Philip Levine is an ideas man, but beyond this, a man who actually makes his ideas happen. Upon leaving university, Phil was already brimming with ideas to unleash upon the art world, from the obscure to the glamorous. His projects to date have included the likes of using his head ... Read more]]>

Philip Levine is an ideas man, but beyond this, a man who actually makes his ideas happen. Upon leaving university, Phil was already brimming with ideas to unleash upon the art world, from the obscure to the glamorous. His projects to date have included the likes of using his head as an art canvas and Musicali-Fragilistic, a fresh and fun club night based upon everyone’s favourite musical ballads.

Among these however, and arguably his greatest achievement to date, has been the establishment of Lazy Gramophone, an arts collective and independent publishing house he co-founded in 2003 along with Daniel Chidgey and Ben Chidgey. Since the formation of the collective all those years ago, Lazy Gramophone has gone from strength to strength with the launch of the website in 2004, the publishing house in 2006 and extending into events in 2007. In 2010, the company is a well established artistic hub, providing a service of business support and advice to up-and-coming artists.

Talking to Phil about the project it is clear that underlying the structure of Lazy Gramophone is an ethos of genuine integrity. “There’s no ulterior motive like you might find with other arts collectives who just pop up out of nowhere,” he explains. “We want to bring people together, encourage collaboration and offer our skills to the people who need them. The aim is simple; to encourage the creation of as much exciting new work as possible.”

And the setup seems to be working having already stimulated the launch of artists such as Inua Ellams (currently performing at The National Theatre) and Benin City (currently working on ‘Year of the Poet 2010′ with their band now booked for Roundhouse and Southbank).

Lazy Gramophone encourages creativity in all its forms bringing together everyone from, word poets, writers and performers to musicians, DJs and graphic designers. Phil describes the service as a “subtle agency” offering business resources for artists in a non-exploitative manner. “We provide everything an artist might need to move their creativity forward into the business arena which for an individual can often be a daunting and time consuming task. When it comes to anything from buying ISBN numbers to copy editing and type settings for example, naturally most people don’t know where to start.”

Testament to their success, Lazy Gramophone has published two extremely well received books, the first of which, Satsuma Sun Mover was Dylan Thomas Prize nominated. April 5th will also see the launch of their latest publication, ‘The Book of Apertures’; a collection of short fiction, poetry, and images compiled under the theme of the unexplainable. All of these works have arisen from the combined talent of the collective’s pool of emergent writers, artists, typesetters and designers.

As of May 9th Lazy Gramophone will be launching Lazy Sundays, an informal meet-up event for like-minded creative types. The event will be a regular at the Old Queen’s Head in Angel, offering a subtle networking environment encouraging creative collaborations to thrive.

www.lazygramophone.com
Images courtesy of Lazy Gramophone. Credits in order of display; Philip Levine, The Book of Apertures eds. Sam Rawlings, ‘Baggage’ by DJ Prescott.

PRINT NOW is an innovative exhibition of new works by over 100 emerging artists based on the concept ... Read more]]> After the success of PRINT NOW at the London Art Fair in January, BEARSPACE exhibits PRINT NOW (part 2) with new works by Suzanne Moxhay, Joan Molloy, Marco Cali, and new additional artists.

PRINT NOW is an innovative exhibition of new works by over 100 emerging artists based on the concept of PRINT as a medium and a repetitive process. Works range from sculpture constructed from recycled printed fliers, to etching on aluminium and lithograph.

Artists have been selected by a panel of curators and writers, specifically concerned with emerging art, including Julia Alvarez, Director of BEARSPACE, Kay Saatchi, collector and curator, Pryle Behrman, writer and curator of Art Projects at the London Art Fair and Mike Sims, Deputy Editor of Printmaking Today. Guest artists including David Shrigley and Billy Childish have also been invited to exhibit to represent artists working with print techniques and repetitive processes in a unique and successful way.

Prices range from £25 - £700 for editioned prints and one off works.

Exhibition will take place at BEARSPACE, 152 Deptford High Street from the 27th of February to the 27th of March.

These new prints will be available on CL alongside other Bearspace products here.