THE DnA FACTORY MRSS

Love, Sex, Obsession, Death and  All The Dirt and Poetry Between…

Dallas and Angel, 2 Artists, 1 Voice – A Love Affair: Art, Beauty, Creation, Life; Collaboration for more than 30 Years.

Self-taught or art school?

When it comes to the question of self-taught or taught within an institution, we are both of an age where as younger men the last direction anyone would be encouraged to head towards was ‘The Arts’, not so long ago really! Therefore the learning curve towards artist leanings came from within at an early age and if they persisted one applied and hopefully managed to attend an art school. The upshot is that we both had no choice but to follow the creative road and were/are still happily wending our way along that path. After foundation courses we both [eventually] ended up at Goldsmith’s, interestingly on a now-defunct but extremely skill-set useful course named Constructed Textiles, which ran alongside and indeed often out-shone, in terms of creative exploration, the Painting and Sculpture courses. This course allowed us to experiment with as many techniques as we could muster, printing, stitch, weave, fabric constructions, furniture and fountain making, endless possibilities which we’ve carried throughout our career as artists. It instilled in us both the desire to investigate all manner of materials, to ignore restrictions and pursue the best material for any given task.

If you could own one work of art what would it be?

We’re extremely lucky, we already own it, without being conceited it’s a beautiful portrait of the two of us painted by our dear friend Elizabeth Meek and presented as a gift. Elizabeth is one of the most amazing portrait painters of our time and the warmth and generosity of our friendship makes this one of our most treasured possessions.

How would you describe your style?

Our style is best described as Post-Punk-Baroque mixed with a large dollop of Surrealism, a touch of Pop and a scoop of Expressionism, visceral for sure and very unapologetic.

Is narrative important within your work?

Narrative is vital in our work, from the subject matter we choose, the physical creative systems we employ, the journey to a completed piece and its place in the family of total works. All of our work interlinks as a continuous narrative which has at its centre, at its heart, visual explorations of our navigation through this life, the politics and sociology of living.

Who are your favourite artists and why?

As a duo ourselves, one of our favoured artistic duos would have to be Ed & Nancy Kienholz for the passion, scope and belief they exude with their astonishing and competent visual language, truly iconic! We feel a certain kinship with their creative voice. Another remarkable artist, although not considered so much in his lifetime would be Joseph Cornell who created beautiful ‘simple’ surreal and evocative worlds using found objects and collages. He remains a source of inspiration and admiration for the pair of us. A third consideration for ‘favourite’ would be Keith Haring, for several reasons, including his determination, his visibility as a gay artist and the accessibility he afforded to his work to the community at large. Sadly take too early during the AIDs pandemic but he left behind work full of vibrancy, movement and life for which we should be thankful.
Naturally, this list continues way past three choices, who can deny Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Da Vinci and more contemporarily Kiefer, Johns and so on…

What or who inspires your art?

Our inspiration stems from the world we all live in; we’re political beasts and react and respond as many artistically inclined people will do by creating, in whichever form is appropriate. These last two years have encouraged in us a tremendous visual output, with the world in this constant state of flux, with so much information being broadcast across so many mediums, the inspiration is endless and forthcoming, the changes so rapid we can barely keep up with our production responses. It goes without saying that we keep very busy making sketches and taking notes to refer to at a later time. As physical, spiritual and sociable beings, we also respond to the emotions of those around us, these responses become the inspiration for other and further works. It can be summed up, as our motto suggests as “Life, Love, Sex, Obsession, Death & All The Dirt And Poetry Between.”

Are there any recurring themes within your work and can you tell us about them?

There are many recurring themes in our work from looking at the politics of the body, of genders and sexuality to the wider social and political implications and implementations that shape our world and therefore our work. We tend to use the human figure in some form as a symbol to carry parts or sometimes all of this greater embodiment of feeling, leading to an abstraction of the actual nature of a ‘body’. For a number of years, we have been creating several series dealing with consumerism and the capitalist model, feeding our use of reclaimed or recycled objects and materials; we have a love of transmuting a discarded item into something ‘other’, unexpected or unrecognisable in terms of its previous incarnation.

Where’s your studio and what’s it like?

Our current studio and workshop is a railway arch hidden away in South London, Herne Hill to be precise. We’ve been lucky enough to have been here for the last twenty years although sadly now find ourselves under the threat of the developer’s eye. The space is roughly divided into five areas, show-space, workspace, office and two storage areas, one for materials, the other for crated work. However, these areas are mutable and shift designation quite frequently. In reality, the whole space contains work in progress or works displayed in and amongst each other, we like to live surrounded by the work we create as this helps each piece feed off another and gives rise to some very happy relationships between them. We also have a large library of both fictional and factual books, a huge collection of donated magazines for collage work and surround ourselves with donated and acquired inspirational ephemera, toys and other objects which may or may not become integral to a piece of sculpture, in some respects, it might be suggested that the interior resembles an old curiosity shop. The one thing we’ve never had is plumbing, directionally neither in or out, which makes one very resourceful!

Outside, as we’re at the end of a no-through road, we have constructed a very healthy garden from salvaged discarded plants found in the street, cuttings taken whilst visiting friends and the natural occurrences of nature. Within this garden are two marvellous ponds, reclaimed sculptural works from a previous occupant of the arch, inhabited by newts, which is pretty thrilling. The garden attracts an amazing array of wildlife, nesting birds, butterflies, stag beetles; a constant source of connection and enjoyment.

Do you have any studio rituals?

We have five strict studio rituals, the morning greeting of ‘Hello Arch’ when we walk through the door. The second is music [the music goes on and remains on all day as neither of us can work in silence] as the kettle is boiling for ritual number three, the cup of coffee, a roll-up and a chat about what we’re tackling that day [this might seem a bit odd as we live together and chat about the work all day every day but it serves to maintain focus] and the fourth is feeding the robins [we’ve had robins nesting since the garden was instigated], the fifth and final one is locking up and saying ‘Goodnight Arch’. Creatures of habit!

What are you working on currently?

We are currently working on developing further a series started as a response to the pandemic and all the fears, concerns, isolation and restrictions that ensued. The initial series of free-standing sculptures, wall-based bas-relief, drawings, paintings and prints fell under the monikers, THE LOCKDOWN ARMY, POTEM [Parts of The Egg Machinery], EROSION APOSTLES, DONIMO, DNA TABZ and THE CONSUMER GAME. In total, over the last two years, we’ve created 159 individual works, some of which we’ve turned into limited editions which we are continuing to produce. Our output has been quite explosive, due in part to fewer distractions, leading us to discover new materials and new methods which we’re avidly exploring.

Where can we buy your art?

You can buy a selection of our work of limited edition prints on the Saatchi site which we’ve recently joined or for limited edition bas-relief from the shop on our website, for larger pieces or commissions by emailing us, again via our website.

What are your ambitions?

Our ambitions would certainly be to survive, to thrive and continue being able to work. We have made our lives our art and as long as we can continue to make, we’ve achieved the ultimate ambition, to be happy.

Please provide your website/Instagram/social media for our readers.

You can find our work across these platforms:

https://thednafactory.com
https://sculptors.org.uk/artists
https://www.saatchiart.com/thednafactorymrss
https://www.facebook.com/thednafactory/
https://www.instagram.com/thednafactorymrss/
https://www.curatorspace.com/artists/dnadnadna?page=1