Pedestrian Gallery Winter Open 2012

'Medieval' featured in Pedestrian's Winter Open 2012.It's my first time submitting work at the small but nicely located gallery in the LCB Depot. For such a small space it's an efficiently hung display, top to toes, and I don't mind bending down to look at stuff! A craft display adds variety and a spirit of local creative action. These wares were displayed in veg crates, which on sundays I spend crushing and baling at work. Craft people eh!? The show has a voting system, helping to indicate a winner for an exhibition opportunity. I approached some of the makers, their work stood out as interesting to look at with engaging ideas.

www.pedestrian.info

James Shrig 

- shrigmedia.com

Are you a local artist? 
Sort of, I'm from one of the towns in Leicestershire. Leicester feels far more homely to me than my own town, though. The city has always got a great atmosphere and is home to so many creative people from all disciplines of art, it's almost overwhelming sometimes. Leicester is definitely a little bundle of amazingness.

'Orta' reminded me of the sprawling world maps from the videogame Zelda. Does the map represent a real place, or is it entirely your own creation?
The map just kind of evolved as I picked away at it. Originally it started as a small doodle using the original Gameboy colours (basically just black, white and two shades of grey) and some bits and pieces copied over from a previous project of mine, as it grew I decided to colour it in (using 16 colours in total) and add things as I thought of them. My thought process was mostly "What would be super cool in a game like this?" and "What little narratives can I put into this scene to give it a bit more life?" I think I have a back story for all of the little towns and locations now. Perhaps that seems a little crazy, but when you're working on a piece that takes this long to construct I suppose you have to fill your mind with something other than pixel pushing. The overall style of the game is strongly influenced by Gameboy/SNES-era games such as Zelda, Pokémon and Final Fantasy. It would never work as an actual video game map though, the locations are way too close to each other.

In the typical gallery space your piece looked quite novel, almost surreal. It's digital-ness is usually only found on a TV/computer screen, is print your main artistic medium?
This is actually my first little adventure into printed things, I feel I have a lot to learn, far more than I first thought when I started this project anyway. I doubt anybody would disagree that my work is the tattiest looking of all the pieces on show at the winter open.

My main mediums are actually photography and video with the occasional bit of design thrown in whenever I'm asked for it, so this is all alien to me. Pixel art is where it all started though, I've been making pixel art pieces on and off since I was 15. I suppose it was my gateway into the arts so I like to show it some love from time to time.

As for traditional mediums, I pretty much can't even pick up a pen/pencil/brush/whatever without wanting to crawl back into bed and pretend I didn't try, some of the things other artists are capable of doing is nothing short of pure magic to. I pretty much rely on my undo button as an essential tool for all of my work.

How did you find Pedestrian's Winter Open show?
Honestly when I walked in I felt a mixture of embarrassment and jealousy. Embarrassed because of how I felt about my own work and it's shortcomings, and jealous of other artists that can do "real art", you know, the stuff that shows a refined mastery of their chosen medium and personal style. People that know me know that I'm a dangerously laid back and unmotivated person most of the time, so to see so many beautifully polished works on display at once was a lot to take in. It was simply beautiful to see so much fine work in one place. It left me very inspired to continue doing what I'm doing, because from looking at other peoples end results, all that self discipline seems to totally pay off! I could tell from seeing some of the other works on display that I probably wasn't the only one that got immensely stressed from trying to tackle such a large project. There's a drawing hung near to my work at the winter open that's simply stunning, I can't even imagine how much time and patience it must have taken to render.

Please feel free to add any other comments, or upcoming plans for your art! 
Trivia time! Orta began life as the trees from the project I had completed before it; this video: http://shrigmedia.com/blog/condor-and-river/ The music in this video is also born in Leicester. As for the future; Who knows? I might make a similar design in isometric perspective and set in space one day. Maybe. Maybe not. I need a long break before creating a pixel art piece on this scale again, I think. I know that I definitely want to make my next large pixel art piece more detailed, though!

Also, I'd like to say to any artists reading this far, you probably shouldn't have, you should get back to whatever project you're putting off doing right now. I absolutely loathed working on Orta by the end of it, a lot of the time it felt more like I was torturing myself than creating art, but the relief and satisfaction when I walked away and said it was done was totally worth it. It was a real "Wow, I really did it!" moment.

Shingirai Marikasi

'The Blues' is quite an intense image, depicting a jazz musician in an expressive and creative musical moment, what is it about?

I got inspired to paint this when I went to a jazz concert in Birmingham, and I've always been a fan of Miles Davis a famous American jazz musician and tend to listen that when painting, soothing. The picture reference I got that from a photographer Andrea paasch who has subsequently become a friend after seeing one of his picture transformed into a painting.

About your working methods, do you work from photographic images or sketches/studies? is the human figure your main interest in painting?

I've recently discovered the flemish style of painting involving 7 stages, a style used by the old masters the likes of bougoureau etc. I've never been to art school and do not hold any qualifications but I can confidently say I've practiced this style of painting and the results I can sum them up in one word, amazing. I enjoy fine art and figurative painting but recently I've been drawn to still life. Attached is a painting I hoped to exhibit at the winter exhibition but

hadn't managed to finish it in time," the green jug". Original painting done by david chiefetz. But this one is my own version and painting using the flemish style. But yes most of my subjects are female figures.

How did you find Pedestrian's Winter Open show?

I thought it was brilliant the only critical point is that I feel it didn't have enough coverage I would have thought perhaps the curator(s) would have invited some media and other prominent art lovers to come and have a look. But nonetheless. I still think it was a huge opportunity for undiscovered artist like me to have some of our work on display.

Teodora Zeia

Are you a local artist?
I guess I could be considered a local artist already, as this is my second year in Leicester, and I am not thinking of relocating at this stage. I am originally from Bulgaria, where I did my first Masters Degree in Fine Art and Printmaking.

'Mirror' is quite a complex piece for the viewer, observing someone, observing themselves, but with an interactive dimension to it. What's it about?

The idea for “Mirror” proceeded from the notion of the inner self I developed in Dance. I was also captivated by the contrast between the yellow and the black colour, and associated it with the conflict between the "alter ego" and the inner self". In the lenticular I visualised a very different notion of the “other personality” – not as a complementary half, but as a contradictory, almost violent and intimidating opposite. The piece focuses on the silent conflict between the two. As mirrors are often used in folklore and art and either referred to as "a gate to other dimension", or as means of producing a true reflection of something/someone false, or hideous, I played around with the concept of illustrating the hidden dimension of human soul. The mirror also presented me with a good compositional solution, in terms of both balancing the two figures and opposing them to each other.

What is you current practice about more generally, and what is your typical choice of art medium?
My background is as a fine artist. Alongside being a practicing artist, I have been teaching Fine Art - Drawing and Printmaking, both in Bulgaria and England.I am a specialist in Printmaking and so far all my exhibitions (including a previous solo exhibition at Pedestrian last winter) have displayed etchings, mixed media, combining different printmaking techniques, including colour linocut and lithography, as well as pencil drawings. In the past few years my work has been more photography and Photoshop orientated, I have also designed logos for different European projects, posters for drama plays, I have been involved in the design and making of stage set. As I just completed an MSc Degree in Creative Technologies at De Montfort, my current focus is on digital technologies and my recent work is more 3D and video related. I am mostly interested in Holography, Video and Post Production. 


What did you think of Pedestrian's Winter Open show?
I enjoyed Pedestrian's Winter Open show greatly. It was really inspiring to see such a variety of mediums and I was impressed as most of the exhibition pieces were of a very high quality.