A-side B-side Gallery in Dazed and Confused this month

This months issue of Dazed and Confused magazine asks 'Is East London Dead?' They interviewed all sorts of creative people local to the area: artists, fashion designers, illustrators, artists, musicians, independent labels....and loads more.

In light of the forthcoming olympics the changing landscape, rising rents and the future for creatives in East London is a forefront issue.  

We were delighted to be invited by Dazed to take part!  They came to A-side B-side to take the pic back in Feb, an off the cuff decision by brilliant photgrapher Jamie hawkesworth led to myself and Catherine being photographed with all the builders and electricians working at Hackney Downs Studios at the time.  (Thanks to all the builders who agreed to be in it!)

The issue is out in the shops now, you can read the full interview on Dazed Digital

Following this we were asked onto Dazed's live radio show with Strongroom Alive, we were interviewed by deputy editor Tim Noakes,  you can listen to it on the Strongroom Alive site (we are on around 1.12 or so...)

The same show also features Dazed editor Rod Stanley discussing the thinking behind the issue and Theo Mass, the masked cover star.  (he had swapped his diamante mask for THIS AMAZING gold number).

Thanks Dazed...!

Some of my favourite mark-makers...

In the last couple of years one of the things I have really been working on is trying to develop my painting technique and style.  

I still want to make protest paintings, and I will still incorporate text, but I want my paintings to be less illustrative and more gestural.  My previous style seemed to work, but I realised that I was really missing painting painting (if that makes sense?!). I am so excited by the materiality of the paint and its endless possibilities as a medium, and even though I'm not quite sure where that fits in to my work conceptually, it is an area I really want to explore.

After many years of working in acrylics, three years ago I decided it was TIME FOR A CHANGE! and upgraded to higher quality paints, extended my colour palette, bought a whole load of new brushes and started working with oils.  I began exploring different techniques and ways of applying the paint. This way of working is actually much more intuitive to me personally as an artist, and is in fact similar to the way I used to work years ago. 

 Three years later I am looking at a lot of pieces which I don't want to exhibit, lots more of which have gone in the bin!  But I feel I'm on the right path somehow...

Every now and again I love looking at other artists work purely for their mark-making, forgetting about ideas and content and purely enjoying looking at their use of paint.  Here are a few I thought I would share: (I would love to be posting some of my own new paintings alongside, but they don't exist yet!)

‘The Teacher Sub A’

Marlene Dumas

Red and blue faces….amazing! love how she paints

‘Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Pop Innocent X’

Francis Bacon

All those dry brush marks, the direction and energy…Bacon manages to use paint to create something otherworldly, for me, he is one THE best adverts for the power of painting.

Tsunami

Wilhelm Sasnal

Simplicity of the figure in contrast to the rough/sketchy lines and squiggles of paint.  I like the way Wilhelm Sasnal's work is often political but in such a quiet and understated way.

Walnut Trees

David Hockney

Man of the moment…

I started to like Hockney's work when I first saw some amazing portraits of his mum at the National Portrait Gallery.  After that I saw a documentary which showed some footage of him painting some of his new landscapes – I was in awe of it! – just watching his handling of the paint.  I love the bold, simple and confident quality of the line and how intuitively he paints these landscapes.

 
 

 

 (Don't know the title of this!)

Thomas Gainsborough

I’ve been working on some portraits for a while now, and came across Gainsborough through research, I keep returning to the images in fascination. When you look at the paintings up close there is such a contrast between the static porcelain like faces, and the sketchy playful mark making of the background and the fabrics, I love that about his work.

'Gerard Malanga'

Alice Neel

Love the ease and simplicity of Alice Neel’s style, her paintings have so much humanity and emotion.

Would have been good if I could have included some more women painters, why is it that so many of the famous ones are men? On that note...I'm off to think about my next painting.

Thanks for reading!   xxx

2012 so far....

I can't believe January is almost over already!

So far 2012 has been a good year....!  The London Calling show at OCCCA in California has had some brilliant reviews, you can read a review which features my Shoebox painting in Zeitgeist Magazine, written by Nicola Anthony here

30 London based artists shipped their work over to California for London Calling, the ambitious group exhibition at the Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art.  

I have also just exhibited some pieces at IMPRINT, at The Serpentine Gallery Centre for Possible Studies,  put together by Francesca Goodwin and The Fabelist community You can read more about Imprint in Trebuchet magazine

However for the majority of January I have been busy in the studio working away on a series of new pieces.  One large piece I am working on looks at the problem of the growing wealth divide in the UK, and in Western civilizations generally.  The transience of life is a recurrent theme in my work at the moment, therefore this piece takes its starting reference from a medieval painting by Peter Breughal: 'The Triumph of Death'.  The painting is also inspired by a wide variety of sources, Victorian poverty paintings, the Kinks lyrics, the occupy movement, pre-revolutionary figures, and Canary Wharf amongst other things.  I haven't quite worked out what the text on this one will be yet...

My work seems to be getting more and more SERIOUS these last couple of years...I guess SERIOUS times require SERIOUS paintings!!!

A studio on loan!

A very generous friend and talented artist Sonia Blair recently offered me the use of her studio, whilst she is away for christmas.


It feels like a million years since I have been able to paint properly, partly because its been a really busy 6 months filled with exhibitions, and partly because of the upheaval of moving back to London, and no longer having a place to work. (and I guess it's also because I'm trying to balance being an artist with looking after a two year old!)


But it feels like finally I am starting to get back on track!  The studio has amazing views (and is heated!) it feels like a haven and very productive workspace, I am loving being able to at last get started on some of my new ideas.

I will be in the space working away throughout January which is a very exciting start to 2012, and by February I should have some images of a brand new piece or two if all goes to plan! 


Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year,  and the biggest of thankyous to Sonia for the loan of her beautiful studio.


Love Tinsel x

London Calling at OCCCA

I am really excited about taking part in an exhibition in LA this December: ‘London Calling’ will feature the work of 30 London based artists. 

The exhibition is at ‘OCCCA’ – or The Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art.  The gallery has been presenting cutting-edge artwork since 1980, a non-profit corporation, it acts as a catalyst for self-organised initiatives with a keen focus on social engagement, intellectual and cultural exchange and endeavours to produce a forward-thinking intellectual framework.

I will be exhibiting three works, ‘Shoebox’, ‘I hope this does win the Turner Prize’ and ‘Paint Stuff'.   Funnily enough I painted Shoebox in 2008, it felt poignant then, but even more so now! I really hope that in the next few years I won't have to paint another version about people having to live in matchboxes.

'Shoebox' 

acrylic on canvas

There are 30 of us taking part in the group exhibition, we’ve all been busy fundraising to help towards costs for the show via indiegogo, and a couple of Christmas pop up shops at Debut Contemporary on Westbourne Grove and another near St Pauls.  You can see our Indiegogo profile here, we're selling lots of prints and original pieces at discounted prices to help raise funds for the group to ship their work over to LA.

The participating artists are as follows:

Abigail Box, Agnetha Sjogren, Alyona Larinova, Azadeh Fatehrad, Beth Nicholas, Carlos Burgos, Chantal Powell, Darren MacPherson, Katerina Stavrou, Katerina James, Kimi Wylde, Henry Wood, Joe Cruz, Lloyd Durling, Lyndsay Martin, Masa Suzuki, Nicola Anthony, Rachel Noble, Rosie Emerson, Robert West, Senghye Yang, Silvia Krupinska, Sylvia Morgado, Sun Ae Kim, Tinsel Edwards, Tahnee Lonsdale, Twinkle Troughton, Victoria Heald, Vikram Kushwah

London Calling opens on 21st December and runs until January 12th, The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) is located in the Santa Ana Artist Village, which is home to several galleries, artist studios, restaurants, shops, and First Saturday art walks. OCCCA, 117 North Sycamore, Santa Ana, CA. 92701 USA. Visit www.occca.org

The Other Art Fair, OCCCA and pics from the Something Borrowed exhibition...

I will be exhibiting work at The Other Art Fair next week.  This Fair is unique, the 100 emerging artists participating will be representing themselves.  A brand new concept in the art world, this will give artists the opportunity to actually meet the buyers, collectors and gallerists who attend the fair.

Myself and Twinkle Troughton are sharing a stand, we will both be exhibiting a mixture of new and older original paintings and a selection of limited edition prints.  Having been selected from hundreds of applicants, we are both really excited about this opportunity!  We've never had a stand at an art fair before, and The Other Art Fair seems like its going to be an amazing one to debut at!

There are some top names involved in the selection process, including the artist Charming Baker (who's paintings I love!), director of the BALTIC Godfrey Worsdale, Dr Anthony Downey of Sotheby's, Sophie Hastings of GQ, and Graham Fink of Ogilvy and Mather.

AND (I'm very excited about this bit.....) Harry Pye and Jasper Joffe will be selling art for 99p at their shop, giving Other Art Fair visitors the opportunity to collect art for less than a pound!

http://jasperandharry.blogspot.com/

The Other Art Fair came by to interview me about my work for the website, you can view it here  Keep checking the site as I think Twinkle will have some footage up there soon too!

Anyway, we really hope you can join us and come along to the Bargehouse on Southbank for the fair next week.  Opening night is Thursday 24th November, and the Fair is open to the public Friday - Sunday.  Our stand is on the 4th floor.  You can buy tickets from the website here  or email me at tinseledwards@hotmail.co.uk

The other massively exciting thing is that I have some work in the London Calling exhibition at OCCCA, a group of 30 London based artists will be showing work at The Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art, USA this December.  

I've got lots to prepare for The Other Art Fair, so there will be more info on this to come soon!

And last but not least: Myself and Twinkle recently co-curated 'Something Borrowed', a group show featuring the work of ten artists.  We held the exhibition at the cutting edge new gallery on Vyner street, Cultivate.gallery website here

A mentalist First Thursday opening, followed by a busy weekend on Vyner street, and most importantly the brilliant artists who took part all helped to make it a huge success.  Thankyou Sean at Cultivate for all your help with the show, and thankyou to all of the participating artists:

Iain Andrews, Liz Bailey, Wanda Bernardino, J.A. Nicholls, Holly Revell, David Storey, David Troughton and Wen Wu

There's lots more pics to see on Twinkle's flickr

Scroll down for more info about Something Borrowed, or read about it on the Fox and Squirrel blog.

Thanks for reading, hope to see you at The Other Art Fair next week! x

Something Borrowed exhibition

Me and Twinkle have been busy selecting artists for our upcoming exhibition 'Something Borrowed'.

Its the second show we have curated together, opening on first Thursday in November at Cultivate Gallery on Vyner street.  We have a great line up of artists involved, and both myself and Twinkle will also be exhibiting.  I will be showcasing a brand new painting which technique-wise is quite a departure from previous work.  The artists exhibiting are as follows:

Iain Andrews, liz Bailey, Wanda Bernardino, Tinsel Edwards, J.A. Nicholls, Holly Revell, David Storey, David Troughton, Twinkle Troughton, Wen Wu

Cultivate Gallery is a new artist-led space opposite the Victory Pub on Vyner street, they have had some really good shows so far, so we are really pleased to have been given the opportunity to curate an exhibition there.

I hope you can make it along to the opening night!

You can find out more info about Cultivate gallery here

See below for the invite and press release, please contact me if you would like a PDF version of the press release.