0:00:30 > 0:00:34Carl Andre said, "Man climbs mountains because they're there,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37"and Man makes art because it's not there."
0:00:50 > 0:00:52What artists do...
0:00:52 > 0:00:56they explain things that you already know,
0:00:56 > 0:00:58but they just say it in a different way.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01And that's all I want to do is tell people...
0:01:01 > 0:01:08all the incredibly intricate, fascinating extraordinary things
0:01:08 > 0:01:11that you see if you have the time.
0:01:11 > 0:01:12And the inclination...
0:01:14 > 0:01:17..to just observe.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21My inspiration is essentially my environment.
0:01:21 > 0:01:27The, the natural world and how we fit into it.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31How we are changing it, how we are affecting it, how...
0:01:31 > 0:01:35nature, the natural world, whatever you want to call it, affects us.
0:01:35 > 0:01:42So it's a sort of interface between environment and us as a species.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00It's not necessarily the objects, I'm not object based when I'm looking at things,
0:02:00 > 0:02:01it's the qualities that they have,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03so it can be glass,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07it can be lichen, it can be a curled-up leaf...
0:02:07 > 0:02:11It's the qualities of the objects
0:02:11 > 0:02:15that really sort of get the juices going for me, definitely.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20I'm an outdoor person, and I love
0:02:20 > 0:02:23everything in the wild,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27in its natural habitat, and I travel quite a lot as well.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31I am interested in chi...
0:02:31 > 0:02:36the energy. The movements and the growth of the place.
0:02:39 > 0:02:45I guess for myself it it it's all about...the idea of memories.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48And memories are very important for me,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51coming from a place like South Africa and coming to the UK.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54So starting points for me is about family...
0:02:54 > 0:02:56and the way my parents grew up.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59And in those terms I think it's defined me to be a designer
0:02:59 > 0:03:03that's more sentimentalist rather than conceptualist.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06I love jazz, and there seems to be a very common thread
0:03:06 > 0:03:09in all the collections I do that's based around that concept.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16The thing I'm obviously most interested in as a portrait painter
0:03:16 > 0:03:20and a figure painter is the human figure, so I look at a lot of
0:03:20 > 0:03:24different representations of the body, as well as people in everyday life.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28If I see someone on the bus who I think, "Oh, they'll make a really good painting,"
0:03:28 > 0:03:31I'll go say, "Do you mind if I paint your portrait?"
0:03:31 > 0:03:35If they don't want you to, the worse is you'll never see them again
0:03:35 > 0:03:37and you'll feel embarrassed a bit! It's not too bad.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Well, I find human figures fascinating, just because I...
0:03:45 > 0:03:47I...
0:03:47 > 0:03:50As a child I grew up with
0:03:50 > 0:03:54theatrical characters that are a bit like carnival characters,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57except they're from Nigeria.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01And these dress up and look so not human, you know!
0:04:01 > 0:04:05They'd have headdresses that would make them look as if they had
0:04:05 > 0:04:08a ginormous head, you know, and a little body!
0:04:08 > 0:04:12So the fact that you could change the human figure I've always found fascinating.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16And I'm also interested in textiles
0:04:16 > 0:04:21and costumes, different rhythms, patterns, all sorts of things.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30I often tell myself stories as I'm walking along.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32I make up stories as I'm walking.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36The stories and the sounds translate themselves into pictures.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Because I've got this character, Mr Mustard,
0:04:48 > 0:04:49and he's almost my, er,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53my imaginary friend, my alter ego, he walks along with me.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55It's almost as though he's walking along with me.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58I imagine seeing the world through his eyes.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10I'm very interested in the world of the imagination, the dream world, if you like.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16I've always looked at archaic objects from ancient Greek and ancient Egypt.
0:05:16 > 0:05:22And I find all that kind of archaic sculpture very inspirational.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Years and years passed before I began to understand that actually
0:05:27 > 0:05:31I was connecting in with a lot of things to do with my childhood,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34the way that I played with dolls,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37created stories, was interested in theatre.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40All those early things when I was younger
0:05:40 > 0:05:45I realised they're coming back into my into my creative practice.
0:05:47 > 0:05:53I get my inspiration from popular cultural imagery,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and that can date back to the 60s, possibly even the 50s,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59and anywhere up until the current day.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Movies, from music, they're two of my biggest inspirations.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Then I source a lot of imagery from fashion magazines.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12I take my camera and I'll go out and I'll photograph whatever I can.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17Signs, bits of peeling billboards, graffiti artists' work,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21just because of the colour schemes I think I reflect a lot of
0:06:21 > 0:06:24the bright graffiti-inspired colours in my own work.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41When I was studying art at a younger age,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44I did a lot of pencil drawings and sketchings.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47And sketches, which I think is, is important.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53Nowadays I use handwork more for layout and sizing proportions.
0:06:53 > 0:06:59I found with what I do with pop-art style imagery and graphic imagery,
0:06:59 > 0:07:06that computer software aids me a lot better for that, that is what I use as a tool for drawing now.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11It's a great tool for composing things
0:07:11 > 0:07:15without having to commit to actually doing anything on the canvas first.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Usually I'll do that, then I'll go to the canvas and I'll freestyle something.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23But it's because I've got that composition logged in my head already.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32The point of drawing for me is that it goes through my head.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38It's it's me trying to filter the world, capture
0:07:38 > 0:07:44something of my response to it in these set of rather awkward lines.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49It's not a record of the place, it's a record of me standing in front of the place
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and that's why I have to draw, I think.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57When I'm drawing I get into a zone now.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01And when I draw it's really exciting because I have all this material
0:08:01 > 0:08:06and all this, the skills that I've built up over the years, and they all focus in.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08You find you're doing this piece of work
0:08:08 > 0:08:12that's really exciting, and you almost don't know you're doing it.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15You're almost running with your drawing, because it's so exciting.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18The idea of trying to get this thing down,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20and you try to almost pin it down,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23and the nailing it becomes very exciting.
0:08:23 > 0:08:29I try and have a range of things that'll make marks to react to the actual thing.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34If you're working quickly, charcoals and things you can rub and push
0:08:34 > 0:08:39about are probably more useful than pencils, which are much more precise.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45If you just take a photograph then move on, you've never looked,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47you haven't really analysed what you're seeing.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52Whereas with a drawing you have to look a lot harder and a lot longer,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55and therefore it gets recorded in your memory so much better.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59And if I couldn't draw reasonably well,
0:08:59 > 0:09:01I couldn't model very well either
0:09:01 > 0:09:04because I think the two are extremely linked.
0:09:05 > 0:09:11I couldn't imagine a face in three dimensions if I couldn't draw one in two.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Whenever I'm walking out in the landscape
0:09:16 > 0:09:19I always tend to bring stuff back with me.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26Bits of stone, bits of grass, bits of twigs, bits of feathers.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28If I was to make a sketch
0:09:28 > 0:09:31in situ, I would be selective.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35You know, you can't put everything down in a sketch.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And if I'm working from the sketch in the studio,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42I'm also being selective from the sketch.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47You're too far removed from the actual place that you're in.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57Because I'm a sculptor, I tend to use different methods,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00often putting them down on paper isn't satisfying enough
0:10:00 > 0:10:04so I will have objects that I manipulate within a room.
0:10:04 > 0:10:11Put them next to each other, on top of each other, attach things to them,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15throw a whole load of paint all over them, alter the tone, the colour.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Just keep altering them until I'm happy with them.
0:10:17 > 0:10:25I still class that as drawing because I'm still exploring an idea.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32I think drawing's quite a lot like grammar, almost.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36If you're going to learn a language, if you don't have the grammar
0:10:36 > 0:10:39and the way sentence structure works, syntax and the verbs,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43you can't hope to construct a sentence or speak that language.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45If you don't have the basic skills of drawing
0:10:45 > 0:10:47to make up a larger whole,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51then the chances are that piece of work isn't really going to be very successful.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Also, drawing actually plays a part in my painting process.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00So, you might not be able to tell all the time looking from a distance
0:11:00 > 0:11:02but if you come up close to one of my paintings
0:11:02 > 0:11:06you'll often find there's areas that have been worked into with ballpoint pen.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Sometimes red on a painting, you wouldn't really notice that on.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Or if there's a particularly bright white I want I'll use correction fluid
0:11:14 > 0:11:18because it brings a brighter white than the actual white paint I have.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22So I bring drawing elements into my finished paintings.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29It's often thought that you've got to be a fantastic sketcher
0:11:29 > 0:11:33or fantastic drawer, to be a designer.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38But I think if you have a sense of shape and an idea of scale,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42I think any drawing becomes valid as the starting point to design.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45So I do think it's quite crucial to be able to things onto paper.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59I think the reason I draw is because it's almost the pulse of life.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02As soon as somebody starts making a mark on a page,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05it's evident that something's moving or alive.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Some people find it through writing.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11They write words, but it's a signature that goes straight down onto the paper.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13And I feel that I observe
0:12:13 > 0:12:15what's in front of me,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17and I'm trying to capture that energy.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20It's a very important part of my practice, drawing.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39For me a sketchbook is very much about a visual diary,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43the fact that I can look back on a sketchbook that I did ten years ago
0:12:43 > 0:12:47and still actually feel quite emotional about it.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51It will remind me of a period of time. It might remind me of a place I visited.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56It'll remind me of qualities that I really sort of felt quite excited about at the time.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59And some probably still do when I look back on them.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03I don't tend to be random in my sketchbook,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07I tend to actually work sequential with the pages,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11and that also gives you a sequential development
0:13:11 > 0:13:14in the kind of ideas and the work that you do.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17And you can actually see how your work developed
0:13:17 > 0:13:18and how your ideas develop, as well.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27I have to make sort of a little loving book to start working
0:13:27 > 0:13:33that I've got some kind of link and relationship with.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42I do these rapid walks
0:13:42 > 0:13:47where I do literally hundreds of very quick sketches and scribbles,
0:13:47 > 0:13:52which are partly just sort of... In their own right they exist,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56but they're also useful in the future to refer to and to create new ideas.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03I normally try and do something in my sketchbook when I'm working on a canvas,
0:14:03 > 0:14:08or a work on paper that will be exhibited and quite likely it'll disappear,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10it will be sold and go out of my world.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13So I still have something in my sketchbook
0:14:13 > 0:14:19to remember that event, that experience by which it might just last as that,
0:14:19 > 0:14:20and nothing more.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23But it might be useful for a future series of works.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31In mine you can often see, you know, where the earth has got involved
0:14:31 > 0:14:36or the seawater or, you know, the elements have become trapped within the pages.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38So they're fascinating objects in themselves.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47To me, drawing is essential.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50But drawing now means a whole host of things.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55You can draw with film, you can draw with wire, you can draw with your foot in the mud.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03Quite often if I'm a bit stuck I'll flick through them very casually
0:15:03 > 0:15:08and revisit certain images and certain ideas.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11So they're like a sort of precious source.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18My sketchbooks are more like what I would call
0:15:18 > 0:15:20a kind of critical journal.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26The critical journal is is something more than a sketchbook,
0:15:26 > 0:15:31it contains research material, photographs, pictures.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35Not just me working out designs or working out sketches,
0:15:35 > 0:15:41but thinking about writing and thinking about the sort of avenue
0:15:41 > 0:15:43that I maybe got stuck in.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45So I use that sketchbook
0:15:45 > 0:15:48in a much broader way than just making drawings.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55I feel if I lost my sketchbooks
0:15:55 > 0:15:59I would not know quite who I was as an artist.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10My sketchbooks are a form of therapy.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12It's like a stone you whisper to!
0:16:12 > 0:16:15And I'm just, you know, really glad to have them,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18cos they don't talk back!
0:16:21 > 0:16:24I don't put lots of ideas in them.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26I, you know, I think I'm quite slow.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30I do things one at a time,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32and after it's done, it's done.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Once the sketchbook's finished it's finished.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39It's a paper period in my life, cos, you know,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43I almost do little sketches with my small maquettes as well.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46I'm having a conversation on paper,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and then having a 3D conversation in the studio,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52and then the bigger thing will take its own way.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56But, you know, I use as many things as I can, actually.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15Historically, I draw on other artists that were involved in important movements.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Like Andy Warhol, like Jean-Michel Basquiat, James Rosenquist.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24There's a whole group of artists that were involved in the pop art movement.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28But also, I think, one of my main inspirations comes from the hip-hop movement
0:17:28 > 0:17:32and rock & roll in the '70s and '60s.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37Very vibrant, kind of aggressive, without being violent movements
0:17:37 > 0:17:42that really changed the way that people looked at subcultures.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Subculture is through punk music, through skateboarding,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49through surfing.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52These are all things that have been a very intrinsic part of my life.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00I think you make art about what you know.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01I grew up in the Philippines,
0:18:01 > 0:18:08which is in South East Asia, and part of my childhood was spent growing up
0:18:08 > 0:18:10under the Marcos dictatorship,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13which was quite well-known in the West
0:18:13 > 0:18:16for this woman called Imelda Marcos,
0:18:16 > 0:18:21who was most famous for having 3,000 pairs of shoes.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24And also I grew up in quite a highly politicised family.
0:18:24 > 0:18:30My work is influenced by this sort of interest in my own history.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35I spend a lot of time looking at things, and, you know, you go to museums and galleries
0:18:35 > 0:18:39and see other people's work, and kind of gathering images and reading about artists,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42and reading about historical episodes.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44It's a lengthy process of research
0:18:44 > 0:18:49that leads to producing the work in the end.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55These kind of cultural and political interests will always be there,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59but the kind of actual making, the process of making, takes over.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02If I'm working towards a painting
0:19:02 > 0:19:06I will do drawings of any objects that I think might be in there.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08But I think it's important
0:19:08 > 0:19:10not to get it too organised.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Then I will look up in books about symbolism,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18or on the internet, about symbolism.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21I need to check what something like an apple means,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25or a particular vase, or a particular colour.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28These all symbolically mean things.
0:19:28 > 0:19:34When I look it up it's really interesting because quite often it gives you another idea.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40So you might look at something like a mirror,
0:19:40 > 0:19:45and you think, "I want a mirror in this, cos I'm going to have a reflection of maybe me in it."
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Or a reflection of the objects. And then you'll find that the mirror
0:19:49 > 0:19:55is likened to the moon, and you find that the moon is to do with female,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57because it reflects the light of the sun.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06All of my projects use referencing from history.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09The work that I'm doing at the moment, I'm referencing
0:20:09 > 0:20:13some of the traditional crafts within English Manor Houses.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16I'm referencing in particular Grinling Gibbons,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19who was a master wood carver, 17th century.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25And so I'm kind of...I've been doing lots of kinds of experiments in the studio about the actual technique.
0:20:25 > 0:20:31Now I feel like I'm ready to start actually developing ideas with that technique.
0:20:36 > 0:20:42All the time that I was working with the process I was sort of starting to think about the ideas then.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44So it's a very kind of reactive process.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47I'm reacting to things all the time.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51I like those situations, because they're challenging.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05When I first started to use a varied range of materials,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07it was to do with using found objects.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11So I'd find objects on these journeys to find narratives,
0:21:11 > 0:21:17and some of the sites I went on I used to find lots of different pieces of old metal,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20and I wanted to embed them into the paintings.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24And then eventually, when you come to a place like Hampton Court Palace,
0:21:24 > 0:21:29you can't start taking things off the wall and start embedding them into the paintings.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32So at that point I realised I had to find things.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37So I used to go to junk shops and try and find the equivalents of, "That looks like a little crown,"
0:21:37 > 0:21:40although it's not a crown, or, "That looks like an amazing piece of jewellery,"
0:21:40 > 0:21:45but it's just a tacky piece of jewellery that's been bought from a charity shop.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49But once they're in the paintings they tend to have very jewel-like qualities.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02There's definitely a huge narrative element in my work.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Maybe I'm scared of revealing who I am,
0:22:06 > 0:22:12so I look for other people's stories to tell my own stories, so I come at it from a slightly different angle.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25When I first started to use, a varied range of materials,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28it was to do with using found objects.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30FOOTSTEPS
0:22:35 > 0:22:39So when I first came to Hampton Court I knew that there were these apartments upstairs
0:22:39 > 0:22:45that were derelict and that grace and favour inhabitants had lived in.
0:22:46 > 0:22:54One night, one of the residents had gone to bed, and her candle fell and the bedspread caught fire.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Obviously that's how the fire spread through the palace.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01It was one of those moments that I just thought, "This is it!
0:23:01 > 0:23:04"This will be one of the subjects I deal with."
0:23:04 > 0:23:11So I decided that I'd start with the apartment upstairs and where it started.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16In the remnants of the fire they found a little invitation card
0:23:16 > 0:23:21and so I've had this idea that she was just about to have a tea party.
0:23:22 > 0:23:28So I decided that I would combine that story with the element of the fire.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32And the aim of the painting was to take the viewer on a visual journey.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35So the painting's really in two halves.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40On the left-hand side, you see the damage and everything that happened with the fire.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45And then on the right-hand side of the painting you see it being brought back to life again.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47So you go on a sort of circular journey.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52So as you look through the painting, you see different layers that are unravelled.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54It definitely goes from left to right,
0:23:54 > 0:24:00and you probably leave the painting through the mirror and the baroque figure on the right-hand side.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07I spend a lot of time looking at things.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12You go to museums and you go to galleries and see other people's work kind of gathering images
0:24:12 > 0:24:18and reading about artists and reading about kind of historical episodes.
0:24:19 > 0:24:26It's important to know where your ideas stand in terms of, you know, the broader kind of context.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38When I was making these drawings, I was only limiting myself to red, black and white, particularly,
0:24:38 > 0:24:44because of its kind of totalitarian sort of implications.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Sort of using that repeatedly with pattern
0:24:47 > 0:24:51sort of reinforces the kind of political content in my work,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and then later on I've started using gold,
0:24:54 > 0:24:59particularly the colour from gold leaf to add another texture
0:24:59 > 0:25:06and also to kind of emphasise the idea of excess in, you know, actually using gold in the work.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10You know, it surely gets that across.
0:25:12 > 0:25:18And the wigs is actually a very easy and a very kind of tactile way of talking about...
0:25:18 > 0:25:20a particular kind of excess.
0:25:20 > 0:25:27All the ideas and all the implications of these kind of big historical ideas
0:25:27 > 0:25:32can be contained in a single kind of quite disgusting object.
0:25:33 > 0:25:40They're kind of symbols of power, but they're also kind of decayed power in a way.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45When you're actually making the piece, it becomes its own self.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49These kind of cultural and political interests will always be there,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53but the kind of actual making, the process of making
0:25:53 > 0:25:57takes over when you're when you're sort of producing work.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03When we start making work,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07it's it's usually a conversation that starts it off,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10and that might be sparked by sort of one bit of information
0:26:10 > 0:26:14or something that one of us is thinking about.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18And then it becomes a process of talking about that.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22And for me that's a sort of really interesting stage,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27because say I've got an idea, it immediately gets transformed
0:26:27 > 0:26:31when maybe Emma starts talking about it or Kenny starts talking about it.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36So there's this kind of mutation of ideas, if you like,
0:26:36 > 0:26:41that you wouldn't get if it was just me developing a piece of work.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45Everything that we use is familiar to everyone,
0:26:45 > 0:26:50from the technology that we actually use to view it,
0:26:50 > 0:26:51i.e. the...
0:26:51 > 0:26:58the TVs... Even from the...cameras that we use to like film things.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Everything's, like, obsolete technology, or it's been in people's households, it's familiar.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Just sort of developing it and putting it back out there.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20Why do we specifically make visual art, it's because we're all quite visually aware.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23I think there's a conceptual side which maybe you talked about there.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28But in terms of the things we use, there's definitely a kind of visual theme running through that.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31And that's something we can identify with and use.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33TV'S PLAY
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Lots of the work revolves around journeys.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Being absent and being present.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57Quite often I go places and send, send messages back from them.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04When I went to Antarctica, I made a drawing a day and sent it out by e-mail,
0:28:04 > 0:28:11so it was kind of dispatches back from a journey getting further away, further and further south.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Pieces like the chair going into space.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24It's sending this thing off on a journey that is sending messages back.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27So it's, again, about feeling this distance
0:28:27 > 0:28:31and I'm, in some ways, sort of, yeah, measuring the world,
0:28:31 > 0:28:38sort of just wanting to know what it's like up there and sending something to report back and tell me.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46To think through an idea you sort of have to manifest it in some way,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49you have to put it down somewhere.
0:28:50 > 0:28:56It's, I guess, the way that I try to understand the world around me.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02I just wanted to have a sort of view of...
0:29:04 > 0:29:09..initially myself sort of getting smaller and smaller in a larger and lager context.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28At the moment I'm making work by using a method which in ceramics is called coiling.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30It's like coiling a big pot.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36I'm starting at the bottom, at the feet, and working up to the top, to the top of the head,
0:29:36 > 0:29:41using small coils of clay, soft clay which I join together and just build up the walls
0:29:41 > 0:29:47of the legs and the body, and then have to work down to coil the arms.
0:29:48 > 0:29:54I'm leaving the evidence of the way they're built very visible.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57You can see where each coil joins on to the next one.
0:29:57 > 0:30:04I'm very interested in mixing materials, so bringing into the ceramic figure...
0:30:04 > 0:30:11other media, found objects, other materials like plaster or wax or latex.
0:30:11 > 0:30:17I've also got this kind of playtime going on where I'm going to start dipping heads into plaster
0:30:17 > 0:30:22or wrapping fabric round things, and that's partly because...
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Clay is a very strong material base to work with,
0:30:25 > 0:30:31but there's so many interesting materials out there that I'd quite like to expand that repertoire.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Obviously, when you're making figures out of clay,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37there's a form to be made.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42You build a clay figure, and then you fire it to make it strong.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46And then you can do all sorts of other thing to it, like paint it and glaze it.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51So in terms of form, it's finished when you've decided, "That's it,"
0:30:51 > 0:30:53and it's going to get dried and it's going to go in the kiln.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03For this particular project my studio is based on a building site,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06on the edge of the building site at King's Cross.
0:31:06 > 0:31:12And I actually have what were offices as my studio space.
0:31:12 > 0:31:19When I'm thinking about starting a new sculptural work, I'll get very intrigued by a material
0:31:19 > 0:31:26and think about different ways of using it and ways of moulding it or joining it together or casting it.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31And so it's very much about the material as a starting point.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38I often find myself having to really research materials.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43I get very excited about using a material that isn't something
0:31:43 > 0:31:47that would traditionally be used in an art context.
0:31:47 > 0:31:52And kind of getting lots of this stuff and playing with it.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55And it means that I end up going to quite interesting places
0:31:55 > 0:32:00and talking to people about machines that they use in a very specific way. And they're always quite surprised.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06The making part, regeneration, and the processes
0:32:06 > 0:32:13that I've been observing on site have impacted into the work itself.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17So there is this sense of something new coming about,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21also something old being preserved, and also a reworking of materials.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27So all of that kind of does very much fit in with my work.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34I use pencils, I use marker pens, I use spray paints.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Um, I create 3D works,
0:32:37 > 0:32:39I work on mannequins.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43I do cut and paste collage.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47I use big toner print-outs from commercial printers.
0:32:47 > 0:32:53I have a whole palette of different techniques that I'm constantly re-learning myself and evolving
0:32:53 > 0:32:56and picking up on that I use in my work.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58If I've decided part of the process of creating
0:32:58 > 0:33:02a certain piece of work is using silk-screening,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05taking work out of my studio and going to the silk-screening studio,
0:33:05 > 0:33:10where a lot of my friends are based, is a really exciting time for me.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12I love all the pre-preparation.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15I get down there, I can pull my screens out
0:33:15 > 0:33:18from the racks, I'll clean them all out and get a new image in there.
0:33:18 > 0:33:24It's hard for me to not get too excited and start making mistakes cos I just want to get printing!
0:33:29 > 0:33:33Once you get your work on the print bed, and you get all the inks on the screens
0:33:33 > 0:33:36and you do the first pull of the ink onto the canvas,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40that satisfaction of getting such a crisp, perfect image
0:33:40 > 0:33:42onto the piece of work is...
0:33:42 > 0:33:44It's kind of indescribable, in a way.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54In terms of materials and techniques,
0:33:54 > 0:33:56I'm interested in
0:33:56 > 0:33:59the physicality of...paint
0:33:59 > 0:34:06and the presentation of a mark or a gesture within paint.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10But I want to contextualise that
0:34:10 > 0:34:15and place that within a space which is largely photographic.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20'I almost always start with one or more photographic sessions
0:34:20 > 0:34:23'with an actor or actress.'
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Pose in front of the window here, with the book, and I'm going to...
0:34:26 > 0:34:29Lean against it? Or do you want me to just...
0:34:29 > 0:34:36'For which I've chosen costume, and may have built elements of a set.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38'I organise lighting, and I use that
0:34:38 > 0:34:43'to generate the bulk of the visual information I require.'
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Yeah, that's good.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Good. A very different feel from the flesh.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53I use digital printed information,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57pigment printed onto paper and canvas.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00I use more traditional materials such as pencil drawing,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03charcoal and oil paint.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31The way I work is a combination of working in situ, outside,
0:35:31 > 0:35:33and working in the studio.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38The work outside is obviously a very direct...
0:35:38 > 0:35:44result of contact with nature, or with my environment.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48Basically, everything out there is paintable.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Whether it's a bus in London or a gorse bush in the hedge.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Everything is paintable.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00But I need... More than that, I need a reason to paint it.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04The weather, the elements are affecting me directly
0:36:04 > 0:36:10and what I'm making, as well as often the saltwater,
0:36:10 > 0:36:15the...the mud, the vegetation, the insects.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19It all gets somehow combined into what I'm doing,
0:36:19 > 0:36:23often accidentally. But a lot of it is actually in the subconscious.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27You're not actually aware of, you know, how many times
0:36:27 > 0:36:32you're looking at something to make sure you've really seen it, it's just happening.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37And it's only when I look at myself on film or in photographs of working afterwards
0:36:37 > 0:36:41that I've actually seen that I've been clawing with my fingernails
0:36:41 > 0:36:43or pushing it around with my toes, or...
0:36:43 > 0:36:49I've actually mixed up a colour that wasn't in front of me.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51I'll do that, then I'll retreat into the studio
0:36:51 > 0:36:56and somehow continue working on it, but in a different way.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58But eventually trying to reach that point
0:36:58 > 0:37:02where basically I can't think of anything else to do to it.
0:37:02 > 0:37:03I can't change it in any way.
0:37:03 > 0:37:09And then I'm trying to find that point where I put the final full stop, the punctuation, you know.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18We all look at places in different ways.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22And all I'm trying to do is show people what I think,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25what I see, when I visit a place.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28What is it that excites me?
0:37:28 > 0:37:31It's the world around me that excites me,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35but it's also how you interpret the world around you that excites me.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40And everybody interprets it in totally different ways.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47Whenever I'm... I'm walking out in a landscape,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51I always tend to bring stuff back with me.
0:37:51 > 0:37:56Bits of stone, bits of grass, bits of twigs, bits of feathers.
0:37:56 > 0:38:01And it's a combination of all those things.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04I want to show people all the little detail,
0:38:04 > 0:38:09the intricacies of what you see on the ground,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12what you see through the filigree of trees.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16How one thing is seen in front of another thing,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19is seen in front of another thing.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21How they're different surfaces,
0:38:21 > 0:38:24different qualities of light, different textures.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32And how you put it down on a two-dimensional plane
0:38:32 > 0:38:35in order to show all that complexity,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38I have to invent ways
0:38:38 > 0:38:40of explaining that.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48I tend to paint one surface and then I'll paint something over the top of that surface
0:38:48 > 0:38:53and then there'll be another painting on the top of that
0:38:53 > 0:38:56which is sealed in acrylic medium.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59And it can be several layers.
0:38:59 > 0:39:04You look through my paintings as much as across the paintings.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09And you can definitely see each individual layer
0:39:09 > 0:39:12and the gap between each individual layer.
0:39:28 > 0:39:35When I work, I require total silence in order to reach a state of mind
0:39:35 > 0:39:40in which my body, my mind and my work
0:39:40 > 0:39:44are a single and harmonious unit.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47When I paint I like to stand up.
0:39:47 > 0:39:52And then to me to paint is like going to battle with yourself.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54I have to win.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57I have to bully the painting, you see.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Either by destroying it, or by keeping it.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10And there's no compromise, and because of that
0:40:10 > 0:40:16I think every painting that I manage to complete, I think is a victory.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21I scrape, I splash, I change, I expand
0:40:21 > 0:40:25and I evolve.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28And I never know where I will end up.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32I think it is this very challenge that keeps me going,
0:40:32 > 0:40:37and it is also the unknown that creates such enormous
0:40:37 > 0:40:42and irresistible temptation to go further and further.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46As I paint,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49I go through a spectrum of emotions.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53Wave after wave of thoughts come to me.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57And then what I usually do is use the brush to dip into the jar of colour
0:40:57 > 0:41:03to which I feel the most passionate response at that particular moment.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08Whenever my concentration has been disturbed,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11or I have spent any time away from a piece of work,
0:41:11 > 0:41:17it usually takes me some time to go back to it.
0:41:17 > 0:41:23And if that happens I usually skip or do some stretching,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27or practice my martial art moves.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31And that gives me a lot of fresh energy to go on.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36I always finish a painting in one go no matter how long it takes.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39It could be two hours, three hours.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42I have all the energy and patience in the world,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45to make it happen and to await the new birth.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01Critical evaluation from the outside can actually come from different sources.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Sometimes it can come from other artists,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07but also in my position as a portrait painter
0:42:07 > 0:42:10one of the most important criticisms is often from
0:42:10 > 0:42:11the client, the sitter,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15and how they feel about how I've represented them.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19So I've had clients who've said, "Oh, that doesn't look like me.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21"My nose is too big!" Or "Make me thinner."
0:42:21 > 0:42:25And sometimes you have to strike a balance between pleasing your client
0:42:25 > 0:42:27and doing exactly what you want.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29So in that situation there,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32you definitely have to respond to personal critique.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35But then in my personal work, if someone doesn't like it,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38if it's a technical issue, then I'll probably listen and say,
0:42:38 > 0:42:40"Oh, thank you for the advice."
0:42:40 > 0:42:44If someone says, "I don't like that cos it's red, I don't like red,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47"it won't go with my bathroom," I think, "Well, I like it red."
0:42:50 > 0:42:53The people that I try to please, if any,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56are the people that are important to me.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00I have people that I speak to that I bounce ideas off from,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03and often they say, have you considered this, for example?
0:43:03 > 0:43:07And I think it's the closeness of who they are that's important,
0:43:07 > 0:43:11that will affect me to think about the collections I put out,
0:43:11 > 0:43:16rather than a magazine or someone writing to say that they do or don't like something.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20So from that point of view, it's a yes or no type of thing.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22It depends who is saying it.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25From a business point of view, absolutely, if a buyer came to us
0:43:25 > 0:43:29and said they would consider buying if you made the jacket longer,
0:43:29 > 0:43:34obviously you'd do that, within reason that it doesn't change the overall design.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37But that hardly ever happens these days.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41I think being new on the British fashion scene, we're at that stage
0:43:41 > 0:43:46where people are sitting back and watching what it is that I do.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49And hopefully the styles are all in the right place.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51As a designer I've been doing good,
0:43:51 > 0:43:55and from a business point of view, which is the collective Jacob Kimmie,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57we've been doing good at the same time.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02There are people that I feel that I want and need to impress.
0:44:02 > 0:44:08And it's not necessarily the editor of Vogue, or a newspaper as such.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11And I think that's the way I work, it's a need
0:44:11 > 0:44:13wanting to make the customer happy,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16in fashion, that's what it's all about.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30A piece might be finished, be exhibited,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34have been exhibited in the same form for ten years.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38And then it will be in my studio and I'll be looking at it,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44and I'll think, "You're not finished!"
0:44:44 > 0:44:46And I'll work on it again.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53And sometimes, it's better,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57and sometimes I think, "Oh, I've ruined it!"
0:45:06 > 0:45:07You paint something once
0:45:07 > 0:45:11with one colour and think, "I'll fire it and see what it looks like."
0:45:11 > 0:45:14and it comes out and you think, "That's enough."
0:45:14 > 0:45:19And other times you paint... like one I've got here, which I think I might paint again.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Because I painted her with some red and then painted some glaze on her,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25and I think she looks a complete mess!
0:45:25 > 0:45:30She's either going in the bin or she's going to get repainted,
0:45:30 > 0:45:33just to see whether something else can happen.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48I think there are certain people
0:45:48 > 0:45:51who, if they said something about your work
0:45:51 > 0:45:54you would take notice.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56It's whether you're bright enough
0:45:56 > 0:45:59to understand what they've said is relevant to you.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03Everybody interprets things differently.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09There's the old adage that
0:46:09 > 0:46:13"The viewer always knows much more than the artist intended."
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Because there are so many more viewers out there,
0:46:15 > 0:46:17and everybody has an opinion.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21And in a sense, everybody's right!
0:46:23 > 0:46:27If it's a good piece of art, it can cope with all that.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32You know, because it has so many ways of being interpreted.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47Somebody said in an exhibition I had,
0:46:47 > 0:46:52"All your people look towards the right of the canvas.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55And I looked at it and I thought, "They do!"
0:46:55 > 0:46:58I'd never thought of that! Obviously it wasn't all,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01but the huge amount of them looking to the right.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05I think it's to do with reading, the idea of reading across.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07And in the West we read from left to right.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10That is really, really interesting psychologically.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Why am I doing that? And that made me rethink everything.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16That was about ten years ago, somebody said that.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18You think, "That's fascinating!"
0:47:25 > 0:47:30When I paint... Usually I'm not aware of what I'm doing.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34When I fully focus, my hand is guided by my heart.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39And because I paint from my heart,
0:47:39 > 0:47:43when it is finished, my heart will tell me to stop.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47When I create,
0:47:47 > 0:47:53I never consider the viewer's mind or what they think of my work.
0:47:53 > 0:47:58When I paint, I paint with my heart and am very sincere about it.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02And then up to my viewer to use their imagination to see it,
0:48:02 > 0:48:04and use your heart to feel it.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17You have to know a little bit about promotion.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20A very good friend of mine,
0:48:20 > 0:48:22who's reasonably famous,
0:48:22 > 0:48:27always said to me that there are lots of people with their hands in the air shouting,
0:48:27 > 0:48:28"Me, me, me, me!" And he said,
0:48:28 > 0:48:33"If you're not one of them, it's definitely not going to be you."
0:48:33 > 0:48:34For me as a portrait painter,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37a lot of my income comes from commissioned work.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41I feel very, very lucky that I am able to earn money
0:48:41 > 0:48:44from doing something that I really enjoy.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47When I was a student at university,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51selling paintings meant that I didn't have to be a waitress,
0:48:51 > 0:48:55which is just as well, because I'd really have hated it!
0:48:55 > 0:48:58The way they come to me very often is they see my work in exhibitions.
0:48:58 > 0:49:05So I make sure that I put paintings into exhibitions in London at least once a year.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08The work that you put into that is your calling card.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11People will see that and that's all that they will know about you.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15So I do my best to make that the best painting I can.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18And if I'm working in different styles, I'll maybe
0:49:18 > 0:49:22aim the style to the exhibition and the market in question.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25I live by selling my art.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28But all my sales and exhibitions
0:49:28 > 0:49:33are taken care of by my dealer in London.
0:49:33 > 0:49:38And my job is now solely to produce some good work to sell.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43And it was very hard,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46difficult for me at the beginning.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49And I had to do other jobs,
0:49:49 > 0:49:53so that I had enough money to pay for my materials
0:49:53 > 0:49:57and the rent of the little poky studio, you see.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02Even nowadays I still have to be very careful about spending my money,
0:50:02 > 0:50:08because I never know when my next painting will be sold.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10And even I have exhibitions,
0:50:10 > 0:50:15there is no guarantee they will result in good sales.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19Over the years I've built up lots of different outlets for my work.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21Um, for my originals.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24When I was younger I just put on all my own exhibitions.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27That's a great way to learn how to deal with people.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Over the years I've built up relationships with gallery owners.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34When I produce a new piece of work, I send it to them.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37Then they will include me in exhibitions.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Or you have a solo show, so you build a whole body of work.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43And now I have quite a lot of outlets for my prints,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47and I have a lot of different galleries that I deal with who sell my original works.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54I invent work for myself,
0:50:54 > 0:51:00in that I'll put my sculpture on the street, you know.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03And I discovered that you can do that in England
0:51:03 > 0:51:07without planning permission for 28 days.
0:51:07 > 0:51:13So just by talking to arts officers in various boroughs,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16I was able to put my work out.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19And just by having this conversation about showing work,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23they involve you in other projects and you generate work.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28In terms of marketing or letting people see what we do,
0:51:28 > 0:51:34the internet's really a quick and easy way to show people what we do from a distance.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36Or, you know, wherever somebody is.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39But also as a kind of way to make work
0:51:39 > 0:51:45specifically for that format that anyone can also access.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49And people then immediately get a sort of sense of what we're doing,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52whether it's just from a DVD box or, you know,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55from the sort of design of the website.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01I think it's really important that what I do sells well,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04because that's how I make my living.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07If my pictures don't fit in today's interiors,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10then people aren't going to buy them and hang them.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14So I think if I have something that I particularly want to do
0:52:14 > 0:52:18which is not very marketable, not very saleable,
0:52:18 > 0:52:20then I'll do it and keep it for myself.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24If I want to make a living, then my picture's got to hang on somebody's wall.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29I do have a publishing company and they distribute the work
0:52:29 > 0:52:32all over the world through major outlets.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36They are people that I wouldn't get to myself with the originals,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38so I'm really, really glad of that help.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47I think the idea of wanting to be a fashion designer,
0:52:47 > 0:52:51and I think the flamboyant image that's perpetuated
0:52:51 > 0:52:57by what we think designers are all about, isn't real!
0:52:57 > 0:53:01In fashion you're only as good as what your team is.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03There is no Jacob Kimmie without the team.
0:53:03 > 0:53:09And I think that perhaps is where the idea of, "Are you an artist?
0:53:09 > 0:53:10"Are you a craftsman?
0:53:10 > 0:53:15"Are you a business?" You know, "Are you a marketer?
0:53:15 > 0:53:19"Are you a PR?" It is everything, at the end of the day, in fashion.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25I teach to supplement my making.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28But I also see my teaching as being quite important
0:53:28 > 0:53:32to my own practice as well, because I teach fine art.
0:53:32 > 0:53:38I'm talking to 18-year-olds mainly, who are interested in that area.
0:53:38 > 0:53:45And so I go... When I teach and I work, I'm talking about ideas.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48I'm talking about artists and exhibitions that I've seen
0:53:48 > 0:53:51or they've seen, and it's part of the conversation.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53So it does feed into my practice.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06We recognised that the entrance into Liverpool,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09its main gateway, its railway station,
0:54:09 > 0:54:11environmentally was very poor.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14So we knew we needed to do something positive,
0:54:14 > 0:54:16we knew it needed to be a big scheme,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19and so we've demolished a 13-storey tower,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22we've demolished a series of 1970s shops,
0:54:22 > 0:54:24and they're going to be replaced by
0:54:24 > 0:54:28just a very simple public realm scheme, with ramps and steps.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33As part of that, we wanted to populate it with public art.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36The Liverpool commission,
0:54:36 > 0:54:41they didn't ask me to come up with an idea.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43I was selected on the strength of my work,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47and then really, the brief is the site.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52It seemed obvious to me that the site is kind of to do with travel.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56The majority of people leaving Europe went through Liverpool Lime Street Station
0:54:56 > 0:55:02and down to Liverpool Docks and got on ships going to New York, Canada.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05I wanted to make a work that reflected
0:55:05 > 0:55:10that sort of founding journey of Liverpool, in a sense.
0:55:11 > 0:55:17I got on a container ship and travelled across the Atlantic
0:55:17 > 0:55:22and finally ended up in this little town called Liverpool.
0:55:22 > 0:55:30And on this journey that took four weeks, I made 194 drawings.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34And then eventually they're going to be installed
0:55:34 > 0:55:37in the ground of this new site
0:55:37 > 0:55:40etched into York stone.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44So as you arrive at Liverpool Lime Street,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47you'll look out at the city of Liverpool
0:55:47 > 0:55:51but through drawings coming from the wrong Liverpool.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59I think public art is very important for a city.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03I think there's something joyful about public art, good public art.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05It actually provides an identity.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15The way I approach a commission is to think about
0:56:15 > 0:56:20and analyse the location, the place where the commission's going.
0:56:20 > 0:56:25The brief of the Meeting Place was short but precise.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29In terms of the dimensions, the weight, the height, the material.
0:56:36 > 0:56:41Paul's brief was to create an iconic sculpture
0:56:41 > 0:56:44that could sit beneath the clock,
0:56:44 > 0:56:46symbolise the station as a meeting place.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50But at the same time become famous, become talked about
0:56:50 > 0:56:52and be a centre point for debate
0:56:52 > 0:56:56but not detract from the architecture of the station.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03It had to be romantic, accessible, sort of democratic.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10And something that could easily be distinguished and remembered.
0:57:13 > 0:57:20Paul quite quickly honed in on this idea of a couple meeting,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23and that went through several different incarnations,
0:57:23 > 0:57:26for example, a snogging couple we had first of all,
0:57:26 > 0:57:29but we reminded him, "This is a British station,
0:57:29 > 0:57:31"and has the requisite amount of reserve."
0:57:31 > 0:57:33And so in the end the couple were...
0:57:33 > 0:57:38Their heads were moved slightly so that they had a meeting of foreheads and a meeting of minds.
0:57:38 > 0:57:43If the restrictions that are placed in the brief are sensible,
0:57:43 > 0:57:45have been thought out and are realistic,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47then it's stimulating and it helps focus the mind.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50What has changed making public works
0:57:50 > 0:57:54is my appreciation of the impact of my work on an environment,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57and a factoring in into my thinking,
0:57:57 > 0:58:03my creative thinking, the space and the knock-on effect of the work in that space.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07It's tempting to want to go back and tinker with an idea.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11In this case there was no time, it had to be done quickly and promptly.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13People have to come across a work of art
0:58:13 > 0:58:17and firstly be struck by it visually and physically.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20But then if that's followed by an emotional attachment,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23which leads to possibly other layers of interpretation,
0:58:23 > 0:58:27that's the function that art should adopt.
0:58:43 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:46 > 0:58:48E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk