It isn’t easy being a freelance arts writer. While I’m fully aware there are worse jobs to have (I previously worked in a call centre, a hotel and in retail, uggghhh) there are a few issues with this bizarre occupation. Firstly, some publications insist that they will pay you, only to renege at the lastContinue reading “Freelancer’s Blues”
Tag Archives: Art
Lost In Music: Geneva Jacuzzi- Art Is Dangerous
Featuring cameos in the video from legendary artists of many disciplines- from Ron Athey to Drab Majesty- the new single from Geneva Jacuzzi is part manifesto,part cheeky deconstruction of art and its function in contemporary society. It’s sexy, smart and danceable. Based in Los Angeles, her work is multi-disciplinary, fusing music, visual art and performanceContinue reading “Lost In Music: Geneva Jacuzzi- Art Is Dangerous”
Interview With The Artist: Philippa Tomlin
Currently based between Scotland and England, the wonderful, award-winning artist Philippa Tomlin makes visual art that’s as bewitching as it’s disturbing. A brand new exhibition featuring her work, CULT, arrives at the end of July. I caught up with Tomlin to find out more about the exhibition, and ask what inspires her. I feel likeContinue reading “Interview With The Artist: Philippa Tomlin”
Film Review: Tramps!
The natural reaction to a conservative era is to reject it, subvert it entirely and aim higher. So it was with the “New Romantics”, the movement which gave us Boy George, Michael Clark, Duran Duran, Leigh Bowery, Marilyn, Visage and Spandau Ballet. These stylish, freaky rebels were part of a loose “family” of club kidsContinue reading “Film Review: Tramps!”
The Arts Are Not A Luxury
I grew up in a small working- class rural town in Perthshire, Scotland. Nothing much happened there; we didn’t have much money and TV was our only dose of culture. In my house, books were shoved into cupboards, hidden away like skeletons, and theatre, with the exception of am- dram panto, wasn’t “for the likesContinue reading “The Arts Are Not A Luxury”
Overlooked Classics: Ultra Vivid Scene’s eponymous debut
Le swoon! This album is still incredible, all these years later. The debut album, Ultra Vivid Scene, by the band with the same name, is often forgotten about in the usual indie legends slots. Not here,though. Forgive my little foray into self- indulgence, it’s my birthday tomorrow. It was 1988, and I was experiencing myContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Ultra Vivid Scene’s eponymous debut”
Documentary Review: Becoming Frida Kahlo
We all know Frida Kahlo: survivor of polio, and a terrible bus crash; flowers in her hair and autobiographical art, married to Communist and prolific artist Diego Rivera, twenty years her senior. These are merely outlines, bare sketches. Louise Lockwood’s exhaustive three part BBC documentary films fill in the colours. There are details from her great-nieceContinue reading “Documentary Review: Becoming Frida Kahlo”
Is Cancel Culture Over?
Jonathan Richman arguably wrote one of the first songs about cancelling artists due to their dodgy tendencies. Titled ‘Pablo Picasso ‘, the chorus went, “Pablo Picasso was never called on asshole”. and was a pointed critique on his philandering. I wonder what he makes of Louis CK, Russell Brand and Lizzo. Nobody is infallible inContinue reading “Is Cancel Culture Over?”
Film Review: Arena- Cindy Sherman #Untitled
Claire Beaven’s film for Arena, which focuses on one of American contemporary art’s true trailblazers, photographer and film maker Cindy Sherman, is absolutely fascinating. Because Sherman still remains camera -shy when not in one of her (in)famous disguises, there are older, rare interviews interwoven into the film, and a nice updated voiceover from Sherman (withContinue reading “Film Review: Arena- Cindy Sherman #Untitled”
Film Review: Cat Nation
This quirky documentary, created by film maker Tim Delmastro and You Tuber Chris Broad, an Englishman who has lived in Japan for over five years, follows the Japanese fascination with the domestic felines. From a station master’s cat (below, in jaunty hat) to a temple festooned with Neko beckoning lucky cats, to a slightly OTTContinue reading “Film Review: Cat Nation”
Hit The North 