Review of the Year 2014

What a crazy year 2014 has been. The rides gone up and down, around and around, it had thrills and chills, and was very brightly coloured and after choosing love over fear here we are on the flip side in 2015 ready for another to begin. We've all loved and lost, won and learned and here in no particular order is how it all went down...

The beginning of the year seem to start out with a lot of news and firsts. Mainly the new website was launched having had a whole redesign with new pages and lots of new or never before seen work up available to view. Visit www.lozatkinson.co.uk for all the latest.

New digital 'Hellscapes' were created adding to the ongoing 'see you there' series inspired by Dante's Inferno. A project I've been working on since 2007, it was great to revisit the work after quite a long hiatus from working digitally, with hopefully more being created and hopefully shown this year.  

When hell freezes over

 Taking part in 'The Image is the Servant' where i created artwork live in response to a collaberative music performance. With over 40 creatives taking part in an intriguing live performance where the collective, creative efforts of specifically curated, artists, poets and musicians battle for domination, with live generated photographic images. Can the image outshine reality and no longer be “the servant” as Beaudelaire said, but become the main constituent? 

Hit And Run from Honest Dave on Vimeo.

A strangely wonderful evening with the creative rawness palpable to anyone lucky enough to be there to experience it. Thousands more claim to have been at Reading when nirvana played that historic set in 1992 than were actually there and the same will be said of 'the image is the servant".

An unquenched defiance to the stars

Designing and creating "an unquenched defiance to the stars" for Wild Dolphins which took place in the summer in Aberdeen. Wild in Art created more than 50 dolphin sculptures to be transformed by the imaginations of leading artists, designers and creative’s. Wild Dolphins culminated in a live auction raising over £500,000 with an unquenched defiance selling for an astronomical £22,000. The money raised went to WDC (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) and the ARCHIE Foundation, the charity which supports sick children at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.

Mark Shand and I at the Elephant Parade London artist party (2010)

The tragic passing of Elephant Family's head and founder Mark Shand in April was a huge shock and although having met but a handful of times, he impacted my life greatly and will be sadly missed. A warm and generous man that without his and the whole of the elephant family teams support, I certainly wouldn't be where I am today. He has left a truly great and lasting impression on my life, which i shall always hold dear and like his friends the elephants shall never forget him. His life's work was saving Asia's forgotten Elephants and you can help keep his dream of saving them from extinction alive here.

Prince's Trust wall of inspiration

I was honoured to be asked to create a piece of work for the Prince's Trust inspiring art event. Way back in 2009/2010 the Prince's Trust helped me with mentoring and a small loan to get me started on my self employed path and to be able to help give something back by doing what i love to help those who helped me was absolutely fantastic.

painting the cumulonimBUS

Being part of another Wild in Art event this time buses to celebrate TFL's Year of the Bus which saw the anniversary of many milestones within their history including 60 years since the creation of the iconic routemaster and 100 years since the B-type 'battle bus' helped transport troops to the western front in the First World War. Having set up a mini bus painting station at the amazing Embrace Arts as the bus was just that little too big for my studio, the cloud covered CumulonimBUS was born and has been placed in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park before being auctioned off at the end of January 2015 with the money raised going to Kids Company, Transaid and the London Transport Museum.

Trafalgar Square for the Year of the Bus launch

For more information here's a link to a BBC report where you may even see a familiar face http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29660835

UK Young Artists showcase the best of the UK's young and innovative creative talent at regular national and international events. After being in Derby and Nottingham the festival came to Leicester and I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the 70 artists from across the UK to take part in a rich a varied programme of events as well as showcase some of my own work. A real breeding ground for new friendships and future collaborations made for a really exciting and dynamic festival with many future possibilities to leave a lasting legacy.

alsongside my work at UKYA festival

The major news of the year was being selected to exhibit at The Other Art Fair in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, London.

Opening night of The Other Art Fair

The insanely hot October edition saw over 13,000 visitors peruse buy and admire 130 artists stands including stand 131 with Zoe Childerley and I exhibiting together for the first time showing brand new work. Although created independently the work shared a common interest in the human need to measure, comprehend, conquer and solve the existential mysteries of the universe, which we are intrinsically a part.

The Other Art Fair - Opening night

Using psychological theory, field of view studies and mathematics in the work to highlight the folly yet importance of such endeavors. The work although fundamentally different in medium and technique created a really interesting and dynamic stand generating a lot of positive comments, contacts and sales! With both our work featuring in online reviews and highlights of the fair.

After being spotted at The Other Art Fair a selection of both mine and Zoe's work is currently on display as part of 'Contemporary Boom' at Artvera's Gallery in Geneva, Switzerland.

Contemporary Boom - Opening night

Contemporary Boom - Exhibition view

On until the 24th January 2015 the exhibition highlights the works of nineteen contemporary artists, originating from the UK, South Korea, France and Switzerland. Pictures, paintings, collages, sculptures and ceramics mix references to street art, eroticism and pop art. They offer above all an explosion of colours.

Contemporary Boom - Exhibition view

This on going series of cloud paintings adopting the psychological phenomena of Pareidolia and Apophenia, the experience of seeing pattern in random or meaningless data. Mixing this with the Mathematical Golden Ratio expressed as a geometric grid highlights that indistinct stimuli represented by the clouds can be forced to be perceived as significant. I'm really taken by this subject matter with the work developing quite significantly over the year, continuing this in to 2015.

One of the last things to happen in 2014 was the launch of my new online shop. Especially designed for this range of useful art works for all, Using my signature style of graphic depictions of mouths I've taken Phoneme mouth shapes of certain words to create these striking pieces.

'Useful' art for all

With many pieces selling already here's hoping with much more to be added soon including original works and fine art prints that the shop will be a huge hit in 2015.

So keep dropping by the website or find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram for all the very latest. 

2015 promises to be just as crazy, busy and hectic if not more so than the last. So once more unto the breach dear friends once more and don't forget to enjoy the ride...

  

For Eileen yesterday, today, forever xx