I was at Rich Mix in Shoreditch on Thursday night to take some pictures of Soweto Kinch. He was playing a few tracks form his recent album, "Nonagram", but also performing some of his trademark freestyle raps, joined at the end of the evening by rappers Jonzi D and Kingpin. "Conversations With The Unseen" was the first Soweto Kinch Album that I bought and it introduced me not only to his playing and rapping, but also to the musicianship of Troy Miller on drums and Femi Temowo on guitar. I subsequently bought Temowo's album, "Quiet Storm" and Miller's album "40 Days". These 3 albums had great impact on me as jazz albums, but also were innovative in their blending of jazz and hip hop beats. As you can see on other pages on the site, both Temowo and Miller feature in my photos and artwork, so having the opportunity to photograph Kinch playing live was an opportunity I couldn't miss and allowed me to get further with producing a body of work that was a visual response to my musical inspirations over the last decade or so.
The soundscape created by the Kinch's trio at the Rich Mix was augmented by his use of loop pedals which helped to re-create some of the textures on "Nonagram", but had a different impact live. I wanted to capture the intensity and focus of the performance by zooming in close up to the musicians with a telephoto lens and trying to record their concentration as they played- a challenge in any low lit conditions where the subject is moving unexpectedly. This was contrasted with the raps and improvisations that managed to involve the lively crowd in the proceedings too. The climax of the show was the freestyling between the three performers, Kinch, Jonzi D and Kingpin, where audience contributions for key words were incorporated into the rhymes. I've been through the photos and I think I've found some decent images to turn into stencils...watch this space.
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So, the New Artist Fair is over. I made some sales, met some interesting people and got some great feedback. I'm on to the next artistic adventure. in the meantime here are some memories. The tune is an old jam we recorded in the studio a long time ago and turned into a sampled groove. I was really excited about displaying my stencil based art for the first time. The New Artist Fair took place at the Old Truman Brewery in the heart of Shoreditch, the area of London best known for its wide variety of street art. Ely's yard has been a magnet for tourists and visitors to the area, where as well as fuelling up at the pop up food spots and bars, you can also see the work of Shepard Fairey, D-Face and Space Invader all in one vista. After setting up my artwork, I headed to Brick Lane where I knew that one of my favourite artists, Spray Child, had been wheat-pasting earlier in the week. It was great to see her work in person rather than on instagram. Then, it was back to the OTB to finish the set up and look forward to what was later a very busy private view. Apart from my close family there to celebrate, Bloomberg Award winning artist, Hilde Krohn Huse dropped by with her sister to tell me about what she's been up to and to check out the rest of the work at the fair.
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TONENew Artist Fair 2017 Archives
May 2023
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