// AMIE DICKE // MALCOM VENVILLE // NANDO COSTA // MATERIAL BOY // MACROMANTICS // PAN'S LABYRINTH // NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB //

IMAGES courtesy and © the artist

"...what remains are fragile figures existing in a gossamer-thin web of contours. This way I erased the graceful positions and self-confident looks of the models."

INTERVIEW by Jason Lingard

1. Where are you from?
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Since March 2006 I been in Amsterdam.

2. How would you describe your art practice? What common themes do you deal with?
Maybe the best way to explain is to quote from the book ‘Narziss and Goldmund’ by Herman Hesse, about the friendship between an intellectual and a melancholic: Goldmund thought that he, that every human being, was flowing, forever being transformed, to finally vanish into nothingness. ‘Perhaps, thought Goldmund, fear of death is the root of all our image-making, and perhaps, too of all our intellect. We shrink from death, shuddering at our frail instability, sadly watching the flowers fade again and again, knowing in our hearts how soon we shall be as withered as they.’

3. The pieces that have garnered the most attention are the fashion images that you cut up. You began work on these pieces when you moved to New York in 2001. How do these pieces fit with that time in your life? What are they about?
One year after my graduation a starters grant enabled me to spend six months in New York (2001), where I found myself surrounded by the world of fashion and glamour. Walking around in a foreign environment, unable to find work, having difficulty making friends I found myself oddly susceptible to the advertisements of big fashion brands. On buildings, metro-stops, I saw them everywere. Glowing lips and shining eyes tempting me. Like they were saying “All your dreams will come true, just insert personality here”. I started to project my loneliness on the city where the most familiar faces were those of the supermodels on the buildings and in the magazines. While looking at the glossy pictures in the magazines I started to draw black lines on the faces and bodies of the women using a pen. By adding flowing lines of black ink I covered the original colors and other compositional elements. After that I took a precision knife and removed the space between the lines – the fashion, the jewellery, parts of the faces and bodies. What remains are fragile figures existing in a gossamer-thin web of contours. This way I erased the graceful positions and self-confident looks of the models. My first cutout were made with a sad mood. I got more skilled with the knife and also started on bigger cutouts from posters and bus shelters.

5. You also do sculptural / installation type work. How does this compare with your 2D work?
It started with a serie of sculptures I maded just before I graduated from art school in 2000. In that period I started to explore the position of women in everyday life and the way they perceive themselves in relation to their appearance in public life. While trying to position myself both as an artist and as a woman, I observed other women. I was looking for a personal style or unique attitude or stance and, quite literally, tried to obtain one by studying the positions and shapes of the female body.

I decided to use my own body to express this search for a distinguishable position. Like a statue, I made a pressing of my legs from crotch to foot in marzipan coated with icing. The sculptures were smoothly molded and resulted in conical pillars of sugar, one broad and the other narrow. The two sculptures are entitled "How sweet is the space between my legs".

The sculptures proved to be more fragile than I expected them to be. I was promised that they would probably last for several years by the baker who helped me prepare this project. But as soon as they were finished the marzipan surface started to split and fall apart. During an exhibition the sculptures actually began to melt, and the colors blurred. The next year I remade them for an exhibition at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum ("Soft Spots", 2002). And this time they were damaged by visitors who couldn’t believe the description of the material on the title-board and left their fingerprint or nail-imprint as they tried to find out whether it was marzipan or not.

Apparently, decay is a process to which my sculptures are prone. They are in a state of constant deterioration, through sagging and cracking. The discovery of these deformities provided me with a whole new perspective: the uncontainable beauty. I am fascinated by the contrast between the ‘perfect beauty’ as shown in magazines and on billboards and the inevitability of decline. Perhaps it’s the certainty of decay that makes beauty so appealing. My attempt to position myself permanently proved to be an illusion. The sculpture of the space between my legs is now nothing but a memory. Femininity, it seems, is not static and cannot be captured forever.

7. What is the main thing you hope that people take away from looking at your work?
That they are looking at my work is the main thing.

Amie Dicke is represented by Diana Stigter Gallery

Click images to enlarge

IMAGES courtesy and © the artist

"Lucha Libre is a strange and enigmatic world and I literally couldn’t resist this opportunity."

INTERVIEW by Jason Lingard

1. Where are you from and how did you get into photography?
I’m from the UK and I got involved in photography in a strange way. My good friends were at Art College and I was an apprentice in a Land Rover gearbox factory. We all lived together and as time passed I realized that studying art was much more interesting than standing by a lathe. My friends lent me their drawings and I tricked my way into Art College. I couldn’t draw so I picked up a camera.
 
2. What do you enjoy the most about being a photographer?
It’s a special lifestyle to be able to look. The camera can be a ticket to ride and it’s been a cure for a lot of my ills.
 
3. You have also created short films, how do you find swapping between static image and moving image?
It’s both different and the same. Thinking about it, moving and static images share the same goal although moving images have more devices with which to create emotion than a frozen moment. Finding the core of exactly what I want to say remains the same for both.
 
4. You’ve recently had a book published called “Lucha Loco” which documents portraits of masked Mexican “Lucha Libre” wrestlers. What inspired you to do this project?
A Mexican friend took me to a fight. I realized that Lucha Libre is a feast of colour and I’ve always wanted to work with colour, that is normally so difficult. Lucha Libre is a strange and enigmatic world and I literally couldn’t resist this opportunity.
 
5. How did you find interviewing your subjects in addition to photographing them?
My friend Manuel Manero interviewed and filmed the wrestlers in Spanish and I gave him a few simple guidelines. Reading the transcripts were a fascinating insight into the psychology of the fighters. These men and women endure for the privilege of being a Luchador. 
 
6. What was the most interesting thing you learnt from this project?
That the world can get interesting south of the Rio Grande. Mexico is night to America’s day.
 
7. What has the feedback to the book been like? (from the public and the wrestlers)
It’s been well received I hope. My mum likes it a lot. Blue Demon, Anibal and Rayo de Jalisco gave me their blessing when they came to London to fight in a ring at the book launch.  That was a relief.
 
8. What are you working on next  / now?
I’m happily shooting commercials and day dreaming a lot. 

IMAGES courtesy and © the artist

“The idea was to create a space where local artists could criticize issues they saw in their society or at least for them to exorcise issues that bothered them.”

INTERVIEW by Ella Mudie

1. Where are you now based?
I'm currently based in Portland, Oregon. I've just moved from Boston to here by car. We decided to take a 2 month road-trip along the way to get to know more of the States.

2. Why have you chosen to work in the medium of graphic design?
Since a very young age I have been painting and drawing and have always known I would choose a career in a similar field. In Rio de Janeiro Brazil, where I grew up, working as an artist is definitely not an easy thing. The economy has always been unstable and very few people have money to invest in art. My middle brother joined Graphic Design school and it was the way I found out about the profession. Unfortunately to me studying at university wasn't as insightful and interesting as to actually work with real clients so I quit it at the beginning of my third year and moved to the U.S.

3. Your book “Disorder in Progress” is a play on the Brazilian flag’s motto “Order and Progress.” How does the idea of disorder play out in the work you selected for the book?
The work was actually all originally created for the book under this theme. The idea was to create a space where local artists could criticize issues they saw in their society or at least for them to exorcize issues that bothered them. Graphic Designers often come from some sort of other artistic background, which they usually use to express their ideas and emotions. So my intent was to do the same but to focus on social problems of Brazilian society. The play around the flag just seemed to be the perfect theme.

4. Why did you choose to present the artworks in the book in black and white?
The idea for having the interior black and white was for it to work as a contrast with the cover's colour. I wanted the cover to reflect the impression that people from abroad may have about the country, colourful and vibrant, full of details and exotic. The interior though was intended to reflect the harsher reality of life in the country, therefore black and white seemed to be more to the point. So the images would more clearly convey the message as opposed to disguise it with colours and shapes.

5. What are you working on at the moment?
I'm planning on opening a new design studio early next year with two other friends from Brazil. After working by myself for the last year, I realize that I need to collaborate with others for a healthier creative process and also to manage larger projects more appropriately.

Material Boy is smashing all the fashion taboos when it comes to men’s fashion, and it’s understandable designer Mic Eaton must be enjoying dangling his out-there range in front of guys faces and seeing if they take the bait. We managed to pin Mic down for a few quick questions...

1. Where are you from? Where do you live?
i was born in Tasmania, Australia, I moved around state to state living in every one. I now live in Bali, and spend most of the year travelling.

2. You were originally a pro-surfer prior to starting Material Boy. How have you found that change?
The shift was a life change... The most obvious difference is now I exercise less and sleep less!

3. How would you sum up the "Material Boy Style" in just one sentence?
Material Boy style is confident, bold, ballsy and playful.

4. Do you feel guys miss out a bit when it come to creative and directional fashion?
Well if they are missing out it's there choice, there is plenty of creative directional brands out there, all different in their own ways and with the internet bridging gaps through onlione stores from Europe to Australia, Lodon to Australia, Japan to Australia and vice verser a lot more choice is available, its up to the gents to decide if they want that or not.

5. Do you have a specific direction that you want the label to head in now?
Yes, up and up and up and up!!!

Macromantics is one-woman wordsmith extraordinaire Romy Hoffman. Her superb absurd rhymes and mashed up musings are steering Australian beats and rhymes in an exciting new direction. Nothing Magazine asks Romy about the making of her first album and what gets her tongue rolling and tongue-tied.

INTERVIEW by Ella Mudie

1. Where are you from?
I was born in South Africa, I am from Sydney, and I am based in Melbourne at this point in time.

2. How and when did you first start rapping?
I first started rap rah rhetoric about 10 years ago. It seems like the most appropriate medium and genre of writing for me at this point in my life. It suits my cluttered, vast head and collage of thoughts. It lets me mash up my theories of self and the other, my love of music and pop culture and my need to comment on society and culture.

3. So, you’ve described yourself as a “social and cultural commentator”. What gets you fired up?
My imperfect self and the world it mirrors, my lack of balance and contradictions, thoughts that zoom at warp speed, love, truth, beauty, chaos.

4. Tell us more about the making of your album “Moments in Movement”…Highlights?
It was made in the Summer of ‘05/’06 with the lovely Mr Tony B. It was an automatic fluid process that weaved its own path. It’s basically a documentation of myself and the world during 2004-2005. The highlight was listening to each song after we’d finished recording and just knowing we were creating something special.

5. Next year you are playing dates in Australia with the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival. What’s in store for audiences?
The typical bout of live maction. Intensity, movement, tongue-twirling woo-ha and mega doses of triple scoops of fun with a cherry on top!

6. If you could meet any one person in the world, and ask them just one question, what would it be?
Einstein: Do you really believe the theory of everything is in the essence of love and is there a formula for love?

7. Can you tell us about a time when you were lost for words?
Usually, when I am in love, I am at a loss for words. If someone can make me do that, then they’re extra special.

Macromantics’ album “Moments in Movement” is out now through Remote Control Records. She’ll be playing the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in 2007: Melbourne February 24, Brisbane March 3 and Sydney March 4.

The sublime new gothic fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth unsheathes a series of sucker-punch moments unlike anything seen in a fantasy film for a good long while.

FILM REVIEW by Lisa Rullsenberg

Elsewhere some people have been less than impressed with Guillermo Del Toro's new film, Pan's Labyrinth, but I found it to be such a visual and intelligent feast of cinema that I fell for it completely.

So what should you expect? Well it is bleak: there isn't a lot of laughter in the film and there is plenty of the kind of gruesome violence that fairy tales and myths historically have indulged in. Don't forget the woman who danced herself to death in a pair of shoes that shredded her feet to a bloody pulp.

It also needs to be said that the trailer is somewhat misleading: it is much more than a fantasy film as a large proportion of the narrative concerns the life of a young girl in 1944 under Fascist rule. It is violent, political, historical and (can I say it again?) violent. Disturbingly so. The violence is casual, brutal and utterly appropriate. But there is a violence to the fantasy sequences as well as they highlight that trait mentioned above about fairy tales. Monsters are scary. Really scary. And the ones here are amongst some of the most scary I have seen on screen in a while.

I'd also say take a hankie. It gets weepie (but not, I would say, in a sentimentally gushy way). You may also need to be aware that you may feel the urge to cheer at what happens to some characters, so unrelently evil is the way they are portrayed. But this should not suggest that this is a weak and simplistic representation, but rather it is extreme.

The acting was very good, and the special effects make you realise just how overblown and poor so many effects-driven films can be. This, in contrast, is convincing and beautiful to watch, and will probably remain so for far longer.

"There are singles and then there are singles..."

CD REVIEW by Kevin Wolfe at timeout.com

There are singles and then there are singles. It’s all well and good to create a track, post it for digital download and let the people have at it. But as London dance-pop outfit New Young Pony Club knows, it’s more tantalizing to tease the masses with a limited-edition vinyl-only debut cloaked in an inscrutable sleeve. And within three days of its February 2005 release on the tiny U.K. label Tirk, New Young Pony Club’s “Ice Cream” was completely sold out.

After the deadpan, concupiscent Electropop single became a surprise success, singer Tahita Bulmer and guitarist Andy Spence expanded the Ponies from a studio project into a real band and released their epic second single, “The Get Go.” Calling to mind the wide-screen dance-floor revelations of early New Order, the track builds around an ESG-influenced rhythm section and angular guitar patterns before exploding into a refrain that begs for the fleeting lights of a disco ball. Further clues into the Pony Club mind can be gleaned from the band’s adventurous B-sides: “Hiding on the Staircase” sounds like a nitrous-oxide–fueled pairing of Siouxsie Sioux and the Tom Tom Club, while “Descend” is an addictive beats-first cut that’s just a remix away from a circuit DJ’s set.

Now signed to the internationally active indie label Modular, the group will release a self-titled EP this January. In the meantime, the Ponies’ live shows are sure to crackle with the fervor that lurks just below the icy surface of the band’s singles.

Click here to watch the video of Ice Cream.