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The Q&A: Marcus Oakley

By Peggy Roalf   Monday March 26, 2018

Q: Originally from [where?] what are some of your favorite things about living and working in [your current locale]?

A: Originally I’m from Norfolk, a coastal county in England’s south-east. Currently I’m living and working in Edinburgh, Scotland. I moved up to Edinburgh 3 years ago after 22 years living in south London; for 14 of those years I lived in the melting pot of Brixton.

In London I was visually bombarded daily with so much stuff. Sometimes this really was inspiring and at other times it was all rather draining. Edinburgh has been a big change and my new location has made some subtle changes to to my work. It’s nice now being near the sea and mountains. 

 Q: Do you keep a sketchbook? What is the balance between art you create on paper [or other analog medium] versus in the computer?

A: I occasionally use a sketchbook, but I tend to use single sheets of paper more; all my work starts off with a drawing on paper. I simply enjoy the physicality of drawing and connecting one line with another; thick lines, thin lines, zig-zag, curved, straight, fast, slow, wonky, abstract and pictorial—they all have there own special mood and melody. I’m continuously learning how a line has the potential to be anything and interpreted into anything 2D, 3D or even sonically: playing around with colour, space and structure.

Q: What is the most important item in your studio?

A: Pens and paper. Tea and more tea.

Q: How do you know when the art is finished—or when to stop working on it?

A: This is a very interesting question. I don’t have a specific answer—it’s all based on the mood of knowing.

Q: What was your favorite book as a child?

A: As a child I mostly read comic books, in particular Tintin and Asterix and later the British Sc-fi comic 2000 AD.

Q: What is the best book you’ve recently read?

A: I tend to read books that feature some kind of travelling in both fiction and non-fiction. So either Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck or Clear Water Rising by Nicolas Crane or...Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. 

Q: If you had to choose one medium to work in for an entire year, eliminating all others, what medium would you choose?

A: That is a tough question, in fact it’s impossible! I really enjoying using a plethora of materials for my work and personal practice, so from a computer to paper & pens, paint, cardboard, wood and clay, making something everyday.

Q: What elements of daily life exert the most influence on your work practice?

A: Many,  many things inspire and influence my work. My surroundings and interests often filter down into my work sometimes directly or indirectly. Some of those interests are: Walking / Cycling / Swimming / Camping / Reading / Nature / Landscape / Architecture / Baking Bread / History / 1970’s Films / Ceramics / Melodic Music / Art & Design

Q: What was the [Thunderbolt] painting or drawing or film or otherwise that most affected your approach to art? 

A: Neither—it was actually a place, When I was teenager I visited Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge. Originally it was the home of Jim Ede  and his wife Helen. Jim Ede was the curator of the Tate Gallery in the 1920’s. The house contains an amazing collection of 20th-century art as well as plants, books and furniture. Jim donated the house and its contents to the Cambridge University in 1973. It’s very special place as all the artworks are seen in a domestic setting and the house has the largest collection of one of my favourite artists Alfred Wallis. It’s a place that has been continuously inspiring me since the age of 16. 

 

Q: What was the strangest/most interesting assignment you've taken that has an important impact on your practice, and what changed through the process?

A: It was more of a experience than a assignment a few years ago, which felt like it had an significance on my practice. It was a residency with other artists organised by British artist Nicolas Burrows His idea was to take artists of different disciplines (illustrators, fine artists, applied artists, writers, musicians, film-makers) and put them is a site-specific engagement with a natural landscape. For a week we were in isolated location living in an old stone cottage above Coniston Water in the Lake District. The cottage didn’t have any running water and electricity. The days were spent walking, working, singing, talking, cooking and getting into the rhythm of the house, pumping water from a well and starting fires for heat and cooking. Specifically I enjoyed having the time to sit for days just drawing and drawing the surrounding landscapes. I based many of my drawings on the topographic contour system used in British Ordnance Survey maps. One night I chatted with an owl somewhere out in the dark. I tried to replicate the call of the owl and the owl answered back a few times. A 62-page journal of the residency was published with drawings, photographs, writing and sound by myself and the other artists Sister Arrow, Supermundane, William Edmonds and Nicolas Burrows, which you can see here, and above.

Q: What would be your last supper?

A: I don’t really want to think about that!

Marcus Oakley lives and works from Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally from Norfolk, a coastal county in England’s south-east, Marcus Oakley’s work is inspired by many things – both retrospective and contemporary. His influences include folky, harmonic and melodic music of all kinds; the pastoral and folkloric delights of the countryside and the various eccentric beasts and humans that inhabit it; the joys of cycling; the stimulations of tea; the dizzy geometries of architecture and design – and overall the wonders of making stuff.
Website 
www.marcusoakley.com
Social media 
https://www.instagram.com/marcus_oakley/
US Rep Koko Art Agency http://www.kokoartagency.com

 


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