Andrew Moncrief, supported by Gucci

06/27/22 • 67 min

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Talk Art special episode!!! We meet Andrew Moncrief (b.1987), a visual artist from Comox Valley, Canada. We speak on the eve of Gucci presenting his first exhibition in France at their Saint-Germain boutique, during the men's fashion shows in Paris.

Influenced at an early age by a rigid and immobile interpretation of masculinity, Andrew’s work explores depictions of the male identity, questioning idealism, queerness, and representation. The Canadian artist, now based in Berlin, questions masculinity and the representation of queer bodies in his surreal and powerful canvases inspired by existing images, reworked as collages where colours and shapes intermingle.

For this exhibition, Andrew Moncrief has chosen to create his 5 new paintings inspired by images photographed for this occasion. In collaboration with photographer Julien Barbès, the Canadian artist created a fashion series around five queer Berlin personalities wearing pieces from the Gucci Love Parade collection and offering a diversity of approaches to masculinity. These images, in which bodies move in soft and sensual choreographies, served as the original material for the collages in preparation for the paintings presented this summer in Paris.

”My work deals with my identity as a gay and queer man”, explains the artist. “To compose my collage-like paintings, I usually use existing nude images, but here, everything was built from fashion photos made for the occasion. I am sensitive to clothed bodies, classical drapery and Renaissance painting. Clothes generate tension and folds, as a metaphor for the body and the tensions it is capable of feeling."

In Andrew Moncrief's paintings, the male body seems to be in perpetual metamorphosis. Dislocated and intertwined, he melts into his environment and dialogues with other bodies as much as with colours, textures and clothes. The fluid and hybrid body thus escapes all the categories and norms that society imposes on it. The artist's painting forms an act of freedom and canvases are queer safe spaces where all attitudes and representations become possible. The liberated and phantasmagorical body is celebrated through a palette of delightful colours that explode across the canvas. This new work is also a reference to the famous painter Francis Bacon, and more particularly to his representation of the body crossed as much by the beauty as by the grotesque.

Since graduating with a BFA in Painting & Drawing from Concordia University in 2013, Andrew Moncrief has presented his work internationally in Canada, the U.S.A., and Europe, where he currently lives and works. He has been featured in numerous international publications, is part of respected private collections, and has received a Professional Development Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to pursue a full-time mentorship with Justin Ogilvie to study classical techniques and anatomy in 2019. Andrew has two upcoming shows at New Art Projects and Beers, both in London, UK, as well as a collaboration with GUCCI and Numero Art Magazine, all taking place in the first half of 2022.

Visit Andrew's website: http://andrewmoncrief.com/

Follow on Instagram: @an_drew_moncrief

Special thanks to GUCCI and Alex Malgouyres for supporting this episode.

Follow: @Gucci @GucciEquilibrium

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Visit Andrew's website: http://andrewmoncrief.com/

Follow on Instagram: @an_drew_moncrief

Special thanks to GUCCI and Alex Malgouyres for supporting this episode.

Follow: @Gucci @GucciEquilibrium

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Zoë Buckman

We meet leading artist Zoë Buckman from her studio in Brooklyn, NY!!! We discuss grief, trauma, her precise textile artworks and a powerful, new film titled 'Show Me Your Bruises, Then' (2021-2022) - a 3 channel video installation, written, performed and directed by Zoë Buckman, and featuring actors Cush Jumbo and Sienna Miller.

Zoë Buckman’s multidisciplinary practice incorporates sculpture, textiles, ceramics, photography, and large-scale public installations. Adopting an explicitly feminist approach, her work explores identity, trauma, and gendered violence, subverting preconceived notions of vulnerability and strength.

The artist regularly chooses to work with objects symbolically associated with gender. Whilst her oft-adopted boxing gloves hint at a bellicose masculinity, Buckman also incorporates vintage fabrics into her work, from lingerie to dishcloths and table linen. These textiles, traditionally used and decorated by women, recall an intimacy with the body and a proximity to the domestic space. Bearing traces of their past, vintage fabrics point to a history of patriarchal subjugation, but also to the necessity and comfort of intergenerational dialogue between women.

Indeed, both verbal and non-verbal dialogue is an integral part of Buckman’s practice. Buckman’s eclectic choice of source material, the snatches of conversation, stained tablecloths, hip-hop lyrics, and, especially, lines from her late playwright mother’s scripts, all represent mnemonic totems which, when taken together, establish a deeply personal constellation of the artist’s lived experience.

'Show Me Your Bruises, Then' is the first filmic work of London-born, Brooklyn-based artist, Zoë Buckman. The 17-minute long, 3-channel, video installation builds a portrait of the multigenerational experience of domestic violence, and explores the shame and stigma prescribed to the female body in a patriarchal society. The film depicts three women, each seated at the end of the table, reciting Buckman’s own free flowing poem by the same name that she started writing in 2018. Although excerpts of the poem have appeared as text within Buckman’s embroidery works and in the titles of pieces, this is the first time it is presented in its entirety.

In tandem with both the sculptural and wall-based works that have formed the basis of Buckman’s artistic practice to date, Show Me Your Bruises, Then, seeks to foster nuanced conversation around consent, power, and violence, as well as highlighting the intrinsic joy, pleasure, and resilience that abounds the female experience. The rhythmic pattern of the poem and the three screen visuals build this notion of the power in sharing one’s voice and story.

Visit: https://www.zoebuckman.com/ and her page at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London: https://www.houldsworth.co.uk/artists/57-zoe-buckman/overview/

Follow: @ZoeBuckman and @PippyHouldsworthGallery

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Next Episode

Clara Amfo

Talk Art Season 13 continues with a broadcasting LEGEND!!! We meet Clara Amfo, one of British radio and television’s most dynamic voices and faces. An award winning broadcaster, podcaster and television presenter best known for her work on BBC Radio 1, where she hosted the official chart and the world famous Live Lounge. She currently hosts Future Sounds, breaking the new music from rising and established musicians.

A little known fact about Clara is that she collects art and is friends with many artists. Her brother also collects art and photography and his record collection even inspired the teenage Clara to get into the artistic side of music - including the album artwork of Lauryn Hill. We discuss the art scene in Accra, the awesome capital of Ghana. We learn about Clara's art collection and why she is an advocate for living with art at home - from postcards to prints to unique paintings! We learn about her new role as Trustee of Royal Academy of Arts in London's Green Park and how she's been brainstorming about how to make art more accessible for everyone.

During the pandemic, Clara collaborated with the Serpentine Gallery during their major survey of British-Ghanaian photographer James Barnor. Clara is a big fan of Barnor's work, whose career spans six decades, two continents and numerous photographic genres through his work with studio portraiture, photojournalism, editorial commissions and wider social commentary. Clara also introduces us to the work of Ted Pearce aka Ted’s Draws known for illustrations of iconic musicians, as well as Josephine Chime, a contemporary painter who has in recent years created portraits of Clara’s mother and father.

She remembers an Inspiring studio visit to the Brixton-based artist Abe Odedina. We explore why art exhibitions are the perfect venue for dating and Clara reminisces about memorable exhibitions she's visited such as Faith Ringold, Kehinde Wiley at the National Gallery and Lubaina Himid's current solo exhibition at Tate Modern and the impact that Yinka Ilori’s 'Better Days Are Coming I Promise' public artwork had on London during lockdown.

Follow Clara on Instagram: @ClaraAmfo

Visit her official website: www.claraamfo.com

Learn more about the Royal Academy and the Summer Exhibition 2022 at @RoyalAcademyArts

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