ARTIST FEATURE 04 : BEAU GERVAIS

It's Artist Feature 04, and today we're talking to the wonderful Beau Gervais. Beau is an artist living in Brighton, whose work you may have seen in Bond St Coffee, featured in Our Daily Edit or on her instagram @mistlebeau. Beau is one badass lady. Not only does she have a gold hoop earring collection rival to none and an achinly beautiful flat, but she's also a strong feminist figure in the illustration scene. 

Hi Beau! Will you tell us a little about yourself and your work? 
My name is Beau (short for Isabeau), I'm an artist and illustrator and recent graduate from the University of Brighton. My work focuses on the personal relationships with have with each other and ourselves, often with a focus on the female gaze and experience.

When did you start creating art? 
I've been creative my whole life, I've never wanted to do anything else. My mum still has huge folders of all of the drawings I did when I was little, #1 fan.

When you work do you have a specific method or is it more spontanous? 
I used to be very involved with the studio culture at uni, but having graduated and living in a flat without a work space I often look to small cafes to get in the work mode. I like to do a lot of observational drawing too so setting up in cafes gives me everything I need right in front of me. I find it hard to force myself to be creative, but sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery and some coffee.

We feel you,  coffee is the ultimate boost for getting in a working mode! Would you say you try and get specific themes across in your work?
My work is often quite minimal, but I try and capture distinctive emotions of my subjects to allow the viewer to connect to them. I often draw myself, or my close friends just hanging out having dinner or out in cafes - theres beauty and understanding in the simple mundanities of daily experiences.

We love that. Personal moments becoming immorilised. Who are your favourite artists?
Matisse, Picasso, Barbara Hepworth, Frida Kahlo.

Do you find it challenging juggling art and work as a young person in 2018?  
It's definitely a fine balance, being a recent graduate I had to sacrifice a lot of my creative time to keep my head above water and pay rent. I'm finding it a bit easier now 6 months later, I just have to make sure no matter what I still try and set aside time to draw - it helps keep me grounded and not lose sight of what I want to do.

What’s your favourite thing about living in Brighton?

The convenience of having everything on your doorstep, never ceases to please me that you can basically walk anywhere in like 15 minutes. I'm from London and always used to factor in a buffer of an hour to get anywhere, we are spoiled in Brighton having everything at our fingertips.

Photo Credit: Beau Gervais

We notice your work has certain trade marks - like the gold hoop earrings! Would you say you are inspired by fashion, or that your work also plays on fashion?
The hoops are a staple! I'm very much inspired by fashion, as me and my flat mate often find ourselves falling in love with clothes and shoes, it's our greatest love and biggest downfall. I love trying to capture people's personal style, your clothes and the way you style your world around you shows a lot about who you are as a person and I find those details really captivating.

I saw that you’re currently working with Bond Street Coffee, and Our Daily Edit. Do you have any upcoming exhibitions or anything else planned in the near futures? 
I've loved working with both Our Daily Edit and Bond Street Coffee, they've allowed me to explore 2 different aspects of my illustrating practice. The work for ODE (Christmas and then valentines cards) was created on commission with a customer and market in mind, and I had to adhere to the level of professionalism that they carry themselves, it was a good challenge to refine my finish and make something up to scratch!

The work for Bond Street played off of my love of casually drawing people and scenes around me, it was a lot more playful and sketchy but it suited the vibe of the shop. I've had a lot of fun making work for both and would love to do more commercial illustration like it so just have to be on the look out for opportunities. I'd like to eventually be in an exhibition again but I don't have any immediate plans.

Photo Credit: Beau Gervais
BOND STREET COFFEE

What does it mean to you to collaborate with Brighton based companies? 
It makes me feel really part of the creative community here which is something Brighton shines at. There's a big sense of support within the independent shops and cafes, working with local creatives just ties into that and that's really special. I feel lucky to have been able to be a part of it.

Are you creative in any other ways? 
I'd say I was or more so used to be musical, I used to play the cello and piano at school, that was a while ago but music is still integral to my life and I love working with musicians to creative visuals for them. I feel like if you are a creative person, it touches many aspects of your life anyways. I like to think I've been creative and considerate of the way my flat looks, and what I wear each day.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about, spread the word about or talk us through?
I've got some big things in the pipe line, but I can't reveal anything yet! Apart from that, I'm just really appreciative of the platform women and women artists are being given now more than ever. It's so important that women support each other, but also that society recognises that our opinions and creative talents are valid and that women shouldn't be pitted against each other. I've been lucky to have some truly great strong female role models in my life and I have no doubt that they're some of the reasons I see myself as a strong feminist today. I'm excited to see what more women will achieve in the future.

You can buy Beau's artwork here, follow her on instagram here.

ARTIST FEATURE 03 : EWAN KEENAN

It's our first Works Without Walls blog post, and this week we're talking to Ewan Keenan. Ewan is currently studying painting at Camberwell and is in his second year. His work is chaotic with scrawling letters, thickly applied paint and distored figures. From supreme logos, McDonalds and Adidas tracksuits, Ewan's work is infused with dark humour, and a sense of culture satire.  It's works like The Modernistic Lady, where a re-imaged Maharashtrian Lady (by Raja Ravi) holds aloft a Mcdonalds happy meal, in a burberry check skirt and Supreme t-shirt, that speak more directly politically, challenging the viewer to re-think our perceptions of pop culture. 

Ewan loves a good sing in the shower, and occasionally DJs too. He also runs an art collective called  Empty Set that puts on experimental exhibition nights combining visual art with DJ sets. We had a chat with Ewan about the Empty Set project, his methods of working and living in London. 

left: 'The Modernistic Lady', acrylic & oil pastel.  // right: 'badly drawn Jesus up to no good', oil pastel on paper.

Hi Ewan! When did you start creating art?

When I had basic knowledge of the world, politics and life I guess, so probably early teens. I was always creative when I was younger than that though

When you work do you have a specific method or do you wait organically for inspiration to come? 

My method of working normally stems from doing a lot of small works on paper when I have run out of ideas. This then gives me a starting point for a painting or a series of paintings. Although I use one of my smaller pieces as a reference, once I begin working on the painting, it completely changes as new ideas pop into my head.

Would you say you try and get specific themes across in your work?

Yes, sometimes there is a theme, sometimes there isn’t. A lot start out with no theme and then when I start creating them, they begin to have a theme and mean something. A lot of my works are political and challenging society in some way. Others are just done for the audience to make what they want of it.

We've noticed that your work seems to satire street culture and/or pop culture a lot - would you agree with this? Can you explain this at all?

There is certainly a sense of foolishness and irony in my works. It also certainly satires on those two things. You’ll notice a lot of brands in my works. I guess this is just [my interpretation of] the modern world around me. 

Yes, that's something we see a lot in your work. Who are your favourite artists? Do you try to reflect that influence in your own work?

Well, there are so many great artists that inspire me but currently I have been fascinated with Dale Lewis and the story behind his paintings.

Dale Lewis, 'Deep Fat Fryer', Oil, acrylic, spray paint on canvas. You can see more of his work here. 

What do you like about living in London? Do you find it a creatively stimulating place?

[The best thing is that] I can wake up some days and know I always have new exhibitions of new artists to see. Most of which are completely free!

One of our favourite pieces of yours is 'ruin your life jeans' - do you hope to make more pieces like this or do you think you will mainly focus on working with oil pastel?

That was a piece I did last year for our first @emptyset_ exhibition. Yes, I don’t always just do paintings. The last two @emptyset_ nights we did, I did video art.

The first video was a piece titled ‘Social Drinking’ and it was a video of me sat on a sofa for four hours without any distractions whatsoever (no phone, no contact with people), just me, alcohol and cigarettes. I ended up passing out for the last two hours and actually was sick into a bag.

It was my first performance piece and was all about pushing boundaries and the problems around alcoholism and putting myself in that experience for four hours. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. I used it for our Empty Set night at Corsica studios where we had lots of visual art and it was projected on the wall opposite the bar.

The video lasted as long as the night itself which was good because every time people went to get a drink at the bar, they would see the video of me and it would be at a different stage. It was the contrast between people socially drinking on the night and then the video of me drinking by myself, hence the title.

Tell us a little more about Empty Set?

Yes, you’re probably wondering why I keep going on about this @emptyset_ thing. It’s basically a few of us putting on ‘experimental nights’ once in a while. They tend to focus on music and art so they are I guess a mixture of exhibition and club night. 

We have done two nights at Corsica Studios which is a club in Elephant & Castle. We have also done a couple other nights in other venues. Give the Instagram a follow though as you’ll get a better idea for what it is all about that way and keep up to date with future events

You can find out more about Ewan here, and about Empty Set here.
Ewan is also selling one of his pieces on AUC ART here.