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BEN LEWIS * RIP COOL BRITANNIA * ST. CHERYL COLE<br />
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK<br />
info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com<br />
AN EXHIBITION OF NEW<br />
PAINTINGS BY STUART SEMPLE<br />
JUST WHAT MAKES TODAY’S<br />
STUART SEMPLE SO DIFFERENT,<br />
SO APPEALING? BY BEN LEWIS<br />
Most of the words I would like to use to<br />
describe Stuart Semple’s paintings have<br />
- as they say about pretty girls - already<br />
been taken: Pop Art, Neo-Pop, Britpop<br />
<strong>and</strong> Sub Pop. Even Pop-Up.<br />
But Semple’s art is clearly very Pop-<br />
something. Or something-Pop.<br />
Semple paints Pop in a British High<br />
Street vernacular, as if James Rosenquist,<br />
Mel Ramos, Tom Wesselman <strong>and</strong> Robert<br />
Rauschenberg had crammed into a Prius<br />
<strong>and</strong> gone on a road trip around our<br />
medium-sized towns. The occasional<br />
open pouting lips are a frank homage<br />
to some of that vehicle’s occupants.<br />
Just like Rosenquist’s paintings spill over<br />
with the glamorous imagery of American<br />
capitalism, Semple’s are full of ’UK-world’<br />
- printed T-shirts, Heinz tomato ketchup,<br />
pound stores, photos from hairdressers’<br />
windows, the squiggles of graffiti tags,<br />
lyrics from pop songs, official acronyms,<br />
union jack underwear, glitter <strong>and</strong> designer<br />
trainers float in the indeterminate <strong>and</strong><br />
oneiric spaces of his paintings, which are<br />
not so much a window onto the world,<br />
as a shop window onto the world.<br />
Semple’s paintings are based on digital<br />
collages he has composed on photo-<br />
shop from a collection of thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />
of images he has taken himself or<br />
occasionally found on the internet.<br />
This collage principle that underlays<br />
all his work links him back to the first<br />
Pop Art-work of them all, which took<br />
place in London in 1956, the one that<br />
even American art historians credit with<br />
launching the international movement,<br />
Richard Hamilton’s “Just What Is It That<br />
Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So<br />
Appealing.”<br />
Just like Hamilton, <strong>and</strong> the movement<br />
he launched, Semple is engaged in a<br />
”delirious crossing of fetishisms – sexual,<br />
commodity, technological” (Art Since<br />
COMFORTABLY OMFORTABLY OMFORTABL N NNUMB,<br />
UMB, Acrylic, spray paint, paint marker, charcoal & glitter on canvas, 300 x 183 cm, 2010<br />
1900, Kraus, Buchloh, Bois, Foster, T&H<br />
2004). Today, over fifty years <strong>and</strong> several<br />
generations on, we can ask: ”Just what is<br />
it that makes Pop Art so relevant today,<br />
<strong>and</strong> still so appealing?” It’s become<br />
one of the classic styles of modern art,<br />
like Expressionism <strong>and</strong> Abstraction. Its<br />
subject, consumer society continues to<br />
spread <strong>and</strong> mutate, inviting us to look<br />
at <strong>and</strong> analyse it over <strong>and</strong> over again.<br />
But, above all, it’s longevity is based<br />
on its failure. Hamilton asks a question<br />
that has never been, surely can never<br />
be answered. What is it that makes<br />
the design of consumer society so<br />
seductive, so mesmerising <strong>and</strong> hypnotic?<br />
Semple’s paintwork jarringly combines<br />
the h<strong>and</strong>-made <strong>and</strong> advanced<br />
technological processes, both the<br />
heritage of different Pop traditions<br />
(Kippenberger vs. Warhol).<br />
The meticulous blow-ups come from<br />
the world of advertising, but the illogical<br />
combinations of images <strong>and</strong> scalings<br />
from the aesthetic of the fanzine.<br />
28TH APRIL - 28TH MAY 2010<br />
Ben Lewis continues on page 3<br />
SPORT ON P.12<br />
WHO ARE YOU? ON P.10
2<br />
LATEST ASBO FIGURES - P.12 * OCCULT ANNIE - P.11<br />
CONT.. FROM FRONT PAGE<br />
The texts in his paintings are first written<br />
on a computer <strong>and</strong> enlarged. A laser<br />
cutter is used to make a stencil of the<br />
texts, which is overlaid on the canvas,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Semple paints through that in layers<br />
of acrylic. Passages of loose ’bravura’<br />
brushwork are interspersed within a<br />
razor-sharp, relentlessly uninflected<br />
graphic style. If you asked Stuart ”What<br />
is that makes your paint so matt, so flat?”<br />
he would tell you that he works with the<br />
manufacturers to design the formulae for<br />
some of his paints, with an eye for banal <strong>and</strong><br />
opaque hues, <strong>and</strong> a smooth consistency<br />
which makes brushstrokes invisible.<br />
There are other ways in which Semple<br />
is a pop artist. His art has the feel of<br />
pop music - <strong>and</strong> not simply because<br />
he uses lyrics from pop songs. He sees<br />
each exhibition as an ‘album’. He’s on<br />
the ‘cover’ in one painting, “Would the<br />
Real Stuart Semple Please St<strong>and</strong> Up?”,<br />
whose theme is also saturated with<br />
the teenage identity angst of the Top<br />
Twenty (the picture’s title is a quote from<br />
Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady”). There’s<br />
a love song - “Killing me softly (with<br />
He sees each exhibition<br />
as an ‘album’. He’s on the<br />
‘cover’ in one painting<br />
her sound)”; a couple of tracks about<br />
contemporary British society, including<br />
“This l<strong>and</strong>…was built for you <strong>and</strong> me”,<br />
QUIET DESPERATION / THE ENGLISH WAY, Acrylic, charcoal, graphite, vegetable dye, paint marker & spray paint on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
HAPPY HOUSE BY SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, 1981<br />
This is the happy house - we’re happy here in the happy house oh it’s such fun.<br />
We’ve come to play in the happy house.<br />
And waste a day in the happy house - it never rains.<br />
We’ve come to scream in the happy house we’re in a dream in the happy house.<br />
We’re all quite sane.<br />
photo by Jos & Hedwig<br />
with its out-of-shape swinger <strong>and</strong> saucy<br />
messages; there’s the rousing anthem of<br />
“Walk Unafraid” <strong>and</strong>, finally, moments of<br />
autobiography. ”Poundl<strong>and</strong>” shows the<br />
moment when Semple was violently<br />
attacked, aged 17; “Quiet Desperation”<br />
hints at another incident, when the artist<br />
found himself surrounded by scores of<br />
magpies, but, fortunately, was able to<br />
escape without injury. One day, I am<br />
convinced, the contemporary art world<br />
will resemble the culture of pop music.<br />
There will be a lot more of it about. You’ll<br />
donwload it on your mobile. <strong>Artist</strong>s will<br />
have images like b<strong>and</strong>s. Best of all, it<br />
won’t have to be weighed down with<br />
the excessive theoretical baggage,<br />
which it seems obliged to carry today.<br />
(In fact, I would prefer it my text were<br />
viewed not as a catalogue essay but as<br />
sleeve notes)<br />
The pictures have a new mood, different<br />
from the work Semple was making two<br />
year ago. Then, Semple was swept up<br />
on the giant wave of the contemporary<br />
art boom. He sold pictures from Berlin to<br />
Hong Kong. He had assistants. He flew<br />
first class. He flew his friends first class.<br />
He hired a publicist. His galleries wanted<br />
to send his pictures to auction, to boost<br />
his prices. He declined the offer.<br />
Today Semple <strong>and</strong> most of the rest of<br />
us live in a different world - yet not one<br />
that is defined one-dimensionally by<br />
economic collapse. If you asked Stuart,<br />
”What is that makes today’s Britain so<br />
different, so melancholic?” he would tell<br />
you that it was the sensation of change<br />
of circumstances but not of attitudes, of<br />
emotions disconnected from events, of<br />
after as before. In ”Comfortably Numb”<br />
we are in a permanent<br />
<strong>and</strong> pleasurable state of<br />
experiencing the loss of<br />
our innocence<br />
there’s a graveyard in the bottom part of<br />
the paintings with crosses adorned with<br />
memories <strong>and</strong> losses, not only the very<br />
recent ‘Our Price’ <strong>and</strong> ‘Borders’ <strong>and</strong> “Last<br />
Orders”, but somewhat older stuff - the<br />
VHS tape, ‘Cool Britannia’ <strong>and</strong>, curiously<br />
the Belgrano, the Argentine warship that<br />
we sank in the Falkl<strong>and</strong>s War in 1982, with<br />
the loss of 368 lives, allegedly as it was<br />
steaming away from the war zone.<br />
The question is not so much what do<br />
these diverse events, technologies <strong>and</strong><br />
br<strong>and</strong>s have in common, but what is<br />
the effect of bringing them together?<br />
Semple creates a calculatedly diffuse<br />
<strong>and</strong> illogical mood of nostalgia, fusing<br />
the demise of Thatcherite jingoism <strong>and</strong><br />
a puritanical Britain (the Falkl<strong>and</strong>s War<br />
<strong>and</strong> end of pub closing times) <strong>and</strong> the<br />
implosion of capitalism (indicated with<br />
great banality by defunct high street<br />
chains). He invokes a world of instant,<br />
This is the happy house - we’re happy here there’s room for you if you say “i do”.<br />
But don’t say no or you’ll have to go. We’ve done no wrong with our blinkers on it’s<br />
safe <strong>and</strong> calm if you sing along.<br />
This is the happy house - we’re happy here in the happy house.<br />
To forget ourselves - <strong>and</strong> pretend all’s well there is no hell.
artificial nostalgia, where technology<br />
moves so fast, that the only permanent<br />
sensation we have is of a melancholy for<br />
the past.<br />
The counterpart of the modern narrative<br />
of rapid technological progress <strong>and</strong><br />
permanent cultural innovation - of news<br />
(the new) on the quarter hour, every hour<br />
- is that anything more than 15 minutes<br />
old is history, in the form of repeats or<br />
archive. The media are already organising<br />
how they will repackage today as<br />
yesterday tomorrrow. That yesterday is<br />
always quaint, backward, simple. Today<br />
we are in a permanent <strong>and</strong> pleasurable<br />
state of experiencing the loss of our<br />
innocence. We love being told <strong>and</strong> sold<br />
that sensation - the documentaries on<br />
BBC4 with their archive footage histories<br />
of women, lefties <strong>and</strong> folk music are<br />
archetypes. It is, in the words of an old<br />
cliché ’the warm bath of nostalgia,’ but a<br />
nostalgia that is accelerating towards our<br />
present, surely in danger of overtaking it.<br />
Above the graveyard of ”Comfortably<br />
Numb”, a female figure st<strong>and</strong>s proudly,<br />
paradoxically, h<strong>and</strong>s aloft, wearing<br />
boxing gloves, in a posture of victory.<br />
Cartoon eyes, surely from a Nickelodeon<br />
series, dot the pictures, <strong>and</strong> the horizon<br />
is marked by the skyline silhouettes of<br />
typical terraced houses. Semple has<br />
scrawled a line from a song ”Nothing<br />
It’s Semple’s ability<br />
to describe this<br />
contemporary moment<br />
which makes his Pop Art<br />
so different, so appealing<br />
ever happens” above the huge skewed<br />
word ”Happy.” It’s about a world where<br />
everything has changed <strong>and</strong> nothing<br />
THIS LAND... WAS BUILT FOR YOU AND ME, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & diamond dust on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
has changed at the same time. There’s<br />
still glamorous models <strong>and</strong> a sprinkling<br />
of diamond dust in Semple’s paintings<br />
- but this time they are surrounded by<br />
images of recession. Like the T-shirt in<br />
his multiple-self-portrait says, ”Gordon<br />
Gecko was wrong.” We are at the<br />
moment before impact. Roadrunner is<br />
still running as hard as he can, but he<br />
hasn’t noticed he’s gone way out over<br />
the end of the cliff. Similarly our mindset<br />
<strong>and</strong> moods have not yet registered<br />
the bad news we have been watching<br />
<strong>and</strong> listening to. It’s as if everyday we<br />
are reading our own obituary in the<br />
newspaper. It is Semple’s ability to<br />
describe this contemporary moment<br />
which makes his Pop Art so different, so<br />
appealing today.<br />
On the large bottle of tomato ketchup<br />
in ”Quiet Desperation” Semple has<br />
replaced the Heinz logo with another<br />
word: Wait. Yes, folks, just wait.<br />
Ben Lewis is an award-winning documentary-<br />
film-maker, author <strong>and</strong> art critic. His most recent<br />
documentary “The Great Contemporary Art Bubble”<br />
was shown on the BBC, Arté, ABC-Australia <strong>and</strong><br />
numerous other TV channels across the world, <strong>and</strong><br />
screened at film festivals in Montreal, Vancouver,<br />
San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen <strong>and</strong> Derry.<br />
Ben’s other film credits include the mutli-award-<br />
winning series “Art Safari”, <strong>and</strong> the documentaries<br />
“Hammer <strong>and</strong> Tickle” <strong>and</strong> “The King of Communism.”<br />
Ben writes a monthly column on art for Prospect<br />
<strong>and</strong> contributes art criticism to the Evening<br />
St<strong>and</strong>ard, the German magazine ‘Monopol’, the<br />
Sunday Telegraph, Times, Sunday Times <strong>and</strong> FT.<br />
His first book “Hammer <strong>and</strong> Tickle: the story of a<br />
political system which was (almost) laughed out of<br />
existence” will be published in May this year.<br />
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 5
POPULAR<br />
CULTURE<br />
& THE<br />
AESTHETIC<br />
DISCOURSE<br />
CHERIE FREDERICO & STUART SEMPLE IN CONVERSATION<br />
Contemporary image-making is rife with critical debate. It always has been, in fact,<br />
that’s part of its definition, but combine that with an overarching analysis of popular<br />
culture, <strong>and</strong> the consequences of the recent recession, <strong>and</strong> this result is a new<br />
compelling sense of urgency. Following in the footsteps of Andy Warhol, Barbara<br />
Kruger <strong>and</strong> Jeff Koons, Stuart Semple (b. 1980) turns popular culture on its head by<br />
critiquing it through its own vernacular, <strong>and</strong> so themes of disillusionment serve to<br />
deconstruct the very world in which we live, producing a series of metanarratives<br />
that attempt to redefine our comfort zone. Semple is a pro; he joins aesthetic<br />
discourse with the acidic residue of consumerism, which is not only thought<br />
provoking, but also serves as an acute reminder to the current state of play.<br />
Semple’s latest offering, The Happy House, inspired from Siouxsie & The Banshees’<br />
song of the same name (1981) will open at one of London’s newest galleries, Morton<br />
Metropolis, this April. In his first UK solo exhibition in three years, Semple returns<br />
to the city where he first became recognised for his politically charged witticisms,<br />
presenting his most personal collection to date. The Happy House offers a glimpse<br />
into the artist’s past <strong>and</strong> a much-longed return to his natural colour-fuelled style.<br />
Semple’s latest series also signals a new era, as he reveals provocatively illustrated<br />
works in which his wry social <strong>and</strong> political observations are entwined on each<br />
canvas.<br />
In the aftermath of tumultuous recession <strong>and</strong> with the general elections looming<br />
in Britain, Semple comm<strong>and</strong>s the undivided attention of his audience, removing<br />
the veil of conformity from the eyes of an idle <strong>and</strong> meek society. Semple forces<br />
viewers to question the extent to which contemporary culture can impact upon<br />
everyday lives. In Comfortably Numb there’s a sense of sadness, as we say R.I.P to<br />
Borders, Cool Britannia, <strong>and</strong> even the mixed tape, but there’s more to it than that.<br />
Ultimately, it’s a re-evaluation of our value systems <strong>and</strong> disengaging appropriated<br />
meaning. Semple subverts these systems through a distinct juxtaposition of colour,<br />
image <strong>and</strong> text.<br />
Semple is making images with a purpose; undercutting current trends to engage with<br />
the wider social context. Lifting the lid on the state of Britain today, Semple pushes<br />
the manipulation of image-making to the extreme; revealing the empowering effect<br />
of pictorial demonstrations in an active st<strong>and</strong> against the “middle of the road”<br />
attitude prevalent in today’s society <strong>and</strong> perpetuated through modern media. With<br />
programmes like X-Factor propagating the McDonaldisation of popular culture,<br />
it’s no surprise that Semple is angry about the complacency erupting in every cul-<br />
de-sac in Britain. His work shouts loudly <strong>and</strong> fluently in the language of a young<br />
media-soaked generation, depicting a world that is absorbing <strong>and</strong> exciting, yet<br />
precariously underpinned by the concave cycle of daily tabloids, Hollywood<br />
films, Facebook, <strong>and</strong> a little bird called Twitter. From the macro to the micro, the<br />
cultures of consumerism operate on many levels; they are almost omnipotent.<br />
For Semple, it is crucial that his work speaks to audiences on an emotional level,<br />
inspiring a response that transcends the limits of the work itself <strong>and</strong> encourages<br />
a critical re-evaluation of daily life. In The Happy House the homogenisation of<br />
culture is the backdrop for the exhibition. At once, we must question the artifice of<br />
the image, <strong>and</strong> how it intervenes with globalisation <strong>and</strong> interrogates the associated<br />
power structures. Semple does not create work to be consumed along with<br />
popular culture but reverses <strong>and</strong> redefines the power of these memes to reveal a<br />
narrative of deeper human interaction.<br />
At Morton Metropolis, Semple’s compilation of 11 large-scale paintings will flow<br />
like tracks on the bygone mixed-tape. Alive with intense imagery <strong>and</strong> a direct<br />
humour they make no attempt to obscure meaning.<br />
Cherie Frederico originally conducted the following interview with Stuart for<br />
the May issue of Aesthetica Magazine.<br />
CF: Your work has been received with great acclaim over the past five years with<br />
Fake Plastic Love (2007) <strong>and</strong> Everlasting Nothing Less (2009) gaining widespread<br />
attention, can you tell me how it all began?<br />
SS: I suppose the attention started at the Fake Plastic Love show, which was pretty<br />
frightening, putting on a show of that scale would be hard not to notice. I still can’t<br />
get my head around the fact that 10,000 people came. But it really started in 2000.<br />
I started making a lot of work <strong>and</strong> I wanted to get it out there, so I put it anywhere<br />
that would take it – bookshops <strong>and</strong> cafés. Most of the time nobody bought one.<br />
While I was at university (in the Yorkshire Y Sculpture Park) I got really ill <strong>and</strong> nearly<br />
died – after that the work just kept coming. I started selling these works on eBay,<br />
remember in 2000 it was the bare bones of the web; we were still paying by the<br />
minute for dial up. Every night I sold three <strong>and</strong> people would tune in at the same<br />
time every night, <strong>and</strong> before I knew it there was a fledgling online community. I<br />
made <strong>and</strong> sold about 3000 pieces during that time, mostly they sold for £20 - £30,<br />
so I wasn’t rolling round like an art-star, but the l<strong>and</strong>lord was off my back.<br />
Much of your work is an analysis of popular culture, yet you critique it through its<br />
own language, can you tell me more about this decision?<br />
When I think about pop-culture, I think primarily about images, moving images <strong>and</strong><br />
static images. That’s the language I’m fluent in, <strong>and</strong> while English is a language for<br />
me, I think pop is another one; it might even be my first. So it’s natural to use that<br />
for me. The beauty is that it’s a shared language so it’s quite efficient at relaying a<br />
concept, more so I think than more abstract ways of saying something. The point<br />
is that most of that pop-culture world, <strong>and</strong> the images that surface from it do a<br />
really good job of pretending that they reference reality. The fact is that they are<br />
manufactured, normally with a goal focused purely on consumption, either of the<br />
image itself, a product or lifestyle choice. We start to become what we see, <strong>and</strong> we<br />
assume this environment. We camouflage ourselves to fit in. It’s self-fulfilling. The<br />
point is that I’m trying to make a definite contribution to image-making, but I’m also<br />
trying to be truthful <strong>and</strong> critical.<br />
4 41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com<br />
Cherie Frederico<br />
photo by Jos & Hedwig
What are your main concerns about today’s society <strong>and</strong> how does your work define<br />
<strong>and</strong> explore these anxieties?<br />
My main fear at the moment is one of alienation <strong>and</strong> a type of ghettoisation, one<br />
in which there’s a sort of bl<strong>and</strong>, homogenised, middle-class with super safe<br />
aspirations. This is what we’re told we should be, this is what’s perpetuated. Where<br />
the fringes are reduced, where we’ll all be okay as long as we adopt a certain<br />
ideology. Fundamentally it doesn’t work like that, we still have a huge amount of<br />
poverty in this country, we still have a working class, we are part of a bright <strong>and</strong><br />
varied community but a lot of it doesn’t conform to the ideal, so it’s hidden. I like<br />
the idea of a glossy West End gallery exhibiting an image of Poundl<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> I can<br />
show something where people wouldn’t normally expect it. I’m so lucky with the<br />
gallery actually; they are probably the first I’ve found that really underst<strong>and</strong>s what<br />
needs to happen. They are brave; they are as much for the artist <strong>and</strong> the culture as<br />
they are for the collector. You Y don’t normally see that. The art world couldn’t be<br />
further away from what I’m talking about. The works are about the majority of our<br />
population, so it’s like the camera angle changes <strong>and</strong> I hope you see how limited<br />
that frame has been for so long. So in the show you see suburbia, where I was<br />
bought up, <strong>and</strong> you see me getting beaten up outside Poundl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
Your work transcends art, as you move between divides in contemporary visual<br />
culture, most notably fashion <strong>and</strong> art, can you tell me more about the fusion of<br />
these two worlds?<br />
I can’t see a difference anymore. For me, it’s about finding a route to voice something,<br />
it’s still art for me if it’s critical. There’s no gr<strong>and</strong> plan, so if I need to learn a new skill<br />
or jump over a barrier into a neighbouring discipline in order to carry on that’s what<br />
I do, <strong>and</strong> I find myself almost organically stepping back. I decided a long time ago<br />
that I would do whatever the work needed from me. One day I’ll be on my h<strong>and</strong>s<br />
<strong>and</strong> knees with a tiny paint brush for 16 hours <strong>and</strong> the next I’ll be photographing a<br />
rock star or going on a mission to a paint lab to get a formula to do what the work<br />
requires. I could even have to learn new software or painting techniques. I’m not<br />
running the thing; it’s totally running me.<br />
I am very interested in finding out more about who your influences are <strong>and</strong><br />
where your draw your inspiration from?<br />
There are so many <strong>and</strong> I surround myself with them, in books <strong>and</strong> music <strong>and</strong> film. In<br />
the past great painters like Van Gogh or Caravaggio, the Pop Art guys: Rauschenberg<br />
is a big one, Warhol of course <strong>and</strong> the Polke. Equally people like Lawrence Weiner<br />
PHAGOPHOBIA / PANIC ATTACK, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
or Jenny Holzer for what they do with language. With regards to contemporaries,<br />
I get as much inspiration from artists that I don’t want to be like, as I do with those<br />
I do. I don’t like art that’s driven by money, I don’t like art that’s not critical so<br />
perhaps in that way my biggest inspirations are Hirst or Murakami, in as much as<br />
I think they could say more. But the big one is always the music because music<br />
can change the way I feel, it’s like a tap into my emotions. Right now I’m listening<br />
to a lot of Blur again <strong>and</strong> the new Eminem album. Actually I think Eminem is really<br />
important. I think he might be the greatest, most critical pop artist we’ve had yet.<br />
Dylan, Conor Oberst. Van Gogh has influenced my painting more than anyone else,<br />
but I don’t think you can see that in my pictures.<br />
We’re definitely “recessioned out”, it has pretty much consumed our daily lives<br />
for nearly two years, so how do you feel this event has impacted on your artistic<br />
practice?<br />
The art market has undeniably gone through one of its darkest moments, <strong>and</strong> things<br />
have been corrected I think. My practice has changed but not because of the<br />
economy, I’m still here doing my thing, plodding on. Perhaps a bit, I’m more aware<br />
of economic systems that I was before; I think I took that for granted. The work has<br />
interacted with some of those ideas, like the HappyCloud performance from Tate<br />
Modern, which was directly about recession. I think artists who had a really big<br />
elaborate production line work going on will have been changed more. It was a<br />
tough time for everyone; it was like the whole thing was put on pause for a while<br />
<strong>and</strong> nobody, not even the biggest artists <strong>and</strong> galleries, knew if they’d ever sell work<br />
for the prices they did before. I just decided to get my teeth into these pictures<br />
<strong>and</strong> keep going the best I could.<br />
For newcomers to your work, what would you want them to experience; essentially<br />
what would you like them to take away?<br />
I don’t know, in a perfect world, where I’d really pulled it off. I’d like them to<br />
remember the images; I think at least one or two. For me, the sign of a good picture<br />
is one I can remember. I can remember seeing a Van Gogh 21 years ago, vividly.<br />
There you go, that’s a thing to aim for isn’t it? A picture someone might remember<br />
20 years later.<br />
Aesthetica Magazine is a UK-based arts <strong>and</strong> culture publication. Exploring the varied<br />
nature of the arts <strong>and</strong> recognising the dynamics of contemporary culture, Aesthetica<br />
pushes the boundaries <strong>and</strong> evokes debate around today’s most important topics<br />
on both the national <strong>and</strong> international forum.<br />
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 5
COMFORTABLY NUMB, Acrylic, spray paint, paint marker, charcoal & glitter on canvas, 300 x 183 cm, 2010<br />
PICTURES CAME AND BROKE YOUR HEART, Acrylic, paint marker <strong>and</strong> charcoal on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010 KILLING ME SOFTLY (with her sound), Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
A POUNDING OUTSIDE POUNDLAND (or how my nose got it’s wonk), Acrylic & charcoal on canvas, 240 x 170 cm, 2010<br />
6 41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com<br />
QUIET DESPERATION / THE ENGLISH WAY, Acrylic, charcoal, graphite,<br />
vegetable dye, paint marker & spray paint on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
THE REAL STUART SEMPLE, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 170 x 240 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK<br />
info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com<br />
28TH APRIL - 28TH MAY 2010<br />
THIS LAND... WAS BUILT FOR YOU AND ME, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & diamond dust on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
HAPPY HAPPY HOUSE<br />
HOUSE<br />
AFTER THE FALL, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010 WALK UNAFRAID, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
PHAGOPHOBIA / PANIC ATTACK, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010 NUT JOB, Acrylic, charcoal & glitter on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 7
THE REAL STUART SEMPLE, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 170 x 240 x 7 cm, 2010
ALBUM REVIEW BY EMMA EDMONDSON<br />
LIFE IN BRITAIN’S BEEN A<br />
BIT OF A BITCH LATELY. . .<br />
A crippled empire hunched under a<br />
recession cloud. Once just a misty,<br />
historical noun now that ‘r’ word has<br />
taken on the form of a very present day,<br />
distinctly sewer tasting, expletitive.<br />
Mentioned in every media breath<br />
it’s impossible to get away from the<br />
apparent decay of our people <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Engl<strong>and</strong> they occupy.<br />
Enter Stuart Semple. As British as fish <strong>and</strong> chips, <strong>and</strong> as sentimental <strong>and</strong> mushy about<br />
the country as the peas that go with it, every track on Semple’s new album is part of<br />
a series of social commentings that will be recognised by anyone who’s experienced<br />
the financial, <strong>and</strong> emotional, wrath of the past few years. Yep, Y that’s you that is.<br />
But fret not, it’s not all doom <strong>and</strong> gloom in Semplel<strong>and</strong>. Signature pop sounds<br />
weave into an otherwise melancholy sincerity adding a uniquely jovial aesthetic<br />
that elbows its influences back to the lyrical, yet cutting, wit of Damon Albarn <strong>and</strong><br />
co. This undeniably British flavoured focus runs through each song. With Stuart even<br />
referencing Blur’s lyrics to Stereotypes, off that great British album The Great Escape,<br />
in “This l<strong>and</strong>…Was built for you <strong>and</strong> me”. A technicolour, surround sound comment<br />
on the decay of British society, Stuart may knowingly elbow those Brit-poppers, who<br />
summed up life as a twenty-something in London so well almost two decades ago,<br />
but he injects that idea’s vein with a finely tuned serum of modernity.<br />
Nodding towards the fast food instamatic lifestyle that so many of us lead today it<br />
reeks of TV dinner sex <strong>and</strong> suburbia. Tongue in cheek lyrics hover over semi-detached<br />
houses whilst, behind a curvy Lisa Minnelli-masked lady clad in a union jack bikini,<br />
Semple’s to-the-point shopping list prose of pizza, burger, fellatio <strong>and</strong> chips spells<br />
out a familiar convenience soup that so many of us dine on each day.<br />
THE T<br />
HAPPY HOUSE BY STUART SEMPLE<br />
Much like his Brit-pop musical counterparts Semple again cheekily<br />
pokes fun at our British ‘shut up <strong>and</strong> carry on’ attitude in st<strong>and</strong>out track<br />
‘Quiet desperation / the English way’. A surreal <strong>and</strong> colourful chequered<br />
l<strong>and</strong>scape of Rayban sporting Magpies is the orchestral backdrop for a<br />
classic English gent’s profile. This sullen character with his eyes looking to<br />
the floor reminds us what really lies beneath that silence.<br />
There are multi-faceted references to the pill-popping mentality of<br />
generation now, alongside Stuart’s own experiences of life’s fragility,<br />
in ‘Nut job’. A hollow cheeked Brett Anderson-alike in grey hues is<br />
overtaken by the screaming vocals; “Nut job”. Surrounded by a splattering<br />
of c<strong>and</strong>y coloured pills here Semple gets personal, retracing his near-<br />
death experience after a severe nut allergy. Now suffering from an anxiety<br />
disorder after the trauma Stuart shrugs not only at the alphabet of recreational drugs<br />
readily used by many a person but reminds us how today everybody’s in therapy,<br />
on anti-depressants. Everyone’s damaged goods, labelled with a mental illness <strong>and</strong><br />
seeking a quick cure. A sign, possibly, of what this over-stimulated culture is slowly<br />
doing to us all. A smattering of space oddity glitter adds a sad glamorama to this track<br />
with Stuart whispering from the sidelines; watch out, this party’s going to end, <strong>and</strong> it’s<br />
going to be over soon.<br />
In ‘After the Fall’ Semple’s signature scantily clad supermodel skinny-girl returns to<br />
the record’s catwalk. A towering, laser eyed Barbarella, wearing Minnie Mouse ears<br />
<strong>and</strong> clutching a Lidl bag, she’s a powerful consumerist figure glaring out from the<br />
soundscape. A fitting finale for the album she looks straight into the future from her<br />
static stance while Semple asks her, <strong>and</strong> us, “Where do we go from here?”<br />
An important question indeed. And although Stuart may not have the definitive<br />
answer, solution or cure for the Britain he so skilfully illustrates, one thing’s for sure -<br />
whichever way we do end up going he’ll have an ipod of anthems at the ready, all<br />
itching to say something insightful <strong>and</strong> intriguing about it.<br />
Photographs by Rosie Hallam<br />
WALK W ALK UNAFRAID, U UNAFRAID,<br />
Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 9
PICTURES CAME AND BROKE YOUR HEART,<br />
Acrylic, paint marker <strong>and</strong> charcoal on canvas,<br />
120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
CONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE<br />
New technologies can help to break<br />
down these distinctions <strong>and</strong> differences.<br />
Mass consumption is continuing<br />
as before but now there is a new<br />
element. Technology has brought with<br />
it new techniques of distribution. Images<br />
become global in an instant: You Y don’t<br />
have to wait. The actual production of<br />
art might remain the same, oil on canvas,<br />
chisel on marble <strong>and</strong> stencils on design;<br />
the old <strong>and</strong> new fuse. Images need<br />
not be dumbed down. We can have<br />
access to our own personal galleries on<br />
our laptops. That’s a really hopeful <strong>and</strong><br />
exciting prospect. So mass culture need<br />
not numb us to the realities of life it can<br />
make us want to pass images on, talk<br />
about their complexities, it’s not about<br />
KILLING ME SOFTLY (with her sound), Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
owning the object as the blogosphere is<br />
open to all. Ideas, through images, can<br />
be consumed <strong>and</strong> they can generate a<br />
dialogue. Yes Y – some say the very idea<br />
of ideas is passe; I say, a good idea can<br />
change the world <strong>and</strong> can make us want<br />
to act on our world.<br />
Now more than ever we seem to be calling<br />
out for a transparent, honest <strong>and</strong> truthful<br />
world. The artist <strong>and</strong> art, generally, can<br />
help here. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not<br />
proposing that art should be wholly doom<br />
<strong>and</strong> gloom. On the contrary, humour is a<br />
great tool to get people engaged <strong>and</strong><br />
the wit that underlines some art is on par<br />
with the best that satire can offer. Much<br />
art can only ever be decorative <strong>and</strong> that’s<br />
AFTER THE FALL,<br />
Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas,<br />
120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
completely legitimate. Aesthetics <strong>and</strong><br />
emotions are closely linked <strong>and</strong> we can<br />
view beauty for beauties sake <strong>and</strong> pick<br />
up a huge emotional resonance from<br />
that. However, an artist that produces<br />
an object that works at many levels has,<br />
indeed, created a very interesting piece<br />
of art. For an artist to not only have the<br />
ability to produce a decorative item that<br />
at the top level is pleasing to the eye,<br />
but also has the ability to write a layered<br />
narrative on the canvas that produces a<br />
range of emotions <strong>and</strong> makes us question<br />
<strong>and</strong> – yes – even laugh at our everyday<br />
existence, is indeed the producer of<br />
authentic art. The artist is inviting the<br />
viewer not to be passive but to do some<br />
10 41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com<br />
work, to become an archaeologist by<br />
gently brushing away the layers to reveal<br />
the hidden treasures. Then, <strong>and</strong> only<br />
then, will the whole object be visible.<br />
Oppositions will become clear <strong>and</strong><br />
paradoxes unearthed.<br />
NUT JOB,<br />
Acrylic, charcoal & glitter on canvas,<br />
120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010<br />
To be able to define an object as a<br />
work of art is a powerful thing, but as<br />
boundaries between distinctions <strong>and</strong><br />
difference break down, due to new<br />
technologies, the power to define<br />
becomes democratic. So, art itself is not<br />
necessarily changing: The changes are<br />
in the way it’s consumed. Here lies the<br />
hope of transformation, criticism is alive<br />
<strong>and</strong> well <strong>and</strong> change is afoot.
TIME FOR<br />
ANOTHER<br />
COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK<br />
WILL THE REAL<br />
UK CITIZEN ZEN EN PLEASE<br />
STAND UP? UP UP? BY FAYANN F SMITH S SMITH<br />
IS IT GETTING HARDER TO BE<br />
YOU EVERYDAY? CAN’T TAKE<br />
THE WORK-OUTS OR THE<br />
DRESSING DOWNS, THE SLOW<br />
RESENTFUL MEALS IN STYLISH<br />
ROOMS IN EXPENSIVE, NOW<br />
DEPRECIATING HOMES?<br />
Mr <strong>and</strong> Mrs B.N.P, C.J.D, O.C.D the<br />
silent white minority, who are you? Are<br />
you terror struck in commuter town,<br />
or fearing the black face in the white<br />
hoody bluetoothing broken dreams via<br />
mobile data streams with no time to look<br />
where he is going? Who is tending your<br />
bloodstained flag that once screamed<br />
Empire but now whispers “spare change<br />
please” to the iPoded <strong>and</strong> zoned out<br />
passers by; a rag wrenched up by a<br />
threadbare monarchy to a lukewarm<br />
reception, a tired crowd, vaguely<br />
nostalgic, twitchy <strong>and</strong> bored?<br />
Are you the Khakis hordes on their way<br />
to purchase LCD wide screens <strong>and</strong> potter<br />
vacantly through miles of car parking <strong>and</strong><br />
bright Muzak convenience? Who is your<br />
team? Who do you support? Are your<br />
dreams in full colour featuring lip gloss<br />
sticky girls from the pages of the Sunday<br />
Sport spread out <strong>and</strong> sensual, almost<br />
too young, almost nude? Almost yours,<br />
but not really there. Do you rejoice in<br />
your St Cheryl X factor morality knowing<br />
that your X tube secrets could catch<br />
up with you - who’s that dogging in<br />
Grantham serenaded by a wet <strong>and</strong><br />
miserable Sunday evening, just another<br />
way to spice things up <strong>and</strong> now you<br />
can’t look her in the eyes. Where is your<br />
truth? It’s written in a language you won’t<br />
recognise, talked about in rooms you<br />
don’t know <strong>and</strong> you’ll never have access<br />
to, it is mahogany panelled, suited <strong>and</strong><br />
titled, a secret ceremony of boys club<br />
control. Do you sit sweating in the dark<br />
waiting for a grimy h<strong>and</strong> to break your<br />
window locks, whilst the white-collar<br />
criminal has your password, confidence<br />
<strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>shake? Are you stopped <strong>and</strong><br />
searched, tagged <strong>and</strong> DNA tested,<br />
young, black <strong>and</strong> suspect? Are you that<br />
loathsome single mum, benefits cheat,<br />
immigrant, all gold teeth <strong>and</strong><br />
grabbing h<strong>and</strong>s scourge of<br />
the Daily Mail outranged, we<br />
fought the war, we pay our<br />
taxes! Are you dreadlocked<br />
<strong>and</strong> dropped out, drugged<br />
up <strong>and</strong> dead-eyed, angry<br />
<strong>and</strong> on the frontline of a<br />
culture war you’ll never<br />
win; this is not your society,<br />
you can’t afford a voice<br />
Swampy. This is your Nation,<br />
humane, but confused,<br />
ailing but growing. Centre of<br />
an old world, a relic, broke,<br />
rebr<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> channel<br />
changing, afraid but with<br />
eyes fixed on the future.<br />
OCCULT<br />
ANNIE<br />
PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20<br />
Your existence might seem mundane, but you will surprise those<br />
around you with an unexpected naughty streak. The colours red,<br />
white <strong>and</strong> blue have meaning. A cheeky romp is on the cards.<br />
ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20<br />
Walk a different path. Excitement lies ahead, <strong>and</strong> the death of things<br />
you know provides new opportunities. Fiery Mars revs up your sign<br />
so dreams come true. Treat yourself to new shoes.<br />
TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21<br />
The old saying, “Life is just a parade of lips <strong>and</strong> dreams” couldn’t be<br />
truer. An old favour is repaid in a generous way.<br />
GEMINI May 22 - June 22<br />
This month you will find you have more than one spiritual twin. In<br />
fact, you may count up to nine of them. Mars <strong>and</strong> Saturn can help<br />
you in practical ways, such as mowing your lawn. Single? It doesn’t<br />
matter. Your alter-egos will keep you entertained.<br />
CANCER June 23 - July 23<br />
Just crossing the road could be eventful. Contemplate the very<br />
bones of things <strong>and</strong> suddenly you, <strong>and</strong> those around you, will<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>. Luck <strong>and</strong> love link to the colour red.<br />
LEO July 24 - Aug 23<br />
Amazonian women stalk your life. Think carefully about rainbows,<br />
they mean more to you than you know. Triangles <strong>and</strong> pyramids will<br />
also have a bearing, according to the retrograde Neptune.<br />
VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23<br />
Beware a visit to the cheap side of town. A tall dark stranger means<br />
you no good. On the upside, it’s a good time to plant potatoes, <strong>and</strong><br />
Mercury ensures your creative juices will be flowing.<br />
LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23<br />
One day’s events will have far reaching consequences. Avoid the<br />
colour lavender. Certain facts could be difficult to swallow, be sure<br />
to eat the right things this week <strong>and</strong> look to your family for support.<br />
SCORPIO Oct 24 - Nov 22<br />
Months of being quiet <strong>and</strong> tucked away are going to be worth it this<br />
month. Wait a little longer, <strong>and</strong> what you wish for will come. Ignore<br />
the naysayers. Beware apocalyptical magpies crossing your path.<br />
SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21<br />
Images, perhaps linked to your childhood, will scoop prizes. The<br />
way that you see things will change, but your dreams will not. Take<br />
on a challenge <strong>and</strong> you will win, your lucky colour is green.<br />
CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20<br />
Look for inspiration in happy symbols. Cake is good, too. Bullish Mars<br />
will clear the way to expressing yourself in ways that matter most,<br />
but be careful not to override the opinions of those you hold dear.<br />
A bear will bring you joy. joy<br />
AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19<br />
A goodbye is just the thing to clear your head. A beautiful woman,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the colours red, blue, pink, black <strong>and</strong> yellow are in danger, but<br />
all will be well. You will have the strength to shine at work.<br />
COMPETITION<br />
WIN A PAIR<br />
OF THESE<br />
SNAZZY<br />
SNEAKERS,<br />
JUST TELL<br />
US WHOSE<br />
THEY ARE?<br />
Answers to:<br />
Jimmy Saville<br />
Jim-l-fixit,<br />
PO BOX 109<br />
London, W1N 4DJ
SPORT<br />
THE ART OF<br />
CRITICISM BY DR MOO<br />
WE HAVE A LONG AND NOBLE<br />
TRADITION OF CRITICISM IN THIS<br />
COUNTRY. NOTHING IS SACRED.<br />
Everyday critics from political pundits<br />
to moralists <strong>and</strong> even the 3 am girls<br />
question the structures <strong>and</strong> institutions<br />
we construct. That’s why we have the<br />
ability to change governments <strong>and</strong><br />
rework our laws <strong>and</strong> why we can alter<br />
the way we organise our society. In other<br />
words, the acceptance of ‘authority’ is<br />
not carried out unquestionably. Social<br />
critics are in society: They are part of the<br />
social fabric <strong>and</strong> some artists fall within<br />
this framework.<br />
The ‘cultural industry’ has been heavily<br />
critiqued <strong>and</strong> critics have been very<br />
pessimistic about the impact of art on<br />
our society. The argument goes that<br />
Auratic or Autonomous (authentic) art is<br />
innovative, represents the ‘truth’ of society<br />
<strong>and</strong> has great transformative potential.<br />
However this form of art is rare to see<br />
as individual creativity is made invisible<br />
This one goes out to Ari & Lotte, with thanks to - Serena Morton, Raye Costbert & Zara Stallwood at Morton Metropolis, My Family,<br />
James Robinson at Jalloro, Stuart Hillcock at Footprint, Ben Lewis, Will, Rachel & Monique at Paget Baker, Rosie Hallam, Everyone at<br />
John Jones, Diane at Lloyds TSB, Richard Kuttner, Lydia Honeybone, Genevieve Jones & Liat Chen<br />
by the industrial, mass production of art.<br />
What you get is the commodification of<br />
art whereas auratic art is the hope of a<br />
damaged world. We know how counter-<br />
cultures have been incorporated into<br />
industry. For instance, take the angst <strong>and</strong><br />
anarchy of the Punks. Why continue to rip<br />
up your jeans when you can buy a ready<br />
made torn version from the high street<br />
<strong>and</strong> make a fashion statement at the same<br />
time? Oh how the power was lost: Oh<br />
how the image became mainstream: Oh<br />
how some set judgements on the public<br />
making viewing art an uncomfortable affair.<br />
Why should this be? Well, consumption is<br />
not an uncomplicated activity. To be able<br />
to consume we need to learn differing<br />
sets of cultural symbols <strong>and</strong> values. So<br />
culture is embedded within a system of<br />
signs <strong>and</strong> symbols <strong>and</strong>, most importantly,<br />
boundaries, which create distinctions<br />
between groups. Likewise, consumption<br />
is a set of social <strong>and</strong> cultural practices that<br />
establishes differences between groups.<br />
This pessimistic paradigm is now on the<br />
wan <strong>and</strong> hope is on the ascent.<br />
continued on Page 10<br />
A POUNDING OUTSIDE POUNDLAND (or how my nose got it’s wonk), Acrylic & charcoal on canvas, 240 x 170 cm, 2010<br />
DAILY<br />
ASBO-METER<br />
% ASBO’s Issued in 2009:<br />
1. Hackney<br />
2. Birmingham<br />
3. Liverpool<br />
4. Southampton<br />
5. Sheffield<br />
6. Oxford<br />
7. Plymouth<br />
8. Carlisle<br />
9. Norwich<br />
10. Newcastle<br />
11. Coventry<br />
12. Cardiff<br />
data supplied by data.gov.uk<br />
12 41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com<br />
OUR OUR LEADERBOARD EADERBOARD OF OF<br />
ANTI- ANTI-SOCIAL IAL BEHAVIOUR BEHAVIOUR