Affordable Art Fair with Artist Scarlett Bowman
Words by Sabrina Garnier
Platform Projects section featured 5 exciting artists, with immersive stand-out works and installations. For the first time, the Affordable Art Fair Battersea appointed an external curator for the Platform Projects. Becca Pelly-Fry, Head Curator at arts hub Elephant West, invited 5 artists from differing disciplines. Works by the contributing artists were themed around the ideas of place, memory, and how we relate to our environment.
'STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, FEEL' Interview with scarlett bowman
London based artist Scarlett Bowman explores the process of making, re-purposing both ready-made and hand made materials. Hands on approach, Bowman’s work revisits the inherent pleasure of craftsmanship and getting to know materials around us by contemplating new ways of reusing and creating.
AF: What’s the focus of your practice, and the medium/scale you work in?
There isn't one main focus to my work, it's more how I approach the work and the process by which the work is made. I have always been attracted to using found materials be it old blankets, old paintings, old household paint etc, the list is sort of endless. The selection of which materials I use depends on the final piece.
Fragments Series Scarlett Bowman
For the Fragments series This can be anything from fast food packaging to scraps of recycled cotton found on trips abroad etc. With the Patchwork Paintings I am a little more restricted as they are stitched together to form the painting and primarily canvas so I look to old paintings of mine or recycled/discarded paintings of other artist's work to incorporate. I like the idea of the unconscious collaboration, items reworked and up-cycled into new work, completely altering their journey and destination.
Patchwork painting ‘Platform Projects’ Curated by Becca Pelly-Fry Affordable Art Fair Battersea 2019
Patchwork Painting by Scarlett Bowman
AF: Tell us about your project for AAF Battersea?
For the AAF, I decided to bring my studio to the fair and to essentially show the process by which the patchworks are made. Layers of cut and painted canvas patches cascaded down the wall and onto a floating plinth, revealing the selection process by which the final works are made. On the opposite side, a few finished works were displayed resting on a shelf.
Much of my work is carried out on the floor, partly due to scale but I also like the freedom of not having to worry about space. All of the found material takes up an ever growing pile on the floor, enabling me to sift through and find parts to use. Pieces are then selected at random for their various formal qualities, be it shape, palette or texture, before being stitched together. This process is repeated until the work is complete. The idea of recycling and making good has recently been inspired by the Japanese aesthetic Wabi-sabi, and their approach to Boro textiles where by articles of clothing have been repaired and patched together with embroidery.
Scarlett Bowman
'STOP, LOOK, LISTEN, FEEL' Curated by Becca Pelly-Fry
AF: Whats next? Any upcoming projects?
I'm always straight back in the studio making new work. I am currently working on a new series of prints for something very exciting and a couple of commissions that are underway. I also have new work in group show 'A Room of One's Own' at The Koppel Project in Soho (up until 15th April).
For more information about 'A Room of One's Own' at The Koppel Project in Soho visit: thekoppelproject.com/a-room-of-ones-own/