INTERVIEW

Your artwork is so unique, were you classically trained in art or are you self taught?

I consider myself to be both. I was educated in art at some prestigious London Art Institutions, City and Guilds and Central Saint Martins. I loved reading about art philosophy especially concepts such as relational aesthetics by Nicolas Bouriard, Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes and Gilles Deleuze, a French philosopher, and Félix Guattari, a French psychoanalyst and political activist.

My artbags alow me to explore the many facets of my own life experience and push the boundries of visual language. From travel, desire, loss, illness, fear, beauty , consumerism, wealth, nostalgia. Its my life project. Ive always been facinated with psychology, philosophy and anthropology.

Art school enabled me to test my ideas and challenge my aesthetic sensibilities. My first degree was in Economics and Politics which opened my eyes to the troubles of the world at large. At art school I wrote a thesis called The Aesthetics of intimacy which continues to stimulate me.

The heavy critiques and wide variety of nationalities, languages spoken helped me to develop my own visual coding. My fascination is to develop a non-verbal universal form of visual communication that could transcend cultures and economies.

I studied Economics and politics at Manchester university in the late 80’s. this was a real eye opener for me and I became aware and moved by both by global conflict, the breakdown of my own family and the exposure to dance and club scene.The education gave me an understanding of the world which helped me to formulate my ideas and priorities, understand consumerism and political turmoil with a backdrop of rave and club culture in IBIZA in my own unique way. All of this, together with a year working in Advertising give me a view of the world that my art finally helped me find a way to communicate.

Tell us about your artwork and what made you gravitate towards handbags as a concept. 

The handbag as an item is both deeply personal, private and intimate. The contents tell a story of Where you‘ve been, where you‘re going and your anticipated needs. Whether these are aesthetic, practical, nostalgic or supersticious. Often this can be a pair of glasses, money, lipstick, a key, a fragrance there are connections between the objects which tells a story or suggests an identity.

At art school we were asked to bring in a significant object to cast and I chose oneof my old impractical small designer handbags much to the surprise of my tutor and peer group.

Your most recent artwork is a bag made of barbed wire containing a beautiful white taxidermy bird. Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind this piece and what you feel it embodies?

This work is inspired by the very first bag I created which was not made out of resin. It was a plaster cast with drawing pins covering the handle. The weight of which when you picked it up caused a lot of pain in the palm of your hand.I called the work

To have and to hold

This takes that theme of pain and adds pleasure to it. 22 carat gold barbed wire bag contains a delicate white bird. Protected and trapped unable to fly, kept, restricted, yet gilded. Its a Catch 22.

Your works are conceptual, modern and abstract and yet evoke an aura of the classical, most notably through their adoption of the feminine. What is it about the handbag, its connection with the feminine and its role as a ‘container’ that is so significant to you as a creator?

A bounderied space, like a canvas only 3 dimensional and from an early age my father was in the handbag industry and my sister and I would be given beautiful handbags and would long to be sophisticated ladies. We would take our mothers makeup and experiment with dress up. The handbag was always my favourite accessory. I have so many bags and have an infinite fascination for their beauty, inside and out.

Your artworks have certainly changed over time, can you tell us a bit about this journey and also how you envision your work evolving over the next 5 years? 

I grow and change and learn so does my art…

How do you see art’s role and impact in Society?

Art is a place of wonderment, and challenge. It helps us to focus onthings that are important or beautiful to artists. Without art the world would be too practical!

You’re a member of the ‘Beautalist’ art movement. Can you tell us a bit about ‘Beautalism’?

When reflecting on aesthetics, philosopher Immanuel Kant famously connects beauty to the human imagination, nature and to the sublime. Kant explains that the sublime is a sensation only accessible in the mind, and is induced by encountering things we find overwhelmingly beautiful and powerful. It can also be related to feelings of awe, and Kant argues that we experience the sublime through looking at beauty in nature and in art.

The artwork of the Beautalists confront the viewer with beauty. But beauty comes in multiple forms and has many faces. It is classical, complicated, weird and shocking. It is abstract, gentle and aggressive. Some of the artists of Beautalism produce beauty in its pure and sublime form, whereas others aim to expose the dangerous or even ugly side of beauty. Through their artwork however, you will see the power of beauty. It may be sexual beauty, silly beauty or capitalism’s despicable yet seductive use of beauty. Beauty is the unreachable ideal, a myth that we are always chasing and yet it is undoubtedly always a thrill to look at. The Beautalist art movement is about the visual allure of beauty as well as its potency. To put it bluntly (or brutally), the Beautalists are brutal about beauty.

What does the concept of Beauty mean to you and how does the concept inspire your art?

Beauty is the intimate journey I strive for to an imagined destination.

How would you describe the relationship your artwork has with fashion?

Fashion is creating indentity, belonging, individuality and protection. We are both striving for beauty and originality.Good art like good fashion is timeless. If I use all mediums in one – music, fashion, and art. I’m hittingITfrom all angles.

Would you describe fashion as art and how important is art to fashion?

Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of imprisonment. (Alexander Mcqueen)Art explains and uncovers the depth behind the visual carnival of fashion.

What have been your greatest successes so far and which personalities do you wear with your art bags?

Creating some iconic americana museum peices for the coca cola collection celebrating 100 years of the coca cola classic bottle shape. My work was hung with my art heros, Andy Warhol and Ai Wei Wei at the last world Expo in Milan in 2015.

My artbags alow me to explore the many facets of my own life experience and push the boundries of visual language. From travel, desire, loss, illness, fear, beauty , consumerism, wealth, nostalgia. Its my life project. Ive always been facinated with psychology, philosophy and anthropology.