Guilty Pleasures Artists
Ana Pallares Anna Tea Asia Fuse
Black Eyed Jack Claire Esnault Corrina Eastwood
Dianne Murphy Beast and Burden Gaye Black
Ilua Hauck de Silver Jerome Beresford Jess De Wahls
John Gathercole Katerina lacovides Lisa Mitchell
Lorenzo Belenguer Lucie Rachel Michael Walls
Nicolette Daskalakis Pascale Pressicaud Pedro Bustamante
Peter D'Alessandri Peter White Quiet British Accent
Rart & Sete Richard Alexander Heckert Sam Hodge
Ana Pallares
Ana Pallares was born in Barcelona and studied Fine Art and History of Art in Barcelona and London. Since she was young she has liked to experiment with drawing and painting and has exhibited widely in London, Barcelona and Madrid.
I am a young autodidact artist from Barcelona which has created the prelude of her work. I try to investigate, analyse, and reflect on those things that can’t be explained or understood by reason, as pain and death can be, through art. I create new meanings with these concepts and I perceive them in a healthier way. I want to turn destruction into construction and give some value to all the suffering I feel. My statement is that I like ambiguity as it plays with the surprise effect. I find it great to paint the dead bodies or the deformed faces of my paintings with rainbow colours. People feel lost while watching them whereas I feel I could not have expressed the tragicomedy of life in a better way."
For Guilty Pleasures Ana will be exhibiting a drawing titled 'Don't worry dude, my destiny will be like yours!!!'
Anna Tea
Anna Tea is a 20 year old photographer. She was born in Lutsk, Ukraine and currently studies Tourism in Lublin, Poland. She has exhibited her works worldwide in Poland, the Czech Republic, England, Slovenia, Romania.
"I would describe my own work as an intensive mixture of various elements such as psychology, geography, environment, inter-cultural aspects etc. Traveling plays an important role in developing my own style and characteristic and it greatly contributes in reaching towards fulfillment of my artistic ambitions. I enjoy myself discovering the world because new places are truly efficient sources of further inspiration and they extend my capacities as they broaden knowledge about oneself in influenced by various environments, cultures, people, situations and circumstances."
For Guilty Pleasures Anna will be exhibiting two photographs 'Shrek' and 'Lollypop'.
Asia Fuse
Asia Fuse’s work explores the violent tensions that exist within conflicting interests. She explores the relationship between forces that attempt to co-exist with one another. Her pieces usually examine unnatural adjustments and their consequences, feeding on the conflicting urges to stare and look away, and the relationship between disgust and desire.
"My work explores the tension that exists between the urge to look and the need to look away. This urge exists for me most prominently in the tragic and violent collisions between cars and animals. The two contradicting bodies are forced to merge, bone and metal, flesh and glass. Morbid curiosity exists within us all, some more prominently than others. That’s the reason we slow down when we see an accident on the road, we don’t actually think we can offer any sort of assistance, our inner child just wants to see the gruesome outcome. But it is a clear indication to me that curiosity usually overcomes morality, despite the fact that we always regret looking."
For Guilty Pleasures Asia will be exhibiting a drawing 'Transformers 4'.
Black Eyed Jack
A 50's hair connoisseur, tattoo lover and Polaroid snapper. With work dripping with off kilter roguish charm, be bedazzled by anthropomorphism and famous faces, with fridges filled resplendently with haunted cephalopodic terror thrown in for good measure. Expect lots of biro and bewildering sights.
For Guilty Pleasures Black Eyed Jack will be exhibiting the portrait 'Robert Pope Winall'.
Claire Esnault
Claire Esnault is currently in her final year of studying Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, London. During the course of three years, her personal experience and interests have evolved to form the character of her body of work.
The core of her work is rooted in feminine identity in conjunction with the study of the subconscious and the fragmented identity. Her critique of patriarchal socialization is drawn from the desire to understand her own identity as a woman and the experiences of sexual injustice encountered by women on an everyday basis.
"My work is concerned with the overbearing value of beauty upon feminine identity, as a repercussion of attempting to underpin the source of insecurity plagued by a fragmented identity. The investigation is rooted in the effects of subliminal socialization on the subconscious. It interprets the source of the female beauty stigma, in reference to Laura Mulvey’s take on the ‘Mirror Stage’. I use art as a critique of patriarchic influence in classical Western-European art, and conspire a link to its impact on modern identity."
For Guilty Pleasures Claire will be exhibiting her photograph 'Kinder Surprise 3'.
Corrina Eastwood
Corrina Eastwood has been a practicing artist for over 14 years, working as a painter and more recently in film. Following completion of her BA hons in FineArt Painting in 2000 Corrina went on to complete her MA in Art Psychotherapy.
She has exhibited extensively in a range of settings, curating many of her own shows including her first London based solo exhibition. 'Lines in the Sand' Corrina's first short film as both co-director and writer previewed at Cannes film festival 2012 and was also selected for Raindance film festival in the same year.
Corrina also has a keen interest in feminist issues and in 2012 saw her first publication of feminist writings as well as founding the arts organisation Sweet 'Art.
"My work often concerns itself conceptually and aesthetically with the ambiguous nature of the impact of trauma. Exploring physical and emotional scars, the healing process and the way in which we view such trauma. The abstracted wounds and bruising of these paintings can be viewed as aesthetically beautiful images. Yet this perspective can be challenged when the true reference is discovered and invites the viewer to question the ambiguity of the impact of experiences.
"A scab can often be a guilty pleasure with many feeling the temptation to pick, when knowing this may cause infection or a scar but as with so many things guilty pleasures are paradoxical in potentially being the cause of pleasure and pain."
For Guilty Pleasures Corrina will be exhibiting a painting titled 'Scab'.
Dianne Murphy
Widely exhibited, Dianne Murphy is a Scottish born painter/printmaker who now lives and works in Wales. Between exhibiting, illustrating, lecturing and participating in community projects she has now been a practising artist for almost 30 years. Her work is held in collections around the world
"Images of childhood form my visual language. Initially employed to examine my own former years, it’s become familiar and comfortable. I am mostly etching into steel plate
but have utilised silkscreen monoprint and litho plate engraving too. Steel plate ink colours are applied in one go for each print made, making them all slightly different. Larger pieces take a day to ink, wipe down and print only one off."
For Guilty Pleasures Dianne will be exhibiting 'Astroman'
Beast and Burden
Emily Bridge, Emma Witter and James Frew are a London based artistic partnership with a cross-disciplinary practice in set design and sculpture. Their personal work is primarily inspired by food and dining. They met at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design whilst studying Performance Design and Practice – graduating in 2012. They first collaborated on their graduate performance piece ‘FEAST’, and went on to form Beast and Burden in 2013.
"We connect in our shared interest in how social relationships and visual associations are triggered by food and tableware. People make statements about themselves, intentionally or otherwise, through how and what they choose to eat.
"Our sculptural creations and installations examine different possible approaches to food presentation, through engagement with surface, composition and form.
"Themes of disgust, humour, fetish and surrealism are the common threads of our personal work. We’re influenced by 1970’s cookbooks, Japanese themed restaurants, table illustrations by surrealist painter Thomas Lowinsky, and the film work of Chantal Akerman.
"Why do we make our art? Initially to make each other laugh. Often, small details will tickle us and become starting points for experiments and observations."
For Guilty Pleasures Beast and Burden will be exhibiting 'Poor Selene 3'.
Gaye Black
Gaye Black has a diploma in graphic design following three years at art college in Bideford and Torquay. After getting sidetracked into a musical career she returned to art, and has exhibited widely both in the UK and abroad. She has also curated three shows at Signal Gallery in Hoxton. Her work has also featured in books and CD designs.
"My work explores the contrast between attraction and horror, between beauty and that which is usually swept under the carpet. Nightmarish creatures emerge to a soundtrack of extreme music, as I delve into the depths of the human condition. My work often highlights man’s various abuses of the animal kingdom, or the way that women are regarded by our society, and the ‘ideal’ that many strive to attain, whatever the cost in money and pain."
For Guilty Pleasures Gaye will be exhibiting 'Meat Bird'.
Iluá Hauck da Silva
Iluá Hauck da Silva was born in Campinas, Brazil, and graduated from Goldsmiths College in 2002. She has exhibited with The National Trust Sutton House, The Royal Landscape, Shoreditch Town Hall, and the West Bank Gallery amongst others, as well as having showed internationally in Brazil. In 2013 Hauck da Silva was a finalist of the International Aesthetica Art Prize. She lives and works in London.
"Permeated by a strong sense of the relationship between decadence and beauty, my practice explores some of the darkest aspects of the human condition, and at its core, entails investigating existential concepts, and offering thoughts on current social values and the construction of history and traditions. Using a wealth of materials to form a complex and meticulous visual vocabulary, my choice of media is dictated by the concepts behind my ideas, as an intrinsic visual dialogue between matter and meaning is vital to my practice."
For Guilty Pleasures Ilua will be exhibiting 'Salome'.
Jerome Beresford
Jerome Beresford is a practicing artist and qualified Architect, he has worked in various architectural practices over the last 10 years. As an Associate and new technology champion at his practice he is managing its transition to Building Information Modelling, a new method of virtually constructing buildings during the design stage. He is currently working on projects for London Underground and Crossrail.
Jerome Beresford uses cutting edge computational design methodologies with traditional architectural drafting techniques to create procedural patterns, the detail and texture of which are obscured by various means. The resulting work seeks to explore the tension between digital geometric precision and human fallibility.
The works submitted for Guilty Pleasures are part of set of experiments into portraiture, inspired by the work of op-artists and psychedelic artists the works attempt to appropriate and reimagine halftone printing.
For Guilty Pleasures Jerome will be exhibiting 'Kesha' and 'Jeremy Kyle'.
Jess De Wahls
Born in 1983 in Berlin, Jess de Wahls is a multi disciplinary artist, who relocated to London in 2004. Pursuing her passion for creating, she works within several different media, including Acrylic painting, Ink- and pen illustrations, fabric design and Retex sculpting.
The subjects of Feminism, gender equality, the general condition as well as the environmental issue of recycling and waste culture have become an integral part of her art and future exhibitions will serve as platform to raise greater awareness.
"This particular piece depicts my emotional and artistic response towards a situation in which I felt otherwise powerless. It has been for a long time my very own guilty pleasure to reshape the subjects of my anger, sadness or annoyance into whichever way I find appropriate. 'Spineless C' was born out of a genuine disbelief and upset about humans' two faced nature."
For Guilty Pleasures Jess will be exhibiting 'Spineless C'.
John Gathercole
Gathercole's work covers a wide variety of genres and media. Predominate features of his work are that of the figure, celebrity and the use of oil on canvas. Much of his work encompasses humour; mostly old fashioned British, double entre humour and linguistic word play. Occasionally seen as ‘shocking’, they cover certain historic and contemporary taboo subjects too.
"I have worked as an artist all my life. It wasn’t until I started deriding the art world with my work in the Kuntists art movement that I gained recognition. Since then I have shown and sold worldwide including Tate Britain and Modern. This has also led me to develop a commercial range of celebrity puppets, Celebriarty Glovvies, glove puppets."
For Guilty Pleasures John will be exhibiting 'Hi Honey I’m Home/Gimp me Some Loving'.
Katerina Iacovides
"We are fascinated by sexuality and the macabre. I have always been drawn to these themes and my images are often an expression of this. What makes a person tick? And how can I illustrate this within an image? The combination of attraction and repulsion has always inspired me. Through photography I create characters using people I have met who I style and set up scenes for. I will often look at someone and start dressing them up in different ways in my own imagination. I suppose I never really grew out of ‘dressing up games’ and now as an adult it has taken on a more adult character. What I enjoy most is that it allows people to escape themselves and enter the world of masquerade. By dressing up as a different character they are able to express themselves in ways they wouldn’t normally."
For Guilty Pleasures Katerina will be exhibiting 'Parfume Le Piggy'.
Lisa Mitchell
Lisa Mitchell previously studied a BA Hons Degree in Fashion and Textiles and an MA in Fine Art at De Montfort University in Leicester, and has worked as an Arts Teacher for Adults with Learning Disabilities.
Lisa has exhibited throughout the East Midlands, in London and more recently on the Isle of Wight.
She recently sold a piece of work soon to be featured in a Channel 4 drama and also got through to the second round of selections for The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
Her work is held by private collectors in France and Australia and America.
"My photography style is a mixture of edited and straight shot works. Often biographical in content, the images can be very emotive and at times controversial and I am not afraid to wear my heart on my sleeve.
The pieces I have created for ‘Guilty Pleasures’ relate to our hidden fetishes and the roles we play. In a dangerous world of fantasy we become our hidden ego leaving reality behind but also at times increasing our loneliness and embroiling us in a darkened world."
For Guilty Pleasures Lisa will be exhibiting a photograph from her fetish series 'Fetish 3'.
Lorenzo Belenguer
Lorenzo Belenguer was born in Valencia. After graduating in Economics, it became clear to him that he needed a change of direction so he took the opportunity to travel. He spent some time in Paris and then, on coming to England, he eventually moved to London. This became the place where his career as an artist took shape; he became involved in mounting and participating in exhibitions in unorthodox spaces. This gave him the freedom to develop his own artistic expression.
"This series of oil drawings are based on fashion adverts. Within this series I find and focus on the individual within those fashion adverts. These drawings were selected for a group show at the Tate Modern in May 2010."
For Guilty Pleasures Lorenzo will be exhibiting one of his drawings '#26'.
Lucie Rachel
Lucie Rachel's practice is somewhat confessional, working predominantly in video and photography. With voyeuristic tendencies, recurring themes include family relationships, gender and the unspoken. Fascinated by the private writings of her parents Rachel's recent work has observed the complexities of her mother and trans-father's relationship from her birth to the present day.
"My work explores issues in family relationships with gender and sexuality through a range of different media. Driven by the complexities of my parents' relationship through studying the diaries of my mother and deleted online blogs of my transgendered father, my situation allows me a unique insight into the inner workings of their early relationship before I was born."
For Guilty Pleasures Lucie will be exhibiting 'Exert 1, mother's diary'.
Michael Walls
Michael Walls is intrigued with the photograph as a physical object and how to push the boundaries of photography. In his Child's Play project Walls aims to merge the conceptual and aesthetic of both object and image, creating a connotation between the mind of a child and the properties of photographs and objects.
"This project Child's Play touches on the original practice of collage within the Dada movement - using more conceptual approaches I have raised the idea of a childish agenda to image making, how children coordinate colors, or interfere with vernacular photographs for a more humorous and surreal depiction. The idea of guilty pleasures is embedded within what we see in the photo montages as those sweet things we cannot touch, but when in the mind of a child becomes the (un)conscious imagination or a bizarre depiction within a make-believed universe."
For Guilty Pleasures Michael will be exhibiting 'Man With Fried Egg'.
Nicolette Daskalakis
Nicolette Daskalakis was born in San Francisco and spent her childhood in Oakland, California. She received a BA in Film Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with a minor in Intermedia Arts from the Roski School of Art and Design. Nicolette began her photographic work at the age of fourteen on a family trip to New York City. With a desire to add movement to her images, Nicolette soon began exploring film within narrative, documentary, and experimental contexts. She strives to create unique, detailed work that challenges the separation of artistic mediums and embraces the power of visual storytelling. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
"Still life painting allows for something fleeting—a vase of flowers, a bowl of fruit—to live on within the borders of a canvas. The 21st century, however, has seen a shift towards the unnatural and instantaneous. Gummy fruits, jellybeans and Twinkies have a seemingly infinite shelf life. These consumable, man-made creations never perish. With “eat me,” I strove to manifest such a shift. The use of digital, studio-lit photography—as opposed to painting and natural lighting—emphasizes the processed “food” of our age. The juxtaposition of still life traditions and an overly saturated advertising aesthetic sends a loud message: eat me."
For Guilty Pleasures Nicolette will be exhibiting 'Eat Me'.
Pascale Pressicaud
Nicolette Daskalakis was born in San Francisco and spent her childhood in Oakland, California. She received a BA in Film Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with a minor in Intermedia Arts from the Roski School of Art and Design. Nicolette began her photographic work at the age of fourteen on a family trip to New York City. With a desire to add movement to her images, Nicolette soon began exploring film within narrative, documentary, and experimental contexts. She strives to create unique, detailed work that challenges the separation of artistic mediums and embraces the power of visual storytelling. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
"Still life painting allows for something fleeting—a vase of flowers, a bowl of fruit—to live on within the borders of a canvas. The 21st century, however, has seen a shift towards the unnatural and instantaneous. Gummy fruits, jellybeans and Twinkies have a seemingly infinite shelf life. These consumable, man-made creations never perish. With “eat me,” I strove to manifest such a shift. The use of digital, studio-lit photography—as opposed to painting and natural lighting—emphasizes the processed “food” of our age. The juxtaposition of still life traditions and an overly saturated advertising aesthetic sends a loud message: eat me."
For Guilty Pleasures Nicolette will be exhibiting 'Eat Me'.
Pedro Bustamante
Pedro Bustamante is an architect (Master of Advanced Studies) who studied at the Superior Technical School of Architecture in Madrid (ETSAM). He is currently developing his doctoral thesis 'The Dionysian and Architecture'. Among his architectural projects stands out the Alcorcon Arts Creation Center (CREAA, Madrid). His architectural and artistic works have been extensively published and exhibited in spaces as the American Institute of Architects in Washington DC, the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, the Columbia University in New York or the International Contemporary Art Fair (ARCO) in Madrid. He speaks Spanish, English, French and German. He currently lives in Berlin.
"Heterotopia. Foucault. Delirium. Recreate. Delirious. Transdisciplinary. Power. Images. Mythical. Crisis. Exception. Guantanamo. Reality. Delirious. Smokescreen. Power. Images. Question. Recreate. Reality. Citations. Combine. Photomontage. Collages. Heterogeneous. Dominant. Epistemological. Strategies. Feyerabend. Against. Incommensurable. Knowledge. Montages. Registers. Divisions. Contingent. Photographic. Privileged. Construction. Sontag. Disintegration. Reconstruction. Juxtaposition. Disjointed. Fragments. Counter-strategy. Mechanisms. Challenge. Surrealist. Meeting. Dissecting-table. Sewing-machine. Umbrella. Revealing. Reintegration. Discourse. Believe. Transparent. Opacity. Concealment. Institutions. Masking. Violence. Unveil. Mythical-ritual. Theatrical. Girard. Sacred. Sacrificial. Celebrations. Representation. Power. Re-presentation. Endless. Illusory."
For Guilty Pleasures Pedro will be exhibiting 'Adams and Eves'.
Peter D'Alessandri
"I have always been interested in the representation of the human figure in art, and the different relationships between the artist, the model and the viewer. My 'Relationships Series' of paintings evolved from a number of figure studies that I was working on from 2006. With this work I am attempting to explore the relationships between two figures within a composition, in both a spatial and an emotional sense, whilst also looking at the notion of nudity, as distinct from nakedness. I am fascinated with how the addition of a second figure within a composition transforms these relationships, compelling the viewer to install a narrative, regardless of the artist’s design"
For Guilty Pleasures Peter will be exhibiting his painting 'Kirsty and Beth' from his Relationship Series.
Peter White
Peter White is a self-taught artist who enjoys painting portraits. He works as a self-employed Painter & Decorator. Hobbies include concerts, listening to music, football and reading. He loves holidays and California, San Francisco being his favourite destination.
"My work is mainly portraiture using acrylic as its medium. I enjoy painting not only the famous but also the unknown."
For Guilty Pleasures Peter will be exhibiting 'Burning Love'.
Quiet British Accent
Quiet British Accent (QBA) are artist couple Jason and Sharon Gale. After attending local technical colleges studying design and textiles, each had successful careers in their respective fields, before embarking on their artistic career together in 2011. Throughout 2014, QBA were part of the collective known as Cultivate Evolved, regularly exhibiting in Vyner Street, London E2 and other shows. Recent collaborations with Nike have included permanent artworks on display in London and Moscow. QBA have been featured in The Guardian, Design Week, Sky Sports and Time Out. The couple work from their studio situated in a tiny village in Hertfordshire.
"As children growing up in Seventies Britain, our heads were turned by shiny pop culture from America; adverts, comic books and sporting graphics all seduced us like cartoon sirens from across the pond. We like to explore the connexion between hero and fan, stalls and stage, terrace and pitch, often with a wry disconnect and a very British tongue in our cheek, encouraging another look at idols and subcultures. Slogans, names and phrases are hand drawn and digitally manipulated before printing, painting or sewing techniques are applied. We like an unusual canvas and are known for our series of football shirts decorated with appliquéd slogans on the back."
For Guilty Pleasures Quiet British Accent will be exhibiting 'Hot dog, sausage roll, come on lads score a goal'.
Rart and Sete
Rart and Sete are Contemporary British artists who have received critical acclaim for their stuff. They have a penchant for dark humour, their assemblages speak of taboo subjects not commonplace within the sphere of the contemporary and modern art gallery scene.They often can’t be arsed to go to their own private viewing nights and sometimes the whole exhibition.
"We only work in partnership. We have been working together since 1996 and have been branded controversial and somewhat risky. We managed to get one gallery closed down for good 18 hours into a month long solo exhibition, and had a whole series of works impounded by Russian customs.We are about documenting the times. Our work does not only reflect the jocular, but also takes an attitude, perception or moment, encapsulates it, with all its inherent social ramifications, out of its natural context, then reconstructs and redefines that moment as a permanent record."
For Guilty Pleasure Rart and Sete will be exhibiting 'Fag Butt'.
Richard Alexander Heckert
"Look out ladies, look out lads! Here's Pop Amok to pop up your heads!" - Martin Hermann Werner (Artist and Friend)
The Pop Amok comes over the world. Coloured, witty and snappy at the same time, it is the most colourful swan song of a bitterly beautiful dream of human progress. It's Showtime, the 21st century on air and starts the final round of a boxing match, really impressive! Mankind vs. Nature... It revolves around yourself! The eternal colourful candy that never ends become an infinite wired humanity. This Anti-Pop is the swallow that will accompany Enola Gay!
For Guilty Pleasures Richard will be exhibiting 'Duality'.
Sam Hodge
Sam Hodge is a painter and printmaker living and working in Hackney. She originally studied Natural Sciences and then trained and worked as a Painting Restorer. She has also studied etching at Morley College and The Princes Drawing School and Fine Art at The City Literary Institiute.
In 2007 she decided to concentrate on making her own art work. She had her first solo exhibition in 2009 and since then has exhibited in numerous group exhibitions and open studios. In 2013 she was Artist in Residence at Chisenhale’s Studio 4, where she showed an installation of etchings. At present she is working on an artist’s book of etchings of broken phone screens.
"I am interested in how we deal with random events and make sense of them. One aspect of that is pareidolia – the tendency to see meaningful shapes in essentially abstract images. In this series of etchings I used abandoned scraps of fibreglass that I found by chance and impressed into etching plates. I was drawn to the hairy texture and the contrast between the unruly torn edges and the precise cut edges. Hair has taboo qualities that must be restrained, hidden or removed either because it is repulsive or too attractive. As I chose and arranged them, the scraps also began to represent figures simultaneously attracting and repelling each other and the viewer."
For Guilty Pleasures Sam will be exhibiting 'Cut 1'.
Sophie Wellan
"Feminine and fragile, the work of Sophie Wellan invites the viewer to enter her intimate universe through the decoding of a complex web of symbols and signs. Whether it is by gluing dead bees in the shape of feminine apparel, or imprisoning a red dress in the gaol of a ruined castle, Sophie expresses in highly dramatic, and often ephemeral, gestures an anxiety in which the viewer ends up inevitably recognizing himself. In that sense Sophie extends the representation of her private world, to a universal dimension, revealing a collective existential angst. The work of Sophie Wellan distinguishes itself, not only by its symbolic depth, but also by the uniqueness of the means. Without tying herself to any artistic trend or fashion, Sophie explores in her work the own nature of the materials she uses. A piece of wood, a bee, or a cloth are not used as bases for the artistic work, but as elements interacting organically with the work itself. The combination of the powerful identity of materials used with the ultra-sophisticated and precious settings of Sophie's works, eventually create a uniquely disquieting total experience."
Anwar Nassar
President of Trampolim
Organizer of the exhibition "Novos Britanicos"
British Brazilian Cente
"In my work I seek to deal with the metaphysical, working instinctively and constantly trying to marry the spiritual and the physical in an attempt to produce work which possesses a deeper truth and a dynamic tension. My work contains ideas of power, transformation and the remarkable connection between all things. Attempting to retain a sense of personal 'connectedness' through the language of materials and the spiritual nature of substance is a strong motivation in my work."
For Guilty Pleasures Sophie will be exhibiting 'Renewal'.
Stephanie Guillen
Stephanie Guillen is a visual artist based in Zurich, Switzerland, working in several fields such as photography, painting, and mixed media collage making. Her work has been exhibited in New York City and its metropolitan area, where she has lived and worked for the last seven years.
"Creepiness, eeriness, weirdness are things I'm drawn to and which I'm capturing in my ongoing photography project of abandoned and decaying buildings and places. Complementing this attraction I also like to glimpse into the dark and sinful side of human beings."
For Guilty Pleasures Stephanie will be exhibiting 'Death And The Maiden'.
Tobias Ross
Tobias Ross graduated from UCA Canterbury with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art in 2011. Since then he has displayed work in two group exhibitions in Dartford and London and has also had two solo exhibitions; “Eastenders” in September 2013 and more recently “Stuck between a Rock and Infinite Space” of August 2014. Tobias is currently working full time in his studio in Faversham, mainly exploring the medium of oil paint as a means to delve into the mystery that is our existence.
"This particular body of work started out as a passing joke in conversation with my housemate. This ‘joke’ circumnavigated my brain for some time. I had to realize it; I did, in oil paints with reverence. Upon completion of these seemingly absurd portraits the question dawned on me; how is this absurd? Perhaps I have created a window into an alternate universe where this is a reality? I ask you to consider these newly assumed identities and what creates them; the outfit? Or something less tangible such as personality, albeit a contrived one…"
For Guilty Pleasures Tobias will be exhibiting 'Dott Amidala'.
Valena Lova
Valena Lova’s artwork is mostly inspired by animals and people, placing them in old-fashioned, sometimes mystical situations, combining past centuries with modern day influences, whether that be fashion or characteristics/expressions.
"My work consists of playful yet mysterious characters inspired by fairytales, humorous situations, identity and different cultures. I like to begin my fairytales and let others conclude them. Even though I experiment with techniques and colour palettes, I believe there is always a constant smooth texture and softness to my work. I am very influenced by film and music, fashion and folklore. I love detailed paintings; I could stare at a good portrait for a very long time! It is the feeling I hope viewers can get when they see my work."
For Guilty Pleasures Valena will be exhibiting 'Party for One'.
XaXa Mason
XaXa Mason grew up in Devon and completed a Foundation course before going on to do a Masters in Fine Art at City and Guilds Art School in Kennington, London. She is a figurative painter, influenced by the work of contemporary artists such as Marlene Dumas, Helen Verhoeven and Chantal Joffe.
She makes work using images from popular culture and personal snapshots held in veils and glazes of paint as fragile, momentary appearances.
"My painting practice explores the territory of intimacy; the dynamics of understandings and misunderstandings, of empathy and separation between people.
The contemporary obsession with the spectacle of celebrities, as well as the fan worship of stars are areas that inform my practice. I also work with personal memories and feelings, autobiographical material that is, in principle, very different from the images of celebrities.
The mass media image and the personal photograph generate different avenues in my practice, but both also converge in various ways. In both avenues painting becomes a process in which I reimagine the possibilities inherent in our human interactions, by looking again at those images."
For Guilty Pleasures Xaxa will be exhibiting 'Lovelies In Wait' .