Francesca Gavin

Interview

With credentials such as Visual Arts Editor at Dazed & Confused magazine, associate editor at Marmalade and resident arts blogger for the Guardian, this freelancer is going places. Francesca talked to UKAdapta about her book releases as well as giving a great insight into the current art scene in the UK.

- Can you tell us about your career and who you have worked for?

F: I am a freelance editor for many style magazines and websites, that includes being the visual arts editor for Dazed & Confused, so I deal with all the art editorial there and finally, I also write books. My first book is out right now and is called “Street Renegades”, which is about a new wave of streetart and I have another book coming out in October called “Hell Bound” which is about contemporary Gothic art, so lots of skulls, blood and death! Finally, I am working on my third book, due for release in 2009 which will be about creative people’s homes.

- Can you describe the current Art market in the UK?

F: I find it very fascinating as I go to alot of art openings and there are always so many different kinds of people that you can find there. There are the Art critics and the intellectual level, which often includes the artists themselves as well as the level of those who are interested in buying the art. I went to one Art fair where it reached full capacity within 15 minutes. On one side of the queue, you had the critics and on the other, you had all the super-rich people who had come to buy the art. We were all looking at each other, probably thinking "Don't you know who I am?" and I thought that this was a classic example of the current London art scene. It's huge right now and there's alot of money being spent, but I am interested to know how long this bubble will last with the onset of financial instability coming soon as a result of the American market.

I think this will definitely have a knock on effect for the British Art market because one could argue that there are too many galleries in London and not all of them are good.

- So why do you think that there has been this sudden focus on certain fields of Art in the last couple years?

F: Recently, I think it can be attributed by the fact that we want to try and find some depth in our personal experience. One could argue that within Streetart, people are trying to find some verity, or truth. People don't seem to be going to church as much nowadays and want profundity somewhere else. I once wrote that I see the Tate Modern like a cathedral and the pilgrimage to go and see art openings all over London is almost like a religious process. They go there to find peace and calm, and at the same time, have an experience.

- You seem to do a lot of work on the internet as well as being an avid blogger; how did you get into online writing?

F: When you have been writing about certain subjects for quite some time, there will be few people who have the kind of knowledge you can gain. For example, the Guardian approached me to write about more graffiti and street-based art, as I imagine that there are very few people writing about that who can crossover between more mainstream journalism and intellectual journalism. I really like the immediacy of the internet, as you can create a small amount of text and have it online with great speed.

- Tell us more about your book “Street Renegades”?

F: I had always written about graffiti and streetart in the past, including people like Banksy, many years ago and was interviewing a lot of artists who were just coming up in the scene. Most of them weren’t getting the attention they deserved until around 2002-2003, when there was a wave of streetart/graffiti books coming out. They tended to focus a lot on stencils and stickers and to be honest, I got quite bored of what was being published. I was more interested in finding artists who crossed the boundaries between fine art and streetart; using 3D installations or weird materials. One of my favorite artists were the Cut Up Collective. I love their work and the fact that they are a collective who can remain anonymous and who love to play with concept of Situationism. Another artist I really liked was Slinkachu, who makes tiny little models of people and leaves them on the street.

- In your opinion, what is the most important facet to be progressive?

F: Being true to your own sense of individualism or an identity. Sometimes, it can be a single-mindedness that an artist has, not to follow trends that other people are doing, but just to continue with what they think is interesting.

Francesca Gavin : myspace.com/frantasticg

Francesca Blog : Guardian

Written by Selph