Isaac Simon from South Parade gallery came to visit us at the studio and facilitated some interesting discussions around our work and the art world. As we approach the final stage of the Associate Studio Programme, we have shifted away from requesting soley artists to visit us, to gallerists and curators too. ASP has always been helpful in not just supporting our art practices but our professional practices as well. A support that most of us felt was lacking on our BA courses.
Isaac brought a lovely atmosphere to the studio, he was inquisitive about our work and let us ask any questions we had about his perspective of the art and gallery world. He seemed genuine in his approach to curation and artist support, which put us at ease and was a positive change to some of the harsh truths about the art world we often hear.
Many of us seemed in a limbo with our work or projects and so no one felt they had anything final to present to the group. Instead myself, Tyler Lurks and Sam Castro showed work in progress.
Tyler has a show in LA coming up and is working towards a deadline. We discussed the work that he has been dedicated to for a few years now. Simon talked about his interest in materiality and it showed through the questions he asked us all. We talked about the surfaces that Tyler paints on and how he is approaching scale, composition and colour. Tyler also received advice from Simon about contracts, pricing and insurance – all practical things that he didn’t feel confident about when dealing with galleries and curators.
I have been struggling to reinvest myself into my practice after a series of shows running through 2022/23. I showed some very early stages of sculpture and discussed my interest in the North American landscape that keeps cropping up. Again it was good to talk to Simon about materials and concepts and to present my thoughts to the group in a more formal setting. It seemed to spark some interesting discussion and I was pleased to have shared, even though I was hesitant at first.
Sam Castro has been working with collage recently, a change from his recent painting and sculptural work (image above). Sam was concerned that he didn’t have much to say about them and said they were instinctive. Sam always talks about his work so eloquently, even when he is determined that he has nothing to say. It created some great discussion about his approach to images and the patterns that recur in his work. At this stage in ASP, it is nice to acknowledge how well we know each other and our practices and how we can confidently talk about each other’s works. Sally Barton.
