Just released by Nick Davies is a new project that I’m really proud to be part of. Nick is a really interesting artist, focussing most of his energies in to making publications. As such, he often flies a little under the radar, but if you look at the work he’s produced over the years it’s a growing body that anyone would be proud of.
This latest one is called ‘Building Proposals’ - made in response to the 50th anniversary of ‘Fantastic Architecture’ by Nick Higgins and Wolf Vostell (if you click their names it should you take you to a PDF of that publication. Not sure if it’s hosted legally or not, but it’s well worth a look).
Nick’s publication is a boxed work containing responses by 22 artists and 1 architect. The list of folks involved is pretty impressive - Chris Agnew, Sovay Berriman, Ricardo Bloch, Simon and Tom Bloor, Paul Carter, Stuart Crewes, Ryan Curtis, Nick Davies, Polly Gregson, S Mark Gubb, Gabrielle Hoad, Evy Jokhova, Scott King, Sean Lynch, Alex Murdin, Emily Speed, Simon Starling, Mark Titchner, Charlie Tweed, Paul Unett, Ian Watson, Bedwyr Williams, Sam Venables.
He’s only produced it in an edition of 69 (after the year it came out) and you can buy them for £25 through his website. I’d move quick if you want one as I imagine wit will sell out pretty fast.
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Secondly (and absolutely nothing to do with Nick or the publication), I wanted to flag up the Storyville documentary about Kate Nash - Underestimate the Girl. I’d not heard about it until yesterday when my friend, Kelly Best, told me about it. We were having a conversation about art and the art world (Kelly is an artist too) and the self-serving nature of the industry that surrounds you as an artist, and this documentary came up in conversation. I’ve just watched it today and it’s superb.
I’m a total sucker for music documentaries anyway, but this is a really interesting study of the reality of being a ‘successful’ artist, which could apply across pretty much any field - the struggle to retain integrity and the freedom to pursue your art on your own terms.
Watch it, it’s really good: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p07ctstz/kate-nash-underestimate-the-girl