Pam Glew is a contemporary British artist, known for her unique bleaching technique on vintage flags and fabric. Antique American quilts, brocade and old jeans are dyed black and painted freehand with mixed media paint. The portrait slowly develops in the painting process resulting in an image emerging from the textile. Glew is often commissioned by large brands including Armani, Red Bull and Microsoft, exhibits internationally and is found in public and private art collections worldwide.
Self taught or art school?
Bit of both. I went to Falmouth College of Arts to do my Art foundation, and then I went to drama school, Rose Bruford College to do my degree in Theatre Design,. As soon as I came out with a fairly respectable 2:1 I realised I wanted to paint, draw and generally ‘do art’ rather than theatre. I moved to Brighton and made work on metal to start with started exhibiting in bars and restaurants and climbed up the ranks til I got offered a gallery show back in 2005. I invented a technique of bleaching onto flags, which was self taught and was born from experimenting. I started working with flags and textiles around 2007, and something about the flags caught a zeitgeist and suddenly I was in shows with Banksy and Tracy Emin and the like. It was a weird and fun time, around 2009 everything suddenly went nuts and I was doing commissions for Ralph Lauren and had solo shows in London and Sydney.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
Um I’ll go Guernica by Picasso! Would need to buy a larger house to house it though.
How would you describe your style?
Fine art textiles. Although there’s a large slice of low-brow/ pop art in there too.
Where are your favourite places to view art?
Any gallery in Europe. Ideally Paris. Sun out, pop in, wander round with no time constraints, have a coffee. Bliss. In the real world though its London galleries like the Tate, RA, often with a child on tow!
Who are your favourite artists and why?
There are so many. Katharina Fritsch for her slick sculpture, Cindy Sherman for her honesty and humour, Whistler for colour and light and Anselm Kiefer for texture and scale, Herakut for their mark making and figurative element, and Swoon for her use of line and emotion.
I have worked with a number of contemporary artists that I really respect through Paxton + Glew, a curatorial project I co-run with my friend, photographer Emily Paxton. Through co-curating the exhibition ‘Urban Miniatures’ where artists made a model city and the next show ‘Vitamin Sea’ which is a virtual show of artists beach huts, I’ve worked with Ben Frost, Eelus, Xenz and Peeta and so many other artists whose work I love. (https://www.paxtonglew.com/)
What or who inspires your art?
Politics (usually fighting against it), culture (often low brow, films), music, song lyrics, and the wider world around me.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
Its a converted garage in my back garden. We moved to a house in 2012 and one of the things that sold the house to me was this low garage building out the back. We had it insulated, better electrics and put in proper windows. Working in the home studio has been very useful as we are now in lockdown as I’ve been able to continue working as before. When the suns out I sometimes stretch out into the garden and sometimes the hard-stand that looks out to a park. The studio itself is full of fabric, sewing machines, flags and bits of flags and too many art books.
Do you have any studio rituals?
Not really. I usually have a cup of tea on the go and 6 Music on the radio.
What are you working on currently?
I’ve got a load of work to do for Aurua Gallery in Thailand, its a new build that is founded by Goldie. He’s a brilliant supporter of my work and back in 2010ish we did an art swap, I made him a portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat and he made me a portrait of Darwin. Darwin is huge and always gets a response when visitors come for the first time. Darwin is going ‘SHHHH’ with his finger on his lip which is brilliant as he loftily looks onto husband’s drum kit.
What are your ambitions?
Keep making art into my 90s, keep learning. Keep chickens.
