Sasha Bowles
Sasha Bowles is a London based multi-disciplinary artist, working across painting, objects, film and installation. Her work has been described as "fantastical, exquisite, complex and elusive." She was the winner of the Discerning Eye's Benton Art Prize. Curators who have selected her work for shows include Brian Griffiths, Graham Crowley and Rosalind Davis. Le Document were delighted she agreed to answer some questions for us...
Harry Pye: Noel Coward once said, “Work is more fun than fun.” Are you happy working all alone in your cold studio making oil paint interventions on postcards? Wouldn’t you rather be on a dance floor or at a beach sipping cocktails?
Sasha Bowles: Well working in my studio is not always fun. But that is not to do with being cold, more to do with the creative process. When you are on a roll the work is great but when its all dead ends and frustrating failures its hard work. But there is nowhere else I would rather be. It always feels like home as soon as I walk in the door, despite the cold and water coming through the floor. As to being on the dance floor, I’m quite often to be found strutting my stuff to some loud beats in the studio. Mostly to the sounds of Ska all this week.
They brought comfort to one another. Oil on Postcard
How similar is the work you make now to the work you made as a student at Wimbledon? Do you look back on your student days fondly?
The very last things I made on my MA at Wimbledon were the catalyst for so much of the work I make now. It has of course evolved, become 3 dimensional, immersive and performative in some cases, but remains grounded within painting.
One aspect of your work is reinterpreting the past. Was researching historic portraiture and architecture something you always had an interest in?
The history of art and in particular the ‘old masters’, is an endless pool of resource for me. I guess it has always been there since school but has become much more prevalent over the last few years. I also work within conservation of historic houses and this feeds and interweaves into much of my work.
Who were your art heroes?
Too many to mention.
Are there 5 female artists you'd describe as being a genius?
Only 5? Louise Bourgeois, Leonora Carrington, Marlene Dumas, Eva Hesse, Yayoi Kusama to name only five.
What are your favourite films? Are there any films that always make you laugh or always make you cry?
La Strada by Fellini (Anthony Quinn, Guilietta Masina) is one of my all-time favourites. A brutal, bitter sweet film of cruel human inter-dependence. Little Miss Sunshine; (Toni Collette, Alan Arkin) a family satire of an American road trip, that always has me weeping with laughter. The Producers by Mel Brooks (Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder), just a joy from beginning to end, fall off your chair funny. Rosemary’s Baby by Roman Polanski (Mia Farrow) all time best suspense horror film and holds you to the end every time.
What can you tell us about the most recent art work you made or your current projects?
Most recently I’ve been working on postcard interventions onto classical sculptures – reacting to the current pandemic and the PPE that I’ve had to wear whilst at work, but with a surrealist twist. Happily, I’ve been able to post and sell these on Instagram through Matthew Burrows awesome Artist Support Pledge initiative and has helped to keep my head above the water. Currently working on several new collage series, which are more conclusive manifestations of sketch thoughts that normally grow across my studio walls. Also beginning to bring ideas together for new sculptural installation work – an immersive theatrical piece that will be multi-faceted.
On your bookshelf are there any books by Foucault, Deleuze and Derrida?
A lot of those books are somewhere on my bookshelf, but I fear they may be a bit dusty at the moment. I have just finished, Modernists and Mavericks by Martin Gayford. Currently I’m reading Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland and then waiting on the shelf is How to Fail by Elizabeth Day.
Hairy Scholars. Oil on book page.
Do you own any artwork by other people? Have you ever bought a painting?
I’m lucky enough to own many works by other artists. I’m currently living on a tiny narrow boat so am unable to have them all displayed at the moment. On the walls are some of the smaller works in the collection including – Rosalind Davis, Corinna Spencer, Sue Williams A’Court, Matt Gee, Rosalind Barker and Dina Varpahovsky. Wonderful purchases made possible from sales on Artist Support Pledge are Lisa Ivory, Rebecca Fontaine Wolfe, Kate Street and Iain Andrews. And there are many larger pieces to be displayed when a bigger space allows, including – Justin Hibbs, Gibson Martelli, Claire Price and Katie Lennard.
Matisse once said, “What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject-matter, an art which could be for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.” Do you like the idea of making work that sooths and relaxes people or makes them smile? What do you want your art to do?
Oh, I don’t think I could agree with a statement like that. Art can be anything, on any subject matter, it reflects on life in all its aspects. From joy to sorrow, things that are hard to bear to the frivolities in life. How can anyone prescribe what an artwork should be. The artist makes and expresses themselves in the way that they are compelled to do. I’m certainly not thinking about the viewer when I’m making the works. I hope my work engages people to think. But I am not in control of that or if they engage at all.
Lead image:
The Boy Who Listened For The Future
Oil on Found Postcard
2020
