap way to build an audience. Lastly, and this is difficult for an aspiring artist to do, but try your best to put on your own events.

Could you tell us a little about the artists you currently represent and how you discovered them?

We spend a lot of time visiting graduate shows, art fairs, searching on the internet and finding recommendations. Studio visits are obviously hugely important. It takes a lot of visits and time to get to know the artist before we can get a feel for if what we do will help them. They need to trust our vision and guidance. We’ve been extraordinarily lucky to have found the artists we work with.

What’s coming up next for Oaktree & Tiger?

Our big exhibition in the Strand Gallery: (Re)Fashioning The Gaze by Jennifer Louise Martin!

Also, I am still looking for a few more artists to join us. We are working on ideas with all our current artists too. In fact, I’ve just had a meeting with a particularly fascinating new artist that I would like to join us… I’m really excited because his ideas for a show are extremely ambitious and original. We’ve already discussed it with a talented violinist and a director… (I have to keep a lot of it a secret until later!). So I’ve got the hard task of translating that into something viable, for early June, and more details will be sent to our newsletter subscribers when finalised.

(Re)Fashioning The Gaze can be seen at The Strand Gallery between 22nd-27th April.