Artists in Residence
Contemporary Collective has partnered with Bankside Hotel, a design forward and award-winning hotel, to bring their guests a rich and immersive art experience. Located on South Bank of the river Thames, Bankside Hotel aims to pay homage to their art-rich location, which is why they have offered to host a residency programme with Contemporary Collective.
Artist in Residence Studio, Bankside Hotel 2 Blackfriars Rd, Upper Ground London SE1 9JU
THE WINTER SHOWCASE
DECEMBER 2021 - JANUARY 22
Bankside Hotel x Contemporary Collective are thrilled to announce their first annual Christmas Showcase which will take place in the Artist Studio at the Bankside Hotel from 10th December 2021 - 7th January 2022. This physical pop up will feature a selection of specially curated handmade sculptures and decorative pieces from our Artisanal Homeware collection, along with our favorite selection of paintings and wall works created.
Over the duration of the showcase, passersby will have the chance to visit the studio, view and purchase the artworks, and learn more about the various artists' practices. The showcase will be open daily and features artists including Lana Matsuyama, Charlie Lang, Charlie Macpherson, Jessica Slack, Ottelien Huckin, The Ceramicists, Michael Slusakowicz, Diana Baur, Alexandra Gallagher and more.
GEORGINA HARRIS
SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 2021
Georgina will be painting the ‘lived experience’ of being in London, by taking her painting outside to create a series of ‘plein air’ abstract paintings. The artist also welcomes you to visit her in the studio, to share the green spots you cherish in the city. She will use these conversations and her own experience to paint alternate maps of the city, with the aim of celebrating the connection between people and place.
Operating with an open-door policy to encourage visitors to engage directly with the art, and will host a range of events including a cocktail tasting course inspired by the artist’s practice, and two workshops surrounding abstract map making as means of understanding the spaces around us.
LAUREN GOLDIE
AUGUST 2021
Lauren will explore Astronomy as a main theme and inspiration for a series of artwork examining the fragilities of our planet, hypothetical narratives from outer space and the imagined landscapes that could become home.
Operating with an open-door policy to encourage visitors to engage directly with the art, Lauren will divide the studio space into a traditional gallery and workspace. Within the gallery section of the studio, there will be an interactive sculpture requiring audience participation to provoke collaboration and conversation. Additional works within the space will include a series of sculptural and 2-dimensional work inspired by tracking spatial objects. Throughout the residency, Lauren plans to work towards expanding this collection throughout the entirety of the gallery space.
JULIE BENNETT
JUNE/JULY 2021
Exploring and expanding different areas of her practice, With the goal of capturing the energy of her mark-making and experimenting with her process and use of materials Julie plans to paint directly onto canvas illuminating the process of sketching in pencil or charcoal beforehand.
Creating a series of portrait paintings inspired by art icons who have influenced or inspired the artist’s life and practice, Julie’s #BanksideArtIcons series will include a combination of both historical and contemporary art icons, in addition to a photoshop composite of the collection of art icons produced throughout the residency as a limited edition print available through DegreeArt. Overall, Julie aims to introduce viewers to the unknown faces of so many well known names of so many iconic artists.
GUGLIELMO ALFARONE
APRIL/MAY/JUNE 2021
During his residency, Guglielmo will create a large size composition to emphasise a collective consciousness through portraits. Through this exploration, the artist will attempt to portray the relationship between each subject’s individual story and their collective experience during this challenging and monumental time in history.
Utilising the studio’s large walls, Guglielmo’s goal is to create a large scale artwork on paper, either as a single piece or multiple pieces combined together, building a unique representation of the collective community. In line with the artists’ figurative style and process, Guglielmo plans to draw several portraits on a textured surface using a contrast of light and shadow to create a flow that binds all the subjects together.
JOHANNES NIELSEN
MARCH 2021 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
As a westerner and artist living in the East (Beijing), Johannes is greatly influenced by the location, people and culture which surrounds him, most specifically, the Songzhuang Art District. Having recently launched a brand new collection of artworks available on DegreeArt, Johannes will provide insight into the background of these works as well as how his artistic process has recently transformed.
To provide further background, Johannes will divide his virtual residency into 4 chapters, focusing on one of the following themes each week: horse sculpture, drawing with ink, human sculpture, and an audience voted/requested theme.
ANIKA MANUEL
FEBRUARY 2021 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Anika Manuel is a portrait and figurative painter from Cornwall. Her passion is for the flat, found image and its subsequent translation into painting. Having had an interest in drawing faces from an early age, she continues to capture realistic depictions of the human figure; most recently her focus has shifted towards the stylized and the celebrity.
The theme of Anika's residency is "Musicians in Isolation", inspired by iconic musicians who have addressed feelings of loneliness and isolation within their work. From 8th February to 12th March, Anika will document the creation of a brand new series inspired by this theme, sharing her process through a virtual lens. With an aim of painting up to 10 acrylic portraits to create a collection of 'lonely' musicians, Anika plans to incorporate daily updates on the series, an interview, studio & time-lapse videos, and a competition giveaway of a David Bowie print.
MICHAEL SLUSAKOWICZ
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020/21
The theme of this residency is expansion, presented through an exploration of the physical growth of the artist’s paintings that viewers will be able to witness from start to finish. During his residency, Michael will utilise the large studio space to explore the possibility of expanding the size of his signature still lifes, symbolising his personal evolution as an artist.
Whilst in the Makers Studio, Michael plans to experiment with creating larger scale still lifes, as well as developing smaller, more affordable work. With this process documented on the Documented on Contemporary Collective’s Instagram, viewers will have the chance to directly witness Michael’s process from the very early stages of creating a digital image concept and sketching on canvas, to the final stages of interpreting digital colour and replacing it with oil paints to create clean and fresh tones. There will also be an opportunity for Michael to draw inspiration from Bankside’s overall design and aesthetic, incorporating these elements into his finished paintings.
RAMZI MUSA & LANA MATSUYAMA
OCTOBER/DECEMBER 2020
Introducing our first post-lockdown residency featuring husband and wife creative team Ramzi Musa and Lana Matsuyama. The theme of the residency is a live visual dialogue between two creatives, where viewers can openly witness in person and over social, both in the practice and final works, the flow of cultural, conceptual, and stylistic influences between two artists.
Ramzi will explore his signature botanical/abstract subject matter, inspired by patterns in nature, but will work on a much larger scale than seen before, resulting in colourful, impactful works of art. In addition to large scale pieces, Ramzi will also create smaller, affordable, and accessible works on paper. There is an opportunity to explore fabric printing, as a continuation from his fashion background, but this will be dependent upon time and resources.
Lana will continue to explore the interaction of shapes, forms and textures, but aims to scale up in order to take advantage of the space, environment and interaction provided by Bankside. The public nature of the work environment will be an important and exciting aspect for Lana because she’s just as interested in exposing the process of creating a piece as she is in the final product; the “final” piece is merely a glimpse into a moment in the lifecycle of the work.
Like Ramzi, Lana will also create large-scale textural paintings and smaller collages, as well as sculptural paintings (working in paper maché). She also plans on creating a large sculpture (working in plaster) which highlights the shapes she often explores on canvas, but translated into three-dimensions.
The approach to this collaboration is representative of the artists’ approach to their relationship: one that respects individuality, and also looks to create something new that is more than the sum of its parts.
SARAH EMILY PORTER
SEPTEMBER 2020 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Sarah Emily Porter specialised in architectural history at Durham University, graduating in 2008 and has since attended Chelsea College of Art graduating with a Distinction in Fine Art in 2016. She now practices as an abstract painter from her studio in Leyton, East London.
Heavily influenced by her previous history degree, her work often has architectural and sculptural attributes but is derived from the traditions and histories of painting.
By pouring and manipulating paint on tilting wooden structures, Sarah Emily Porter practice places emphasis on the process of making by removing the gesture and emotion of the artist’s hand from the final work. Instead, she subjects paint to the forces of gravity and use systems and order to create opportunities for chance to occur, creating a tension between what was and what could be. Through this method of painting, she seeks to highlight the significance and complexity of colour and reveal intricacies in her materials.
LILY WEDGE
AUGUST 2020 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Inspired by Traditional East Asian monochrome brush and ink technique, Lily uses the medium in a more contemporary wet on wet approach. Revisiting primitive outcomes in a photographic dark room which is the artist's background and what she trained in, this technique provides enables each mark unknown and uncontrolled.
During her virtual residency, Lily will create a new body of paintings that will serve as an exploration on different dog breeds and their characters. Incorporating time lapses, studies, works in progress and a series of smaller prints to supplement the new paintings, Lily will use this virtual space to share inspiration and give viewers an insight into her practice.
KELLY JENKINS
JULY 2020 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Kelly creates tactile, embroidered paintings that are both atmospheric and evocatively powerful. They marry together highly intricate embroidery with abstract landscape painting.
In Kelly's recent 2020 series, she has been interpreting personal data, represented as stitches within imagined and surreal painted landscapes of the internet. For the next month, Kelly will extend the concept of this series by focusing on specific data obtained from sources such as Google Trends and The Office For National Statistics; to analyse and translate into embroidered paintings, the emotional and habitual changes and shifts in behaviour within the United Kingdom in response to Covid-19.
HELEN GØRRILL
JUNE 2020 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Helen’s collages explore ideas about time, history and reality; using contemporary imagery that juxtaposes with the Old Masters she sets out to reappropriate. Her new artwork focuses on vandalising old masters and reviving art historical portraits through photo bombing and incorporating elements from contemporary sub-cultures, and often incorporates media such as lipstick, eyeliner and human hair. Within this context, the striking images hover between the 17thcentury and today’s climate of uncertainty; the deliberately defaced portraits by old masters refuse to become the passive objects they once were.
For the next month, Helen will use this digital space to explore a new series of miniature portraits inspired by the collection at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This virtual residency has offered an opportunity to recreate and transcribe a digital collection which has hitherto remained largely unseen.
LEE HERRING
MAY 2020 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Lee Herring is a contemporary painter specialising in colourful, textured and abstracted landscapes. He was born in Sunderland, in the North East of England and has always had a creative streak. After excelling in art throughout his early education, he went on to study Fine Art at the University of Chester. It was here that Lee discovered his love of painting and began to develop his painting style. After 3 years, he graduated with a First-Class honours and was awarded the coveted University prize.
We are delighted to announce that in partnership with the Bankside Hotel, accomplished artist Lee Herring will take over the Contemporary Collective Instagram over the next month as our second Virtual Artist in Residence. Lasting until 2nd June, Lee's online takeover will encompass daily posts, timelapse paintings, artist setups, inspiration, and a variety of additional creative content. Follow @Contemporary_Collective on Instagram to keep up to date with Lee's virtual residency.
RAMZI MUSA
APRIL 2020 - VIRTUAL ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
With a professional background in both the art and fashion worlds, Ramzi makes bright and colourful, large scale multimedia paintings of botanical scenes. Inspired by his travels to South East Asia and themes of exploration and the everchanging meaning of home, the artist will continue to develop his practice by experimenting with new mediums and sharing his inspiration to the greater community during this difficult time.
In efforts to circulate positivity and new digital opportunities to artists during these difficult times, Ramzi will provide viewers with a virtual residency experience as he documents his practice directly from his East London home. Lasting until 31st April, Ramzi's online takeover will encompass daily posts, timelapse paintings, artist setups, inspiration, and a variety of additional creative content. Follow the artist as he experiments with new mediums and uses this time as an opportunity to grow as an artist and expand his overall practice.
OTTELIEN HUCKIN
JANUARY/MARCH 2020
Challenging the long historical discourse dictated by ‘the male gaze’, the artist’s drawings portray personal and authentic expression, drawing inspiration from the immediacy of an encounter or in the fragility of a memory. Huckin’s process involves drawing directly onto canvas with oil bar, mimicking the staining nature of charcoal traditionally used in the academic style of figure drawing. The artist utilises bold colour pigments to reject the ideas of classical draughtsmanship, questioning the hierarchy of painting by raising the status of the preparatory drawing to canvas. Huckin describes this candid process as “powerful, sensual, painful, vulnerable, and joyful.”
ROD MCINTOSH
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
Rod McIntosh is an artist with his studio in the midst of the English countryside of rural Kent. He works between Kent and London as an exhibiting artist and is represented by several galleries and consultants working together to build a national and international profile for his work.
He studied figurative sculpture in Sheffield, graduating in 1992. He maintained a dynamic practice alongside a successful Arts Management and academic career until 2009. When he returned full-time to the studio.
His current work as a mark-maker lies within the tradition of drawing. With his body, the breath along with materials, and repetitive often-obsessive processes, focuses an attention to the present. Observing and recording the moment of creation within a continuum.
He speaks of them as;
“Physical meditations, that offers himself, and the viewer, a moment to pause.”
THE CUMMINGS TWINS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
The Cumming Twins intention is to create phenomenological experiences, with an interest for the occult, mysticism, technology and zeitgeist. The subject of transcendence is critical to their work and its relationship to contemporary culture. They produce artworks namely sculptures and audio-visual performances too – being multidisciplinary they utilize any medium that suits the project best.
Mark and Paul Cummings will present a series of events on their ‘Here, Now and Then’ exhibition, featuring art talks, workshops, digital installations and performances, including their infamous Gong Performance – a music piece relating to Hermeticism and the healing arts.
SOPHIE DERRICK
AUGUST 2019
Sophie Derrick is a British artist who exploits the transformative and alchemic properties of painting, photography and sculpture pushing out the 'self' resulting in a 'self-less' state. Through her practice, Derrick blanks out and departs from herself transcending the artist, the woman and becoming 'agender' with the single motive of demonstrating the possibility of reaching a place where we too can be 'other'. Sophie Derrick's practice is founded on self-portraiture, but her blending of sculptural painting and performative photography successfully transcends any traditional interpretation.
During her residency in the dedicated Makers Space at Bankside Hotel, Sophie will focus her time creating new and boundary exploring works for her forthcoming solo show. Her processes will involve computer-based editing, as well as experimental installation, collage, and painting work. For this residency, Derrick has undertaken a new painted face photoshoot using bold primary colours interspersed with flesh tones. Unusually for Derrick, her latest body of work will incorporate elements including arms and hands. Throughout the residency, Derrick will be layering images one over another, creating her signature distorted and abstracted portraits.
ERNESTO ROMANO
JULY 2019
Ernesto Romano, is the Maker in Residence at Bankside Hotel's studio from the beginning of July.
His unique practice involves the use of medical records like X-rays or MRIs of his body or vintage X-rays which he uses to make his art. “I am progressively dissecting myself” he says with a smile. The use of X-rays is a simple way to explore the very essence of being human, deprived of any feature or embellishment that may come with society or status.
MICHAEL WALLNER
MAY/JUNE 2019
Previously, Michael has worked with data expert Dr James Cheshire, to present an artistic view of London, using information and statistics about the city and this reserach will be integrated into the works produced by the artist over the cousre of his 6 week residency.
During his residency at Bankside, Michael will demonstarte to visitors how, by looking more closely at the architecture around them, they can change the way they look at the world and appreciate that 'art is everywhere'. The residency will also allow him to take his city-based art to the next level and explore different techniques, materials, and technology that he can use to reflect the shapes, outlines and colours that create London's character and personality. He also intends to incorporate London data in his work such as the journeys of London buses, the paths walked by London commuters, or the traffic patterns on the roads near Bankside - making art out of the everyday.
VICTORIA HEALD
APRIL/MAY 2019
Continuing the legacy established by Luke M Walker, Victoria will be working with Bankside Hotel to achieve the now well established goal of engaging guests, local residents and transient communities in one-of-a-kind artistic experiences. Alongside providing unique, daily access to an Artist in Residence, the partnership between Contemporary Collective and the hotel ensures guests and visitors can participate in a programme of events through exhibitions, talks, workshops, and events.
LUKE M WALKER
DECEMBER 2018/MARCH 2019
With his focus on urban landscapes, data and sustainability Luke M Walker was the ideal choice to launch this partnership with Bankside Hotel. Luke will be helping Bankside Hotel achieve their goal of engaging guests in a one-of-a-kind artistic experience. The hotel is keen to involve their guests and visitors in a programme of events through exhibitions, talks, workshops, and events.
