Frequent Flyer Miles
It’s been another scorching week here at Red Propeller HQ, putting us all well and truly in the holiday mood. Speaking of sunny climates, the immensely talented James Baker is back in the UK after concluding his ‘Artist’s Year in Residence in Australia’. As many of you will know, James wrote a series of blog updates for us while he was away, his work going from strength to strength inspired by Melbourne’s constant stream of visual delights.
As the popular Australian artist Johnny Romeo says;
“James Baker works in a surrealist pop manner. His works refigure exotic history, mythology and modern times. I have been particularly impressed in the way the conscious and subconscious are always present in his paintings”
Above: James Baker in his studio - click HERE to see more of his work
To celebrate his safe return home and an exciting new solo show he’s got coming up at Traffic Jam Galleries in Sydney opening 7th June, we have an EXCLUSIVE LIMITED EDITION print to offer you titled ‘New Arrivals’(£75, Edition of 40, 60cm by 43cm). As James explains;
“The work ‘New Arrivals’ was part of a series of paintings in which I continued to explore my running themes of my continually developing dystopia. Symbols within the painting are significant. Most prominent are the Baboons and Hyenas that represent hybridity…‘New Arrivals’ is a postcard from Yesyoucanistan - an ever evolving place”
Above: New Arrivals by James Baker - click HERE to BUY this print
Keeping with this week’s international flavour, we’d like to introduce you to the young, emerging Canadian artist Cam Reid and his new piece ‘Trading Isobars’ (£575.00). After winning the Canadian Victoria Emerging Artist Award in 2010, he’s really starting to make an impact on the Canadian art scene. We’re pleased to announce that Cam Reid is another Red Propeller EXCLUSIVE, and this is the first time his work has been shown here in the UK.
Above: ‘Trading Isobars’ by Cam Reid - click HERE to see more of his work
BUILDING ON STRONG FOUNDATIONS
As you know here at Red Propeller we love to give you a creative treat to tantalise your cultural taste buds and this week we’re thrilled to announce the grand unveiling of our newest artist David V Johnson.
We’ve all been blown-away by his powerful and expressive semi-abstract collages and after meeting him in person here at the gallery on the weekend, we’ve decided the only way to properly introduce him to you is to host his mini-show ‘SCHIZOPHRENIA’. Featuring characters/personalities extracted from the original image, developed, mashed up and then exposed - all together in the final pieces here at Red Propeller HQ.
While we chatted to him in the summer sun, we found out that he’s a rather multi-talented chap and how juggling two roles actually enhances his creativity;
“I work as an architect and I’ve painted for most of my life. I think that the painting - the way I paint is, in many ways, a reaction to the technicalities, procedures, intricacies and bureaucracies that I have to deal with in making buildings. Architecture is great - but the work is full of compromises. My paintings are really (initially) for me and have a lot of me in them.”
Above: ‘Satisfaction’ by David V Johnson (Click on the link or picture to see more of his available work)
*SQUATTING STARLET LIMITED EDITION PRINT*
We can clearly appreciate the strong personal relationship David has with his artwork and by looking closely at the detail, you can start to interpret how he’s cleverly manipulated the original source material such as record covers ranging from Shirley Bassey to The Hammond Sauce Work Band.
To coincide with the launch of his solo show here at the gallery, we’re not only giving you the chance to own your very own David V Johnson original but we’re also releasing the stunning ‘Squatting Starlet’ as a VERY LIMITED EXCLUSIVE Red Propeller Print (60 x 50cm, edition of 25, £60).
Above: ‘Squatting Starlet Print’ by David V Johnson (Click on the link or picture to buy)
David V Johnson Interview Continued…
Which of your peers would you say inspire you creatively? My wife & I have been visiting galleries and meeting artists for years. We spend a lot of time in the far west of Cornwall which has its obvious inspirations and we’ve met loads of decent people there. Artists I respect for various reasons (and who’ve somehow influenced my work) are Chris Anthem, Sam Bassett, Andrew Litten and Michael Rees (all Cornwall based).
How would you describe the process behind creating your collage pieces? I love old books, magazines, records and things that start as interesting objects - with interesting images (often very little to do with the actual content). I love the way they become worn/distressed/repaired over time and eventually become something very different and often more interesting. I think I follow this process in an accelerated way.
So can you tell our reader anything more about the story behind the new piece Squatting Starlet or Satisfaction? These pieces, as with a lot of my recent work, start as an object or graphic that I find to be special in its own right. They evolve by the addition of bits of other characters, images, text, paint, glue, tape etc and then I add my own markings which unify it all.
Above: David V Johnson (Click on the link or picture to see more of his available work)
A SUGARY TREAT!
As most of you will know BBC One’s phenomenally successful ‘The Apprentice’ is back, and this time the urban art world has been high on Lord Sugar’s moneymaking agenda; the task to hold an urban art exhibition. Whether you’re a fan of the show or not, as they say ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’ and all this media coverage has certainly created a buzz here at Red Propeller HQ. With the team representing Artrepublic’s artist winning the day and Lawrence Alkin, Artrepublic’s very own CEO, joining the panel on ‘You’ve Been Fired’ as the street art expert, the announcement that their boutique gallery in Soho is going to be exhibiting some of TRXTR’s original works should be big news to our regular readers.
We are so proud of our very own TRXTR’s phenomenal success. After his recent high-profile London show ‘Pretty Lethal’ picking-up rave reviews and strong sales, a show stateside planned for later this year and now Artrepublic and Opus Art both jumping onboard, we think there is no time like the present to celebrate with an EXCLUSIVE Red Propeller TRXTR week. We have two originals for you ‘Digital Mother’ and ‘Salome’s Sister’ at £375.00, collage on wooden panels, 26 x 18 inches.
Above: ‘Digital Mother’ and ‘Salome’s Sister’ by TRXTR (Click on the pictures to go straight to our Art Shop)
We are also releasing a very limited and very extra special print edition called ‘Disaster Myopia’ (£95.00, edition of 25, 60cm x 48cm) to tempt you with - goes live on site at 10am Thursday 17th May - set your alerts…
When we asked TRXTR about the story behind his latest work he gave us the lowdown:
“Inspired by empty torn and shredded advertising hoardings symptomatic of a failing western economy and the microscopic examination of the vacuous dot matrix reality of media imagery of beauty and celebrity, Trxtr is off on an obsessive tangent of gluten-free wheat pasting on wooden panels.”
Yes, a typical thought-provoking TRXTR response for us to mull over in our free time!
Above: ‘Disaster Myopia’ by TRXTR (Click on the picture to go straight to our Print Shop)
We’d like to draw your attention to one of our classic archive prints that we have available. This week we’re revisiting the delicately beautiful drawing ‘Alicia’ by the very talented Guy Denning.
Above: ‘Alicia’ (Click on the picture to go straight to our Print Shop)
Ready, Camera, Action! Welcome Back To The World Of Ckirk…
Interview by Melanie Deare
Ckirk’s life reads a bit like a plot to a good cult movie. For more than a decade he rambled across the country consuming legendary amounts of booze, drugs, sex, misadventure and jail food. Yet in 2005 he sobered up, settled down, married and turned his insatiable appetite towards becoming a successful artist. After taking the Dallas art scene by storm, he turned his focus toward a broader global audience. His works are featured in publications (both in print and online) worldwide. Then like any gripping plot line there’s a twist - in 2010 he turned his back on the public eye in an attempt to allow himself to grow as an artist in private. A year later he’s back and a new chapter begins…
Hi ckirk, so you were a guest artist in our November 2010 group show ‘Back of Beyond’ and now you’re back with a vengeance with some impressive new work. Can you fill us in with what you’ve been up to creatively this past year?
Well, I completed a handful of mixed media canvas pieces sometime in March 2011. The works touched on the many aspects of the human condition, animal nature and faulty ideas. I’d started the paintings during the Fall of 2010 after a summer long absence of studio work. I don’t think I so much as picked up a pencil during the summer, but I did spend many hours indoors studying figurative art from different time periods and from a slew of different artists. I learned quite a bit both technically and history wise.
I spent the rest of the year doing drawings and paintings on bristol, vellum, and builders paper indoors…although I did complete a couple more canvas pieces during this time. The works done later in the year were a bit softer than the ‘harder edged’ paintings that were completed in March. The new work consists mostly of portraits of people that are close to me. I’m guessing that all the angst that built up during my summer of study without painting, was viscously released on the first slew of paintings released in March 2011! Comparing the two sets of paintings, it’s apparent to me that the latter works were done while in a very different, more relaxed state of mind.
So can you tell me a bit about who or what inspired your new work?
There were many inspirations for the 2011 collection. I spent much of 2010 studying figurative works ranging from old masters to contemporary artists. A few artists whose work particularly caught my eye are Lucian Freud, Jenny Saville, William Kentridge, Francis Bacon, Caravaggio…the list could go on! Some artists I admire for their technique, some for strength of hand, some for texture and instinct.
So what materials do you tend to use? Is there a creative ‘tried and tested’ method that works best for you?
I’m currently using oil for upcoming 2012 work, but last year I used whatever I had handy in my studio. I used compressed charcoal and chalk quite a bit, acrylic, spray paint and prisma were also used. I like to use tape and collage paper and newsprint in my work as well. I often paint over the collage though, so it really becomes more texture than anything else. I have to say other than the traditional approach to drawing there’s really no one trusted method I use. Sometimes I’m very careful and considerate while doing a piece and other times I’m violently erasing, rubbing, or slopping paint over the canvas!
It’s very exciting to hear that you’re curating a show in the Caribbean which will include the work of well-known artists such as Jaybo Monk. Can you elaborate on this at all?
Co-curating really; I select the artists and make contact. The Seven Minus Seven people handle most everything else. I’ve correspond via email with many of the artists for a couple of years now so it’s not like asking a complete stranger to participate. They’re all nice people which makes working with them all the easier. As far as details go, all I can say at this point is Jaybo Monk, Fran Williams, Lou Ross, George Morton Clark and myself will have work to exhibit. The show will be in mid-January at Seven Minus Seven in St.Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
So looking into the future, can you see clearly where your work is going or do you create more organically than that?
It’s really hard to say where the work will go. I have experimented with sculpture, constructs, print making and more over the years, and my art has undergone changes. I think the medium used surely determines the ‘look’ of a piece. Though I’ve been drawing on human and animal figures from the time I was a little boy, so I’m convinced that the figure will be a permanent fixture in my work.
One last ‘wish list’ question! If you could exhibit alongside any artist past or present who would it be?
Geez! That’s a difficult one. There are so many artists whose work I admire that I can not even begin to answer that question.
Thank you so much to ckirk for his exclusive interview with Red Propeller Uncut. To view more of his work please click HERE and you’ll be redirected to our website.
Above ‘Artist’s Wife’ by ckirk
Click on the links to visit Red Propeller Gallery online and view a full catalogue of available originals by ckirk and other skilled artists such as Guy Denning, Ian Francis, Russ Mills and TRXTR.
