tribe magazine issue 8

2009

tribeINTERNATIONAL CREATIVE ARTS MAGAZINE

2 TRIBE MAGAZINE ISSUE 8

ISSUE 8 TRIBE MAGAZINE 3


As one of the co-‐founders of Tribe Magazine with Mark Doyle I thought it was

Fme that I introduced myself. I am a creaFve pracFFoner who specialises in

photography and I am currently studying for my Master’s Degree and looking

forward to eventually starFng a doctorate. I have been asked a lot about what Art

means, so for my editorial piece I would like give my own view. Many quesFons

are oNen posed by art and that is a good thing as it sFrs up the imaginaFon and

it is the imaginaFon that shapes our civilisaFon. We all leave some kind of

presence or reflecFon that can give an insight into our society and culture. I find

this fascinaFng and interesFng to think that in the end maybe objects like books

or images or memory is all we leave behind, all material possessions will in the

end, just like us, be leN to gather dust and decay with the passing of Fme. This is

a theme I have been exploring recently with two arFsts; Kenny Knight and

Jonathan Broks. It’s the small details of human existence such as tombstones,

empty cans, ice cream vans, empty buildings, disregarded places, which are not

only a representaFon of our contemporary culture but also a mirror reflecFng

the past, whilst also poinFng to our future. This is what interests me, with the

power of the spoken word and the use of the images and art to reflect our

culture in the things we leave behind. ArFsFc pracFce in all its forms whispers to

us stories of past events and begs us to think and quesFon our imaginaFon. This

is only one view of the effects of art and how our presence in society mirrors our

idenFty, but the important thing is we conFnue to add to that dialogue in

whatever creaFve medium we choose to express ourselves. And as long as that is

happening, tribe will be there to show it.

Pete Davey, Editorial Director

[email protected]

Tribe would like to say a big thank you to all the designers and illustrators who have

expressed an interest in working with us on both tribe:write and creating our contents pages

for tribe. We are now in the proces of programming practitioners to feature their work on

our contents page but we’d love to hear from more of you. If you would like to create a Tribe

contents page, have work featured on our back page and a show case and interview on our

blog please contact [email protected]. -‐ Ali Donkin, Editor, Tribe Magazine.

Editor In ChiefMark Doyle

EditorAli Donkin

Associate EditorTilly Craig

Editorial DirectorPeter Davey

Marketing DirectorSteve Clement-‐Large

CoverDaniel Seex

PhotographyMark Doyle (except where noted)

ContributorsStig De Block, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Matt Jones, Jocelyn Dee Williams, Mark Doyle, Daniel Seex, Elisa Mcleod, Adrian Balzan, Debby Thijs, Stephen Kirby, Susanne Eriksson, Robert Wallser, Robert Kuta, John Hansen, Marco Cannone, Sarah Bowman

CONTACT

To submit work:[email protected] say hello:[email protected]

Full submission details can be found on our website:

www.tribemagazine.org

Artists have given permissionfor their work to be displayedin tribe magazine. No part ofthis publication may bereproduced without thepermission of the copyrightholder(s)

(C) 2012 Trico Creative CICcompany no 7982933

ISSN: 2050-2352

WELCOME TO ISSUE 8 OF TRIBE

mailto:[email protected]




http://www.tribemagazine.org

http://www.tribemagazine.org


YO U R W O R K H E R E

10 STIG DE BLOCK

40 COSEY FANNI TUTTI

52 MATT JONES

64 THATS THE GO.

JOCELYN DEE WILLIAMS

86 THE POWER OF SILENCE.

MARK DOYLE

94 DANIEL SEEX

102 ELISA MCLEOD


Adrian Balzan

8 TRIBE MAGAZINE ISSUE 8Debby Thijs


STIG DE BLOCK


How do you go about selecting work and col laborations to create your designs?

A col laborat ion usual ly starts with a k ind of br ief ing or info about a theme or subject we want to explore. The interest ing thing about col laborat ions or working in a group on the same project is to look and be inspired by the input of col laborators. In that way I push myself to be more creative and try new media/ k ind of paper. . .

Is there always an ini t ial plan and does i t organical ly change once the process starts?

The most dif f icult part i s the beginning because everything has already been done yet there is so much new to create. I t ry to look for as much content as there is , relat ing to the subject. Then I ask myself what do I want to communicate and the last part i s creating. Dur ing this process I go back and forth to adjust my content or make s loppy decis ions more clear unt i l i t ’s evident for the receiver what i t ' s about.

I have noticed that you use a lot of text with your works - is this fundamental ly important and why?

(Laughs) No that 's the result of my education. Much attent ion is devoted to research. And i f i t st rengthens the project I t ry to integrate that research in i t . I t ' s


also an introduction for the viewer to understand a bit more of what is showed.

You seem to mix contemporary styles with an element of F i lm Noir with the l ikes of your poster work. Also there is an element of using old meets new and could you explain your reasons behind this?

A lot of creatives have had a dialogue with the past because i t ' s a good way to search for 'new' solut ions. Actual ly there is no real new, i t ' s how you interpret and make i t your own.. . I get my candy where i t tastes best.

Also your work is about the hidden and unseen in society this idea interests me in your creative work could you explain further?

I t ' s not hidden. I t i sn 't made yet.

How do you review your work and how does i t play with your own identi ty?

I 'm just as good as my last project. I dis l ike al l my previous work but i t contr ibuted to where I am now so seeing yourself evolving is real ly motivat ing to keep going and do MORE.. . !

What tools do you use to create your works and do you keep up with advances


in technology to i l lustrate your works?

3D and br ight colored plast ic- st i l l l i fes are the new black.

I have also noticed the use of space in between your works and the use of bold words to express your vis ion is this a fundamental important part in your work?

I t ' s a stadium I have to go through before doing something new. I t ' s nothing permanent.

Last ly how do you see your work developing in the future in relat ion to your craft?

PRINT IS NOT DEAD (YET).

stigdeblock.com


stigdeblock.com

ISSUE 8 TRIBE MAGAZINE 29Stephen Kirby


Susanne Eriksson

madebysusy.blogspot.co.uk

http://madebysusy.blogspot.co.uk/

http://madebysusy.blogspot.co.uk/


Robert Wallser


COS E Y F A N N I TUTTI


Performance artist, stripper,

pornographic actress, pioneering

electronica and industrial musician

with the legendary Throbbing

Gristle...Cosey Fanni Tutti talks to

tribe about her interesting CV.


Was there a par*cular moment in your life that prompted you to take your first steps into the world of art? Was it an escape or explora*on/discovery?

I've always operated on the fringe, even in my teens and I was mixing with musicians and arFsts. But prior to that my high school art teacher really influenced me in my outlook as art being a part of my life. She indulged and forgave my many mischief makings as part of my 'talent' as an arFst. bit my father refused to allow me to apply to art college. But my expulsion from my family home was the key factor in unwiingly providing me with the freedom to really explore. From a very early age I had a voracious appeFte for doing the opposite of what was expected of me.

Do you think that audiences now are less prone to shock or outrage? Or do you think that the threshold is the same as it was in the 1960's and 1970's, its just the focus of outrage has changed?

I think people are less sensiFve to some types of direct strategies but the deep down sensiFvity sFll remains. There's a lot of faux outrage expressed for the sake of being PC.

I first encountered you, unbeknown un*l recently, as an 8 year old. A friends brother leant me a copy of UFO's Force It LP, in which two androgynous figures embrace in a kiss in a shower. The cover was designed by Hypgnosis and was very controversial for its *me. What do you remember about that shoot with Genesis?

It was freezing cold weather in a freezing cold half derelict locaFon with freezing cold water poured over us. It seemed to take forever. So it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences.

Controversy has been something that you seem aTracted too. Did you have a compulsion to shock when you were younger or did you have a specific aim in mind? Was/has that aim been realised?

It's the other way around -‐ controversy is ajracted to me. I just do what I do to express myself and grow as a human being. It feels right to me. The fact that it's seems odd to others has always puzzled me. I've always seen the other side of things as more interesFng than the 'norm' and never see why I should sejle for less.

The pornographic work you did put you right at the heart of an industry oUen cri*cised for objec*fying and exploi*ng women. What did you find out about the industry and yourself? How did this inform you as an ar*st and musician?

The industry back then was very different but fundamentally operates on the same premise of supply and demand and 'turnover' -‐ allowing for


cultural changes. The whole business approach to sex interested me as did the exploitaFon and the use readers made of the industry too to fulfil their fantasies. It was far more underground when I worked in the industry and definitely not a 'career' choice for women...or some men. There was none of the hedonisFc indulgence and glorificaFon of the sex industry and being a part of it that exists today...nor was there the internet! It's such a huge quesFon to ask what I found out and got from my work all those years ago. Suffice to say that I got a strength and power greater than I had never expected that impacted both directly and indirectly on my work.

I get a sense from your work, and from reading previous interviews about your work, that you have a strong sense of self determina*on. Society always seems to want to define you, by age, gender, ethnicity etc -‐ do you think that you have helped to remove some of socie*es boundaries and labels through your work?

I hope I and other strong people have helped dismiss the misplaced aitudes to gender, age, ethnicity etc. I've always relate to people as themselves so I'm a lijle shocked when people point out those aspects. Like most recently with our album 'Transverse'. First and foremost the project was about three people creaFng a work together and it worked amazingly well. I guess that disproves a lot of the gender/age thing. There is no gap or need to define if you have the rapport and shared sensiFvity.

What have you discovered about yourself over the course of your ar*s*c life? How have you grown as an ar*st?

Ha! As you grow you become very competent and also discover that you know less. You start off thinking you know it all then gradually realise there's more quesFons than answers. Which is FANTASTIC! I guess that comes from not sejling for answers or accepFng everything is finite.

Your work with Throbbing Gristle seemed a natural evolu*on from your performance work in the 1970's. Did your work in the sex industry inform your musical direc*on in the band? I'm thinking par*cularly of 20 Jazz Funk Greats, and tracks like Hot On The Heels Of Love, which in many ways has became a soundtrack for the underground techno and fe*sh scene -‐ and its influence can s*ll be heard today in clubs.

I think it was my stripping work that contributed to informing 20 Jazz as well as our interest in lounge music. I worked 5 days a week stripping and heard all the mainstream music parFcularly around the Fme of 'NaFve New Yorker', Giorgio Moroda, Donna Summer material. A few of the DJs used to get imports, they were quite fanaFcal about that sound so I heard a lot music from the USA too..


You state that 'life is my art, my art is my life' -‐ where do you want to go next in your art life?

I'll see what life presents me. I hate contrivance. Life has a wonderful way of bringing things to your ajenFon at the right moment then allowing Fme to reveal its true relevance. That's either as a manifested sound or visual art work or as a thought, emoFon or interacFon.

coseyfannitui.com


Robert Kuta

robertkuta.blogspot.co.uk


Matt Jones mattjonezanimation.blogspot.co.uk

http://mattjonezanimation.blogspot.co.uk/

http://mattjonezanimation.blogspot.co.uk/


THAT’S

T H E

G OA movement inspired collection

from Australia based designer

Jocelyn Dee Williams


“ ‘ T h a t ’ s t h e g o ’ i s a n A u s s i e t e r m f o r t h e w a y t o g o . T h e c o l l e c t i o n s u p p o r t s t h e n e w t re n d o f

c i t y c y c l i n g a n d e c o l i f e s t y l e . I t i s a o n e s t o p s h o p f o r u n i q u e , o n e o f f c u t s . C o a t s , t o p s a n d

d re s s e s h a v e a n o l d f a s h i o n e d c h a r m o f t h e b y g o n e a g e o f s o f t a n d s u b t l e f a b r i c s l i k e t w e e d s , s a t i n l i n i n g , s i l k , l a c e w i t h e m b ro i d e r,

f l o r a l p r i n t s a n d t a r t a n . ”


joce


“ A m o d e r n t w i s t o n t r a d i t i o n a l t a i l o r i n g h a v e b e e n t a k e n w i t h

s h o r t e r e v e n i n g d re s s e s , c ro p p e d j a c k e t s a n d l o n g s l e e v e d l a c e t o p s .

A l l m a t e r i a l s h a v e b e e n u p - c y c l e d o r m a d e f ro m a s u s t a i n a b l e

p ro d u c t s u c h a s w o o l . ”


“ Wo r n w i t h a ro u g h c u t d i a m o n d a t t i t u d e a n d a l u x u r y r a g d o l l l o o k

m o s t l y b u t e a c h g a r m e n t t a k e s o n i t ' s o w n p e r s o n a l i t y . A s t h e d a r k

n i g h t s d r a w i n , I ' m c re a t i n g a b r i g h t a n d v i b r a n t c o l l e c t i o n w i t h a f l u o re c a n t f l o r a l p r i n t . ” - Joce lyn

Dee W i l l iams


Photography: Mark Doyle

Make Up: Tilly Craig

Models: Amy-Jane Eaton,

Jodie Wright, Chinyelum

Nwuba

For more information:

http://jossdee.wix.com/wwwjocelyndeedesignd




Veneers of Compromised Intellects

John Hansen


The Power Of

Si lence


Mark takes a look at the last 3 minutes of Erich von Stroheims masterpiece Greed and asks, ‘how much sound is needed in film?’


There is an old adage that “silent cinema was never silent”, and that the sounds of silent film were something that were generated externally (the plinky ‘chase scene’ piano being the most clichéd example). But silent film generated its own visual acoustic resonance, one that did not need the explicit external cacophony of music or sound effects in order to speak to its audience.

The term “silent cinema” only came into being after the invention of the talkies, turning pre-sound cinema into “silence”. I personally find modern cinema’s are an orgy of noise. Everything is so LOUD, ALL OF THE TIME, as if the cinema assumes that its entire audience is deaf. Maybe modern film makers are looking to use sound to dull the senses in some way, like an aural morphine. Ironically, with the advent of CGI, many modern films have become less not more visually engaging, and soundtracks and music scores more prominent. Part of the reason for this loss is down to another old adage – less is more. The more you throw visually at an audience, the less that sticks. In order to compensate for this, you crank the sound up to create the illusion that what you are watching is awesome – it must be, it’s LOUD.

The emergence recently of The Artist as a critical masterpiece, was more I feel, down to the sense of relief by critics and audiences alike that someone had the guts and the guile to make something that didn’t look like the half baked, reconstituted dross served up all too often by Hollywood film makers. The Artist raises interesting questions about how a modern audience could respond and engage with what is largely viewed as an

‘irrelevant’ and anachronistic cinematic experience. The success of The Artist at the box office answers that point resoundingly – modern audiences will sit through a ‘silent’ movie. But I believe this is because silent movies were never silent, they just spoke to us in a very different way, and somewhere along the way modern film makers and audiences have forgotton how to listen and interpret the acoustic dimensions of ‘silent’ film.

Erich von Stroheim, if we are being generous, was an odd character. And like may oddballs, he was also a genius. The great Billy Wilder once approached von Stroheim and attempted to compliment him by telling von Stroheim that he thought he was 10 years ahead of his time. Von Stroheim shook his head and replied, “no, 20”. Amongst his many epic films, arguably his finest moment came with his interpretation of Frank Norris’s novel McTeague, the legendary film Greed. The original cut of the film was ten hours long. Apparently it was fantastic. Von Stroheim’s producers ordered him to cut it down and after much arguing, the film was cut to two hours, and Von Stroheim disowned it.

Greed tells the tale of a dentist (McTeague) whose wife (Trina) buys a lottery ticket and becomes obsessed with money. A former lover of the wife (Schouler) exposes McTeague as a fraud (he never qualified as a dentist) and claims that McTeague only married Trina for her money (she wins a large amount on the lottery and becomes obsessed with gold). McTeague eventually kills his wife and makes off with her money, pursued by Schouler. >


The culmination of the film is, in my opinion, one of the greatest in cinematic history. Mcteague has teamed up with a prospector in Death Valley, to find a vast seam of quartz. Pursued by the police and the former lover, McTeague flees further into Death Valley on a horse, loaded with Trina’s money and a can of water. The former lover tracks him down alone and a fight ensues. The horse bolts and is shot, a bullet piercing the only bottle of water. The fight scene was shot over many hours, in the searing heat of Death Valley (40 degrees C), with Von Stroheim apparently off camera barking orders at the two weary actors to “fight harder! Hit him! Roll on the floor!” the entire time. Can’t imagine Equity allowing that nowadays.

This fight sequence, set in the searing heat, is simple, brutal and utterly beguiling. The photography is stunning, each cut and wide shot beautifully composed and framed, and it bleeds with emotion and drama. You can almost smell the sweat of the protagonists and feel the gritty sand in your eyes. Von Stroheim’s genius was to mix the wide shots with the close cuts, pulling you in to the brutality and then distancing you. Its such a simple technique, and yet has a curiously disorientating effect, creating resonating impacts as Mcteague lays blow after blow on the stricken Schouler, and then melancholic reflection as the shot pulls out to reveal the haggard figures in wide profile, as if performing upon a stage.

Schouler, however, has the last laugh. During the last part of the struggle, he manages to handcuff the hand of McTeague to his own. As the final blow lands, Von Stroheim cuts in, to reveal the cuffed hand of Mcteague, and in doing so arresting the victory.

Mcteague’s expression says it all – alone, in the desert with no water or transport, exhausted and hand cuffed to a dead body, the viewer is left in no uncertainty of the fate of Mcteague. In a last act, Mcteague pulls a canary from its cage (used when mining for the quartz to warn of dangerous gases), kisses the bird and sets it free, in a scene that was borrowed wholesale by Ridley Scott in Bladerunner – “time to die”.

Violence in modern film is rarely beautiful and brutal. Its often frenetic, bloody and viscereal. Von Stroheim managed, with the last three minutes of Greed to convey more of the horror and brutality of murder without recourse to a tangible verbal dialogue, sound effects and soundtrack, gore, blood and CGI. Its simply shot, beautifully composed, and wonderfully edited, and it’s the combination of these elements, used as compensation for the lack of audio cues and dialogue, that make ‘silent’ film so powerful. The text still speaks, but it does so in a way that sound cannot ever hope to fill or enhance. Modern film makers could learn much from the way silent cinema directors used silence to speak to their audience. If you were to dub a dialogue and soundtrack, with sound effects, onto that last segment of Greed it would not in any way add to the drama – in fact, it would be detrimental to it as a piece of art. Maybe that is because it was originally shot to compensate for the lack of sound, but very few modern film makers (the Japanese perhaps more than any others) understand the value and power of silence in cinema. Perhaps that needs to happen more often. Maybe films like The Artist can be the catalyst for that. <

[email protected]


Daniel

S e e x


t h e j o y o f s e e x . c o . u k


Marco Cannone saatchionline.com/marcocannone


Depicting botanical imagery captured through the lens of a camera, my oil paintings on canvas

explore the middle ground between representational and abstract art. Photographs are the starting

point of my creative process and act as a form of sketchbook; the inspiration for which most often

reveals itself to me whilst out walking in my home region of Cornwall. Absorbed by studying the

intricate details of a plant from the ground up, a shallow depth of field enables me to record the

boundless shapes of a large blurred leaf in the foreground whilst focusing on one small, delicate and

often unexpected detail.

Light is a fundamental element in my paintings; an amalgamation of dappled sunlight bursting through

the cracks and sharp edged shards of light cutting across the canvas. Originating from an earlier

fascination with reflections in glass I have continued to carry these resultant man-made shapes

through my paintings today in order to add contrast to the organic imagery found in the natural

environment of a forest or coastal path.

When putting paint to canvas mark-making becomes the central focus of my practice and I begin to

play with the picture, editing, selecting and allowing the paint to influence me. A build-up of thin,

translucent layers using a wide brush forms the ground of a painting, after which strict and controlled

marks become entwined with accidental drips or splashes and large energetic brush strokes emerge

from behind solid masked out blocks of colour. This history of marks helps to create depth in both the

physical paint as well as the image as a whole, which is transformed from a collection of flat marks

into a deep and almost tangible space.

elisamcleod.com

ELISA

McLEOD


Sarah Bowman

sarahbowmanphotography.co.uk

110 TRIBE MAGAZINE ISSUE [email protected]

[email protected]

SHOW THE WORLD

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

tribe magazine issue 8

Documents

displayedin tribe magazine

founders of tribe magazine

tribe contents page

contemporary culture

contents pages

robert kuta

robert wallser

important thing