Drawing on personal experience and inspired by human anatomy and psychoanalytic theory, Kim explores desire as the main subject matter alongside the concept of life and death.
In her theory, all things stem from desire and it varies depending on how the person’s desire appears. The human figure is a recurring theme and Kim’s obsession with the human body started when she was young after experiencing a rare body condition and medical examinations as part of her daily life.
William Reinsch is a young artist who is perhaps one of the most exciting new talents at work in the UK today. An astounding ability with figurative work, work which conveys as much about Reinsch as an artist as it does about the subjects he paints. Working from his studio in Essex, Reinsch is what the art world classes as an “outsider”, an artist with huge talent and yet not the product of formal art school training; perhaps in this instance, such training may have been counter-productive.
Andrew Graves-Johnston
So, where to begin?
Way back in 1987 I attended a huge squat party in a Kings X disused bus garage hosted by the Mutoid Waste Company. Amongst the live bands, DJ sets, street theatre, and circus acts I was confronted with awesome mixed media sculpture. These pieces included cars, TV sets and found objects. Walking home to Brixton I thought “if they can make art like that, then so can I”. For years I was an Outsider Artist, even if then that term was unknown to me. Using mostly self-taught skills I’ve worked in the creative industries, art direction, puppets and props maker, worked with bands, and even stilt-walked in parades. Since 1990 I’ve participated in over 50 exhibitions and events.
Peter Basden is an artist that produces candid, observational photography that attempts to capture a personal interpretation of honest, in-between, unposed moments. All of his photographs are made with persistence, patience, 35mm film and a small manual camera.
Hannah Sullivan is a young British artist living and working in Manchester.
Self-taught or art school?
I’m currently studying at Manchester School of Art in the UK, and am about to enter my graduate year.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
Antoni Tapiés ‘Rinzen’ (Rinzen being Japanese for “sudden awakening”). I saw this in Barcelona last year, and it completely captivated me. The scale of the work is astronomical and completely overwhelming. I like the familiarity of the bed and the mess, and how destructive it feels floating in the air. This was displayed alongside one of his larger cement paintings that upon reflection tonally could have been a suggestion of a mattress. The contrasting ideas between harsh, physical materials and the more empathetic/understood ideas around what it is to be human is something I take a lot of interest in.
