Generation 10

Here is a feature I wrote for Don't Panic in July 2010 on an exhibition at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in London entitled Generation 10. I know it was a while back now but I loved all the artists so much that I couldn't resist letting all the Fashion Magpie's out there take a look...

Photography by Tim Ferguson

There seems to be a huge buzz around the young British art scene at the moment – the creative hub of the country focusing around some of London’s most prestigious art schools. Held in conjunction with the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, partner to Frieze Art Fair and Candlestar, London’s leading cultural consultancy, Generation 10 is an exhibition of work by ten young artists who have graduated this year from Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon schools of art. Upon entering the library, the youthful exuberance in the room is evident with the majority of the artists being under the age of 25. The underlying theme of the exhibition is ‘Myth and Memory’ with each artist using a wide variety of techniques to interpret this. Don’t Panic went down to speak to a few of them about their inspirations.

Sophie Bevan who created Acrylic/Perspex masterpiece, N.D (above), described her inspiration as stemming from her interest in ‘surface’ and “creating something that looks entirely mechanical but that is actually home made”. The intense graphic design derives from her interest in perspectives, “I do a lot of photography so things like corridors, natural material and interiors. I got a lot of stuff from magazines”.

Chris Golle’s haunting oil painting, Hotel Room (above) pays homage to the film noirs of Alfred Hitchcock and nightmarish odysseys of David Lynch. “I’ve been trying to create that sort of atmosphere – that sort of charge of mystery and anxiety, but also something quite attractive – I’m trying to get that sort of balance right in the painting to draw you in.” Citing Magritte as an inspiration, Golle’s work incites a feeling of timelessness as it “hovers in between spaces so in that sense in can seem like a dream or a memory that is fading away”. It comes to no surprise that Golle has just been chosen as a finalist in the Signature Art Awards with one of his works being part of an exhibition at the Degree Gallery on Vyner Street in August.

Jennifer Baldock’s Untitled Image x 1 (below) demonstrates her interest in connecting art and literature, “I’m really interested in visual imagery and how you can generate that from writing and how that would work in creating the image in the painting itself”. This places emphasis on the importance of self-discovery, which seems to be very prevalent in Baldock’s work, “instead of presenting the viewer with an image they sort of create it themselves and therefore it brings in all sorts of phenomenological elements so it’s quite a personal image in the end.” Inspired by artists such as Ed Ruscha, Glen Ligon and Richard Prince as well as Minimalists such as Pierre Soulages and Jason Martin Baldock’s work allows the viewer to create an image that is very dependent on their own memories, leaving room for self-reflection. Literary influences are also evident with Baldock citing Ernest Hemmingway, Cormac MacCarthy and Joseph Conrad. Baldock considers herself as much a writer as an artist, “I’ve written for longer than I’ve painted so I suppose that’s where the original inspiration will lie.”

The work of Benjamin Bridges has a very ethereal quality. In Hallowed Lights (below) he explores ideas of Ancient Greek mythology, focusing on the Hyperboreans, a race of people who lived beyond the North wind.

“There is this idea that runs throughout history, of the north as being somehow of the same world but somehow different – somehow sort of alien so with my paintings I explore these ideas so it fits into that sort of northern romantic tradition.”

He uses his work as being part of an unexplored myth, and describes the rock crystals depicted in his painting as being ‘frozen in paint’ in a sense that the viewer can delve no deeper than the image that is in front of them. Bridges therefore portrays his work as contributing to the re-mystification of the North. With several exhibitions coming up later this year including his first solo exhibition in Amsterdam, a studio in London Bridge with Tannery Arts, and a possible MA in the pipeline the future looks promising for the 25 year-old.

Generation 10 shows that we are not wrong to be excited by young British artists, with these ten recent graduates injecting some newfound perspective into the rather austere world of British art. Watch this space; we have definitely not seen the last of them.