Exhibitions in October

This weekend I am exhibiting some prints with Art Rebels at their pop up at Finders Keepers in Copenhagen.  I wish I could fly over to be at the event! Next time maybe....

In the selection of prints I sent there were several new giclee editions including:

'Risk is Good for the Soul' Edition of 50, Giclee on Somerset 300gsm

'Coat of Arms' Edition of 45, Giclee on Somerset 300gsm

                           'Collecting Fossils in 2058' Edition of 25, Giclee on Somerset 300gsm

These prints have not been uploaded to my online shop or website yet so this will be the first time they have been exhibited. I am currently redesigning my website and will be uploading lots of new prints to the online shop this month, if you are interested in purchasing anything in the meantime please email me at tinseledwards@hotmail.co.uk

On October 13th I will also be exhibiting with The Lucky Dip Collective at The Islington Contemporary Art Fair.

On October 20th I have a small piece going in a group exhibition at Cultivate, Vyner street The venue where myself and Twinkle Troughton are co-curating a show for November First Thursday, more on that to follow soon!

Thanks for reading x

The Social Networking DILEMA!

Having access to Facebook, twitter, linked in......and all of the other social networking sites available, is a massive help to anyone wanting to promote their music/business/creative venture.  As an artist it is amazing to promote an exhibition to 100s of people online for free.  Years and years ago I imagine it was much harder for artists to promote themselves, I feel lucky to have access to all of these websites as it is a really simple and easy way of spreading the word.

HOWEVER....I sometimes feel that it is TAKING OVER!!!

When I was a little girl, dreaming about growing up to be an artist, I imagined a wonderful life of painting all the time and exhibiting all over the world.  Now I am grown up, and living the life of an artist, I find that I spend so much of my time at the computer.  Between all the admin jobs, emailing, entering competitions, preparing proposals, tweeting, facebooking, blogging, mailouts and promotion, theres hardly any painting happening, How did this happen??!!!

To have a presence it seems that you need to be blogging once a week (at least I am up to date with this weeks!), posting on facebook at least every couple of days, tweeting regularly.  I haven't quite got into the world of twitter yet, every now and again I tell my 73 or so followers that I've got some work in an exhibition coming up, retweet something interesting, and then don't log on again for afew days.  I suddenly realise I forgot to tell them all about the wonderful painting exhibition I went to recently, the revelation I had about this or that....what a lovely time I had at that event the other day.  I think for it to work I probably need to be tweeting more and for it to be second nature.

Maybe in time I will get into it abit more.....Its not that I don't like social networking sites - I think twitter is a brilliant tool to use to let people know about what you are doing, and also as a way to catch up on news and updates, as with all the social networking sites.  As a strong believer in all things DIY - an ethos close to my heart and one that I continually promote in my art work, social networking fits.  It is an excellent tool for artists to use to promote themselves - giving them autonomy.  But it sometimes feels all consuming, and I'm always conscious that I'm not doing enough of it.

I'm wondering whether I might take 6 weeks off and see what happens.  I want to promote my work, but I also want to make my work! We'll see.....I will keep you posted.

I recently stumbled across some of Filipo Minelli's work:

The imagery struck a chord with me and started me thinking about this issue in a wider context.  We all spend so much time on computers, more so in our jobs than ever before.  But people seem nostalgic for craft/skills based work where you can use your hands, and we are all aware that the presence of computers and the internet reduces face to face contact with each other.  I wonder how things will stand in 2050?

Anyway!  My next blog will probably be about the show in Copenhagen that I'm putting some prints in at the end of the month...or the show that me and Twinkle Troughton are curating at the beginning of November on Vyner street.  And I must remember to facebook and tweet and tweet again!

Thankyou for reading, see you all on facebook!  x

Pics from FLAGSTOP LA

Some pics from the exhibition in LA - The London Art Box at FLAGSTOP was a big success, and has led to many more exciting opportunities.  Including exchange exhibitions with several LA and San Francisco galleries and a now confirmed exhibition in December at Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art (OCCCA)

You can read more about FLAGSTOP here on Artweek LA

A big thankyou to Nicola Anthony, Abigail Box and Kimi Wylde who went over to LA to represent all of the artists!

We are putting on a post-exhibition press event at Debut Contemporary Gallery on September 28th, if you would like a copy of the press release for the event please email me at tinseledwards@hotmail.co.uk

Compulsory bag wearing person - a must at any artfair

London Art Box at FLAGSTOP art fair in LA!

On Friday 2nd September FLAGSTOP opens, an alternative contemporary art fair in 
Los Angeles.


Alongside 13 other artists from Debut Contemporary, my work was selected for LAB - ' The London Art Box'.  A pod at the art fair purely dedicated to the art of London based artists.


Its been a busy couple of weeks getting everything ready for the fair! but finally all of our works have arrived safely in LA, set up is already happening, VIP opening Friday and the fair is open to the public Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th.


Here is a little info about the fair, you can also read more about FLAGSTOP on the website: http://flagstopart.com/


'FLAG STOP’s mission is to present new and emerging contemporary art to a larger audience outside the mainstream art venues. FLAG STOP is searching for alternative venues in which to present the best curated examples of what, why, and how art is becoming relevant today. Each “STOP” will feature art which has been curated with some of the best examples of contemporary art, brought to you by some of the top professional, emerging curators and artists from Southern California.'


The Art Fair will be hosted by South Bay Lexus, a MASSIVE Lexus showroom!  There are also some really high profile LA based curators involved in the fair such as Howard Fox of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Lily Siegel of MOCA.  Following the FLAGSTOP art fair, in December all of our works will be moving on to a second exhibition at OCCCA, Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art.


Its so exciting to have been selected for the show!  Although I can't be at the opening it is fantastic to have some work going over to the fair to make its US Debut.  I'm really interested to see what kind of feedback our works will get.  Afew of the Debut artists have gone over to represent us all and chat to visitors about our work.


I am showing my 'Shoebox' painting, 'Paint Stuff' and an older piece, 'I hope this does win the Turner Prize'.

Other artists selected for the exhibition include (in no particular order!): Twinkle Troughton, Chantal Powell, Nicola Anthony, Darren Macpherson, Katrina James, Robert West, Carlos Martyn Burgos, Abigail Box, Azadeh Fatehrad, Vikram Kushwah, Kimi Wylde, Sylvia Morgado.


Also I just wanted to say a big thankyou to Ryan Noble for helping to organise the event, and to everyone at Debut Contemporary.  


If you are in LA this weekend please visit the fair if you can! and anyone not in LA, I'll be posting some pics from the event as soon as I get any xxx

Is Capitalism a Dictatorship or a Democracy: Working on a new piece!

I used to feel that I couldn't make political work because I didn't know enough about 'Politics'.  Over the past couple of years I've changed how I feel about that, I still don't know much about politics, but I do know how I feel about the observations that I make about society and life today.  These personal responses to what I see are what is expressed in my work, and now sometimes the work does end up being abit political....!


IS CAPITALISM A DICTATORSHIP OR A DEMOCRACY?  My paintings often start with a question or a slogan, and a while back I started thinking about the above question.  Capitalism is supposedly a democracy, but are we really all free to decide what we want to do?  Certain things have to happen in order for Capitalism to continue working as a model for society, mostly buying stuff...all the time.  There is a hierarchy and a growing wealth divide, everyone has their function within the big wheel of society and amongst other things we all have to keep buying to make it all keep ticking.


Aswell as pondering on this thought...I never forget how lucky we are to not live under a real 'dictatorship', I can't even begin to imagine the reality of living under a regime.  I sometimes wonder whether I really can make a painting to explore the issue I'm thinking about in Western countries - which also shows sensitivity and respect toward people living under dictatorships.


Anyhow, I thought I would attempt to tackle it, as to me its a very real issue.  I'm just at the very beginning of this process, and I think alot more research, reading and thought needs to go into the piece.

I attempted to come up with something which had just subtle visual reference to the theme I am looking at, thinking that the text would really do the work, and the title too.  Its a bold question, and simply asking it in the painting will encourage thought on the issue.  I also like the idea of making pieces where the text is a little bit removed from the image, as a way of leaving more space for thought and interpretation.


I've just been experimenting so far, and after a few days working on the painting I decided to abandon it and go back to the drawing board...


I'm still feeling that it is really important to make a piece of work to explore this issue, so hopefully I will be posting again soon with a finished piece!


x

A review of Opinionated Objects at Debut Contemporary

It’s a while ago now, but I’ve finally found the time to write a little bit about Opinionated Objects!

On Saturday July 30^th me and Twinkle braved the intense sunshine and sat in the window of Debut Contemporary Gallery, painting onto people’s unwanted objects in aid of the Ubuntu Education Fund.  The project took weeks and weeks of planning, so it was brilliant to finally see it happen and to have such a good response.

The idea was that people donated an unwanted object and a hope or wish for the future. We then painted the text onto the object, transforming the unwanted object into a piece of art. In exchange we asked for a donation to The Ubuntu Education Fund.

We wanted to raise awareness about Ubuntu and the amazing work that they do for children in South Africa who’s lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS, and also raise some cash for the charity.  From an artistic point of view we wanted to do an interactive project to create a visual display of people’s thoughts, hopes and opinions, ‘upcycling’ their unwanted goods along the way!

The response was really positive, we were given some really interesting objects to paint on, including a fishbowl, a breadbin, a guitar, an old record player, a wooden sword, a toy horse, some speedos….and lots more.  People were very thoughtful with the opinions and hopes they gave us to paint onto the objects too, we were given a diverse range of really heartfelt statements such as:

‘I wish I cared enough to cry’

'Good ideas are the heartstrings of the soul'

‘May we always find nourishment in the simplest of things’

‘I hope that our relationship with technology doesn’t take over our relationship with each other’

‘I wish for all of us to work harder to protect our beautiful but threatened marine and sea life before it is lost forever’

We combined our different painting styles to collaborate on most of the objects, some lent themselves more to Twinkle’s style, some to mine, each piece was signed by both of us.

Thankyou to everyone who donated objects and opinions!  Thankyou so much for donating to Ubuntu, and thankyou to Debut Contemporary Gallery for hosting the event.

(thankyou to Sophia for being so helpful on the day!  Me and Twinkle were just about delirious from being in the direct sunlight of the gallery window on the hottest day of the year – and having to wear sunglasses to paint!)

We would love to continue this project somehow and do it on a larger scale with more time to paint more objects.

The blog to review Opinionated Objects will have to wait....

This evening I was planning to sit down and finally write a blog to review mine and Twinkle's recent project: 'Opinionated Objects', as usual I'm abit late to upload the news after the event!  But after seeing the footage of the riots on the streets of Hackney I feel shocked and horrified, stunned, and worried about how things will pan out tonight.

Weirdly I am not in London this week, but so many people close to me live near to the area where the riots are going on, and I can't stop thinking about how terrifying it must be for them right now.  I lived just off Mare street for a couple of years, its awful to see what happened in Tottenham and I really feel for all of those affected, but on a personal note, seeing such familiar places being trashed to pieces feels really sad.

What is it that inspires people to cause such damage to other people's lives?

I will write about Opinionated Objects another time...All I can say about it at the moment is that it was wonderful to have had such a positive response, people were so forthcoming with honest and heartfelt hopes and opinions.

I hope that the response that me and Twinkle had to Opinionated Objects reflects how Londoners will now all pull together.
xxx