tribe issue 2
DESCRIPTION
international creative arts magazineTRANSCRIPT
INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE ARTS MAGAZINEISSUE 2
tribe
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Photographer: Rosie Kliskey
flickr.com/photos/rosie_kliskey_blates
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EDITOR
mark [email protected]
SUB EDITORglyn [email protected]
EDITORIAL DIRECTORpete [email protected]
ADVERTISING DIRECTORjean camp
MARKETING & PR DIRECTOR
steve clement-‐[email protected]
RESEARCHERhannah doyle
ART
bex edwardsbex-‐edwards.blogspot.com
COVERben langworthybenlangworthy.co.uk
PHOTOGRAPHY
mark doyle, pete davey(except where noted)
(C) 2012 tribe magazinearXsts have given permission for their work to be displayed in tribe magazine. no part of this magazine may be
reproduced without the permission of the copyright holder(s).
tribe
WELCOME TO ISSUE 2 OF TRIBE
I think it’s fair to say that we have been somewhat overwhelmed by the response to the first issue of the magazine. We have had tremendous support from arXsts, collecXves and galleries, as well as from insXtuXons like Plymouth College of Art and Arts Matrix. We sXll have a long way to go to fulfilling our dreams with tribe, but we have started on a very firm fooXng. Thankyou to everyone that has supported us over the past few months.
We are currently going through the process of becoming a community interest company, which will see us then stepping up our offer to the arXsXc community. tribe is very much about generaXng new creaXve partnerships and driving collaboraXon between arXsts, collecXves, galleries and other businesses and CIC’s working in the arts sector. One of our great strengths is our large (and growing) internaXonal network, which currently takes in Italy, Japan, the US, France, Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. We have links in London, Bristol and Manchester in the UK, and are looking to extend our networking and collaboraXon frameworks to include not just the visual arts covered in the magazine itself, but digital media, film making, animaXon, sonic arts and grassroots music, via the website.
tribe is here for anyone involved in the creaXve arts and media to use. So please get in touch with us and let’s start working together. Who knows where it could lead? Mark Doyle -‐ Editor
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Dog Child Running
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Watching
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The Wedding Feast
Helen Gillamhelengillam.moonfruit.com
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GENTLEMEN
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TAKE POLAROIDS
STEVE JANSEN IS A MUSICAL INNOVATOR. IN THE 1980s STEVE PLAYED IN PIONEERING BAND JAPAN, DURING WHICH TIME HE TOOK MANY CANDID SHOTS OF THE BAND AT WORK AND PLAY. HE TALKS TO TRIBE ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY, THE PAST AND THE FUTURE.
STEVEJANSEN.COM
INTERVIEW: MARK DOYLE
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WERE YOU ALWAYS INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY, OR WAS IT SOMETHING THAT CAME TO YOU AS YOUR MUSIC CAREER PROGRESSED?
I STARTED TO BECOME INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY WHEN I WAS ABOUT 18, WHICH PROMPTED ME TO PURCHASE MY FIRST REAL CAMERA, THE CANON A1. I THINK MY UNUSUAL LIFESTYLE AND MANY TRAVELS INSPIRED ME TO TAKE PHOTOS, ALTHOUGH I WAS NEVER INTERESTED IN A TOURISTIC STYLE OF DOCUMENTING TRAVEL AND PLACES. I WAS MORE KEEN ON PORTRAITURE AND CAPTURING INTIMATE MOMENTS. I THINK MY CLOSE FRIENDS BEGAN TO NOT NOTICE ME POINTING THE CAMERA, AS THEY’VE BEEN SURPRISED TO SEE SOME OF THE IMAGES I’VE TAKE OF OUR TIME TOGETHER.
David Sylvian
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Richard Barbieri
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David Sylvian
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Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian
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JAPAN WERE ALWAYS A VERY VISUAL BAND. HOW MUCH CONTROL DID THE BAND HAVE OVER THEIR IMAGE?
WE LIVED THE PART. IT WASN’T AN IMAGE, WE LOOKED AND DRESSED TEHE SAME IN EVERYDAY LIFE AS WE DID IN THE PUBLIC EYE SO THERE WAS NO QUESTION OF CONTROL - IT WAS WHO WE WERE.
HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED IN THE MUSIC SCENE IN TERMS OF IMAGE AND VISUALS SINCE YOU BEGAN RECORDING IN THE 1970s?
BECAUSE WE NEVER HAD THAT ATTITUDE IT SEEMED LIKE A BAD THING AT THE TIME - BEING MANUFACTURED SEEMED TO LACK PURPOSE AND PASSION. IF IT’S NOT WHO YOU ARE THEN YOU’RE NOT REALLY MAKING A STATEMENT. BUT TIMES THEN WERE DIFFERENT, KIDS WANTED TO EXPLORE AND BREAK FREE OF THEIR INHIBITIONS AND SUPPRESSED BRITISH SOCIETY OF THE 1970’s. THE CONCEPT OF BEING MANUFACTURED AND STYLISED REALLY CAME INTO PLAY MORE IN THE MID-EIGHTIES AND IS SOMETHING THAT WORKS WHEN ARTISTS OR THEIR MANAGEMENT TAKE A VERY BUSINESS-LIKE APPROACH TO THE TASK OF MAKING MUSIC AND PRESENTING THE BAND FOR MASS APPEAL. IT’S VERY COMMONPLACE THESE DAYS. TRENDS IN MUSIC AND FASHION ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF YOUTH - BEING DIFFERENT, NEW AND IMPROVED... GROUND BREAKING, EVEN THOUGH THE OLDER GENERATIONS WILL OFTEN SAY THEY’VE SEEN IT BEFORE, SOMETHING SOMETHING TRULY ORIGINAL EMERGES FROM THE SHADOWS. IT THINK THE KEY IS NOT TO CONFORM, ALLOWING NEW IDEAS TO FLOURISH.
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Richard Barbieri, Ginza, Tokyo
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WHAT PHOTOGRAPHERS INSPIRE YOU? WHAT DO YOU LIKE LOOKING AT?
I LIKE THE TYPE OF PHOTOGRAPHY THAT EXPLORES INTERIORS, PEOPLE, PEOPLE IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT... THERE ARE COUNTLESS GREATS THAT HAVE GIVEN US WONDERFUL IMAGES BUT EVERYONE IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING THEM.
Mick Karn, London
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WHAT DOES PHOTOGRAPHY MEAN TO YOU?
I THINK IT’S A ROMANTIC VIEW OF THE WORLD - WHICH IS PROBABLY WHY I DON’T PARTICULARLY HAVE AN INTEREST IN VIVID IMAGERY - I PREFER SOME FORM OF DISTORTION WHICH MAKES THE MOMENT MORE PROVOCATIVE. THAT IS PERHAPS WHY DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY HAS LEFT ME A BIT COLD - I THINK THE INTERACTION OF MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS MAKES FOR A MORE UNPREDICTABLE RESULT. I’M STILL GETTING MORE PLEASURE OUT OF SCANNING OLD NEGATIVES THAN TAKING NEW DIGITAL PHOTOS.
Richard Barbieri & David Sylvian
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HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF NOW?
I OBVIOUSLY SEE MUSIC AS A PROFESSION WHEREAS PHOTOGRAPHY WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING MORE OF AN ASIDE, THEREFORE I WOULDN’T DARE CALL MYSELF A MULTIMEDIA ARTIST BY ANY MEANS.
HOW ENTHUSIASTIC ARE YOU ABOUT NEW TECHNOLOGY?
I THINK WE’RE SEEING SOME WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENTS IN BOTH VISUAL AND AUDIO TOOLS. I’M SURE THAT PHOTOGRAPHY HAS BENEFITTED JUST AS EQUALLY AS MUSIC IN THIS DIGITAL AGE. THE TOOLS WE CAN EMPLOY TO CREATE MUSIC, SOUNDTRACKS AND IMAGERY WOULD HAVE BEEN UNTHINKABLE A FEW YEARS AGO. ONE DOES NEED TO FIND A BALANCE THOUGH, THE CREATIVE PART CAN BE SWALLOWED UP BY THE CONTINUAL EMERGENCE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY TO THE POINT WHERE FOCUS BECOMES DIVERTED.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR YOU CREATIVELY?
MY CREATIVE FIELD IS MAINLY AUDIO WORK BUT I VERY MUCH ENJOY COMBINING AUDIO WITH VISUALS - I ALWAYS WELCOME THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE THAT FURTHER <
David Sylvian
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Mick Karn, London
Images courtesy of Steve Jansen
stevejansen.com
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Twilight In The Rain
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Bus
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Homeless
Paul Whiteheadwix.com/nigelpwhitehead/paul-‐whitehead-‐gallery-‐site
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Lo;e is an extraordinary industrial and commercial ar;st. Her work has featured in adver;sing for Chanel and Miller Beer, and her intricate floral designs have graced iPad covers and en;re sides of buildings. She talks to tribe magazine about her work.
How did you get started in commercial illustra@on?
I started preey early, from the very first year actually. When I started working as an illustrator, I contacted as many
adverXsing agencies as possible. From there, things
happened quickly and I started receiving orders from France and from abroad. I’ve always loved doing commercial
illustraXon, it’s exciXng you know, the brief, the rush and the short delays, all the different items that need to be
promoted.
Your designs are incredibly intricate and beau@ful -‐ how do
you go about planning a piece? What inspires you?
I work quickly, more based on insXnct and intuiXon. I don’t
really plan things out. The inspiraXons for my work are diverse! It can be a sudden feeling, a scent, but also an
exhibit I see or music I hear, anything that brings a melody or
a color to my mind. And above all, what inspires me most is
the music I listen to while I’m drawing.
The world of media and illustra@on is changing fast -‐ do you
think that tradi@onal techniques will die out soon? Is there
s@ll a place for commercial print media?
I don’t think that tradiXonal techniques will die out, far from it. See, when things change fast, there’s always a tendency to
go back to “good old values”. I think people, and the clients in
this case, will always like that “handmade” type of style… As long as it doesn’t cost more Xme and more money than the
other techniques!
There will always be room for the commercial print media. It
can be mixed with other types of media, someXmes it disappears in front of them for want of sufficient budget, but
I don’t think it will disappear. It will have to adapt to the other media though, for sure.
Can you describe how you work with your clients? What is the crea@ve process between yourself and your client?
The process is actually quite simple. I receive a brief, and then
I present a first sketch. From there, we exchange emails back
and forth to integrate the changes that the client asks for.
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Then I finally ink my drawing, and I scan it before finalizing my
work through Photoshop to modify colors and textures, mix my drawing with photographs, etc.
What are your influences? Are there any contemporary ar@sts
that you admire?
Gustavé Doré, MarXn Schongauer, Albrecht Durer …The work
of the Modern Style arXsts (MUCHA , BEARDSLEY or GUIMARD), Bernini’s marble statues… but also new arXsts!
It’s difficult to name one or two arXsts. I like several arXsts in
various fields from the AnXquity to nowadays!
The Miller Beer ad work is stunning. How did that piece come about? How did you feel when it was completed?
I worked a lot on photos and plans of the building that had been drawn to scale. And then finally, I made final
adjustments with the director Lynn Fox and his team when I went on site, in Bucharest. The principle of the work is the
reverse graffiX. It is a form of street art where people use
high-‐pressure water hoses to remove dirt from walls and buildings, which makes the designs come out. A team of local
painters did the graffiX at night from a projecXon of my drawing on the walls of the building. When the work was
completed, I felt both very proud and inXmidated. It was
quite impressive to see my drawings on such a large scale!
Your designs have featured in a wide range of areas -‐ fashion, industrial design, exhibi@ons -‐ which areas would you like to
explore next with your work?
I would love to work with architects and interior designers, in
places like restaurants or offices. It would be really nice to try more perennial works.
What advice would you give to other young and new illustrators looking to build a career in commercial
illustra@on?
Be very paXent; work hard, really hard, in order to stand
out… and to make sure that people won’t forget you!
lo;e.comcontact@lo;e.com
Interview: Mark Doyle
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Advert, Miller Beer, Bucharest
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iPad cover
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Model: Charlie GranvillePhotographer: Emma-‐Jane Lewisemma-‐janephotography.co.ukBody painXng: Nic Shilson (Lucid Arts Professional Face & Body PainXng) and JusXne Darwent
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Model: Amy HarveyPhotographer: Kathy Maehewskathymaehewsphotography.co.uk
Make-‐up: Suzanna Green
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FILIZ ZERENfiliz zeren talks to tribe about the rich history of
turkish belly dance
interview & pics: pete daveytranscript: glyn davies
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How does your Turkish belly dance dis4nguish its style from other forms, in rela4on to culture, costume and dance style?
Well, the costume is dependent on the dance style. TradiXonally, Turkish dancers always dance very much on the floor – they do a lot of floor work, which means you dance on your knees, do the splits, and so on. So the Turkish dancing belt, unlike the EgypXan belt that goes straight across the hip, comes down in a ‘V’. These days you have more variety, but tradiXonally it should come down in a long ‘V’ to allow movement, so you don’t have the belt in the way when you’re doing things on the floor. Other than that, the costume is not much different. Turkish dancers are allowed to expose their bellies, but EgypXan dancers are not because of their laws. For Turkish dancers its really quite Westernised, they’re quite open, so the dancers don’t have to worry about any prohibiXons in that way.
As for the dancing, it’s more of an outgoing dance; it’s very passionate. Other dance styles are more demure, they have a lot of elegance and the movements are a lot smaller. With Turkish dances, you can really let rip. Turkish dancers like to move their arms a lot and use their hands a lot, and the hip movements are a lot bigger. It’s changed through the years – professional dancers in Turkey now have taken on a bit more of the EgypXan style, which is really a global phenomenon. The EgypXan style has really influenced belly dance all over the world. I’m not quite sure why that is, but I find that really interesXng.
I’m more for the tradiXonal dancers like Nesrin Topkapi, who is my all-‐Xme hero. She’s just a fantasXc dancer, very tradiXonal. She sXll dances now. I think she must be in her sixXes, but she’s sXll a fabulous dancer. There are EgypXan heroes too, and they are beauXful dancers as well, but for me personally, because I grew up with the Turkish style, there’s just something lacking. It’s just not ferocious enough. There’s elegance and there’s a bit of flirXng, the technique is fantasXc, but there’s no fire. I don’t know how else to explain it. But that’s what captured me about this dancing.
What emo4ons do you feel when you dance?
Depending on the audience, very, very excited. You can be quite cheeky, it’s so much fun, especially if you can get somebody from the audience to dance with you, which Turks love doing anyway, they absolutely love just geqng somebody up and showing them the moves! Because you can be so passionate about it, you’re really puqng not just your energy into it, but also your emoXons, depending on the song.
Most of the songs are quite happy, the rhythm is quite fast and you can really let it all out. But some of the songs are quite dramaXc, and I love dancing to the Turkish love songs. When you translate them, they’re quite extreme; some of them could be borderline stalking! They’re just some of my favourite songs, and the Turks have a certain way of how they see love, falling in love and the drama around love. And when I dance to them, I
can really feel the emoXons of the song and of the singer, because they convey a lot of feeling in their voices.
It sounds like you have a dis4nc4ve element to your style. Do you incorporate styles from any other form of art or dance into your own style?
Well, this is the way I grew up. I didn’t grow up in Turkey, I grew up in Germany, but I visited Turkey quite frequently in my childhood, so I maybe add a liele Western influence to it: seeing Turkish dances in Germany is different to seeing Turkish dances in Turkey. If you live in a different culture, it’s inevitable that you will be influenced by that culture. I didn’t take any dance classes when I was young, I just danced with friends and family. I didn’t grow up with the whole belly dance, it was just dancing.
So is dance quite an important part of Turkish culture?
Yes, I would say it’s a very important part of any Middle Eastern culture: you dance at home, you dance at weddings, you will always dance. There’s a big culture of dancing. It’s about bonding and sharing. Also, if you think about the history of the people from the Middle East, they’ve lived through a lot of hardship, even now. Turkey’s doing okay, but some areas are so poor, there are villages where they don’t have running water, they have to build everything by hand, and it’s really difficult to get by. You have that pressure, you have that stress.
So dance is thrilling, because you release so much emoXon, you release so much tension when you’re dancing. You’re sharing this happiness, and you can really see yourself reaching out to your audience, you really communicate with them.
What would you say is really crea4ve about belly dancing and dance generally? Do you consider it a form of art in its own right?
Well, dance in general is creaXve because you can use so many different moves. You can learn the basics and go to however many classes, but I think the true creaXvity that comes of it is when you start thinking of combinaXons. The way that, specifically, belly dance is set up is, you layer everything and then you embellish it. But really, these are things you need to see to understand. It’s difficult to explain it that way, but the creaXvity comes out of that, because you’re really working your body hard to make it do a certain move.
Like your body is a canvas?
Yes, very much, because you convey so much emoXon. You can be introvert, you can be extrovert, you can be happy, you can be sad, you can be really passionate, depending on how you communicate with your audience. TradiXonally for the Turks, when they dance it’s usually happiness, because generally it’s celebraXon mode. The EgypXans are a bit more reserved, they communicate very much with their audience. There are a lot of hand gestures specific to certain songs and meanings. I do like that, I do very much appreciate the EgypXan dance style for that sort of thing. >
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The Turkish Romany gypsies have influenced the Turkish belly dance immensely. One of the current belly dancers, Didem Kinali, has a Romany heritage, and you can see it in her dance. She’s a fantasXc dancer, but you can very much see her Romany roots when she’s doing her belly dance. It’s just amazing to watch Romany dancers because it’s so natural for them. Their style varies, obviously – the gypsy dance is different to mainstream belly dance – but they do a lot with their hand gestures.
There are such a broad variety of dance styles within belly dance now, and branches coming off them that aren’t really considered belly dance any more, but it’s related.
So it’s very mul4cultural?
It is very mulXcultural, but you have to remember that the belly dance itself is so mulXcultural, and nobody really knows where it came from. All the Middle Eastern countries claim, “We were the first!” The theory that is closest to how I believe it started is something I read about the Romany people travelling through the Middle East – which they did, they travelled absolutely everywhere. In history, for Turkish people to be belly dancers wasn’t really acceptable, so you would have Romany people or foreigners coming in to do this ‘Turkish’ dance, which seems in a way quite bizarre, but it was the culture, the culture of women not exposing themselves. We’re talking hundreds of years ago, so the culture has very much changed. But the dance is sXll evolving. You have this dance that evolved throughout the Middle East and spread globally, and has taken on so many different forms.
What do you get from dance?
It makes me feel alive. And because I grew up dancing with women – and the history of belly dancing is women dancing for women – to me it’s very much about feminism. There are these Hollywood movies that try to convey the message that you have these sheikhs with harems, and they have ladies dancing for them, but that’s not how it originated, it was women just dancing for women. I find it slightly sexist that belly dancing is objecXfied in that way – it takes away the arXsXc value of it, it takes away the empowerment a woman can feel about her body. See, the thing you have to love about this dance is that it is so undiscriminaXng. You can be any age, you can be any size, you can be of any ability and really enjoy this dance, convey your feelings and live it as an art.
Is belly dance the only form of art in your life, or are there other arEorms that you do, or incorporate into your dancing?
Well, it’s part of my heritage; I just feel that it’s part of me. Now that I’ve started teaching it, I’ve seen that people that are not Turkish, or haven’t grown up with it like I have, don’t quite understand where it all comes from. It was always there, it always felt natural. It was just something that belonged to that part of my life, so it has been tucked away. It is very personal for me. I don’t feel it interlinks with any other art that I’m interested in. I love art, any type of art – music, painXng, poetry – but I don’t feel I can link it in with the belly dance in any way, other than it can convey a message, it can convey emoXons and
it can be therapeuXc -‐ it can release a lot of pain, especially if you have a negaXve self-‐image.
What are you trying to create or communicate when you dance?
I try and create something pleasing to the eye, first and foremost, because that’s the first thing that draws peoples’ aeenXon. The other thing I’m trying to create is something unusual. I want to communicate that I’m a woman, just the way I am, with curves, I’m proud of that. You have to bear in mind that other dance styles are very restricXve in that respect.
Do you see belly dance as a beau4ful thing, like a pain4ng?
Very much so, especially if your heart and soul is in it. Even if the technique isn’t there, if the person isn’t training and they’re not parXcularly muscley, whatever, it means nothing to me. To me, it’s all about the personality, the connecXon you make with the people around you, what you communicate, and it can be just so beauXful. A good dancer can really draw you in, and you can just watch them forever. They’re absolutely right there in front of you living it.
So a living form of art?
It is, absolutely. The arsorm is just so pure, because you’re doing it right there, you’re living it, and you’re very much in the present. A lot of people combine yoga with belly dance, because it’s kind of the same principle, because if you lose yourself in the dance, it can be almost meditaXve. It’s just so open, you can do what you need with it. It’s just amazing how much you can draw out of it, how much you can put into it and how versaXle it can be. And why do I do it? It’s almost like an urge. It’s like needing to eat or drink, you know, there’s a thirst there.
If I don’t dance for a while it makes me unhappy. I can feel it in my body. You start feeling more tense, your body knots up because you’re not doing this therapeuXc thing. You’re training your body, obviously, the physical side is really important, but it’s the psychological side, the emoXonal side, which is way more important. It’s connecXng with my roots, connecXng with a country that I haven’t been to in a very long Xme. To me, that is really important, because it is part of my idenXty. And I do like to share it.
I wish more people would see belly dance for what it is, rather than seeing someone preey in a sparkly costume, wiggling. See it for the arsorm that it is, and the hard work that’s behind becoming a dancer of a certain standard, and see the feminist empowerment that can be behind it. You don’t have to objecXfy a woman just because she’s not completely covered, and because she’s moving in a certain way. The dance is sensual, not necessarily sexual, and a good dancer will convey that. I think that’s really important. Why can’t women be sensual without being viewed as a piece of meat? Appreciate it for what it is. <
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Filiz Zeren
facebook.com/filizorientaldans
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Tryfan Valley
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Tryfan
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Looking Over The Border
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Expanse
Emily Cooperemsart.com
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Climb To See a Different View
A few feet up is another world…
‘Climb To See a Different View’ conXnued on from an earlier project (‘Roouop Wilderness’) as an exploraXon into this area. It consisted of a proposed series of acXons devised as a way of seeing a familiar place anew.
The iniXal version of the project involved it being offered as a service for members of the public.
Polaroid cameras would be aeached to the boeom and top of a ladder that would be carried to different locaXons in a city. This movable staXon would then be set up, and passers-‐by would be offered the opportunity to ‘climb to see a different view’; a way of seeing a familiar place anew, obtained by the small act of bravery of climbing. As a souvenir they would be able to take the two Polaroid photos showing the two different views.
The second incarnaXon of the project was created as part of ‘Something You Were Not ExpecXng To Do: Manual of PotenXal AcXons To Do in the City’. This was an online project commissioned by Spacex contemporary art space to run alongside the ‘Random Acts Of Art’ season of projects in 2010.
In this version potenXal parXcipants were encouraged to “Take a new view with you, or find it on the way”. In order to see their surroundings anew, they were encouraged to take an object into Exeter to climb on, or find one on their way.
BEN LANGWORTHYbenlangworthy.co.uk
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Jonathan Broks: I’m interested in the different ways we see familiar objects and people. The photographs I have provided are from a project which explores this theme. The central idea behind the project is that there are two categories of visual experience, Seeing and Not Seeing. Seeing is conscious and automaXc. Objects and scenes present themselves to us and we see them for what they are without having to think about it. Not Seeing has conscious and non-‐conscious forms. It occurs, for example, when we see objects and scenes from a non-‐prototypical view and conscious effort is required to draw out the elements.
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RepresenXng these ideas through photography works parXcularly well, as you can manipulate the way you capture the image in order to emphasise a certain way of seeing. For instance, you can eliminate the contextual informaXon by capturing just a ‘part of the whole’ – it then becomes a challenge to determine the ‘whole’, or even, to see the image for what it is at all.
The images I have provided are from a verXcal perspecXve. We are used to decoding objects unconsciously when we are at ground level. This is a type of Not Seeing, because looking down verXcally challenges the brain and imposes conscious analysis. >
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Not Seeing can also occur when no special demands are placed on the visual system. For whatever reason, our eyes and brains may simply ignore certain objects and scenes. This type of seeing is unconscious; our brains will process the visual informaXon that's presented to us, but we don't judge it -‐ it therefore doesn't reach our conscious percepXon. I am just starXng a project which builds upon these ideas, enXtled 'There But Not There'.
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It is inspired by a book called Edgelands I'm reading by the poets Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley. 'Edgelands' are interfacial areas that pop up in all parts of the city, but are most likely found on the edge of ciXes. They are neither urban nor rural, but something in between. They are unnamed, forgoeen, wasteland areas. We will ouen walk or drive past these places without registering what we see. <
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Photographer: Jonathan Broks
flickr.com/photos/jonathanbroks
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La Tierra Andalu
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Green and Fruits
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Fif Fisc Swimma
Ross Moorerossmooreart.co.uk
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STEVE CLEMENT-
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LARGE Steve Clement-Large is a self-taught artist living and working in Plymouth. He talks to tribe magazine about his work, his influences and the next stage of his artistic development.
mydogateart.blogspot.com
Type to enter text
interview: pete daveytranscript: glyn davies
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Can you tell us a bit about your work and the inspira4on behind it?
I’m parXcularly interested in 20th century modernism. That’s my starXng point, it’s always been a parXcular interest of mine: Picasso, German expressionism, Paul Klee, Miró – I could probably go through a whole encyclopaedia of art. I’m totally self-‐taught, I don’t have any preconceived ideas about what I’m going to paint next. I do a load of sketching – most of my painXngs do come from sketches originally – but as I said, I don’t do a lot of thinking about what I’m going to paint, it tends to come automaXcally rather than through any great thought process. Which does link in some way back to the 1930s, there was lots of automaXc drawing and stuff, Dadaist stuff. I wouldn’t say my work is like Dadaist stuff, but the process for the original ideas does tend to be like, sit with a bit of paper, pencil, pens, crayons, and just basically doodle, and then an idea will come out of doing that. But what I do tend to doodle predominantly is faces – my sketchbook is full of human faces or representaXons. Very rarely do I do things like sXll life or landscapes.
It’s interes4ng that your influences, like surrealism, futurism and German expressionism, tend to be very dark or dark-‐themed, and yet your work is very colourful.
I do use a lot of colour, but at the same Xme I don’t think my work is parXcularly cheerful. I think the colours are very vibrant, but there is an underlying darkness. A lot of the figures I do are very challenging to the viewer because they’re basically staring and they’re looking quite blankly, they’re not very welcoming figures -‐ some of them are quite grotesque. I’m not quite sure why that is because actually, on a personality level, I like to think I’m really cheerful and outgoing! But I prefer art that has a darker side to it. I’ve never liked nice, preey pictures, that’s never been my thing at all.
So you like stuff that challenges?
It challenges, it disturbs, it makes you stop and think, it doesn’t represent things as you would see them in real life. I’ll be honest, I’ve never really seen the point in producing photorealisXc work, because that’s what photography does. That’s why I like painXng. I like photography as well, but what I like to do is mess around with it digitally and turn it into something slightly abstract. But I honestly don’t see the point in trying to produce something that looks exactly like it does in real life. That seems to be a waste of effort and energy when a camera can do that beeer.
Do you see art as a form of escapism?
Possibly, yeah. I never really think of it like that. But certainly when I started, it was a period when I was having a really bad Xme in the workplace, so I wonder if there was an element of me geqng the crap out of my system.
Do you think there’s an element of you that escapes into your pictures, so you take your emo4on into your work?
Yeah, I think that’s probably fair. I think a lot of painters probably do that, actually. There are quite a few of the painXngs, when I’ve done them – this is actually more in the sketch work that I do – I very ouen see myself in quite a lot of the sketches. Sort of like miniature self-‐portraits, but they’re not consciously self-‐portraits. I someXmes think, “Actually, that looks a bit like me!” I’m not quite sure why, but I don’t think it’s conscious.
Is it like a mirror reflec4on?
Yeah, I think that’s fair to say. But again, not consciously. A lot of the stuff I do tends to be quite spontaneous, I don’t give it a great deal of thought. When it comes to doing a big canvas then I do try to plan, at least in my head, what it’s going to look like before I start. But I don’t have too many preconceived ideas. I’m quite prepared to paint over stuff if I’m not happy with it. In fact, a lot of my painXngs have two or three painXngs underneath! A lot of my work, when you see it up close, is really quite heavily textured, and that’s not an arXsXc statement necessarily, that’s actually because there is other work underneath it.
The thing I like about it though, someXmes, is when you have a really uneven surface with other colours underneath. I quite like the fact that it presents a challenge to obliterate the image underneath and put something else on top. I’m not sure if there’s anything psychological about that, I just enjoy the challenge of changing something that might be dark blue into something that’s bright orange on the top! I do love bright primary colours, I don’t know why. I just respond to bright primary colours, and one of the reasons why I like dark backgrounds for a lot of my painXngs is that the colour glows out of the dark. >
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Do you think it aLracts the viewer?
Yeah, I think it makes people look at it if there’s a big bright splash of colour in the middle of something darker. Or equally, I love someXmes having canvases that are just big, bright and bold. I don’t go in for too much subtlety, although I do spend a lot of Xme geqng shading right. I ouen go back and do thin washes over the top to get gradaXons of shading and contrast.
You’ve never had any formal art training. So how did you go from never having painted to where you were three years ago, and suddenly having your work on prominent display in Plymouth, and other work displayed and sold around the world?
“I don’t know” is the honest short answer! I’ve always been a very determined individual. But I can now tell you exactly why I started painXng, because since we’ve been talking it’s come back to me. At the Xme, I was looking for ways out of where I was working, and because I’d always had an interest in art and art history, I was looking at a potenXal art-‐related business looking for venues for arXsts, and puqng arXsts in touch with venues, and taking a commission for doing that, almost like a marriage broker for arXsts and places where they could hang their stuff. I talked to quite a few photographers and painters at the Xme, and I started looking at their websites.
Coming from a public relaXons background, I’m quite good at self-‐promoXon, which is where a lot of arXsts, in my view, fall down. They don’t promote themselves. You might not be the best arXst in the world, but if you promote yourself and bring yourself to peoples’ aeenXon, they’ll actually take noXce. Nobody’s going to come and knock on your door and ask to see your work, so I did a lot of self-‐promoXon online, and I started to get noXced. It was only a year-‐and-‐a-‐half in auer I’d started painXng that the commission process came up for the back of the big screen [in Plymouth city centre], and I’d actually just completed ‘Argyle Man’, the painXng that went up there in the end.
In the States, they tend to value art on a different level...?
Yeah, I get that sense and that feeling; very open, very supporXve. There’s real openness there. There’s one group in parXcular on Facebook that I’ve joined, called ‘The Outsider Art Group’, which is incredibly welcoming. There’s some stunning stuff going on out there. Again, a lot of it is very bright primary colours but quite dark subject maeer, so I feel quite at home there. I love the outsider art stuff. It’s something I’ve only really discovered in the last ten years, through reading about it. But without social media, I’d be stuffed! Plymouth has not got a massive amount of gallery wall space, although it’s beeer than it was, even three years ago. The BriXsh Art Show has helped immensely. And there are a few individuals in the city who’ve been very supporXve of the arts for years, in terms of giving arXst places to show.
Even though you’ve been pain4ng for a rela4vely short 4me, there seems to be a constant development in your work. You’re not sta4c, you like to experiment.
I’d hate to be stuck in the rut of doing the same thing all the Xme. There are themes that keep recurring, but the way I approach the theme is different. I mean, the human figure – very ouen isolated human figures – appear a lot, but the way I present them is different, I think. And I do like experimenXng with different methods. Obviously, straighsorward painXng, usually acrylic on canvas, but I also enjoy experimenXng with collage work. Printwork, doing monotype prinXng, rather than repeat images – taking a sheet of glass, puqng the paint on it, puqng the paper underneath and the pressing the glass onto the paper – because that’s a one-‐off, you can never repeat that. And then actually using what’s on there to create an image. I quite enjoy doing that. And I’ve also been embarking on what are called ACEOs -‐ which are like 3½ by 2½ inch miniatures, on card -‐ which seem to be going down quite well, I’ve sold quite a few of those in quite a short space of Xme. I think because they’re quite affordable for people, and they’re also a very different discipline, because you can’t be quite as expansive, you have to be a liele bit more detailed. There’s quite a big movement globally for those sorts of things. They used to be traded almost like swapping cards, but there’s also an established market for buying and selling them as well. <
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Spinor Index
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Tidal Gu@an Artefacts
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Photographer: Debbie Aewell
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WHY WON’T VINYL DIE?A triumph of industrial design? Important social document? Or just plain sen;mentality? tribe’s Glyn Davies and Mike Offen from Really Good Records a_empt to come up with some answers whilst keeping it old school.
Old school photos and Interview: Mark Doyle
Transcript and words: Glyn Davies
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From my perspecXve, and it will come as no surprise to people who know me, I really like quite understated record covers that are not afraid to put the arXst on the cover, and say this is all about the arXst. I know stylisXcally, and from a design point of view, they’re not necessarily the most exciXng covers, but I see them as pieces of social history. And from that perspecXve, and from the perspecXve of someone who’s actually interested in the music, I find it innately interesXng.
I like covers where there’s a very definite influence of pop art or comic book art, which became prevalent in the 70s, and which again aestheXcally are quite pleasing, such as Cheap Thrills by Big Brother and the Holding Company, with an iconic Robert Crumb cover that is very obviously based around the pop art style.
You can’t really talk about cover art without discussing Blue Note, the iconic jazz label. When you see a Blue Note cover, you can instantly tell it’s a Blue Note cover; it was a brand. And again, the cover art indicates how interested they were in the arXst; there’s always a picture of the arXst. The photographs were taken by Francis Wolff, who co-‐founded the label, and they were incorporated into the design of the cover. InteresXngly, Reid Miles, the designer of the Blue Note covers during what I’d call their golden period, the 60s, didn’t like jazz at all. He used to take his complementary copies of the albums
and swap for them classical LPs. But Blue Note had fantasXc covers and fantasXc music, and was indicaXve of just how interested they were in represenXng the music and the arXst, and geqng the best they possibly could all round.
Music is marketed differently these days. It’s apparent to me, although I think it has changed recently, but certainly around the beginning of the 2000s, there was a triumph of packaging over content. Every cover looked fantasXc and really drew you in, and perhaps the content didn’t live up to it. I really rather like the idea that some covers are mirroring the fact that years ago, covers weren’t necessarily produced to sell the records, they were works of art in their own right.
It’s my feeling with cover art, especially with how technology has developed over the decades, that there’s a temptaXon nowadays, due to the availability of the technology, to use it all rather than, perhaps, go back to the basics or rely on older technology. I think a simple photo of the arXst, or even an image that hasn’t necessarily been manipulated, can be just as good as something that’s taken a long Xme to create or manipulate digitally. There doesn’t seem to be much matching of the arXst’s persona and the record cover any more. >
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If you look at something like Funkadelic’s One Na@on Under A Groove, that is indicaXve of its period, and a part of the social history of that Xme. Funkadelic, and their alter ego Parliament, were coming from a Xme when space travel and going to the moon was present; it had just happened, and was on everyone’s lips. That was the buzz of the Xme – “Wow, people are going into space!” – and everyone was geqng into that idea of space aliens and all that kind of cosmic scene. And the art and music was reflecXng that. It’s a mulXmedia thing: artwork, and peoples’ art, whether it be music or design, do reflect what is happening around you in the world at that Xme. You can’t help but sample that in the media.
There’s certainly a temptaXon to think that, in the 70s, when record companies started being bought up and turned into conglomerates, these massive majors we have today, the personal touch was lost. My favourite period in music is the 60s and 70s -‐ although I do try and keep up -‐ but the arXsts had, back then, the opportunity to have more personal influence in what was happening, and as it drew away from that into the majors, all the decisions were taken away from the arXsts and put very much in the hands of the record companies.
In the modern sphere, the introducXon of downloads and intangible formats, has had the effect of highlighXng -‐ I think, personally -‐ that
any tangible format is beeer than none. Although CDs are definitely suffering from the onset of digital downloads, they’re probably a preferable tangible format to having nothing at all. But what digital downloads do highlight is the sheer inequality between that format, and having a tangible format from an analogue source produced to a level of quality of great artwork. And between those two formats there is a chasm, definitely.
The very limited numbers that modern records are pressed in are designed to make them instantly collecXble, because the numbers they are pressing them in are way below the demand for them. I don’t necessarily think this is a good thing for vinyl, I think they’d be beeer off pressing to the demand, and in that way you’re furthering the interest in your arXst and not just creaXng a short-‐term collectors’ frenzy. I don’t think creaXng a niche collectability of something in the long term is good for the arXst.
As someone who is passionate about records, it warms the cockles of my heart to see young people – and I mean teenagers – becoming interested in records. I think it can only be a good thing. Certainly electronic music, clubbing and DJs kept the interest in records alive throughout the 90s, when otherwise a digital format might have taken a much stronger hold. >
“There doesn’t seem to be much matching of the ar;st’s persona and the record cover any more.”
MIKE OFFENREALLY GOOD RECORDS OWNER TALKS ALL THINGS VINYL
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“In the modern sphere, the introduc4on of downloads and intangible formats, has had the effect of highligh4ng -‐ I think, personally -‐ that any tangible format is beLer than none. Although CDs are definitely suffering from the onset of digital downloads, they’re probably a preferable tangible format to having nothing at all. “
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There’s certainly a senXmentality about record collecXng, and listening to records and the engaging with the tangibility of the sleeves and the sleeve notes, learning about the arXst and looking to see who else is in the band – I mean, that’s how I iniXally learned about music. I’d pull out a record that I hadn’t seen, have a look at the cover, perhaps there would be a certain drummer on there I was familiar with, so I’d buy it, give it a listen, and auer a while you form this picture. You can preey much guarantee that certain records with certain people on are probably going to be to your taste, or at least musically interesXng.
From a retail point of view, that’s enXrely the joy of engaging in the real world – it’s not what you know you want, it’s what you don’t know you want. And any amount of digital recommendaXons – “people who bought this also bought this” – really doesn’t hit at the heart of the maeer of comparing certain styles of music, or saying, “If you like Joy Division, you may well like The Fall” or such things, because it doesn’t necessarily follow in the digital media.
That’s the great thing about record shops. Relying on reviews isn’t always ideal. People have their opinions and they don’t always match yours. I’ve in the past bought many records based on a review and thought it doesn’t really resemble what I’ve read in the review, and been slightly disappointed.
As someone who was really into music as a youth, I didn’t necessarily feel like I fieed in, and perhaps music was an escape for me. Within the sphere of a record shop, it’s noXceable to me that people of different generaXons, different social backgrounds and different tastes in music, will at least engage, which you would never found outside of that sphere. And I really like that. Music is a common bond, and there will at least be an understanding that perhaps someone else’s taste isn’t to your taste, but there will be a level of respect for that which you will not see outside of that sphere, and I think that’s a great thing.
I think anyone who doesn’t have music in their life is really missing out. I can’t imagine a life without music. I think there would be some huge gaping hole there, of nothingness. The other thing I like about music is that it is endless. As someone who has voraciously tried to consume as much music as I can, and inquired about as many different styles of music as possible, I’m aware that when I shuffle off, I will only have scratched the surface. There’s a lot of music out there, and that’s the fantasXc thing about it. <
Mike Offen
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GLYN DAVIES on the ‘VINYL REVIVAL’
The vinyl record is certainly not the most convenient audio format ever invented. Even in its heyday it was laborious and expensive to manufacture. It’s also space consuming, environmentally unsound and, if you have a large collecXon, is a back-‐straining burden whenever you move house. It’s significant that, as technology has advanced, audio formats have become increasingly smaller.
Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, consumers were tempted by the idea of music on the move with a bewildering range of ever-‐shrinking formats: compact casseee, 8-‐track cartridge, compact disc, digital audio tape, digital compact casseee and mini disc, most of which sank without a trace, and all of which have been rendered virtually redundant with the emergence of MP3, with which tens of thousands of songs can be stored digitally on something the size of a suppository.
And yet throughout these pioneering years, despite falling out of favour and fashion a quarter of a century ago, vinyl has resolutely refused to die. Indeed, it is the only physical audio format that has consistently shown a rise in unit sales during the digital download era. True, even with this rise, vinyl sXll represents a very small percentage of total music sales – it’s very much a niche interest -‐ but it’s remarkable all the same that an audio format invented some 120 years ago should be not only maintaining its popularity, but actually increasing it.
There are a variety of possible reasons for this, the main one being that vinyl is sXll regarded as very cool, parXcularly among younger people who weren’t around during vinyl’s heyday and yet have formed a romanXc aeachment to the format, even as the technology that supports it becomes ever more archaic. I know a great many younger music fans who seem to be more interested in the music of the past than that of the present; it’s almost as if they’re fondly nostalgic for a Xme they never knew.
Some people who have grown up in the digital age, and take the availability of downloaded music preey much for granted, have found themselves wishing to forge some kind of physical connecXon with this older music, and
are increasingly drawn to vinyl’s peculiar analogue charms. Thus, in recent years, vinyl has become a byword for audio kudos, which is why an up-‐and-‐coming indie band cannot claim to have truly arrived unXl they have issued at least one limited-‐release, non-‐download 7” single.
Despite their obvious convenience, MP3s are very impersonal. They are, auer all, merely computer files, and therefore have all the charm and charisma of a spreadsheet. It’s this impersonality that, I feel, is the real problem, even more than the inferior sound quality. Can somebody who has a hard-‐drive crammed with tens of thousands of music files actually appreciate that music – leaving alone the fact that even the most ardent workshy layabout could never have enough Xme on their hands to listen to it all?
Twenty years ago, building up a music library took Xme. Money, too, but mostly Xme. We took Xme to listen, to browse through record stores and our friends’ collecXons, reading the music papers, listening to John Peel and making new and exciXng discoveries. And even if we didn’t buy a single thing, and simply taped other peoples’ records, that sXll took Xme; whether we paid for the music or not, we were discerning. We might have had fewer tracks at our disposal, but we listened to most of them on a fairly regular basis. This, to my generaXon (and I’m really not that old), was an essenXal part of the enjoyment and appreciaXon of music.
It’s a way of thinking that more younger people are coming around to: owning music, actually physically owning it, along with all that comes with it – cover art, sleeve notes and the like – is a lot of fun. And seeking out physical copies, whether new or second hand, is also a lot of fun. While CDs – a perfectly good, funcXonal and portable music format -‐ serve their purpose in this respect, when it comes to enjoying music for the sheer sake of it, it is vinyl, for all of its fragility and impracXcality, that holds the real appeal.
Vinyl records have a unique aestheXc quality that is denied to CDs. Album art, parXcularly in the 1970s and early 1980s, was considerably more ambiXous than that which came before, or indeed that which succeeded it in the CD era. >
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The Clash – London Calling
Few album covers manage to convey in a single image the sheer excitement, spontaneity and animal fury inherent in rock ‘n’ roll. Pennie Smith’s stolen shot of Paul Simenon about to destroy his bass does exactly that. The subtle liuing of the typography from Elvis Presley’s first album adds a respecsul nod towards a previous generaXon of trailblazers. Glyn
The Durud Column – The Return of the Durud Column
Total anarchy in the form of an album cover. Made enXrely of sandpaper, thus ensuring the destrucXon of the sleeves of any records placed next to it, this design was based on a 1950s SituaXonist prank by Guy Debord, who did the same thing with one of his books. It’s hard to imagine anything more faithful to the true spirit of punk. Glyn
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Joy Division – Closer
If an album’s cover was ever to sum up the contents and mood of the record inside – stark, elegant and funereal – this is it. Released in the immediate auermath of vocalist Ian CurXs’ suicide, the cover design had ironically been decided upon some Xme before, yet never did a cover image seem so tragically appropriate. Glyn
Bob Peck -‐ Songs That Never Made the Hymnal
This is my all Xme favourite album cover. The album came out in 1955 and is one of the most eccentric pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Bob Peck sings about stray dogs being gassed at the dog pound, mocks 1950s corporate America with a sly swagger, and sings the praises of smoking cigareees (via a dead girlfriend). The great thing about this cover is it epXmoses the music within. A bored looking show girl in a sequined catsuit smokes a cigareee, staring distantly into camera. The image is effortlessly nonchalant, playful, distant and at the same Xme slightly not right. A perfect summary of the music of Bob Peck. Mark
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The sleeve design, as the first thing the potenXal buyer noXces when browsing for an album, became increasingly important, and gave exposure and considerable fame to arXsts and designers such as Roger Dean, Jim Fitzpatrick, Hypgnosis and Peter Saville, among many others; we all have our favourites. Although album art clearly has its markeXng and promoXonal uses, in many cases it can also provide a clear signal of arXsXc intent, and many album covers have become design classics as a result. And as a genuine pop-‐culture arsorm in itself, there is arguably no beeer way to display it than on a square foot of glossy cardboard.
Classic album art loses a lot of its impact when reduced to the size of the small booklet you get with CDs; other than being informaXve, it is next to useless. Something as grandiose as a gatefold record sleeve, for example, really needs to be seen at its full size to be fully appreciated. And as for reading the sleeve notes or lyrics you get with a CD, you need a magnifying glass. Back in the vinyl days, perusing the cover or reading the sleeve notes when you played an album for the first Xme was an essenXal part of the listening experience.
Vinyl was effecXvely abandoned as a mainstream format by the record industry in the early 1990s. But this orchestrated aeempt to kill it off in favour of more profitable CDs had some unforeseen consequences. The dance music culture of the 1990s was arguably most responsible for keeping vinyl alive as the industry clamoured to switch off its life support.
In the early days of rave and techno, vinyl was the undisputed medium of choice. The clarion call “real DJs use vinyl” struck a raw nerve in the scene, and for a very long Xme no club DJ worthy of the Xtle would have been seen dead with a CD player -‐ ironic, given that most dance music is digitally and electronically produced. But the analogue nature of vinyl meant that mulXple records could be manipulated in real Xme, and new beats dropped in as the occasion demanded. Performing a DJ set with vinyl is a very real and tacXle skill that not only requires perfect Xming and the ability to match beats-‐per-‐minute (ouen by physically speeding up or slowing down the turntable by varying degrees), but also the emoXonal intelligence to perceive the mood of clubbers and drop in new grooves at any
given Xme to take them up or bring them down.
Nowadays, as you might expect, there is digital ‘vinyl emulaXon’ souware available which allows DJs to manipulate digital music files in real Xme, and it’s probably fair to say that the average clubber wouldn’t noXce or even care what format the music is being played on. But there are sXll some ‘purist’ DJs, parXcularly within the BriXsh club scene, who look down their noses at such digital aids, and will always encourage budding young DJs to hone their skills on a set of analogue decks, in the same way, perhaps, that a budding guitarist would be encouraged to pracXce on an acousXc guitar, before graduaXng to an electric.
The reasons for vinyl’s dogged resistance to the 21st century are almost certainly more senXmental than pracXcal. But it is also, crucially, about music – or more specifically, the appreciaXon of music. We, as music consumers, don’t need records or turntables any more, yet many of us – an increasing number, if recent sales figures are to be believed -‐ sXll want them and conXnue to enjoy them.
In this digital age, when any piece of music you want is a mouse-‐click away, there's something purposeful, tacXle and almost ritualisXc about taking a vinyl record out of its sleeve and playing it. With no way to skip tracks except geqng off your backside and moving the arm yourself, you find that you actually take the Xme to sit and back listen to the music, something many of us stopped doing when CDs became the dominant format in the late 1980s, and remote controls with skip bueons became preey much standard.
For me, all this talk of a ‘vinyl revival’ is a liele odd, because as far as I’m concerned, it never went away. I’ve not only held on to my vinyl, but over the past 20 years or so, have conXnued to buy records, both old and new. Consequently, a turntable has always been an essenXal component of my hi-‐fi setup. From a very young age, even before I was parXcularly interested in the music on them, records always fascinated me. I’ve always seen them as things of beauty and just nice objects to own and use, and it seems I’m not alone, as vinyl conXnues to cement its posiXon as an analogue anomaly in the digital age. <
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Def Leppard -‐ High ‘n’ Dry
Like most teenagers in the 1980s, I was really into Heavy Metal. Metal bands were not known for their subtle music or album cover design. Common themes of devils, swords, exploding guitars, motorbikes and scanXly clad ladies, and ouen all of the above, were the staple of Metal album covers in the 1980s. Hypgnosis had already worked with the likes of Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and UFO (their Hypgnosis designed Force It album featured Throbbing Gristles’ Genesis P Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tuq kissing in a shower, no less), so had firm rock credenXals when they designed this cover for the Leps. What I love about this cover is it’s so wonderfully un-‐Metal; sure its over-‐designed, but in some ways this album cover marked progress and maturity in an increasingly ridiculous decade for Metal. Mark
Crass -‐ The Feeding of the 5000
Crass were an anarchist punk band who combined music, art and poliXcs, and who believed in direct acXon against the state by promoXng feminist, anX-‐war, anX-‐racism and anX-‐globalisaXon issues. In the early 1980s, their form of stencil art was used in direct acXon messages sprayed on the London Underground. Its influence today can be seen in the Bristol sound collecXve movement with the likes of Banksy and Massive Aeack, using minimalist ideas with roots in immigraXon and urban themes that are part of the appeal of this art scene. It's this use of sparseness and darkness, using minimalist ideas in sound and art with its links to poliXcs, cultural idenXty and contemporary culture that makes it interesXng. Pete
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Dead Kennedys -‐ Fresh Fruit For Rodng Vegetables
This album cover has to be one of the best photographic images to ever grace a record. The image, showing police cars on fire, was taken during the White Night Riots of 1979, which were sparked by a lenient prison sentence given to Dan White, who murdered San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, along with the slaying of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to serve office in the United States of America. Pete
Subhumans -‐ From The Cradle To The Grave
This was the second album from the Subhumans, and demonstrated an intelligent punk rock record with a great sound. It also produced an interesXng album cover, showing a hand with a small baby in its palm poinXng to a herd of cows. This striking illustraXon was more effecXve rendered in black-‐and-‐white making a statement that society has stagnated, while the hand and baby extend the metaphor that we are merely herded by capitalism, feeding a conveyer belt of consumpXon with no control over our desXny, like livestock on a farm. Pete
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Funkadelic -‐ One Na;on Under A Groove
Many mothers in the 1970s got into disco dancing. As a seven-‐year-‐old, I spent a lot of Xme in dance halls watching middle-‐aged women aeempXng to dance to the Bee Gees’ Saturday Night Fever album. At one point my mother bought a disco compilaXon album which featured brief write-‐ups of each arXst as well as a band shot. Funkadelic’s entry didn’t have a picture of the band, but had this album cover instead. I was mesmerised. Not only was One Na@on... the stand out track on the compilaXon, but the band, if the cover was to be believed, were aliens who had recently beamed down from the planet Funk. George Clinton and Bootsy Collins to this day sXll go to the supermarket dressed in green sequined space suits. A truly mesmerising gatefold album experience; you don’t get that with your iTunes download. Mark
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Photographer: Rosie Kliskey
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Photographer: Rosie Kliskey
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copyright 2012 tribe magazinefor crea;vitysend your work to [email protected] any ques;ons to [email protected] ISSUE: 28 MARCH
image: mark doyle