Posts Tagged ‘investment’
Apr 26
Featured Artist: Sara Pope
Each and every month we will be asking artists the questions you were too scared to ask and find out what makes them tick…
Sara Pope has been producing her innovative designs from a background in design and fashion. Her work has been displayed across the globe and one piece is permanently displayed in the Vatican.
Good morning Sara:
You were born in Stoke-on-Trent and spent time living in Spain. Where is home? I’ve lived in several places but Brighton is my new home. I moved here a year ago and I love it. I also spend a lot of time in Paris and in Italy.
Your lips images are so iconic. What’s your inspiration for them? All my work is ultimately about communication. My first paintings were portraits, as I was interested in exploring the emotion that it was possible to convey. Lips are a distillation of that, the mouth is integral to our ability to communicate and express feelings. Coming from a fashion back ground, when looking for inspiration I look at fashion and advertising, which I think is reflected in the lips, the seductive, glossy way that I like to paint them, and the quite sexy, flirtatious quality they have.
What has been the reaction to the visit to the Vatican and the acceptance of your work by the Pope? It’s been incredible, the story appeared in the Sunday Express on Easter Sunday, and then the phone didn’t stop ringing. I was interviewed live on Sky News, BBC News, BBC Radio and several regional newspapers. On a more personal level, acquaintances and friends, particularly those who are Catholic have expressed to me how much they love the portrait, and what a wonderful achievement it is.
What’s the best and worst parts of being an artist? It’s all pretty great to be honest, to be able to do every day something that you love, and that takes you to places and to meet people that otherwise you never would, such as the Vatican private quarters! It can be very frustrating when work is not working out but when it goes right it’s a fab feeling.
Which artist do you admire the most and have you met them? Francis Bacon, I love the immediate, visceral quality of his work. Also he was such a charismatic, articulate man, it would be amazing to go back in time and meet him. I think a night out with him would be one you wouldn’t forget in a hurry!
What would be your advice to any budding artist? Think big, the sky’s the limit.
What are your plans for 2015/2016 regarding new work, collaborations and exhibitions? Well, I’ve got a very exciting 2015 planned. I’m doing a collaboration with bareMinerals make up brand at the moment. We already did a really successful event in March, resulting in my work featuring in Sunday Times Style magazine, and we’ll be doing another event in June for the launch of their lip oil balm range ‘Pop of Passion’. I’m going to be part of the Brighton Fringe Festival on 31st May, exhibiting with artrepublic Gallery. I have a solo show at Boxpark in East London at the end of June to launch the print of my Pope portrait (it will be a POP-e UP show!) And for 2016 I’m in talks to do some very exciting collaborations, but I can’t say too much yet!
If you weren’t an artist what would be your dream job? It would be as a shoe designer, which I’m lucky enough to have already achieved and continue to do, consulting for a Danish brand.
Your favourite holiday destination? Hot or Cold? Hot definitely, nothing says holiday to me like a sparkling blue sea, and enough heat to make me want to jump right in.
Lastly…Are you a full English or Continental breakfast kinda girl? I’m all a bit healthy for breakfast, fresh juices and granola style, but you can’t beat rashers and maple syrup every now and then.
Sara Pope. Lips 3. Hand finished in 24k gold and gloss. 1/25 310gsm museum velvet paper. Giclee. 610×610. Signed and numbered. Only 5 available.
Sara Pope. Lips 4. Hand finished with diamond dust. 1/25 310gsm museum velvet paper. Giclee. 610×610. Signed and numbered. Only 5 available.
Sara Pope. Lips 6. Hand finished with diamond dust. 1/25 310gsm museum velvet paper. Giclee. 610×610. Signed and numbered. There are only 4 available.
For more of Sara Pope’s work, please visit her Gallery Page.
Be the first to find out about great new artworks and artists.
In 2014, to commemorate her first international solo show in Italy, Sara embarked on probably her most difficult portrait to date, that of Pope Francis. Not only is this Pontiff highly popular, but he is also a reformer. With this comes a huge weight of responsibility which Sara was keen to express in the portrait. Sara signed it with a personal message on the back. Sara Pope’s portrait of Pope Francis was accepted by the Pope to form part of the Vatican collection. Sara was invited to personally present the painting in Rome in September of that year.
You can see a short film of Sara’s journey to the Vatican, from Florence where she was exhibiting her latest collection of original works.
A print of the Sara Pope piece is currently being developed and will be available soon. The date of which will be announced. If you would like to make a pre-order, please email:info@thechurchwardgallery.com → Read more
Apr 07
Sara Pope Interview BBC
There’s no stopping Sara right now! Another print has just left her studio for it’s new home in Hampshire too.
Sara Pope Interviewed by Sky News
Here’s Gallery Artist Sara Pope on Sky News showing her Pope painting. This artist is about to explode and now would be the time to grab her work while it’s still affordable. Sara is going to be a superstar. Contact The Churchward Gallery for all her artwork.
Pop Things (Marilyn Monroe). Original canvas painting. By Alain Magallon.
Gary Churchward Interview: Online versus High Street – crunch time for art galleriesBy James Brewer
The future of the fine art market is in your hands – or, more precisely, in your internet browser.
Online art sites are challenging the traditional way of buying and selling, as the cost of running gallery property and maintaining adequate staffing continues to rise.
London businessman Gary Churchward, who has tested both the premises-based and the online options, has come down firmly in favour of the latter. His venture, www.thechurchwardgallery.com is ringing up steady sales of mainly contemporary prints and paintings.
While bricks-and-mortar galleries have long flourished thanks to the face-to-face relationships of proprietors with customers, virtual platforms offer flexibility and ease of transaction, and generate new audiences for artists, galleries and private sellers. It is little wonder that many old school galleries now include an online purchase facility.
Gary Churchward. Photo by Cristina Schek
Research in 2013 by insurer Hiscox revealed the growing trend for buying art online – with, at that stage, 71% of contemporary art collectors surveyed having bought artwork on the strength of a JPEG image. Buying art in that way has become the norm rather than the exception, said the insurer, although its study found that the majority of traditional galleries had resisted the move to e-commerce.
Mr Churchward relates how he came to be a champion of the online choice. He said: “Ten years ago or so, I started collecting art purely for personal enjoyment, meeting and building relationships with some of the artists along the way. One thing led to another and the next step was to operate my own online art gallery as the amount of stock I had compiled had become substantial, and the contacts I had made encouraged me do so.
“I had opened ‘pop up’ galleries in Shoreditch and in Southfields, different parts of London. Both had elements of potential success but also paved the way to showing that a high street presence, although wonderful to operate, costs a vast amount to sustain. I came to the conclusion that a viable high street establishment would be incredibly expensive, and highly risky without a good deal of investment backing in place. → Read more
Deborah Azzopardi. Photo by Cristina Schek
Deborah Azzopardi TRUE STORY: Life is a Miracle – Sometimes UnpredictableNew work from London artist Deborah Azzopardi in collaboration with musician Noris Schek
By James Brewer
It is remarkable that just one painting can show how small the world has become, says London artist Deborah Azzopardi.
Deborah has long enjoyed global renown for her piquant and playful Pop Art portraits of faux romantic episodes involving smart young people. One of her best loved pieces is called Sshh… It shows a glamorous female with her well manicured, red-nailed finger seductively pressed against her lips. Prints of the illustration hang on living room walls world-wide and those who possess it proudly consider it part of the furniture.
Life Is A Miracle… Sometimes Unpredictable. By Deborah Azzopardi
By chance, Deborah found out not long ago that one such collector – a young Hungarian folk/blues musician living in Transylvania 1,800 km from her London studio – had been inspired to compose a vibrant and moving melody in honour of the print.
Deborah says of the tribute: “How wonderful that was – millions of editions of the image have been sold, and one man with his guitar comes along and dedicates a song to it.”
It was the first time that anyone had applied a musical interpretation to one of her canvases – and there are few contemporary parallels, the best known being the Don McLean 1972 hit song Vincent written as a tribute to Van Gogh and his painting The Starry Night after the American singer read a biography of the Dutch artist.
Deborah happened to find the song celebrating her work on the internet, and the upshot was that she met the singer/songwriter from afar, Noris Schek, in London, which led to the two collaborating on a unique new combined music and visual art project.
Deborah Azzopardi’s work at London Art Fair
Noris said: “Deborah Azzopardi’s artis global – I had the Sshh… on my wall, back in Transylvania. In 2011 I had written The Quiet Song inspired by the painting. I didn’t plan to write the song, it just came to me. It just happened: it was meant to happen!
“A couple of months before my wife Cristina and I came to live in London to find a wider audience for my music, the song was recorded and shared with the world on the internet, along with a short explanation telling people where my inspiration came from. A year passed and, in July 2013, I got an email. Deborah Azzopardi, the artist of ‘our’ beautiful Pop Art painting was writing to me, saying she had come across my song.
“How often do such things happen? Was it the accident of finding something extraordinary, or just one of life’s miracles? Take your pick, I go for the miracle,” said Noris.
Noris Schek
“Deborah said she very much enjoyed listening to the song, and that she wanted to meet me. I had a concert in Kew Gardens, asked her if she would like to come, and that’s how we met. After that we became good friends.
“My newest composition is called Life Is a Miracle. I recently recorded it, Deborah heard it, and the next thing I knew she was showing me her beautiful, new, larger-than-life painting, inspired by my composition. And she has named it Sometimes Unpredictable, a line found in the lyrics.”
He described as magic “a story that started with an artist creating a painting that inspired a musician, who wrote a song and got to meet the artist who created the painting that inspired the musician to write a song…”
Incidentally, both were already fond of the Don McLean song, having come to it from their respective angles – visual art, and music. → Read more
On Friday a group of art collectors and dealers filed a lawsuit against the Keith Haring foundation, claiming that it has cost them at least $40 million, by publicly labelling around 90 paintings by the late artist ‘counterfeit’ and ‘fake’ and by failing to fully evaluate them.
The lawsuit in US District Court in Manhattan portrayed the Keith Haring Foundation Inc’s approach to authentication as irrational and irresponsible, saying its authentication committee operated for many years “in secret, with little or no explanation and often without ever physically inspecting the works”.
The lawsuit said the foundation, which started shortly before Haring died of AIDS in 1990, disbanded the authentication committee in 2012 to shield itself from litigation over its decisions but continued to obstruct the emergence of new Haring works “through malicious and wrongful tactics” including shutting down a display of Haring art at a Miami show in March 2013. → Read more