The Institute of Contemporary Art.

The Institute of Contemporary Art consists of two galleries, private function rooms, a theatre, a bookshop, a bar and a café. Established in 1947 by a group of artists, poets and writers, the ICA was set up to as a vehicle for a variety of art forms and contemporary culture. Over the past sixty years the ICA has been heavily involved with new artistic movements and developments within the arts. Many performers, artists and writers have started out on their artistic careers, via the ICA.

The ICA is governed by a council of thirteen people who meet every two months to discuss the aims, objectives and success of the ICA. They monitor performance, and ensure necessary resources are put in place to meet its objectives. The council decides the artistic route of the ICA and sets its principles.

ICA Education pushes itself to maintain a strong relationship with schools colleges and surrounding communities. To encourage creativity and the public’s involvement with the arts. Each exhibition is partnered with a schools and colleges programme. The teachers can also download resources via the ICA website.

The ICA are also involved with their local communities, and have become a site for young people with learning difficulties to explore their interests within art and music. Currently, six students from the charity, Pursuing Independent Pathways are taking part in a programme led by artist Emily Candela. The group meet once a week and post podcasts of their experiences on the ICA Education website.

The ICA’s first exhibition was held in the basement of the Academy Cinema in Oxford Street, entitled “40 years of Modern Art: A Selection from British Collections.” Following that the ICA put on an exhibition, “40,000 years of Modern Art” as a way of putting forward internationally and ethnically diverse art to the audience.

During the sixties the ICA moved to a new building, giving way to the possibility of stage productions, on a bigger scale than the play readings which had been held in previous years. The ICA now showed in-house films, and presented contemporary music composers.

The 70’s saw live art become increasingly important to the ICA, and in 80’s saw bands including The Smiths and Sonic Youth perform.

Film and live art continue to play an important role within the ICA.

i-D

i-D is a British magazine focusing on art, music, fashion and the youth culture of today. The now well established, glossy, almost cult magazine, hails from a handmade fanzine, produced using a typewriters and stapler in 1980, by designer and previous art director of vogue; Terry Jones. In 1984 Tony Elliott came on board as editor and still works for i-D to this day.

The magazine is famous for featuring new and exciting fashion, art and music, and this is reflected in the contemporary typography, graphic design and photography witnesses on its pages. The magazine has acquired a name for being a spring board for new innovative contributors. Photographers including Nick Knight, Terry Richardson and Ellen von Unwerth have all had their works feature in i-D as well as renowned graphic design Neville Brody.

i-D magazine also gave birth to the docu-fashion style of photography known as “the straight up”. Starting out with punks and new wave youths of Britain, photographed “straight up” against the nearest wall, the head to toe recordings of the people and their fashions established a new and valid style of documentary picture making.

If you turn the i-D logo on its side, the letters resemble a smiling winking face. Since the magazine launched, there is almost always the winking face of a model or celebrity on the front cover.

In 2004, i-D published its 250^th edition, and 2005 saw the magazines silver anniversary. In celebration, i-D held the i-Dentity exhibition, featuring photography, film, sound and smell. It was launched at the London Fashion and Textile Museum, then shown in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing. A number of guests were asked to work in creative collaboration with Terry Jones on the i-Dentity theme, including Ashley Heath, Nick Knight and Peter Saville.

All issues published in 2005 were given a silver spine and four different front covers for the September issue were published. The four covers featured Carolyn Murphy, Kate Moss, Daria and Liya Kebede.

i-D have held various exhibitions worldwide and also published three books since 1998. The most recent being “SMILE i-D. Fashion and Style. 20 Years of i-D Magazine.” 2001.

The Saatchi Gallery.

The Saatchi is a London gallery which opened in 1985, owned by Charles Saatchi. The gallery has been situated in three separate locations over the course of twenty years; Boundary Road, North London; County Hall, London South Bank; and Sloane Square, Chelsea.

The gallery displays a collection of contemporary art from both British and International artists. The gallery prides itself on showcasing young emerging artists as well as artist established abroad yet rarely exhibited in the UK. The Saatchi giving many of these artists newly acquired recognition. Much of the artwork displayed is generally that of unknown artists, both to the public, and to the commercial art world.

When the gallery first opened its doors in 1985, the general audience were those with a specific interest in the type contemporary art. However, as interest in this type of artwork has grown greatly over the past ten years, art has become a lot more accessible to the public, and to different classes, and The Saatchi gallery ha seen the number of annual visitors increase vastly. Now accommodating over 600,000 visitors a year.

The gallery has a long and impressive list of artists it has exhibited works by over the years, including; Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Cindy Sherman, Tracy Emin and Nan Golidn. All of whom are now well established and successful artist.

The gallery, which relies on new artists and new exciting works has over the last few years started putting money back into art, and into helping art students follow their chosen career paths. In 1999 the gallery donated one hundred works to the Arts Council Collection, who lend out works to other galleries and museums. In September 2000, forty more artworks, painting, sculptures and installations by young artists, were given to the National Art Collections Fund, which were later distributed to eight museums across the country. In 2002 fifty works were donated to the Paintings in Hospitals charity, providing original artworks to NHS hospitals throughout the UK, carefully selected to enhance hospital environments.

The Saatchi Gallery has also created a Young Artists Sponsorship Bursary to help support young artists. The bursaries at five major London art schools including, Chelsea School of Art, Goldsmiths, and The Royal College of Art, assist selected students in paying fees, paying for studio facilities and an entry into exhibiting.

In 2001The Saatchi Gallery exhibited the works of bursary students to help the graduates bridge the gap between college study and working as an independent artist, in the increasingly difficult industry.

Despite a highly successful twenty years as a gallery, The Saatchi and its owner; Charles Saatchi, haven’t been without their share of controversy and bad press…

In 1989 the works of Sean Scully and Julian Schabel were disposed of from a collection. It was assumed that the artwork was part of a permanent collection, although this in fact has never been agreed.

In 1997, the “Sensation” exhibition featured a piece of work by Marcus Harvey, a giant painting of the famous Myra Hindley mug shot, using children’s hand print. The piece of work resulted in outrage from the parents of the murdered children as well as many others. The work was defaced with ink and eggs, and subsequently had to be restored.

In 2006, the work of artists in an exhibition, “USA Today”, including newspaper cuttings smeared with the artists own semen, was deemed unsuitable for children, and some Royal Academicians made their thoughts that the works should be displayed in an adult only room known. A parental guidance notice was displayed before viewing the work.

More recently, a court case following years of feuding between Charles Saatchi and the landlords of the Count Hall; the location of the Saatchi Gallery between 2003-2005, ended in the gallery moving to Chelsea. The Gallery will be open to the public in the summer of 2008

Screen printing.

Screen printing is a form of printmaking that dates back to 1907. Although having origins in Japanese stencilling, patents were taking out by a printer in Manchester at the beginning of the twentieth century, which is where the process of screen printing we are familiar with today is more likely to have begun.

It was during the First World War that screen printing flourished as an industrial printing process, used for printing flags, posters and labelling for shop products. Companies were able to produce multiple low cost and sharp-edged images quickly and easily. Around the same time, photographic silk screening was invented, changing the face of screen printing.

During the sixties photographic silk screening was made famous through the pop art movement. Used by artists such as Hamilton and Rauschenberg, but more famously; Andy Warhol. Warhol used the process of screen printing to symbolize mass consumerism. He produced masses of images in what was known as “The Factory”.

Green Coca-Cola Bottle, 1962.

Today, screen printing is a media used in both commercial imagery as well as fine arts. The versatility of screen printing means it can be found everywhere from t-shirts to record covers to car stickers.

Although there have been developments and improvements in the inks, chemicals and presses used in the printing process, and the involvement of computer technology commenced as of the eighties, the screen printing process has remained generally unchanged.

To produce a screen print, a screen is needed in place of a printing plate used in other forms of printing. The screen is comprised of a (usually) wooden frame with a nylon mesh stretched over it. The material desired to be printed on is positioned underneath the screen, usually on a flat surface when printing onto paper), with a paper stencil sandwiched between the two. The stencil blocks any ink from the surface of the material. Ink is applied to the top side of the screen and pulled over the screen and though the small holes in the mesh, onto the surface of the material underneath, using a squeegee; a flexible thick rubber blade with a metal or wooden handle across the top. The process using the squeegee can be repeated to ensure all the desired areas are covered with ink.

Creating a photographic screen print involves first coating the mesh in light sensitive emulsion or film and being left to dry. A film positive of the image or text wished to be printed is positioned under the mesh screen and exposed to ultra violet light. This hardens the areas of emulsion that were exposed to light, and blocks the holes in the mesh, preventing ink from passing through onto the material underneath. The screen is washed with a water jet, removing any emulsion which has not been exposed to the light and hardened. The screen now acts like a self contained stencil and the same printing process using a squeegee can be applied to create multiple images with a higher level of detail. It is possible for screens to be used aging for tens of thousands of prints, although if desired, the negative image exposed onto the screen can be removed using screen cleaners in the form of powders, liquids and gels, then rinsed thoroughly with a pressure washer.

Anthony Lister

Anthony Lister was born in 1980, Brisbane, Australia. He attended Queensland College of the Arts in his hometown of Brisbane, along with fellow Australian artist, Ben Frost, graduating in 2001 with a degree in Fine Art.

He recently moved to Brooklyn NYC with his wife and two children, where he had previously been mentored by New Zealand painter Max Gimblett in 2002 before taking up a research residency in Berlin.

Lister’s work draws greatly from popular culture, comics and cartoons. This is evident in much of his work including his exhibition “Super Villains”. His work however is a reflection on misguided youth. He touches on the way once magical cartoon characters of our childhoods become hazy and obscured memories as we age, and the world takes on new realities; wars drug culture and urban life. Lister has described television as a “contemporary mode of meditation” and watching his children has greatly affected his artwork; watching what they watch and becoming aware of what they are exposed to and influenced by each day.

Saturday Morning Prime Time 2 mixed media on canvas, 400cm x 170cm, 2006

Lister believes that such forms of broadcasting produces “misguided role-models” and he focuses much of his art on the underbelly of society, the unfortunate souls, misguided by today’s current climate. He states that he isn’t trying to change the world with his work, but reacting to the world around him and the way it is trying to change him. He is trying to make the obvious more obvious and raise more questions about his subject matter.

Many of Lister’s Experiences come from working in street art, although when recently asked if he still creates street art he replied “Occasionally, if there is a project going on but it’s not something that I proactively work at as part of self-promotion or street fame.” He now spends most of his creative time in his Brooklyn studio where he works mainly at night, always carrying sketchbooks with him during the day.

Lister’s studio work however is still heavily influenced by graffiti art, using spray paints on large expanses of white canvas, with visible cover up’s of mistakes with white emulsion. Lister’s more recent work often consists of two canvases of the same painting, one entitled right, and the other left, both mirror images of each other.

He has exhibited widely in Australia, and more recently in the USA IN Europe. His work has featured in both solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including collaboration work with other artists. Lister has been involved in various street art projects such as at Fred Perry Skate Park in Brisbane. In January 2007, he took part in a Manhattan community project, painting a derelict building, which was featured on the cover of The New York Times art section.

Lister has won many awards including the Metro 5 art award and gives talk in schools and universities on art and his own work. His most recent talk was at Stupid Krap’s show - Kids Today in Sydney.

Stupid Krap (www.stupidkrap.com) is a print company owned and operated by artist Madeleine Boyd, Ben Frost’s partner. Stupid Krap is set up by artists for artists and Lister has a keen involvement. He said in an interview with Juxtapoz magazine, “Another thing I love about it is that they pay attention to who they give their work to. In London, people are just buying and selling shit up, it’s going crazy. So, I like that they’re sensitive to that issue.” reflecting his concerns about the art world at present and its galleries involvement in making money from art without ever really playing a role in the artists practise.

Imagining a Conceptual Artistic Persona.

Rosaline’s pace began to decelerate as she turned into Greek Street for the first time. She looked up with her big eyes, eager to take in every last detail of these vibrant new surroundings. Reaching into her pocket, she retrieved a folded piece of paper. She glanced down at the scrawled address cupped in her clammy hand, then up at the building in front of her. Number eight. There it stood, Lazrides Gallery. Taking care to keep walking at a steady pace, to ensure she didn’t draw attention to herself, Rosaline crossed the narrow road. It was of up most importance to the college student that she didn’t look out of place. Desperately wanting to absorb all she could of this exciting environment and gain approval from the people she admired so much here. Focused on the doorway, she nervously stepped inside and drew an uneasy breath in.
Two sparkly blue eyes darted from wall to wall, briefly examining the small space. The room was small and intimate, accentuating the anxious feeling churning in her stomach. She longed for a wall or pillar to reside behind. Somewhere she knew no eyes could watch her, judge her. Somewhere she could study and appreciate the work that inspired her properly. To be able to enjoy looking at these pieces and dedicating all of her attention to them, without worrying to such extremes about her own appearance.
She walked up towards the wall cautiously, taking note of the distance between herself and the piece of art. Her skin felt hot and itchy as she tilted her head to the side and took a step back. Did she look pretentious? Did she look as though she was trying to hard to look interested? Unanswered questions ran through her head, fuelling her insecurity.
As a couple walked into the gallery, Rosaline’s attention was caught and her eyes followed them until they stopped in front of a small mosaic. Moving along the wall she studied the other two viewers, almost imitating their gestures to reassure herself that she looked acceptable in the gallery.
The young man pointed towards a piece and commented on the red and black tiles. Rosaline looked up at the work she knew so well with surprise. She too had noticed the way the colours had worked so well. She felt almost proud of herself for making the same observation. Maybe she did feel the right things. Maybe she did appreciate the artwork for the right reasons.
It was then amidst a Rosaline’s newly found confidence that the young man’s girlfriend shrugged and replied “I think they are too overpowering.”, but her boyfriend didn’t challenge her opinion. Instead he accepted she felt differently towards the piece and they turned towards the next wall.
Rosaline saw how he the pair accepted their differing views, and began to understand, nobody was there to judge her on her likes and dislikes within art. If she had a basis, grounds for which she appreciated something, she wasn’t going to loose respect from anyone.