Magda Archer
The Marvellous Magda Archer is one of London's best artists. She is represented by Karsten Schubert and her work has appeared in numerous galleries including; Manchester’s The Cornerhouse, Tate Liverpool, Boston’s 808 Gallery, and London’s Royal Academy. Her splendid book, The Gospel According to Little Artist Boy (published by Piatkus) is a must for people alive today and would make a superb Xmas gift. Le Document were delighted she was up for answering some questions. Now read on...
LD How the devil are you? Is it a good time to be Magda Archer right now? Has life been treating you well?
MA I’m ok thank you, life is ok. I’ve taken my foot off the gas for a few weeks as I realised I was constantly making, I was afraid to stop making things but I was running on empty and that is not good.
LD What is the story behind your book The Gospel According To Little Artist Boy? How did it come about and was it an easy birth?
MA This story is based on a little guy I bumped in to, he’s from Paris via Bromley and he REALLY is ‘your little self-help friend’. Little Artist boy found his voice during lockdown, I have to admit that maybe I wouldn’t have made this book if lockdown hadn’t happened. I’d been meaning to, for quite a while, but there was always something more important to do. I had to call my own bluff if you like, I’d run out of excuses not to make this happen. Once in a while I have to act as my own coach, not only shout or nag but also to dare myself to make it happen and writing a book is very different from trying to get it published!
LD Your book contains lovely little quotes such as “There’s nothing like a game of crazy golf to clear the air” are there any wise words, tips, thoughts that didn’t make it into the book that you have for the readers of Le Document?
MA I always think we can learn a lot about someone from their favourite household chore. Mine is laundry. Yours?
LD Feeding pets and wiping the dust off the TV screen … what were your happiest times at art school? Did you have a good education?
MA I was quite happy at Ravensbourne on Foundation because I’d left the misery of School behind & suddenly, it was all about Art & Design. I was happier at Chelsea School of Art, I met some fantastic people there and we had a lot of fun, the work flowed and the tutors, on the whole were very encouraging.
I started working with my friend, Peter Quinnell, we applied to the RCA as a partnership and this was a happy, productive time too.
On paper it looks like I had a good education I guess but anything I really wanted to do I taught myself or my friends showed me how. I had a great History of Art tutor at Ravensbourne; Mike Billam, his lectures were enlightening and really ignited a love for Sculpture. However, I almost feel like I learnt the most in the two years of Adult Education I completed, years later. Firstly I studied Ceramics for a year and then I joined a painting group, this was a revelation.
LD I love Abigail Crompton's book 'Truth Bomb' it features your work amongst many other leading lady artists. Can you talk a bit about female art heroes and female peers that inspire you?
MA I love Yoko Ono’s work, it’s totally underestimated, her Art & music. Then I like Winifred Nicholson, Phyllida Barlow, Rose Wylie, Rachel Whiteread. I like the work of Shuby, Cathy Pilkington, Maya Hayuk and Vivienne Westwood! She’s a force of nature, I’ve admired her for years. I like the work of Artists & Designers who flit about from one genre to another. Female Peers; I had a brilliant after school club teacher, Mrs Bettles at my primary school. She had a lot of patience with me, she taught me to sew which can’t have been easy, she made me realise that I liked making things and that it wasn’t too much of a problem that I wasn’t very ‘neat’. Miss Quinlan, my English teacher was a real encourager and my teacher at Adult Education, to my shame I’ve forgotten her name … she’s a performance artist who taught me about paint. She gave me her name on a card which I’ve lost. Those Women are up there with the best of ‘em.
LD In the past you have collaborated with Marc Jacobs and Comme des Garcons. Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
MA I like both those brands. Commes des Garcons used me in an editorial advertising campaign. They had an idea of how to use me and it was sassy and vibrant, I loved those adverts. Marc Jacobs; in all honesty, I’m sad that it’s over. They used my work in a very sensitive and respectful way which, I’m sure, doesn’t always happen. I always followed what Marc Jacobs was up to as, I think he’s a brilliant communicator, his clothes make sense, he has a vision. But ... I love what Gucci is doing, the shops are like funfairs and everything is in technicolor, that would be a dream.
LD Your book has been approved by Phillipa Perry. Can you tell me a bit about your family’s reaction to your work? Did your Mum and Dad approve of your decision to go to art school? Are there any positive comments from them that encouraged you or any cutting remarks that spurred you on?
MA Some of my family like some of the Screen Prints but no one talks about it that much to be honest, that might be weird? I don’t talk about their work aside from a ‘How’s your work going?‘ sort of thing. My mum and dad both went to art school, my dad was an industrial designer, he designed cars and my Mum studied fashion and textiles. Yes, they approved of my decision to apply to art school but they told me I couldn’t choose the fine art option as ’No one makes a living in fine art’. I think this is a key moment in my life, I was intrigued on my foundation course, in Mike Billam’s lectures but didn’t have the maturity to recognise that I was properly interested.
LD If you were dumped on a desert island with a life time’s supply of art materials, knowing that only you would see your work, would it change a lot? Do you think your work is about cheering other people up and making them laugh and feel better about the world?
MA My work wouldn’t change a lot. I was busy working away for about three years before anyone saw my work in the first place and it didn’t bother me, that lack of an audience. I don’t think of my work as ‘cheering people up’, I know it has done so sometimes but really I’m trying to express a moment, where someone else might write something in a notebook, I’m making these paintings or prints.
LD Do you have a favourite art gallery that you could spend all day in?
MA Not really although, if pushed, I like The Whitney in NY, the Serpentine Gallery, London and The Picasso Museum in Antibes. They are museums I go back to. I also like Room two at Karsten Schubert … where my new show opens in December!
LD What are your favourite books? What children's books did you hold on to? Which books have you re-read several times?
MA Some of my favourite books/authors of all time, starting with, wait for it and I really recommend this first one;
‘Important Artifacts and Personal Property From The Collection of Leonore Doolan And Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewlry' Saturday,14 February 2009,New York ‘ by Leanne Shapton.
‘Lump, the Dog Who Ate A Picasso’ by David Douglas Duncan
‘Gypsy’ by Gypsy Rose Lee.
’The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' BY Carson Mccullers.
‘Wilson’ By Daniel Clowes.
‘Deep Thoughts’ BY Jack Handey.
‘Prep’ by Curtis Sittenfeld.
‘Angry Little Girls’ BY Lela Lee.
’Things The Grandchildren Should Know’ By Mark Oliver Everett.
’The Perks of Being A Wallflower’ By Stephen Chbossky.
Anything and everything by J.D.Salinger.
The poems of Stevie Smith. I also like Laurie Lee, and Charles Dickens, and I really enjoy biogs of movie stars from the 1940s and 50's.
In my childhood;
'More About Paddington' BY Michael Bond
‘Now We Are 6’ by A.A.Milne.
‘Milly Molly Mandy Stories’ by Joyce Lancaster Brisley.
’Teddy Robinson' By Joan G.Robinson, Teddy Robinson is hilarious actually...drole, pompous at times but funny, warm and silly.
‘Emil & the Detectives’ by Erich Kästner .
‘Farmer Boy’ by Laura Ingalls
I also had a big book of poems which I really loved as a child, sometimes you want to read but not too much. Of course, I love Comics and I love Charles Schulz… favourite characters are Charlie Brown, Franklin, and Pig-Pen. I read and loved all of my brothers Tintin books (and now own a small white terrier x called Snowy.) But the book that changed everything for me is a book my sister got for Christmas around 1974,’The Penguin Book of Comics’ by George Perry & Alan Aldridge. I read that cover to cover, I really recommend it.
Magda’s show at Karsten Schubert It’s a Magda Archer Christmas opens on the 2nd December.
