August member's roundup - The best of the network

By Suzie Martins

Beata Kozlowska’s work evolves from a wide range of influences including linguistics, feminist discourse and disparate aesthetics. And, on a more basic level, her work seems to be an exploration of ‘d’s’ – drawing, destabilisation and deconstruction. In Black Square Q (2009) Kozlowska’s relationship to drafting is clear. The string and thick black lines of the frame could easily be interpreted as pencil marks. By manifesting the work as sculpture, the artist proves she is well on her way to developing a unique visual language, influenced by the Modernist artists who came before her. A nod to the Suprematist work of Malevich is evident here, but Kozlowska takes a step forward by giving the abstract a form and thus a new status as an object. This contrasts greatly with the ideals of twentieth century Russian, who had said he wanted to ‘free art from the burden of the object'. Kozlowska, who graduated in Fine Art at Chelsea College of art in 2009, has a highly experimental approach to materials. She utilizes found objects, wood, thread, paper and metal in her work. An interest in form and colour manifests itself through the subtle additions that brighten and break up what is otherwise rather somber work.

Beata Kozlowska, Black square Q, 2009, Found frames, mixed media. Courtesy the artist.

In our current fame-obsessed society, the work of Belgrade-born Navena Prijic seems to hit the mark by depicting the glamorous and sexy world of celebrity. In the painting below, from her Modern Masters series we see musician Kanye West and his model girlfriend, Amber Rose. But you know that already, right? Likewise there is an instant recognisability to the fashion labels – Versace, Chanel and Louis Vuitton – which mark the figures on the canvas. The presence of the labels suggests that these celebrities are commodities, not unlike their expensive garbs. In other works, the limbs of figures seem to disappear into the background, unfinished. She depicts people of a well-known significance, whose appearance in the work suggests a deeper level of significance. This reference to Icon paintings makes it easy to see how Prijic’s eastern European heritage influences her practice. Words are also used to communicate to the audience in Prijic’s work. Statements such as ‘Drop dead gorgeous, smile’ appear on the Paris Hilton painting. Is the artist giving us insight into the celebrity mind? Are we hearing the mantras they repeat to themselves as they enter the spotlight? Halos circling their heads suggest we are not looking at celebrities at all, but angels, an allusion to the idolisation that surrounds their every venture.

Navena Prijic, Kanye West and Amber Rose, 2010, from the Modern Masters series
Oil on canvas, 100 x 200cm. Courtesy the artist.

Seven years ago, Thomas Ziorjen decided to put down his paintbrush and embrace the digital age. This transition sees him exploring fragmentation, corruption and the dichotomy between legibility and illegibility. This exploration seems perfectly suited to a shift to the digital exemplified by the themes explored by artists and collectives such as Cory Archangel or Paper Rad. Each of Ziorjen's works incorporate several different images, which lead the viewer to fully engage as they attempt to take it all in. These separate elements create dialogue, either adding to the meaning of the whole or by contradicting it. The sideways orientation of some parts could be considered jarring but adds to the ambiguity of the work. Ziorjen likes to think that his work is still an exploration of painting (which according to his website, some disagree with) saying that it is the ‘layering, manipulation, distortion and juxtaposition’, which makes it so. I feel that any work made with digital tools lacks a physical involvement that needs to be present in a painting. Upon closer inspection of a painting one should be able to see it’s brushstrokes and the impact of the artists hand.

There are titular clues to the work’s possible meaning for example in the work Beat tone baroque and R. mutt sensibilities (2008), shown below. The reference to a Baroque sensibility, commonly found in places of worship and stately homes contrasts greatly with the use of the word ‘R.Mutt’ which reminds us of Duchamp. According to Duchamp, there is a beauty in the everyday, which Ziorjen alludes to through the use of the familiar visual elements – the swimming pool, a dog and wallpaper pattern. The juxtaposition of these two ideas leaves us wondering where Ziorjen finds the connection.

Thomas Ziorjen, Beat tone baroque and R. mutt sensibilities, 2008, Digital Montage, Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.

Despite the lack of information on Anni Holm’s profile, I couldn’t help but be struck by the single image she chose to include. Getting my name out there appears to be a project where the Danish artist does just that – she gets people from different countries to hold up a sign with her name on it. Her blog shows us the extent of the collection and also invites us to help Anni get her name out there.

"The idea of holding a sign with my name came from watching political rallies and sporting events where the audience would hold up similar name signs in support – and from passing street corners with people advertising anything from a car wash to a store close out sale."

Anni Holm works with photography, installation, performance, and collaborative art. Born in Randers, Denmark, she graduated with a BFA in photography from Columbia College, Chicago in 2004.

Anni Holm, Getting my name out there, 2008, Photograph. Courtesy the artist.

According to Laura Mac Gowan's profile she explores the digital, drawing, installation, photography as well as film and video in her practice. It is clear from Mac Gowan’s interests – Pipilotti Rist, David Lynch and Goddard – that filmmakers and artists who explore the land of dreams and surreal fantasy influence her. This concern with fantasy manifests itself in her work as trees and plants appear to grow out from the wall, like a scene from a film. As if in a dream (or nightmare), we are transported to a different place. The familiar site of vines and branches curving around the outside of buildings take on a new life as an art installation. The ‘trees’ curve and contort, clinging to windowsills and cove. Upon closer inspection of the work, the viewer realises that the drawings are composed of circular, scrawled marks that further add to the strangeness.

With her projections, Mac Gowan once again utilises drawing as a tool to bring the outside in. In her video work, we see an attempt to represent nature in a different way. The colours of the stills are highly saturated which adds a lucid, dream-like quality to the image. This contrasts greatly with the other work where lines of the trees are solid and black, keeping them in the realm of a drawing. Mac Gowan uses a range of medias to depict the inner workings of her mind. Influenced by a love for nature as well as the surreal worlds created by her favourite authors and filmmakers, she attempts, successfully to transport us to a place of fantasy and other worldliness.

Laura Mac Gowan, Untitled (installation), installation detail, wall drawing. Courtesy the artist.